Ultimate Questions by Bryan Magee (PDF)

Description

How to live meaningfully in the face of the unknowableWe human beings had no say in existing―we just opened our eyes and found ourselves here. We have a fundamental need to understand who we are and the world we live in. Reason takes us a long way, but mystery remains. When our minds and senses are baffled, faith can seem justified―but faith is not knowledge. In Ultimate Questions, acclaimed philosopher Bryan Magee provocatively argues that we have no way of fathoming our own natures or finding definitive answers to the big questions we all face.With eloquence and grace, Magee urges us to be the mapmakers of what is intelligible, and to identify the boundaries of meaningfulness. He traces this tradition of thought to his chief philosophical mentors―Locke, Hume, Kant, and Schopenhauer―and shows why this approach to the enigma of existence can enrich our lives and transform our understanding of the human predicament. As Magee puts it, “There is a world of difference between being lost in the daylight and being lost in the dark.”The crowning achievement to a distinguished philosophical career, Ultimate Questions is a deeply personal meditation on the meaning of life and the ways we should live and face death.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Magee’s writing always makes very easy reading.”—Anthony Kenny, Standpoint”[Magee] writes with relaxed fluency.”—Rowan Williams, New Statesman”[Bryan Magee] writes with grace and offers a thoughtful summation of human experience.” ― Library Journal”Living and dying in a world we accept we do not understand may not sound easy, but if Magee is any guide, the reward of doing so is endless and profound wonder.”—Julian Baggini, Independent”Magee is refreshingly comfortable acknowledging the uncanniness of human experience, including the aesthetic as well as the ethical. . . . His case for acknowledging the extent of what we do not know is a useful corrective to ‘jolly hockey sticks’ humanism as well as religious dogma.”—Dolan Cummings, Spiked”[Ultimate Questions] is … a deeply personal and elegant summary of [Magee’s] own individual journey to and through profound philosophical questions.” ― Choice”Ultimate Questions is a brief book with powerful and meaningful ideas. . . . I highly praise Professor Magee for giving us a text that is readable, profound, relevant and interesting, and one that reignites the Socratic gadfly in philosophical practitioners and other students of living well.”—Robert J. Parmach, Philosophical Practice”A moving and profound reflection on life.”—David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer”Magee has lost none of his intellectual vigour and enthusiasm for tackling the big questions. . . . A superbly subtle meditation on life and the limits of understanding.”—P. D. Smith, The Guardian”[A] short, haunting and rather beautiful book.”—Jason Cowley, New Statesman Review “In this fluently written and beautifully clear book, Bryan Magee offers a series of reflections on the human condition, based on a lifetime’s study of the central questions of philosophy. Ultimate Questions is a personal testament, one that reflects a yearning for answers coupled with an honest, and indeed humble, admission that such answers cannot be reached.”―John Cottingham, author of Philosophy of Religion: Towards a More Humane Approach From the Back Cover “In this fluently written and beautifully clear book, Bryan Magee offers a series of reflections on the human condition, based on a lifetime’s study of the central questions of philosophy. Ultimate Questions is a personal testament, one that reflects a yearning for answers coupled with an honest, and indeed humble, admission that such answers cannot be reached.”–John Cottingham, author of Philosophy of Religion: Towards a More Humane Approach About the Author Bryan Magee has had an unusually multifaceted career as a professor of philosophy, music and theater critic, BBC broadcaster, and member of Parliament. His books, which have been translated into more than twenty languages, include The Story of Philosophy. He lives in Oxford, England. Read more

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

⭐In the past thirty-five years there have been two authors who have changed my life both intellectually and poetically. The first was Joseph Campbell and the second is Bryan Magee.Bryan Magee has led me on an adventure of the intellect through his 1970s television programs, his books on philosophy, his great works on Schopenhauer and Wagner, his autobiographies, his personal journey with “Confessions of a Philosopher,” and this volume, “Ultimate Questions.”His clarity in writing about philosophers and their philosophies is unequalled. I have multiple copies of his books that I have given away to friends as I never loan my personal copies as they contain my margin notes and underlining on almost every page. I wish I could have been a student of Mr. Magee’s at Oxford where he taught.I can say that Mr. Magee has illuminated my life and this book, “Ultimate Questions,” is a jewel of radiance in heart-felt convictions of a life lived in the mystery and wonder of existence without need of religious dogma.Thank you Mr. Magee for this book. Having read everything else you’ve written (with the exception of your book on interviewing which I can not find anywhere) I have for several years hoped you would find time to write just one more. I am again profoundly moved by your simple eloquence, your lucidity in thought, and your honesty in the examination of your long-lived life.To those who have enjoyed Mr. Magee’s past work, this is a treasure. To those who have never had the pleasure of reading Mr. Magee, you have an intellectually exciting journey ahead.

