Scan barcode
zuomiriam's review against another edition
5.0
An exceedingly impressive piece of scholarly work. Grayling lays out dense, often obscure ideas in a structured and largely accessible way that invites you to engage with the material. This book offers a fairly comprehensive view of the "big names" in philosophy - primarily metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and ethics - starting from Thales; it presupposes no background in philosophy, nor does it wander into theology or what we now consider science (but for much of history was also included under the umbrella of philosophy). The sections on Western philosophy are much more in-depth than those on non-Western ones, as that's where Grayling's expertise lies, but the book as a whole offers a compelling entry point and invites further studying. It does take a little while to get through, and significantly longer if you really want to retain what Grayling writes, but I firmly think it's worth the effort.
hzcyr's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.25
Reading this is like drinking the ocean through a straw. Enjoyed learning it but will only remember a feeling of it and some fractured declarative information.
cassandra67b07's review against another edition
5.0
I am slowly working my way through this one and finding it an excellent and highly readable survey of philosophy in all its dimensions. I especially appreciate the inclusion of Asian, Southeast Asian, Persian/Arabic philosophical traditions. The writing is scholarly, engrossing and often witty. It's unfortunately too long for my freshman students in the philosophy survey course, but I've ordered it for my college library and the local public library.
Thank you for the eARC from Edelweiss for review.
Thank you for the eARC from Edelweiss for review.
curiouskey's review against another edition
5.0
While Bertrand Russel's work on the history of philosophy is still (and for good reason) the most well-known and respected text on the subject, this new history of philosophy manages to outdo it.
Reasons to read this over Russell:
This is a more impartial text, and where it is partial, wears it on it's sleeve.
This text also covers philosophical concepts outside of the western milieu, which Russell's text largely ignores.
This text, for obvious reasons, is able to cover more contemporary philosophy.
Read Russell for the historiographical context it supplies, but read this if you want an introduction to the history of philosophy.
Reasons to read this over Russell:
This is a more impartial text, and where it is partial, wears it on it's sleeve.
This text also covers philosophical concepts outside of the western milieu, which Russell's text largely ignores.
This text, for obvious reasons, is able to cover more contemporary philosophy.
Read Russell for the historiographical context it supplies, but read this if you want an introduction to the history of philosophy.
_tourist's review against another edition
intellectual grazing food. varied, small individual pieces, yet rich and filling in aggregate. kept me going for weeks.
jedwardsusc's review against another edition
4.0
Basically an updated version of Bertrand Russell’s work.
kaspervere's review against another edition
5.0
A masterful completion of a very ambitious project. Grayling manages to cover over two thousand years of western philosophy in a succinct and understandable way. As well as short but enlightening surveys of Indian, Chinese and Arabic philosophy.
mycaecillianatemyhomework's review against another edition
4.0
Now when I hear of see a philosopher's name I know where and when they were from and at least one of their main ideas. Philosophy seems a lot less mysterious now and the geographic and historical context that each philosopher and their ideas gets put into is very helpful.