検索キーワード： 著者 "Paul Strathern" すべてのカテゴリー

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Descartes in just one hour. Descartes was the first modern philosopher. His scepticism led him to doubt all certainties, until finally he arrived at his famous maxim 'I think therefore I am'. He would also apply his rationalism with great effect in science and mathematics, conceiving a scheme for scientific method and inventing Cartesian co-ordinates in geometry.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Kierkegaard in just one hour.Although Kierkegaard was not a philosopher in the academic sense, he produced what many people expect of philosophy. He didn’t write about the world, he wrote about life – how we live and how we choose to live, particularly focusing on the individual and the notion of his (or her) existence.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Locke in just one hour. Much of Locke’s thought we would now regard as common sense. One of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers; his philosophy was to lay the foundations of empiricism with its belief that our knowledge of the world is based on experience. Locke’s work introduced the idea of liberal democracy – a concept that has become the shibboleth of Western civilisation.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Spinoza in just one hour.Spinoza’s brilliant metaphysical system was derived neither from reality nor experience. Starting from basic axioms (assumptions), by means of a series of geometric proofs he built a universe which was also God – one and the same thing, the classic example of pantheism.

One of the two major philosophical traditions of the 20th century was linguistic analysis, derived largely from Wittgenstein. The other, diametrically opposed, came from Heidegger, and its fundamental question was: ‘What is the meaning of existence?’ For Heidegger, this was not a query that could simply be ‘analysed away’ - it was beyond the reach of logic or reason. This was the primary ‘given’ of every individual life.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Schopenhauer in just one hour.Arthur Schopenhauer, the ‘philosopher of pessimism,’ makes it clear that he regards the world and our life in it as a bad joke. However, if the world is indifferent to our fate it doesn’t thwart us deliberately – its façade is supported by what Schopenhauer calls the universal Will. He saw this as a force that is blind and without purpose, bringing on all our misery and suffering.

Karl Marx's philosophical critique of capitalism and his solution of communism directly led to the formation of the communist state in the Soviet Union. Whilst this great venture has now all but completely failed, Marx’s philosophy has proved to be arguably the most influential of the 20th century; the influence of Marxism can be seen in subjects as diverse as the infamous policies of Joseph Stalin to many of the progressive humanitarian reforms of the 20th century. The audiobook is an expert account of Marx’s life and philosophical ideas - entertainingly written and above all easy listening.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Confucius in just one hour.

This is the perfect audiobook for people who are on the go and don’t have time to read philosophy books but wish they knew more about certain people and how they influenced history. This is a concise, expert account of Confucious’ life and philosophical ideas - entertainingly written and most importantly easy listening. Also included are selections from Confucious’ work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Confucious in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Russell in just one hour. Bertrand Russell claimed to be driven by three great passions that drove his personal as well as his intellectual life: a longing for love, a quest for knowledge and a heart-rending pity for human suffering. His philosophical outlook, which took deep account of the science of his time, was nonetheless rooted in logic and empiricism.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Aristotle in just one hour. The philosophy of Aristotle dominated Western thought for over a thousand years. He had a mind that mastered all disciplines from mathematics to politics and had a continuing impact on every sphere of knowledge he touched. Above all, Aristotle is credited with the founding of logic.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Machiavelli in just one hour. Niccolò Machiavelli’s work remains misunderstood - synonymous with wicked scheming and underhand politics - nearly 350 years after his death. His philosophy of statecraft was scientific and highly rational, leaving sentiment, and ultimately morality, to one side.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Plato in just one hour. Plato is still seen by many as the greatest of all philosophers, inspiring many of the finest thinkers through the ages. Indeed, many see all later philosophy as nothing but attempts to answer the questions he raised. He founded the Academy, the world’s first university, in 387 BC and taught that the physical world is not reality but rather a reproduction of the true source.

Philosophy has always been dangerous for philosophers; Friedrich Nietzsche made it dangerous for everyone. His ideas presaged a collective madness which was to ravage Europe throughout the first half of the 20th century, drawing a chilling parallel with the insanity that gripped Nietzsche towards the end of his life. His philosophy is one of aphorisms and penetrating psychological insights, his major concept being the Will to Power - a notion that he saw as the basic impulse for all our acts.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Socrates in just one hour. Socrates is widely renowned as one of the founders of Western philosophy, despite the fact that his ideas survive largely through the work of his pupil Plato. Socrates’ dialectic – a method of aggressive questioning – was the forerunner of logic; he used it to cut through the pretentions of his adversaries and arrive at the truth.

Rise and Fall opens with the Akkadian Empire, which ruled over a vast expanse of the region of ancient Mesopotamia, then turns to the immense Roman Empire, where we trace back our Western and Eastern roots. Next Strathern describes how a great deal of Western classical culture was developed in the Abbasid and Umayyid Caliphates. Then, while Europe was beginning to emerge from a period of cultural stagnation, it almost fell to a whirlwind invasion from the East, at which point we meet the Emperors of the Mongol Empire....

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Aquinas in just one hour. Aquinas' influence stretches far across the western world; much modern philosophy has been conceived as either a reaction against, or in accordance with, his original ideas. This audiobook showcases an account of Thomas Aquinas’s life and philosophical ideas - entertainingly written and is above all easy listening. Also included are selections from Thomas Aquinas' work.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Rousseau in just one hour. In Rousseau we encounter a walking ego, a naked sensibility - his arguments are both deeply stirring and deeply inconsistent. Yet whilst his contemporaries Kant and Hume may have been superior academic philosophers, the sheer power of Rousseau’s ideas was unequalled in his time.

Focusing on key characters from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Louis XIV and Charles I, Dark Brilliance is a fascinating and wide-ranging history that explores the human costs of imposing progress and modernity.

"El brillante sistema metafísico de Spinoza no se deriva de la realidad ni de la experiencia. Partiendo de unos supuestos básicos, y a través de una serie de pruebas presentadas al estilo de la geometría, construye un universo que es también Dios, una sola cosa en él, constituyendo así el...

"Kierkegaard no fue realmente filósofo en un sentido académico y, sin embargo, produjo lo que mucha gente espera de la filosofía. No escribió acerca del mundo, sino sobre la vida, sobre cómo la vivimos y cómo la elegimos. Su objeto de estudio es el individuo y la existencia del mismo: «el...