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The History of Philosophy

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The History of Philosophy

By: A. C. Grayling
Narrated by: Neil Gardner
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The History of Philosophy written by A.C. Grayling, read by Neil Gardner.

The story of philosophy is an epic tale: an exploration of the ideas, views and teachings of some of the most creative minds known to humanity. But since the long-popular classic Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, first published in 1945, there has been no comprehensive and entertaining, single-volume history of this great intellectual journey.

With his characteristic clarity and elegance A. C. Grayling takes the reader from the world-views and moralities before the age of the Buddha, Confucius and Socrates, through Christianity's dominance of the European mind to the Renaissance and Enlightenment, and on to Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre, and philosophy today. And, since the story of philosophy is incomplete without mention of the great philosophical traditions of India, China and the Persian-Arabic world, he gives a comparative survey of them too.

Intelligible for students and eye-opening for philosophy readers, he covers epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, logic, the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language, political philosophy and the history of debates in these areas of enquiry, through the ideas of the celebrated philosophers as well as less well-known influential thinkers. He also asks what we have learnt from this body of thought, and what progress is still to be made.

The first authoritative and accessible single-volume history of philosophy for decades, remarkable for its range and clarity, this is a landmark work.

Eastern Ethics & Morality Greek & Roman History Logic & Language Philosophy Morality Metaphysical Mathematics Socialism Middle Ages China

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Critic reviews

A cerebrally enjoyable survey, written with great clarity and touches of wit . . . The non-western section throws up some fascinating revelations
Grayling has written a masterful and often entertaining chronicle of the epic intellectual journey we humans have taken, in different periods, countries and cultures, to understand ourselves, our world, and how we ought to live. An extraordinary accomplishment that transcends the usual bounds of academic specialization (Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University)
Accurately offers itself as a successor to [Bertrand] Russell's classic survey . . . No other popular survey possesses this range . . . The History of Philosophy isn't just worth buying; it's worth scribbling in and dog-earing. For a work of scholarship, there can be no higher praise. (Michael Dirda)
He's more historically-minded than Russell, less dogmatic than Dawkins and less in thrall to the charms of his own fluency than Hitchens (Prospect on The Challenge of Things)
Undeniably thought-provoking
Grayling is particularly good at illuminating the knottiness of moral discourse
Lucid, informative and admirably accessible
Grayling writes with clarity, elegance and the occasional aphoristic twist
Five minutes with any passage will have you contemplating all day
I find the clarity of his thinking so refreshing
All stars
Most relevant
An instant classic. Big update and improvement upon Russell's. Interesting and relevant bio of each philosopher in the time line. A thoughtful history, well composed, it shows a great sense of balanced judgements, he's generous to those he doesn't agree with. If this was released anonymously I would have still loved this but I do admit I've been long time fan of A. C. Grayling, Towards the Light and Among Dead Cities have been influential on me over the last ten years since I read them.

Instant classic

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I don't have a a deep knowledge of philosophy as some of the other reviewers clearly have. but in my own opinion this is quite clearly an incredible book in what in manages to achieve. the narrator is one of the best I've come across also. A book to be read and re read and infinitum, there is just so much information here.

Incredible concise history of philosophy

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First off, Grayling’s work is clear, concise and easily absorbable as an audio book. It is possible to come away feeling one has been immersed in, and received a good basic education in philosophy. BUT, the narrator mispronounced so many names of continental philosophers that I was left cringing, wincing and had a sinking feeling about the overall quality of the product. Can’t be that difficult to have quality control for audiobook recordings?

Excellent grand sweep - let down by slew of mispronunciations

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Nice bite size chapters that feed you enough to decide if you want to find out more.

Snappy introduction to the subject

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Audible need to add detailed chapter headings (chapter no.s only) otherwise you can’t navigate through the 28 hours of Grayling’s excellent content.

Excellent content.. Audible should sort navigation

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