The Twenty Greatest
Philosophy Books, James Garvey,
Continuum International Publishing Group,
2006
I found this book by accident, whilst I was looking for
something else. I am glad I chose it –it is well-written, clear (even to me!)
and entertaining – how often can you say that about academic non-fiction?
Garvey leaves the complex jargon behind, instead choosing to write in plain,
easy-to-understand language.
Each
chapter is dedicated to a single book and author, so you can choose to start
anywhere, rather than have to read consecutively. Garvey does follow history,
beginning with Plato, and Aristotle, through to Enlightenment philosophers such
as René Descartes, John Locke, and David Hume, and 20
th century writers
such as Simone de Beauvoir, A.J Ayer, and Karl Popper. These books have shaped
social development, politics, economics, science, morality, asking the big
questions like – how do we know what we know? What is the purpose of existence?
Can we be certain of anything? How should we treat others? How should the idea
of justice be applied? And what does it all mean, anyway? They didn’t agree
with each other, and might not have come up with definite answers (after all,
what is definite?) but they all have one thing in common – at least they asked.
Years ago I found out the meaning of the word philosophy – a combination of
philo, a word meaning love; and Sophia, a word for wisdom, both from ancient
Greek. Garvey’s book is for beginners who love wisdom.
For other people’s
thoughts on this book and other books by James Garvey, go to http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2609229-the-twenty-greatest-philosophy-books
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