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The History of Philosophy
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 28 hrs and 6 mins
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The History of Philosophy
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Summary
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.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- avidreader
- 11-01-20
Excellent content.. Audible should sort navigation
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.
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Mick
- 28-06-21
Incredible concise history of philosophy
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Alan Johnson
- 28-03-21
Excellent introduction to Anglophone philosophy
An excellent introduction to Anglophone philosophy and it's roots and extensions written by a participant observer.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- George Luff
- 18-01-23
Extensive but a long haul
I could have done without the American accents - they added nothing and no other philosophers needed an accent e.g Aristotle wasn't read in a pastiche of Zorba the Greek. Reading speed a bit fast for such dense material. Otherwise comprehensive.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Horley, G
- 04-09-20
A daunting task well executed
For a lay reader the scope and substance of this book is impressive. The book engenders the same feelings of awe as books on fundamental physics or cosmology.
Inevitably the subject has its own technical jargon and some concepts and lines of reasoning were difficult to follow. This should however not be taken as a criticism of the book.
I hope my own vocabulary will have been extended through listening to the work!
Philosophy I now realise regards itself as providing a superset for all realms of thought, even religious thought.
The book has provided me with a varied and substantial entree to the subject. While some of the fare presented was barely intelligible, generally I have been encouraged to seek to examine my own life further. If this is the mission of the writer, the the book is a success.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Matthew Holmes
- 10-10-19
A great introduction to philosophy
A great book. As a novice in philosophy, I found it very informative and digestible. It is a long book, but given the content, I guess it has to be.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Kieran McLoughlin
- 02-03-21
A great entry into the subject.
After wishing to get into a comprehensive study into philosophy after watching various explanations of certain kinds, I decided to take the punt and try this very comprehensive overview of western philosophy as it originated (at least in text) all the way to our current ways of thinking. Overall, while the dives into the many different philosophies on view here can be and in many ways are understandably complex. I don't blame the author on this aspect. Philosophy is a complex and heavy subject in its own right. As such, there's only so much you can elaborate and explain in this respect. In all, if you want a comprehensive explanation to all things western philosophy, this is absolutely the book for you. The narrator performs quite well (though I wasn't so sure on his rare ventures to the American accent) and I respect the authors unwillingness to delve too far into philosophy beyond the west due to not being as well versed on these philosophies. I would like him to perhaps colloborate with academics who specialise in these philosophies so they could receive the same treatment. In all, a very good read.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. Timothy F. Morgan
- 24-01-22
Grayling amazing. Reader flawed.
Content great.
The reader mispronounced many names and terms. French and German names can be easily researched.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Safist
- 13-11-23
Comprehensive & Immersive
Excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed this very clear & balanced account of Philosophy's nature & history. The narrator is very good too. The malign role of religion as sometimes an obstacle and sometimes a murderous threat to Reason as deployed by Philosophy is clear.
I will have to actually read the appendix on Symbolic Logic at least twice though to get my head round it.
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- Samuel Marsden
- 15-02-20
Chapters
I recently left a Review that showed my frustration with the fact that chapters were not labelled, this has now been updated and everything is perfect. The book is perfect for any beginners as well as people like me who are deep into certain areas of philosophy but lack a completed understanding. Yes, you might be a hardcore Deleuzian or Hegelian, but this book can essentially work as a very long podcast to fill in gaps you might have, it isn't a very complex book, so you can listen to it while doing some less mentally exhaustive activities and not get lost or have to go back. Given that it covers so many areas of philosophy I got more than enough out of it for my money listening about Stoic, Eastern, Medieval and more obscure philosophers that I hadn't heard of before or given any attention, listening therefore continually filled gaps in my knowledge of philosophy and also made me aware of new philosophers to explore after I'm done reading the Critique of Pure reason for the 3rd damn time.
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11 people found this helpful