Philosophy Made Simple: A Complete Guide to the World’s Most Important Thinkers and Theories by Richard H. Popkin (PDF)

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For almost four decades, Made Simple books have set the standard for continuing education and home study. In answer to the changing needsof today’s marketplace, the Made Simple series for the ’90s presents a thoroughly up-to-the-minute portfolio of skills, information, and experience, with revised and updated editions of bestselling titles, plus a whole range of new subjects from personal finance to office management to desktop publishing.B & W illustrations throughout

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From the Publisher For almost four decades, Made Simple books have set the standard for continuing education and home study. In answer to the changing needsof today’s marketplace, the Made Simple series for the ’90s presents a thoroughly up-to-the-minute portfolio of skills, information, and experience, with revised and updated editions of bestselling titles, plus a whole range of new subjects from personal finance to office management to desktop publishing. B & W illustrations throughout From the Inside Flap For almost four decades, Made Simple books have set the standard for continuing education and home study. In answer to the changing needsof today’s marketplace, the Made Simple series for the ’90s presents a thoroughly up-to-the-minute portfolio of skills, information, and experience, with revised and updated editions of bestselling titles, plus a whole range of new subjects from personal finance to office management to desktop publishing.B & W illustrations throughout From the Back Cover For almost four decades, “Made Simple books have set the standard for continuing education and home study. In answer to the changing needsof today’s marketplace, the “Made Simple series for the ’90s presents a thoroughly up-to-the-minute portfolio of skills, information, and experience, with revised and updated editions of bestselling titles, plus a whole range of new subjects from personal finance to office management to desktop publishing. B & W illustrations throughout About the Author Richard H. Popkin was a prominent philosopher and professor who specialized in the history of enlightenment philosophy and early modern antidogmatism. Among his honors, Popkin was awarded the Nicholas Murray Butler Medal by Columbia University and was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the president emeritus and founding editor of the Journal of the History of Philosophy.Avrum Stroll was a distinguished philosopher and a noted scholar in the fields of epistemology, the philosophy of language, and twentieth-century analytic philosophy. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐In college a long time ago my nascent interest in philosophy was temporarily dimmed by a dull text. But it was positively sprightly compared to this book.The authors take an historical approach. If by “Simple” you expect “Introductory” then historical is not the right approach in any subject. (You wouldn’t, for example, plow through all of Euclid’s Geometry before learning decimal digits.) The result, for example, is that the second chapter deals with Politics. While important, political questions are hardly the most gripping that philosophy has to offer.Even as an introductory course in the history of philosophy, I can envisage a much better book than this one. It does have fine bibliographies at the end of each chapter, and would form a decent review book. There are a few amusing anecdotes, such as the one concerning a philosopher who testified about an auto accident.The last couple of chapters are better than the earlier ones would lead you to expect. The penultimate chapter deals mainly with deductive logic, and actually has exercises with answers. (If you enjoy this material, you will probably enjoy the more leisurely and thorough coverage given in “The Trivium” by Sister Miriam Joseph.) It also reviews fallacious reasoning. If you’re going to read this book, read this chapter first (the authors seldom let the dullness from one chapter darken any other discussion, so you can read the chapters in almost any order), and perhaps you will be sufficiently armed to spot the fallacies that led, for example, Hume to conclusions he himself regarded as absurd. The final chapter deals with modern trends, which possibly interest the authors more than classical philosophy.Philosophy can change your life. This dry tome is unlikely to. Never trust philosophers whose grasp of Latin permits them the misspelling “ad nauseum”!

⭐I have a bunch of Intro to Philosophy books, this one really helps understands the main Concepts and not just the “big ideas” in Philosophic history. Notable is the section on Logic. My only grief is the chapter order: it doesn’t seem to follow the Metaphysics, Epistomology, Ethics, Politics, Aesthetics flow. However, that doesn’t distract from the succinct way this book tackles your understanding of Introductory Concepts of Philosophy.

⭐How simple could it be? Well, it isn’t particularly, but it is more simple when you have this book. I first read this text as a freshman in junior college in 1972… Ugh. But I’ve referred to it ever since then, first as an introduction and later a quick resource for contrast and comparison. It was wonderful, and over the years it has been on my reference shelf and lent out to friends, students and my kids again and again. When I recently lost my original copy I was surprised to find that it was still in print, and didn’t hesitate to order a replacement. The viewpoints of each of the classic authors represented my not be detailed enough for every inquiry, but this book helps in overcoming the hesitation you may have when you want/need to read the writers for yourself. So, for this reader, as a survey of major philosophical views and concepts, this book is wonderful.

⭐I took two philosophy courses about 15 years ago when I was doing my undergraduate work. When I became interested in philosophy recently I found Philosophy Made Simple. For a mere ten dollars this book gives one a terrific introduction to philosophy. Don’t think just because it has “Made Simple” in the title that it is somehow overly dumbed down for the readers. The book conatains quite a few excerpts from some of the major thinkers in the history of philosophy. This book also gives one an overview of a number of different areas of philosophy which will be great for someone like me, who doesn’t even know where to start. You can then easily pull names of philosopers from whatever area you are interested in out of the book and begin reading their individual works as I have. Overall a great read.

⭐I bought this as a sort of “Cliff Notes” for philosophy, since I don’t really know much about the subject and wanted to learn more, particularly about contemporary philosophy. While the book is very thorough, it gets a little boring, and I kept wondering when it would discuss the contemporary stuff. Well it turns out that is only covered in the last like 10 pages, unfortunately. I ended up skimming large portions of the book, which is easy to do because critical sections are highlighted in bold. Overall pretty good, but if you’re looking for a quick summary of philosophy, this isn’t super quick.

⭐A good primer of Western philosophy, well explained in simple language. A very good starting point.

⭐I am reading Philosophy Made Simple for a discussion class on the basics of philosophy. The book covers the fundamentals of philosophy over the centuries in simple straight-forward language. It is easy to understand. Although it covers most all the big names in philosophy, occasionally some fairly important people are not mentioned. It is not comprehensive. It does have a nice breezy (but not condescending) tone. I will keep it for my library.

⭐I purchased this book to get an overview and update since it has been so long since I studied philosophy. The authors present an excellent summary of the history and major facets of philosophy without burdening the reader with too much detail. Each section is succinct and well balanced presenting the concepts and relevant pros and cons intelligently. I recommend this book for anyone desiring to become familiar with and obtain a basic understanding of philosophy and its specialized vocabulary.

⭐good

⭐Very comprehensive, consise. The facts are summarised, arguments put forth are easy discussion, analysis and for consideration. Thought provoking. This is the fifth time I am purchasing the book for my nephews and not to mention, Teo copies just for myself. No regrets!!

⭐One of the best philosophy books for beginners, althouh it does no cover Nietzsche, Freud and Jung

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