A little history of philosophy / / Nigel Warburton

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910808984103321
• Autore: Warburton Nigel <1962->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New Haven ; ; London, : Yale University Press, c2011
• ISBN: 1-283-30919-X; 9786613309198; 0-300-17754-2
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (288 p.)
• Collana: Little Histories
• Disciplina: 190
• Soggetti: Philosophy - History; Philosophers
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Includes index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- 1. The Man Who Asked Questions -- 2. True Happiness -- 3. We Know Nothing -- 4. The Garden Path -- 5. Learning Not to Care -- 6 Who Is Pulling Our Strings? -- 7. The Consolation of Philosophy -- 8. The Perfect Island -- 9. The Fox and the Lion -- 10. Nasty, Brutish, and Short -- 11. Could You Be Dreaming? -- 12. Place Your Bets -- 13. The Lens Grinder -- 14. The Prince and the Cobbler -- 15. The Elephant in the Room -- 16. The Best of All Possible Worlds? -- 17. The Imaginary Watchmaker -- 18. Born Free -- 19. Rose-Tinted Reality -- 20. What if Everyone Did That? -- 21. Practical Bliss -- 22. The Owl of Minerva -- 23. Glimpses of Reality -- 24. Space to Grow -- 25. Unintelligent Design -- 26. Life's Sacrifices -- 27. Workers of the World Unite -- 28. So What? -- 29. The Death of God -- 30. Thoughts in Disguise -- 31. Is the Present King of France Bald? -- 32. Boo!/Hooray! -- 33. The Anguish of Freedom -- 34. Bewitched by Language -- 35. The Man Who Didn't Ask Questions -- 36. Learning from Mistakes -- 37. The Runaway Train and the Unwanted Violinist -- 38. Fairness Through Ignorance -- 39. Can Computers Think? -- 40. A Modern Gadfly -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, ; disconcerting the people he met by showing them how little they genuinely understood. This engaging book introduces the great thinkers in Western philosophy and explores their most compelling ideas about the world and how best to live in it.In forty brief chapters, Nigel Warburton guides us on a chronological tour of the major ideas in the history of philosophy. He provides interesting and often quirky stories of the lives and deaths of thought-provoking philosophers from Socrates, who chose to die by hemlock poisoning rather than live on without the freedom to think for himself, to Peter Singer, who asks the disquieting philosophical and ethical questions that haunt our own times.Warburton not only makes philosophy accessible, he offers inspiration to think, argue, reason, and ask in the tradition of Socrates. A Little History of Philosophy presents the grand sweep of humanity's search for philosophical understanding and invites all to join in the discussion.