Product Description

A complete summary of the views of the most important philosophers in Western civilization. Each major field of philosophic inquiry comprises a separate chapter for greater accessibility. Includes Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Dewey, Sartre, and many others.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #165657 in Books
• Published on: 1962-09-01
• Released on: 1962-09-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From the Publisher
A complete summary of the views of the most important philosophers in Western civilization. Each major field of philosophic inquiry comprises a separate chapter for greater accessibility. Includes Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Dewey, Sartre, and many others.

From the Inside Flap
A complete summary of the views of the most important philosophers in Western civilization. Each major field of philosophic inquiry comprises a separate chapter for greater accessibility. Includes Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Dewey, Sartre, and many others.

Customer Reviews

A general introduction to the Great Ideas
[A human] "must think; and thinking is the pathway to philosophy....Your philosophy, then, is the meaning which the world has for you. It is your answer to the question, 'Why?'" (1).

So begins S. E. Frost, Jr. in Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers. He divides the topics of philosophy into ten major problems in order "to bring together what each philosopher has written on each of these problems as briefly and concisely as possible" (3). Other reviewers take issue with his arrangement, and, indeed, it has its problems (too brief, too concise and sometimes puzzling); however, the previous quote shows Frost's very clear purpose in being brief and concise. If the reader prefers a chronological, historical survey of the ideas of great thinkers, then Durant's Story of Philosophy (Touchstone Books (Paperback)), Bertrand's A History of Western Philosophy, or The Oxford Illustrated History of Western Philosophy (Oxford Illustrated Histories) are the books to consult.

However, the book at hand is this one: Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers with each chapter a chronological survey of one idea. For example, Chapter 1, "The Nature of the Universe," addresses such questions as How did the universe come to be? Who or what made it, and how was it made? and so on. Some of the early answers seem comical, but they formed the basics used by the next thinker. The ancient Greek thinker, Thales, about 600 BC, considered water as the "stuff" of the universe, Anaxamines thought it "air," and Pythagoras and his followers believed the universe was made up of numbers. (Wherever you are, look around and find something not made of numbers.)

Heraclitus gave us "fire" as the "stuff" because it is always changing, making change the constant. His famous observation (and one which always thrills me) is this: "You could not step twice into the same river, for other and yet other waters are ever flowing on." Plato's idea of the copy world in changing, decaying matter and perfect forms in a non-matter, ideal, unchanging world, of course, set the standards for philosophers ever after in addressing the problem of nature. Aristotle tried to merge matter with form and charge it with purpose. A thing's raison d'etre was teleological, or a striving to realize its purpose. Christian thinkers based their proof of God and His world on Greek thought.

All these developments led to the schism between faith and science in the medieval period. The forms, ideas, universals of Plato and Aristotle became the basis for religious, philosophical thought in that these universals are what is real and sense objects are mere copies. The soul in heaven is real; man's flesh and blood body is what decays. Science developed from the opposite: that things we experience are what is real and that universals exist in our minds. That is why faith is based on what cannot be proved and science is based on what is set before us and can be measured.

Galileo, Newton, Bacon--all their ideas relating to the problem of nature are briefly explained. One thinker of interest here on Amazon is Giordano Bruno, who believed "the universe is composed of numerous uncaused and wholly imperishable parts...called monads"(29). He also said that the universe remains constant and that only its parts change. Descartes' great contribution to science was his idea of dualism, or the two-fold nature of the mind and body, making each measurable. "I think, therefore, I am."

Others, Spinoza as the "God-intoxicated man," Locke, Hume, Leibnitz, Kant and his "categorical imperative," Hegel, Mill, James, Dewey and his Pragmatism, and Santayana are included and summarized.

All other nine chapters follow this outline of identifying and introducing the problem, then chronologically showing the development of thought of the most significant philosophers concerning the problem. Other chapters address Man, Good and Evil, the Nature of God, Fate versus Free Will, Soul and Immortality, Man and State, Education, Mind and Matter, and Ideas and Thinking.

This book is satisfactory if the reader is seeking a general address of the Great Ideas. According to Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living." Frost hands us a "brief, concise" summary of these ideas to think about and form our philosophy.

Great!
Let's face it: For most of us understanding what ancient philosophers had to say has the same curiosity value as what was life was like in ancient Sumeria or just how do they manage to get all that white stuff inside a twinkie.

In this regard this book on great philosophers is...well...great!

In a short, accessible 274 pages Frost manages to take you all the way from the pre Socratics all the way up to then contemporary thinkers like Martin Buber (remember this book was originally written in the 1940s). Not only does he do this but he also manages to take on the philosophers in an issue by issue treatment for example sequentially treating the philosophers on topics like what they had to say about free will.

In reading the book it's easy to see just how philosophy has reacted to and not led the crest of scientific inovation.

Sure you can pick up other texts on what these guys had to say but this book will be as good as any other of the introductory texts mentioned for learning their inaccurate and now largely irrelevant reflections.

Now you just need to find a good Sumerian life book and one on Introductory Twinkie filling to complete your library.

Mediocre - you can do better
This treatment of philosophers is not terrible, but neither is it all that good. The treatment is cursory, which is inevitable for a work this brief, but is also not particularly insightful.

Of course, the ideal is to read the philosophers themselves. Anything other than that is third best (there is no second best).

But for those who want a survey without taking the time to read all the philosophers, there are better alternatives.

As a more scholarly but still quite readable alternative, consider Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy. His organization is different from Frost's, in that he doesn't deal separately with different issues, but he gives more coherence to each philosopher's approach. Another option is Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy. Although now more than 75 years old, it's still a magnificent introduction to philosophical thinking.

For a bit more depth on individual philosophers, consider the Paul Strathern's "in 90 minutes" series (Plato in 90 minutes, Aristotle in 90 minutes, etc.) These vary somewhat in quality, but are generally readable and will help you understand what these philosopheers were doing and their place in history.

If you like the topical approach that Frost uses, go to your library and see whether you can check out the Syntopicon volumes of the "Great Books of the Western World" series. These are excellent essays, usually about ten pages, on the "great ideas," outlining the train of thought over the centuries and containing extensive cross-references to what the primary philosophers and writers have had to say about these issues. These are superb and woefully underutilized volumes.

Other recommended general volumes for those who want an introductory look at philosophical thinking include Mortimer Adler's "Six Great Ideas" and "Ten Philosophical Mistakes," and Bertrand Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy."