Confessions of a Philosopher: A Personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper (Modern Library (Paperback))

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Description

In this infectiously exciting book, Bryan Magee tells the story of his own discovery of philosophy and not only makes it come alive but shows its relevance to daily life. Magee is the Carl Sagan of philosophy, the great popularizer of the subject, and writer of a major new introductory history, The Story of Philosophy. Confessions follows the course of Magee’s life, exploring philosophers and ideas as he himself encountered them, introducing all of the great figures and their ideas, from the pre-Socratics to Bertrand Russell and Karl Popper, including Wittgenstein, Kant, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer, rationalism, utilitarianism, empiricism, and existentialism.
Confessions is a relatively misleading term in this context: you will not find any lurid tales between these covers. Bryan Magee’s memoirs-cum-histories of philosophy don’t seem to be even “confessions” in the self-flagellating tradition of St. Augustine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

So what is Confessions of a Philosopher, then? It’s a fascinating excursion through 2,000 years of wondering about the basic nature of existence and reality. As a 20th-century philosopher, Magee has a lot to say about his peers, and he spares no feelings. The “Oxford philosophers,” who made up our minds that philosophy used to be not about the nature of existence but about the nature of language, yet refused to give any consideration to fiction, are particular targets of Magee’s intellectual scorn, at the same time as the late Karl Popper, a personal acquaintance of the writer, is celebrated as a man who persevered in philosophy’s true duties in the face of widespread academic frippery.

If you’ve ever wondered why we exist, you have what it takes to be a philosopher … or at least to be aware one. Bryan Magee’s Confessions are thoroughly engaging proof that you are not looking for a degree to be a deep thinker.

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