Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers

I found Philip Stokes' Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers to be a real gem—the writing is clear, the content substantial, and the organization precise. Serving as a brief overview of Western philosophy, Stokes' work captures meaningful snapshots of a 100 different philosophers in 382 pages—designating about three pages to each thinker. Divided into 22 sections, Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers categorizes each philosopher by camps (the Presocratics, the Eleatics, the Academics, the Atomists, the Cynics, the Stoics, the Sceptics, the Neoplatonists, the Christians, the Scholastics, the Age of Science, the Rationalists, the Empiricists, the Idealists, the Liberals, the Evolutionists, the Pragmatists, the Materialists, the Existentialists, the Linguistic Turn, the Postmodernists, and the New Scientists). Since a three page presentation can only serve as an introduction to a person's work, Stoke's makes every sentence count. He introduces and explains their major ideas, along with the context they lived in, who they were influenced by, and in turn who they later influenced. An important reason I chose this book is "the Linguistic Turn". In this section, capturing philosophers from the 20th century, Stokes describes thirteen philosophers—by for more than any other category. "The Linguistic Turn" describes present day, mainstream academic philosophy in America—an area of philosophy I am unfamiliar with for several reason, mostly because I have full-heartedly followed a lineage of philosophy, which we can call "Integral" or "Holistic", that has rarely entered mainstream academics. I find leaving out this lineage of integral philosophy—including thinkers such de Chardin, Grof, Wilber, Laszlo, Sheldrake, etc— to be a short-coming of the book; after Hegel, it doesn't include any of these thinkers, except for the surprising inclusions of both Bergson and Whitehead. All these integral thinkers embraced a panpsychist perspective, a major element in my life, but not following this path is precisely why I chose this book, because, like the mainstream, it ended up following a different philosophical lineage than myself—one grounded in materialism and disembodied rationality. I felt angry while reading "the Linguistic Turn", and becoming aware of the state of modern day philosophy. Up until the 20th century, what I saw reading the book was the unfolding of Western philosophy, moving from thinker to thinker—a beautiful story taken in about 80 different snapshots, each person bringing in the richness of different ideas—until we get to the logic and linguistics after Existentialism—then it all gets stale. Before this point, whether or not I agreed with each thinker of the more than 2,500 year movement, each passionately made metaphysical and social statements and authentically tried to understand themselves, the universe, and humanity—many making deeply meaningful contribution to knowledge and society. In comparison, 20th century philosophy—reduced to nothing more than meaning in language—seems like a massive detour; and arguably made no significant contribution to our culture. I had an impression of the absurdity philosophy has been reduced to in higher education, but now I know; I feel thoroughly disappointed. I am shocked what Western society has done to what I consider the most beautiful human discipline—we need to resuscitate what once was the greatest container for human knowledge and wisdom. That being said, by summarizing different pivotal thinkers that have influenced much of what we know, this book has much to offer. I believe this book is a must read for every philosopher—not because it brings an over-arching philosophical perspective like Passion of the Western Mind, or other books presenting a story of philosophy, but because it serves as a great companion to such books—since the writer delivers no philosophical perspective of his own, but simply gives a Wikipedia like description of each thinker. I have come to see that Western philosophy, as a discipline, carries a story—and includes its own myths, like that of Socrates and Galileo—and this book serves to deepen one's understanding of the characters in the play. For a long time I have wanted greater familiarity with the players we see in philosophical works, and reading a book on each person takes too long; Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers helps fill in some of the cracks. The only off-putting quality of the book is its large 14 size font; it makes the book seem less serious—though I am sure it was done to make the book look user friendly and accessible to the lay person. Still, the book definitely does not lack in content. Overall, it is an enjoyable read and serves as a great introduction to 100 lives—including biographical content, great works, and original ideas—that made major intellectual contributions in the evolution of Western society.

I am reviewing the Kindle edition of this book which currently sells for less than the price of a cup of coffee. Price alone wouldn't warrant a positive review (there's plenty of junk on sale for a dollar), but happily this is a serviceable little book for neophytes and philosophy students alike. The book has an active table of contents and is fully searchable with hyperlinks laced generously through the text referring to earlier and later chapters, as well as footnotes. The 100 philosophers are chosen judiciously (partisans can quarrel about glaring omissions and dubious inclusions, but in general choices are non-controversial) and presented more or less in chronological order. More or less, I say, because the author has thought to present the individual philosophers under general headings, so occasionally chronology bows down to conceptual structure. The headings include, for example The Presocratics; The Eleatics: The Academics; The Atomists; The Cynics; Stoics; The Skeptics; Neoplatonists ; Scholastics etc. until we reach The Existentialists;The linguistic Turn; The Postmodernists and The New Scientists (Godel, Turing, Kuhn, Quine et al.) Though these spoonfuls on each philosopher are very broad overviews, they are surprisingly useful as either quick references or refreshers. Most pleasing for me was the generous links from chapter to chapter. Let's say you are reading "Derrida" and see a reference to linguist Saussure or anthropologist Levi-Strauss. No need for wikipedia if you don't know them or grasp the reference. Just click on the names ("Saussure") and voila, your back to the chapter about him. I had fun bouncing around, and seeing these connections, particularly for authors I hadn't read for some time. As someone in the field of philosophy, I view this as one of several handy reference books in my kindle Fire. I wouldn't read it cover to cover, but from what I have read, there are no egregious errors that I noticed, so curious readers, 1st or 2nd year undergrads and even the more advanced can shell out the 99 cents with--I would bet-- no fear of buyer's remorse. A handy little e-book.

