The Philosopher: A History in Six Types by Justin E. H. Smith (PDF)

Description

How the role of the philosopher has changed over time and across cultures―and what it reveals about philosophy todayWhat would the global history of philosophy look like if it were told not as a story of ideas but as a series of job descriptions―ones that might have been used to fill the position of philosopher at different times and places over the past 2,500 years? The Philosopher does just that, providing a new way of looking at the history of philosophy by bringing to life six kinds of figures who have occupied the role of philosopher in a wide range of societies around the world over the millennia―the Natural Philosopher, the Sage, the Gadfly, the Ascetic, the Mandarin, and the Courtier. The result is at once an unconventional introduction to the global history of philosophy and an original exploration of what philosophy has been―and perhaps could be again.By uncovering forgotten or neglected philosophical job descriptions, the book reveals that philosophy is a universal activity, much broader―and more gender inclusive―than we normally think today. In doing so, The Philosopher challenges us to reconsider our idea of what philosophers can do and what counts as philosophy.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Winner of the 2017 PROSE Award in Philosophy, Association of American Publishers””Clear, engaging and enlightening.”—Stephen Gaukroger, Times Literary Supplement”The Philosopheris a fun book to read for anyone, professional philosophers included.”—Siddharth Singh, Open Magazine”The strength of Smith’s approach is to demonstrate philosophical thought in action, and the book comes into its own when introducing readers to philosophers outside the recognized canon.”—Joe Humphreys, Irish Times”The array of thinkers cited is gender and culture inclusive, and the writing style is stylish and interspersed with touches of humor.” ― Choice”A thoughtful, provocative, and quietly confident account of what it is to do philosophy.”—Sarah Gustafson, Key Reporter”This is a lovely book: honest and open-minded, it is seeking to do something genuinely important. I wish more books in philosophy were as generous as this one is in its desire to hold things open and in its willingness genuinely to listen to multiple voices.”—Christopher Hamilton, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Review “Justin Smith’s graceful and lucidly argued history of philosophy asks us to rethink our assumptions about both history and philosophy. More than a survey, full of surprising selections and juxtapositions, Smith’s work holds delights for any curious reader and raises important challenges to the dominant categories of philosophy and philosophers in the contemporary university. A much-needed book, both inside and outside the academy.”―Marco Roth, editor and cofounder of n+1magazine”Justin Smith’s The Philosopher is erudite, incisive, beautifully written, and often hilarious―a wild and exhilarating examination of the ambitions of philosophers to understand life from more perspectives than even Nietzsche would have dared. Smith is as comfortable and clever discussing Leibniz on Chinese theology as he is Laurence Sterne, T. S. Eliot, or J. M. Coetzee. If you like philosophy, you will be delighted with this book.”―Clancy Martin, author of Love and Lies”Sophisticated and provocative, The Philosopher is an outstanding exploration of possible ways to redefine philosophy today by examining its multifaceted pasts. One of the book’s most exciting aspects is the way it revises the Eurocentric view of philosophy by using a very original global framework.”―Stéphane van Damme, European University Institute, Florence”The Philosopher is a terrific, much-needed, and important book that should be read by all philosophers. Smith’s thoughtfulness is as illuminating as his erudition is astonishing.”―Aaron Garrett, Boston University From the Back Cover “Justin Smith’s graceful and lucidly argued history of philosophy asks us to rethink our assumptions about both history and philosophy. More than a survey, full of surprising selections and juxtapositions, Smith’s work holds delights for any curious reader and raises important challenges to the dominant categories of philosophy and philosophers in the contemporary university. A much-needed book, both inside and outside the academy.”–Marco Roth, editor and cofounder of n+1magazine”Justin Smith’s The Philosopher is erudite, incisive, beautifully written, and often hilarious–a wild and exhilarating examination of the ambitions of philosophers to understand life from more perspectives than even Nietzsche would have dared. Smith is as comfortable and clever discussing Leibniz on Chinese theology as he is Laurence Sterne, T. S. Eliot, or J. M. Coetzee. If you like philosophy, you will be delighted with this book.”–Clancy Martin, author of Love and Lies”Sophisticated and provocative, The Philosopher is an outstanding exploration of possible ways to redefine philosophy today by examining its multifaceted pasts. One of the book’s most exciting aspects is the way it revises the Eurocentric view of philosophy by using a very original global framework.”–Stéphane van Damme, European University Institute, Florence”The Philosopher is a terrific, much-needed, and important book that should be read by all philosophers. Smith’s thoughtfulness is as illuminating as his erudition is astonishing.”–Aaron Garrett, Boston University About the Author Justin E. H. Smith is university professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Université Paris Diderot―Paris VII. He is the author of Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference: Race in Early Modern Philosophy and Divine Machines: Leibniz and the Sciences of Life (both Princeton). He writes frequently for the New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Cabinet Magazine, and other publications. Read more

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

⭐Sometimes political correctness is a path to the truth. This is a very PC effort. It features in women, POC, African Catholic priests, Muslims, Hindus, expat philosophers-for-hire. This is fun. The author is erudite and it’s interesting to see how the research, reading and interests of another differ, and sometimes differ markedly, from one’s own philosophic interests. This is fun too. The author wears his erudition lightly, perhaps too lightly. One reads philosophy to get at the root of things via insights that can be appropriated and put to work. There was less of this than I had hoped for, but that is more often the case than not with contemporary books about philosophy, so I don’t want to be too unappreciative of Prof Smith, who allows his sense of humor to peek through the prose frequently and entertainingly, thus keeping one reading on this still-vital subject. The book spends a fair amount of time on the well-known past and present fault lines of philosophy. Maybe this is inevitable for a historian of philosophy, which the author says he is. He cites Montaigne frequently, but, until the last section where he hires out as a philosopher-by-the-hour whose office is Parisian sidewalk cafes, he doesn’t rise to Montaigne’s level of “philosophy.” Nonetheless, his sidewalk philosophizing is a lovely, even courageous, idea. It is too bad this was not developed with more of a novelist’s eye, but that’s asking for something the author never intended, even if he did lapse into fictional writing at many points in the book. In the popular imagination, if such a thing exists, philosophy continues its melancholy, long withdrawing roar. Could the Professor have done more to arrest this tend? You won’t know unless you read the book.

