The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy (Oxford Paperbacks)

Western philosophy remains one of the greatest glories of world civilization, yet surprisingly few people have any real knowledge of it. Based on fifteen dialogues between Bryan Magee and some of today's internationally-known scholars and philosophers, The Great Philosophers presents an accessible, intellectually stimulating history of philosophy from Plato to the present day. Beginning with the death of Socrates in 399 B.C. and the subsequent writings of Plato--the first Western philosopher whose works have survived--they carry the story through the work of Aristotle and the medieval philosophers; the writings of Descartes and other seventeenth-century philosophers including Spinoza, Leibniz, and Locke; the work of Berkeley and the eighteenth-century thinkers, Hume and Kant; the theories of the nineteenth-century encompassed in the writings of Hegel, Marx, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche; to the twentieth-century ideas included in the works of Husserl, Heidegger and the modern existentialists, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, and the American pragmatists. The contributors include such influential figures as Martha Nussbaum, Bernard Williams, Anthony Quinton, Michael Ayers, Geoffrey Warnock, Peter Singer, Hubert Dreyfus, Sidney Morgenbesser, and John Searle, all who offer lively and clear discussions of difficult philosophical concepts. The Great Philosophers provides an absorbing introduction to the concepts of Western philosophy and to its greatest thinkers. Covers Title Page Contents Epigraph Preface: Bryan Magee 1. PLATO: Myles Burnyeat 2. ARISTOTLE: Martha Nussbaum 3. MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY: Anthony Kenny 4. DESCARTES: Bernard Williams 5. SPINOZA AND LEIBNIZ: Anthony Quinton 6. LOCKE AND BERKELEY: Michael Ayers 7. HUME: John Passmore 8. KANT: Geoffrey Warnock 9. HEGEL AND MARX: Peter Singer 10. SCHOPENHAUER: Frederick Copleston 11. NIETZSCHE: J. P. Stern 12. HUSSERL, HEIDEGGER AND MODERN EXISTENTIALISM: Hubert Dreyfus 13. THE AMERICAN PRAGMATISTS: Sidney Morgenbesser 14. FREGE, RUSSELL AND MODERN LOGIC: A. J. Ayer 15. WITTGENSTEIN: John Searle Index Beginning with the death of Socrates in 399 BC, and following the strand of philosophical inquiry through the centuries to recent figures such as Bertrand Russell and Wittgenstein, Bryan Magee's conversations with fifteen contemporary writers and philosophers provide an account of Western philosophy and its greatest thinkers. --From publisher's description Bryan Magee discusses Western philosophy from Plato to the present day with 15 contemporary writers and philosophers. "The Great Philosophers" is based on the TV series of the same name and is a broad introduction to philosophical concepts, starting with the death of Socrates in 399 BC. In this book, based on an acclaimed BBC television series, Bryan Magee discusses the greatest Western philosophers with 15 leading contemporary writers and thinkers. The book begins with Socrates' death in 39 BC, and goes on until the 20th century Magee Any attempt to tell the story of Western philosophy should begin with the ancient Greeks, who produced not only the first but some of the very greatest of Western philosophers.