A Brief History Of Philosophy: From Socrates To Derrida

by Derek Johnston

A fun, concise and attractive introduction to a fascinating and challenging subject. This is the ideal book for teenagers and students coming to philosophy for the first time, or indeed for anyone who just doesn't know where to start. The book examines 18 key thinkers, from Socrates to Derrida, exploring their ideas in relation to each other and to their historical and cultural contexts. Derek Johnston uses clear and accessible language to present an engaging chronological picture of the key figures, events and ideas that have shaped the history of philosophy. No prior knowledge of philosophy is required to enjoy this incisive, reader-friendly introduction. This is the ideal book for general readers looking for a way into this fascinating but very often challenging subject.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable read, although there were certain sections such as that on Heidegger which I didn't understand at all. I think this is a wonderful introduction to the subject of philosophy which people should read and then they can decide on which of the philosophers they want to find out more about.

[Wade Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool!

[Robert Gahles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the book was extremely useful and an overall needed book in my life.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars for this one. Johnston's voice is agreeable, and the text moves well. The title (as a quick glance at the table of contents shows) is misleading. The book isn't a history of philosophy, but a collection of short overviews of some key figures, more to introduce some of the broad approaches to philosophy rather than to trace an actual history. You couldn't really use this as full primer, but it's an enjoyable enough read with generally decent intros to the selected philosophers.

[Arda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charming go-to book that is somewhat reminiscent of Sophie's World, which is perhaps because Sophie's World was my first real introduction to philosophy and this may be the second.

Basic, simple, and at many times humorous, the writer challenges us to think "beyond" academia and take a sneak-peak at why those philosophers ended up being the philosophers that they have become. In a certain way, reading this book makes one ponder about knowledge and the meaning-of-it-all, which is exactly what a good philosophy book is supposed to do. We are presented with short bios about those thinkers, a glimpse of their historical timelines, and summary-tables with their main concepts.

Although a fun read, it seems as if this book could be taught at school, which made me a little nervous because I am so bad at getting tested for information. I was getting a little anxious as I imagined the writer popping out of the book at any given minute to start asking me questions. It may be best to not read this book as a proper book, but to actually skim through the chapters and revisit the concepts every now and then, which I can see myself doing.

[Geoff Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many works of philosophy are fun to read because they tell stories: Plato's Republic is a good example. In doing so, they are able to convey the philosophy of the author while maintaining the reader's interest.

Considering this book is a summary of and introduction to over a dozen philosophers—and not their actual works—I found it did a fantastic job of keeping me intrigued. It would have been so easy for this book to be a dry, secondhand account of these philosophers and their ideas. I'm very happy it wasn't.

Not only that, but it piqued my interest to gather the works of some of these philosophers and read their works firsthand.

The 5 star rating doesn't mean it's one of the best books I've ever read, but for its genre it exceeded my expectations.

[Tim Baumgartner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading "A Brief History of Philosophy--From Socrates to Derrida." It had an ideal length for what I was looking for in the book [not too long and not too short]. For each of the 18 philosophers, the following format was given [essentially]:

-Very brief summary of thought
-Life [short biography]
-Timeline [of their life AND other influences in the culture of that time]
-Thought, which comprises up to five sections, based upon how influential they were
-Definitions [of key words]
-Bulleted list of ideas within their major writings
-Appraisal [Short summary of what the author, Derek Johnston, thought of their ideas]

It was VERY helpful and could be of use to anyone interested in an introductory book on the most influential philosophers in the West from the past 2,500 years.

[Bade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Günümüzde bile belli anlayışlarımızda etkisini sürdürmeye devam eden düşüncelerin sahipleriyle tanışmak ister misiniz? Ben istedim. Çok da memnun kaldım.

Kitap boyunca belli bir biçimselliğin dışına çıkılmamış, tüm filozoflar belli özellikleriyle anlatılmaya çalışılmış. Bu tarz bir betimleme, her filozofun düşüncelerini belli bir çerçevede incelememize ve böylece objektif bir yorum yapabilmemize olanak sağlamış bence. Özellikle de her filozofun görüşünü sorguladığımız kısımlar gerçek anlamda kitaptaki en hoşuma giden bölümler oldu. Her düşünce ile ilgili kendi yorumumu sesli bir şekilde ifade etmiştim. Bazen bu durum odamda tek başıma monologlarımla geçen saatlere mal oluyordu. Kesinlikle değdi.

