What the Tortoise Taught Us : The Story of Philosophy

__What the Tortoise Taught Us__ offers a lively, concise journey through western philosophy that explores the lives of major philosophers, their ideas, and how their thinking continues to influence our lives today. Using a chronological approach, Burton Porter shows how various philosophers address life's big questions. By putting each philosopher and their ideas into historical context, he helps us understand how certain ideas developed based on the thinking of the time, and how those ideas have influenced our modern perceptions. Using familiar language and interesting anecdotes, Porter provides us with an extremely readable and lively history that takes themes that characterize each age to reflect on the greater human experience. The book includes the philosophies and lives of the ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and continues through time into the Middle Ages with St. Thomas Aquinas, to the Renaissance, and beyond. Porter explores the metaphysics of Descartes and Hobbs; the epistemology of Hume and Berkeley, and the ethics of Kant and Mill among others. Finally he concludes with contemporary issues, including racism, abortion and modern feminism. Porter is able to explain these complex ideas in a clear, simple, and straightforward way. __What the Tortoise Taught Us__ is a balanced and approachable look at life's basic questions through the eyes of the philosophers that have helped shape modern thought

What the Tortoise Taught Us offers a lively, concise journey through western philosophy that explores the lives of major philosophers, their ideas, and how their thinking continues to influence our lives today. Using a chronological approach, Burton Porter shows how various philosophers address life's big questions. By putting each philosopher and their ideas into historical context, he helps us understand how certain ideas developed based on the thinking of the time, and how those ideas have influenced our modern perceptions. Using familiar language and interesting anecdotes, Porter provides us with an extremely readable and lively history that takes themes that characterize each age to reflect on the greater human experience. The book includes the philosophies and lives of the ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and continues through time into the Middle Ages with St. Thomas Aquinas, to the Renaissance, and beyond. Porter explores the metaphysics of Descartes and Hobbs; the epistemology of Hume and Berkeley, and the ethics of Kant and Mill among others. Finally he concludes with contemporary issues, including racism, abortion and modern feminism. Porter is able to explain these complex ideas in a clear, simple, and straightforward way. What the Tortoise Taught Us is a balanced and approachable look at life's basic questions through the eyes of the philosophers that have helped shape modern thought.

Using familiar language and interesting anecdotes, Porter provides an extremely readable and lively history that takes themes that characterize each age to reflect on the greater human experience. The book includes the philosophies and lives of the ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and continues through time into the Middle Ages with St. Thomas Aquinas to the Renaissance and beyond. Porter explores the metaphysics of Descartes and Hobbes, the epistemology of Hume and Berkeley, and the ethics of Kant and Mill among others. Finally he concludes with contemporary issues, including racism, abortion, and modern feminism. --Book Jacket Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Chapter 01. The Beginning of Reflection 14 Chapter 02. Being Governed By the Mind: Rational Thought 38 Chapter 03. Religious Faith: The Philosophy of Religion 70 Chapter 04. Personal Identity and Human Nature: Metaphysics 94 Chapter 05. How Things Seem and What They Are: Epistemology 122 Chapter 06. The Purpose of Living: Ethics 144 Chapter 07. Contemporary Trends 174 Notes 204 Selected Bibliography 208 Index 214 About the Author 218 ISBN,9781442205512,(cloth,:,alk.,paper),ISBN,9781442205536,(electronic) Rowman & Littlefield What the Tortoise Taught Us offers a lively, concise journey through Western philosophy that explores the lives of major philosophers, their ideas, and how their thinking continues to influence our lives today. Using a chronological approach, Burton F. Porter shows how various philosophers address life's big questions. By putting each philosopher and their ideas into historical context, he helps us understand how certain ideas developed based on the thinking of the time and how those ideas have influenced our modern perspectives