This book is very useful if used as a means of getting a brief overview of the contribution to philosophy made by the selected philosophers. There are omissions too, most notable amongst modern philosophers would be critical theorist Jurgen Habermas and others from the Frankfurt School. The book however, does provide a good starting place for further study and helps re-inforce the philosophy time-line in terms of era. I am pleased to have it in my collection and although relatively light-weight for academics it fulfils its purpose more than adequately.

The real beauty of this book is that it succinctly and directly addresses the philosophical outlook of 100 select individuals through history. It is made for someone who either has never been exposed to the subject of philosophy per se, or to those who want a "brush up" of earlier studies. The thoughts and writings of many key philosophers can be so dense and arcane that entering into a study of the subject can be daunting. This book allows you to bypass all that and get a summary of each of the individuals selected in clear and direct writing. Most of the persons have a full-page photo or drawing, along with a second page of two of text. Its the perfect size for either reading from cover-to-cover, or for picking up and selecting a person at random. In addition, the individuals represented in the book are categorized into groups, which further clarifies and helps build a basic understanding. The quality, paper, and print of the hardback are really nice, and for ten dollars, it's certainly a steal. And you might be surprised at some of the individuals included in the book. I know I was! An easy Five-Star rating.

This is a clear, understandable book that makes sometimes abstract, opaque and complex ideas accessible to the non expert. If you are a person that wants to acquire a basic knowledge of the fundamental questions of philosophy, you should find this book very helpful, perhaps even essential. I especially enjoyed the author's presentation of several different intellectual disciplines such as philosophical, scientific, political and religious thought. The giants of philosophy such as Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau and Nietzsche, are included. However, non traditional philosophical thinkers including Marx, Darwin, Einstein and Locke are also included. This expands the scope of philosophy and gives the reader a wider context and perspective than might otherwise be the case. The prose is clear and straightforward and the author presents the ideas in an understandable way. The individual portraits are concise with pertinent details. As a result, the author makes philosophy come to life as a relevant and meaningful part of a thinking person's existence. I found this book to be informative, engaging and thought-provoking and an excellent primer to what could be a subject that is way too abstract to have any relevance in daily life.

I give this book a five stars because it really reveals a lot of essential Western philosophical thoughts. Stokes is a good thinker and a clear writer, though with thought complicated. He talks mainly about the thoughts of the selected thinkers from the presocratic Thales to W.V.O. Quine and covers many philosophical schools such as The Academics (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) to The New Scientists (Durkheim, Einstein, Skinner, W.V.O. Quine etc.) Just as is said in the front of the book: the ideas that have shaped our world. I don't have anything much to say except to quote some of the thinkers I admire from the oldest to the newest, you might be able to see some strands of development throughout. Introduction Stokes: The history of social, political and the technological change is inextricably bound in the history of thought. Plato: There must, then, be a realm of eternal unchanging forms that are the blueprints of the eternal phenomena we encounter through sense experience. Arnauld: Capacity for discerning the truth is the most important measure of mind. Rousseau: Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Kant: The mind imposes principles upon experience to generate knowledge. Pierce:...knowledge as a means of stabilising our habitual behaviour in response to doubt. James: ...the existence of God. Equally he accepts that there is no straightforward empirical evidence that can settle the matter one way or the other. Jung: Jung's sy thesis of Freudian psychology with mysticism is the first reputable attempt to bring Eastern philosophical principles into the arena of modern Western thought. Sartre: It is up to the individual to choose the life they think best. Tarski: Truth is a property of sentences, not of the world or of states of affairs. Durkheim:...our ideal is constantly to introduce greater equality in our social relations, in order to ensure the free unfolding of socially useful forces. Gödel: Artificial Intelligence programs, since all such machines, however complex, are formal finite systems. Feyerabend: 'There is only one principle that can be defended under all circumstances and in all stages of human development. It is the principle: anything goes.'

I love that the book contains an all star of some of the greatest spiritual and philosophical minds from Marcus Aurelius to Seneca, Socrates, Plato, Hobbes, Paine, Locke, Machiavelli, Voltaire, Descartes and other amazing philosophers. The book did contain a wide range of philosophers within different eras of which does include modern day philosophers as well such as Carl Jung, Marx, Bertrand Russell, Hume, Freud, but I wished they would've included other amazing philosophers who although were great innovators of our present day, were also highly evolved philosophically and spiritually: William Walker Atkinson, Prentice Mullford, Benjamin Franklin and Mahatma Gandhi. Other than that, for every person that adores and is a fan of philosophy, this book is a good read.

Stokes did a wonderful job of developing concisely, the information of centuries into one very readable book. I found I did not have to have a vast understanding of philosophical language to follow the thoughts of these great minds from our past. However, I did notice a hint of condescension if not arrogance expressed toward the metaphysical. It leaves one, after reading the book, to wonder if this is the result of knowing truth, or of being the product of the given age whose paradigms are just as much a prisoner of bias as the pre-modern thinkers were of theirs. It is a good read, and worth the price, especially if you are looking for a quick synopsis of each person's thoughts. By including the major writings of each person, Stokes has provided resources for the satisfying of one's extended curiosity toward the thinker of their choice.

Useful little guide to the history of Western Philosophy .Particularly helpful on more modern thinkers . Would be a great primer for anyone about to take a philosophy course or as a dictionary of philosophy and philosophers through the ages .

Very extensive coverage of topic albeit in summary. Worth th time and money. Need to follow up on a vast choice of reading options.

Excellent overview of main philosophies and interesting background information on philosophers. Well written and informative as an introduction to philosophical thought.

Excelente resumen para recordar postulados filosóficos básicos

Lots of information, broken down into easy to follow sections, easy to understand and learn from and very interesting material for anyone interested in philosophy. Chapters are not too brief and detailed enough to understand the background of philosophers and their main well known concepts without going down a rabbit hole.