Oldukça bilgilendirici, yolun başındaki felsefe meraklılarının okumaktan memnun kalacağı, felsefe öğrenmeye teşvik edici bir kitaptı.

[Ajay · Rating 5 out of 5]

15 Philosophers is far too few a number to fully understand the grand evolution of Western Philosophical thought, but Derek Johnston fully utilizes his choices (cheating on occasion with pairs of thinkers) to produce an easily read and carefully constructed introduction to some of the most important questions, ideas, and people in history. For some famous figures who I was familiar like Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, I learned interesting new facts and feel a better understanding of their ideas. For other philosophers like Derrida who are new to me, I felt the stories were a good beginning, but only the first step to further research and reading.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't know much about philosophy but would like to, here is an interesting short overview of 15 well-known philosophers who were highly influential in the world of philosophy. Each chapter gives an short summary of the philosopher's life and teaching, including the primary points of philosophy for which they are famous. It's not an in-depth analysis of any, but it covers the essentials of these influential thinkers.

[Levent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives an overview on the philosophy.

[Briandooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction into Philosophy

[Cal Davie · Rating 2 out of 5]

An adequate overview of a selection of philosophers.

[Cindy Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love plato

[Dean Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful introduction to the thoughts and times of some of the most famous western philosophers that understandably flits between well-rounded explanations and rushed overviews of the ideas discussed. An overview of the life of each philosopher is a nice touch, as is Johnston’s highlighting of how each philosophers ideas built upon or critiqued those offered within preceding pages. The chapter on Marx is a particular stand-out, however, capturing as much as you could probably hope for regarding his ideas within the 13 pages offered to him.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightening, a pleasantly manageable refresher in the great thinkers.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is definitely geared toward the general reader. It is simple, short, organized, and accessible. After presenting a short bio of each philosopher and describing his thought, Johnston poses a few questions for the reader to ponder, interacting with the philosopher and his philosophy. It is a better book for someone with little or no exposure to philosophy than for one with previous study in the area. Overall, though, it's just not that great of an intro to philosophy, in my opinion.

So as not to leave you without recourse however, if I were suggesting an excellent basic summarization of influential western philosophers, I would point folks to The Journey of Discovery by William Lawhead. The only difference is that Lawhead's book is a basic textbook-- it's longer and covers many more philosophers. However, I have never encountered anyone or anything that distills robust philosophy down to a few accessible pages and makes more connections among the projects of various philosophers than does Lawhead. Even if you picked the same philosophers from Lawhead's book as Johnston covers, I think your time would be much better spent, and more enjoyably spent as well.

ok, back to Johnston's book. In response to some other reviewers' queries, I can assure you that Marx and Derrida are philosophers and influential ones at that. Yes, Marx has had immeasurable impact on economic and political theory and praxis, which most philosophers have not. However, philosophy has shaped most political thought, and political philosophy is a sub-area. Derrida is certainly a well-known literary critic, famous in what is known as "continental" (often French and German) philosophy. However, because of their far-reaching impact throughout philosophy, both of these men are fine contributions to this book given its scope and purpose.

I'm actually a bit more surprised he chose to include Spinoza, but it's probably due to the unique though of Spinoza and Johnston's attempt at diversity. And of course Hegel is noticeably absent, but he inspired Marx's thought, and perhaps Johnston discusses Hegel some in the chapter on Marx. I don't recall specifically at this point. If Johnston delved more into 20th century philosophy, he would probably begin to include women, but given the history of western philosophy, women are not featured previous to the 20th century. And this very clearly is a history of western philosophy -- perhaps that would have been a more appropriate title.

[Nico Macdonald]

Found in Tate Britain bookshop.

[J]

pg 62

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent introduction, feels like talking to a very good teacher