The Plato Cult: and Other Philosophical Follies

by David Stove

This is a book of philosophy, written by a philosopher and intended for anyone who knows enough philosophy to have been seriously injured, antagonised, mystified or intoxicated by it. Stove is passionately polemical, a philosophical counterpart to Tom Wolfe. Setting out to deflate a few philosophical reputations, he lambastes both the dead (Plato, Hegel, Kant, Foucault) and the living (Popper, Nozick, Feyerabend, Goodman). Yet he says things that need to be said, and that others often lack the courage to say.

Genres: Philosophy, Essays, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 1991

About the author

David Charles Stove was Australian philosopher and a widely published polemical journalist. His work in philosophy of science included criticisms of David Hume's inductive skepticism, as well as what he regarded as the irrationalism of Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, and Paul Feyerabend. Stove was also a critic of Idealism and sociobiology, describing the latter as a new religion in which genes play the role of gods.

Reviews

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, unfair, rabid dismissal of most philosophy ever. Uses ad hominem Bulwerism openly - despite that going against his own ideal of reason - because he views a great range of people as being too mad to engage with.

His other move is to use the positivist's wood-chipper principle a lot: 'your position is literally meaningless; you're too stupid to see this', occasionally correctly. Attacks idealists mostly, including whole chapters making fun of Goodman, Nozick, and Popper(!) - but does not spare Mill ("here doing his usual service of making mistakes very clearly") and Russell, who you'd think were his kind of men.

The last chapter is scary and hilarious and suggests the man's basic pain, underneath his roaring pessimism. Read it at least.

4/5. (keep it away from freshers though)

[Alex Zakharov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last essay 'What is Wrong with Our Thoughts?' deserves 6 stars, the rest is fairly forgettable although certainly readable. If you were wondering why reading vast majority of philosophy is borderline unbearable then look no further than this little gem.

[Tweeting · Rating 4 out of 5]

I disagree with a very substantial proportion of everything Stove ever wrote, but, oh how I love the way he wrote it.

[Simon Riddell]

A great logical positivism take.

[Duncan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Witty and entertaining throughout. Anyone sick of overly dry or deferential philosophy books should read David Stove's work.