This book presents a decent overview of important philosophical thinkers in human history. The list of thinkers seems a bit skewed to western thinkers, but there is some inclusion of Asian, African, and Latin thinkers, as well. I think my favorite tidbit was Quine's illustration using the word "gavagai" to explain why we can never be certain that a translation is correct. Good overview for those interested in building a mental map of the history of philosophy.

As beginner's guides go, this is thorough, while accessible. It is not without brevity but packs a lot in. I learnt more reading this than I did faced with sometimes [seemingly] impenetratable Norton Anthology of Theory Criticism for my Lit Theory module on my current English Literature degree. Sometimes we need to basics firsts but being able to delve deeper.

Um excelente livro de introdução a várias correntes filosóficas e à própria história da filosofia. Gostaria de ter lido textos um pouco mais aprofundados sobre alguns filósofos e ideias, mas acaba por ser um ótimo ponto de partida para outros livros!

Excellent introductory text for helping to explain philosophy concepts to my high school students.

Great information, but the style is fairly dry and the format of the printed book does not translate well to the audio format in some cases.

AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF
PHILOSOPHIES I VIBE WITH

Aristotelian Empiricism
Buddhism
Epicureanism
Hobbesian (Reductive) Physicalism
Nietzschean Existentialism
Protagorean Relativism
Sartrean Existentialism
Stoicism
Utilitarianism

3.5 stars. As reference books go this one's solid. Dry, but presenting exactly the right amount of information on each topic before boredom sets in.

This book was a great overview of many different philosophers and areas of philosophy. Throughout the chapters I was really able to identify certain areas of philosophy that I like as well as some philosophers that I plan on reading more about over time.

For anybody interested in philosophy, this book is a great introduction.

#SelfTaughtPhilosophy