⭐Near the end of his life the author reflects on matters that have occupied him for all of his life. He writes about ultimate issues using understandable ordinary language without resorting to the technical language of professional philosophy, although the author was a professional philosopher. If you are of a reflective turn of mind still pursuing the mysteries of life and living join the author as he reflects on the ultimate. I wish that I could have raised a glass with him at his favorite pub. A good and wise man, a friend.

⭐This may be Bryan Magee’s best book, at least it is right up there with “The Story of Philosophy” and “The Philosophy of Schopenhauer.” I prefer philosophers who have a sense of wonder, who know they do not know it all, and are in some way humble about themselves. “The feeling for the miraculousness of life is a response not to this or that aspect of it but to the fact that it exists at all. Existence if the unbelievable thing.” I have a great admiration for any philosopher who exhibits “existence mysticism,” which is exactly what Bryan does here. This is an eminently readable book. It clearly states the wisdom he has sought over a life-time. You will be “wiser” for the reading of it!

⭐Great book. Big issues, big questions… Things we think about when we are getting old. My feeling, as usual when reading Magee, is that in those pages we can find great intellect and a lot of honesty. I tend to think a lot like Magee and feel his analysis and would be answers are very interesting and well elaborated. Short but profound book… Ultimate questions and sensible and rational answers.. Worth the time. Very much. Thank you Bryan!

⭐interesting read, too bad the class it was for was awful.

⭐What are we beyond the soft computing mush in our heads? What is reality beyond impulses into this mush? I’m a fan of Bryan Magee’s books. He can take philosophical concepts that others can only describe in vague abstract terms and explain them in concrete understandable ways. 5 stars.

⭐He is as honest as a philosopher can be, with the fewest delusions and the least denial of reality possible.

⭐Excellent support for the belief that what is unknowable now benefits from the same scrutiny as all experienced knowledge.All scrutiny is profitable.

⭐Approaching his ultimate questions, such as what might happen to us after death, from a non-theistic point of view, Bryan Magee takes his cues from Schopenhauer and argues that from man’s limited perspective (such as a vision that can only take in part of the light spectrum) much of reality is completely unknowable. Therefore, for example, there is a possibility, however slight, that something of the individual may persist after death. To those who are constitutionally unable to take refuge in the ‘promise’ of religion this is at least a little heartening. The writing is a little opaque at times, but this book is well worth reading. For an author to have himself reached an advanced age and still be an optimist is in itself a recommendation for his book.

⭐Distilling a lifetimes reflections on “Ultimate Questions” in to little over a hundred pages of eminently readable prose is an achievement in itself. This is one of those books that just keeps on prodding at what you thought you knew or understood about these questions. Every few pages I kept reflecting “I would never of thought of that”. His reflections are constantly illustrated by examples from life in a way that show how the Ultimate Questions he raises are of importance to every one of us.This is not an academic book full of footnotes and references but there are pointers to authors and works that were of importance to Bryan Magee’s journey.Buy this book it might just change the way you look at life. An astonishing read.

⭐This is a beautifully written book, containing in accessible form the eighty-year-ild Bryan Magee’s reflections on a life spent both in wrestling with philosophical questions and in public service. He argues convincingly that we know very little and that claims to know once-for-all truths are both stupid and dangerous. For that reason he is unsympathetic to religion, though it can be questioned that religions necessarily see themselves as having access to truths of this sort.The book is divided into seven chapters, none of them very long, which makes it an ideal book to use for discussion. This, coupled with a very reasonable price, means that I shall be ordering multiple copies for my University of the Third Age philosophy group. I anticipate some lively sessions!

⭐After years of amateur reading of philosophy books I finally came across this. Which appears to come to similar conclusions that I did. Just my opinion!

⭐would give five stars,but you reserve that for ‘love it’- a horrible phrase for mere objects.Bryan Magee is always superb and cheap second hand copies of all his works are exceptionally valuable.

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