⭐Professor Smith has written an engaging account of how and why philosophy, both as a concept and as practiced (professionally or otherwise), encompasses both more and less than commonly understood. The encouraging thought one takes away from his musings is that all of us, in one fashion or another, might well from time to time be engaged in philosophy, i.e., such ruminations are not restricted to those schooled in the discipline. A minor cavil: the Professor is a bit prone to displaying his elevated vocabulary, with a tendency to repeat (where were his editors?) certain favorites, e.g., plaidoyer, agentive. The volume is slender enough, but the text could have been trimmed further.

⭐It is rare for issues of such depth to be discussed with such clarity. Professor Smith is an extraordinary writer with a understanding of life and people which gets to the real meaning and significance of events and ideas . A challenge to read, enlightening to read and a joy to read.

⭐I found this book meandering and it lost my interest too soon.

⭐Rich in detail and argumentation. Compelling for professors and philosophy students alike.

⭐Appalling condition. Falling apart when opened and the text is not even printed straight on the page.

⭐I just finished this exhilarating book. What is it? A typology of philosophers? An intellectual reckoning against philosophical scum, sclerosis, and syphilis? A declaration of love for the only philosophy that lives, breathes, and counts? A Declaration of Independence for true adventures of the mind (and much more)?This book is a thrilling, witty, and sincere combination of all of the above and a voice I have been waiting for (nearly without hope) for two decades. Justin Smith has sent a signal from a philosophical star I feared had gone extinct with the destruction of Reason at our castrated and enthralled institutions of higher education that have been taken over by philosophical zombies and lackeys performing intellectual torture and lobotomy on unsuspecting undergraduates seeking truth and wisdom.Smith’s courage and curiosity that invites us to look beyond the canon (both traditional and the latest “non-canon” fads), his unwillingness to limit philosophy to the textual alone, his insight that philosophy is an ore that’s damaged when separated and refined into its “pure” form, disentangled from the rest of human interests and endeavors, and his deep commitment to the original philosophical project of human happiness through a true understanding of the world, ourselves, and our place in this world makes him so refreshing to read and so welcome as beautiful rain after a long drought. What I love is also his determination to bring back to philosophy what have always been part and parcel of philosophy: science/ literature/ poetry/ art/ humor/ history and culture.His chapter on unpacking books and trying to sort between “philosophy” and “everything else” brought a smile to my face. Not only the question of where to place the Metaphysical poets or the poetry of Lucretius, but also where to put ethnobotany, Tristam Shandy, cookbooks, and other such “non-philosophy” tomes? Looking at my shelves of diverse interests and the chaos in my experimental kitchen garden, I couldn’t help but agree: it’s all philosophy, it’s all archeology of human endeavor, curiosity, and exploring.Reading Smith, I was reminded of my youthful days of wonder roaming Ivy League libraries, haunting college town used book stores, and exploring what seemed to be endless shelves in book barns as a child and teenager. The fascinating and illuminating readings in literature, poetry, art, nature, science, history, sociology and philosophy of an autodidact young person was bitterly disappointed when I went to university and progressed through my education in Upstate NY, France, and Germany. In Academia, I encountered in the 2000s a much narrower and myopic world of departmental turf wars, politics, where everything was important except for truth and interdisciplinary approach to knowledge and reality. Interdisciplinary thinking caused existential Angst among accredited professors jealous of their authority to judge within clearly defined cordoned off precincts. It felt like the mosaic of minuscule Biedermeier German principalities all tense and petrified in their mutual balance of power.Smith’s book cuts through this corseted, fettered, hobbled, and castrated present interpretation of philosophy and liberates it to its free and natural state of health, vitality, expanse, eros, and intellectual integrity. It’s a joy to hear this lover of wisdom defending philosophy’s freedom against all her enemies past and present (cutting Nietzsche down to size, ridiculing irrational self-flagellants, bringing Derrida into proper context, dishing the dirt on postmodern, post-structualist, postprocessual, and deconstructivist destruction projects, and so much more delicious morsels of precision justice). He seems to do it with delightful relish.In short: this book gave me hope that Philosophy will survive whatever institutional decadence still awaits us, because philosophy started outside of institutions and philosophers in title don’t have any monopoly on the project. I can’t agree more on this point and cheer on the living room, street café, and al fresco underground philosophers who continue the project without the mandarins, courtiers, and mercenaries hogging titles, positions, and authority in the “academic protection racket” usurping what is every person’s natural birthright. I loved this book, as I loved his “Irrationality”, and can’t wait to read more from Justin Smith.

⭐This book does nothing to further the project proposed in its preface and says almost nothing interesting or valuable.I read this book with two friends who also studied philosophy at a graduate level and we agreed that this book is not worth reading.

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