Product Details
- Pub. Date: November 2007
- Publisher: Basic Books
- Format: Hardcover, 240pp
- ISBN-13: 9780465004997
- ISBN: 0465004997
Synopsis
A tour of Western thought by one of the world's most eminent philosophers—in a book that fits in the palm of your hand
Scott Duimstra - Library Journal
In this brief overview, Kolakowski (senior research fellow, All Souls Coll., Oxford; Main Currents of Marxism) examines ideas and questions raised by past philosophers who have "opened up new directions of thought for future generations," among them Socrates, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, and Nietzsche. He explains that the book is not meant to be an introduction to philosophy, but an examination of the essential ideas in each of these philosophers' thought. The brief chapters, arranged in chronological sections, end with questions and contradictions that arise from their theories. Instead of answering these questions, the author leaves them for the reader to ponder. The book's strength is Kolakowski's choice of philosophers, whose topics cover a broad range, from the existence of God to epistemology and ethics. What's more, the writing is clear and straightforward, which makes the collection accessible for those new to philosophy. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.
Biography
Leszek Kolakowski is currently senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He has also taught at the University of Chicago, McGill University, UC Berkeley, and Yale University. He is the author of numerous books, including his masterpiece and magnum opus Main Currents of Marxism, published in three volumes in the 1970s and recently reissued in a single volume by Norton. He is the recipient of many major international awards, including the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society (2007), the Library of Congress John W. Kluge Prize in the Human Sciences awarded for lifetime achievement in the humanistic and social sciences (2004), a MacArthur ("genius") Fellowship (1983) as well as the German Booksellers Peace Prize (1977), the Erasmus Prize (1980) and the Veillon Foundation European Prize for the Essay (1980). He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a fellow of the Académie Universelle des Cultures, and a Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He lives in Oxford, England.