30-Second Philosophies : The 50 Most Thought-provoking Philosophies, Each Explained in Half a Minute

A full-colour illustrated tour through philosophy's most famous – and most mind-bending – ideas I Think Therefore I Am, Existentialism, Dialectical Materialism? The Socratic Method and Deconstruction? Sure, you know what they all mean. That is, you've certainly heard of them. But do you know enough about them to join a dinner party debate or dazzle the bar with your knowledge? 30-SECOND PHILOSOPHIES takes a revolutionary approach to getting a grip on the 50 most significant schools of philosophy. The book challenges leading thinkers to quit fretting about the meaning of meaning for a while and explain the most complex philosophical ideas – using nothing more than two pages, 300 words, and a metaphorical image. Here, in one unique volume, you have the chance to pick the potted brains of our leading philosophers and understand complex concepts such as Kant's Categorical Imperative without ending up in a darkened room with an ice pack on your head.

A full-colour illustrated tour through philosophy's most famous – and most mind-bending – ideasI Think Therefore I Am, Existentialism, Dialectical Materialism? The Socratic Method and Deconstruction? Sure, you know what they all mean. That is, you've certainly heard of them. But do you know enough about them to join a dinner party debate or dazzle the bar with your knowledge?30-SECOND PHILOSOPHIES takes a revolutionary approach to getting a grip on the 50 most significant schools of philosophy. The book challenges leading thinkers to quit fretting about the meaning of meaning for a while and explain the most complex philosophical ideas – using nothing more than two pages, 300 words, and a metaphorical image. Here, in one unique volume, you have the chance to pick the potted brains of our leading philosophers and understand complex concepts such as Kant's Categorical Imperative without ending up in a darkened room with an ice pack on your head.

Cover Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; Foreword; Introduction; How to become a philosopher; Language & Logic; GLOSSARY; Aristotle's syllogisms; Russell's paradox & Frege's logicism; profile: Aristotle; Russell's theory of description; Frege's puzzle; Gödel's theorem; Epimenides' liar paradox; Eubulides' heap; Science & Epistemology; GLOSSARY; I think therefore I am; Gettier's counter example; profile: Karl Popper; The brain in a vat; Hume's problem of induction; Goodman's gruesome riddle; Popper's conjectures & refutations; Kuhn's scientific revolutions; Mind & Metaphysics Profile: Thomas AquinasEpicurus' riddle; Paley's watchmaker; Pascal's wager; Hume against miracles; Grand Moments; GLOSSARY; Socrates' method; Plato's cave; Aristotle's four causes; Lucretius' atomism; profile: Ludwig Wittgenstein; Berkeley's idealism; Kant's synthetic a priori; Hegel's dialectic; James' pragmatism; Moore's common sense; Wittgenstein's picture theory of language; Continental philosophy; GLOSSARY; Nietzsche's Superman; profile: Friedrich Nietzsche; Derrida's deconstruction; Heidegger's nothing; Sartre's bad faith; Notes on contributors; Resources; Acknowledgments GLOSSARYDescartes mind-body problem; Brentano's intentionality; Fodor's language of thought; Parfit's persons; profile: René Descartes; Chalmer's zombies; Zeno's paradoxes; Kant's left hand; Theseus' ship; Laplace's demon, determinism, & free will; Ryle's ghost in the machine; Ethics & Political Philosophy; GLOSSARY; Aristotle's ethics; States of nature and the social contract; Kant's categorical imperative; profile: Immanuel Kant; Mill's utilitarianism; Marx's historical materialism; The trolley problem; Religion; GLOSSARY; Aquinas' five ways; Anselm's ontological argument