From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest

I have to say that this is probably still, after forty years one of the best introductions to philosophy I’ve read. I’m addicted to the compendium video series as well. I like the personal touch of how TZ Lavine focuses on the philosophers themselves, their quirks and peccadilloes rather than on the abstract notion of philosophy. This gives the book a biographical feel that allows beginners, new to philosophy, to more easily connect ideas with people, times and places. There are no philosophies, as Nietzsche says. There are only philosophers.Lavine goes from era to era through the history of Western philosophy, without revealing where her heart lies or the school of thought she embraces. Occasionally, in the video series, she betrays a wry look of irony or a poignant smile suggesting what she’s really thinking, but mostly it’s guess work on our part because she ends up criticizing and “demolishing” all the major branches of philosophy that she comes into contact with. First she builds them up to the highest level possible and, in this way, reveals how each philosophy however erroneous is a creative expression that fits into the overall history of philosophical thought. It’s only after we think she’s in total agreement with the philosopher that she starts bringing them back down to earth again and revealing their catastrophic short sightedness. In the end no one evades her wrecking ball. We go from Socrates in ancient Greece, to Descartes in 17th century Europe, to Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx and finally to Sartre in 20th century existentialism.This gamesmanship style of hers, of pitting one philosophy against another within the boxing ring of history, could be the secret equation for the success she enjoyed in the late 1970s. People like constructive contention that leads somewhere. It’s entertaining. When I took an entry level philosophy course at a community college down the road this book was still used as the central text, in 2007. Undergraduate students need to be entertained and, in fact, it’s through this mode of entertainment that they learn about ideas that they would otherwise have absolutely no connection to whatsoever.A little information about the video series that you can’t find anywhere: A YouTuber uploaded the individual TV episodes to his channel, tallying sizeable viewership numbers in a matter of weeks, before not only the videos but the entire channel was taken down; hundreds of videos and thousands of subscribers flushed down the e-toilet had to be re uploaded onto a new channel, minus the work of TZ Lavine. PBS Baltimore is the copyright owner, I believe. To watch the episodes you have to go directly to their site at american archive . org.

Well written and, if not easy, at least possible to follow. Most of the Philosophy I have read has not impressed me in terms of the writing style. It would seem philosophers are fond of verbose, convoluted compound complex sentences with multiple levels of parenthetic phrases – what we in the natural sciences call bad writing. In this survey of the subject, T. Z. Lavine shows that it does not have to be that way. Just read the short introduction to the chapter on Hume and see if you are not intrigued. I am glad to now have a Kindle version in my library.

I liked the continuity, that is the care they have taken to compare and contrast each thinker with the previous one. There is no unexplained jargon or excessive abstraction.This book suffers from a weakness that appears to run through all of mainstream philosophy (at least in my limited experience, namely to focus on argument, debate and the achievements of individual thinkers (men, of course)

Great book... if you're into deep and critical thinking. Definatley not a book you would want to read for "fun", unless your a fan of philosophy. This was required reading for my philosophy class. It had a decent amount of info on various philosophers, but at times the material became a bit heavy. Thats nothing aganist the author, since the subject matter is rather deep.if youre look for a nicely priced book that condenses all the info you could possibly need to know about various philosophers, than this is your book. I also recieved my book on time.

Concise overview and excellent reference book.

Even though this book is getting on in years (1984), I found it a very readable way into understanding philosophy. It focuses on 5 important philosophers, their backgrounds, their importance.

Very educational and it’s enjoy to read.

I will quote the author's last line, "This book has tried to present each philosophic work as expressing the living spirit of a mortal human being". I feel the author has done that well. However, I felt the complexities of each philosopher seemed to have gaps in their true "path" of what they learned and stood for. There was amazing amounts of information but was this book a history of philosophers? - no, was it a full compendium of thought.. not really (but closer). Certainly the author had a tremendous ability to analyze the philosophers but the gaps in each one's conclusions were a bit frustrating for me. That might have been the philosophers themselves and not the writer/researcher.The book was good in that it was detailed and that it left me with more questions than answers, but in a way that is not good. I certainly feel that I was underwhelmed with most of the philosophers and that is certainly not an indictment of the author or the work. The detail was impressive but the results a bit frustrating.

Excelente libro

If you have a passing interest in the evolution of philosophy, this is the book for you. In addition to being very interesting and informative, the writing is top notch, and holds your interest throughout.

Professor Lavine narrates the progression of philosophy in a way that's suitable to a layman. Also the best thing about this book is that she clearly indicates the irrelevance of the older set of ideas (which were popular during their period) but at the same time explains why the ideas were important in development of philosophy. Also many older ideas which seem to be logically correct are challenged by her in the book so that overall the narrative is quite balanced and unbiased. Clearly Prof. Lavine favors none which makes her an excellent teacher.In terms of contents the book covers essentially Plato followed by a brief tug of war between the religious and scientific groups and subsequently talks about likes of Kepler and Galileo finally arriving at Descartes. Descartes is followed by the empiricists Berkeley, Hume etc. Then follows Kant although the account is brief to be succeeded by the account of Hegel which is rather elaborate. Also the book is the only one where you can understand Hegel! Hegel is followed by Marx and the books concludes with Sartre and a brief account of other philosophical schools like phenomenology, logical positivism and linguistics.

Every so often I dip into a book on Philosophy seeking to brush up on what knowledge and understanding I have. I found this book very easy to read and it also made each view relevant to how we think (or try to!) today. Well worth a look.

A fun and enlightening book on the progression of philosophy. Great Seller and a great read. I would highly recommend.