A review by edgeworthstan2000
A Brief History of Thought: A Philosophical Guide to Living, by Luc Ferry
4.0
This is a great introduction to philosophy, though the chapter on Nietzsche drags a lot. I haven't read a lot of philosophy but i think its approach is pretty unique -- it presents philosophy as a search for salvation, though this approach is only really in the foreground in the first and last chapters.
At the end Ferry tries to get away from the "corrosive clarity" of deconstruction and talks about what a new philosophy might look like -- "immanence within transcendence" -- which is almost like a New Testament philosophy minus God: "to develop, on one's own account, without any illusions, something resembling a 'wisdom of love' -- as well as a love of wisdom." Which rings a little hollow. Still, there are a lot of good insights in the main part of the book & helpful summaries of major ideas
At the end Ferry tries to get away from the "corrosive clarity" of deconstruction and talks about what a new philosophy might look like -- "immanence within transcendence" -- which is almost like a New Testament philosophy minus God: "to develop, on one's own account, without any illusions, something resembling a 'wisdom of love' -- as well as a love of wisdom." Which rings a little hollow. Still, there are a lot of good insights in the main part of the book & helpful summaries of major ideas