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The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

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itsalisaleh's review against another edition

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3.0

I did not want to be reading TOK

james_forster's review against another edition

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challenging reflective fast-paced

4.25

adrianlwaller's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

jacobwaller's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5/5

All around this book was a nice intro to some of things philosophy can and can’t do as a discipline and demonstrated the functionality of philosophy in some practical ways. It also provided a pretty good intro to the basics of epistemology and logic, which helps a lot in breaking down arguments and analyzing them. Some of it can be a bit dry, but the last two chapters, especially the last one, end it off nicely.

jackbau's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This was a wonderful book. The chapters were short and built upon each other. The reader gets a brief introduction to each problem, which all amalgamate into a fine introduction to philosophy. It made me think a lot, and I found myself discussing the ideas pondered in my journals. Some of the matters regarding science are outdated but they weren't at the time of publishing so that's only natural. One last thing I was delightfully surprised by was Mr Russel's prose; it is clear, concise and manages to tackle formal questions with almost informal terminology, no overwhelming technical jargon (which I don't mind anyway, but it's impressive still). I'm glad that I accepted this invitation to philosophical contemplation.

Greatness of soul is not fostered by those philosophies which assimilate the universe to Man. Knowledge is a form of union of Self and not-Self.

The impartiality which, in contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth, is the very same quality of mind which, in action, is justice, and in emotion is ... universal love.