A Passion for Wisdom: A Very Brief History of Philosophy - Softcover

Solomon, Robert C.; Higgins, Kathleen M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195112091 ISBN 13: 9780195112092

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Readers eager to acquire a basic familiarity with the history of philosophy but intimidated by the task will find in A Passion for Wisdom a lively, accessible, and highly enjoyable tour of the world's great ideas. Here, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins tell the story of philosophy's development with great clarity and refreshing wit.
The authors begin with the most ancient religious beliefs of the east and west and bring us right up to the feminist and multicultural philosophies of the present. Along the way, they highlight major philosophers, from Plato and the Buddha to William James and Simone de Beauvoir, and explore major categories, from metaphysics and ethics to politics and logic. The book is enlivened as well by telling anecdotes and sparkling quotations. Among many memorable observations, we're treated to Thomas Hobbes' assessment that life is "nasty, brutish, and short" and Hegel's description of Napoleon as "world history on horseback." Engaging, comprehensive, and delightfully written, A Passion for Wisdom is a splendid introduction to an intellectual tradition that reaches back over three thousand years.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins are both Professors of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. This is their seventh book together.

From Library Journal:

"Short" histories of philosophy often have at least one of the following defects: they ignore some philosophers or movements that are significant in the discipline; they try to cover too much ground and give nothing more than a simplistic overview; or they wholly ignore philosophy that is not part of the Western tradition. Solomon and Higgins (A Short History of Philosophy, LJ 11/15/95) have happily avoided all three pitfalls here. Part one not only examines the Greek roots of Western philosophy but also looks at philosophical traditions in India, elsewhere in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Part two covers the period from the origins of Christianity to the rise of Islam to Adam Smith; Part three begins with Kant and ends with a brief look at postmodernism. Considering the ground covered in 132 pages, Solomon and Higgins have managed to keep their history clear and understandable, and the newcomer should have no difficulty tracing its development. Recommended for public libraries.?Terry C. Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0195112091
• ISBN 13: 9780195112092
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160