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100 φιλόσοφοι: Η ζωή και το έργο των μεγαλύτερων στοχαστών του κόσμου
Το συναρπαστικό αυτό βιβλίο εξετάζει τη ζωή και τη σκέψη των εκατό σημαντικότερων φιλοσόφων που άλλαξαν τον τρόπο με τον οποίο βλέπουμε τον κόσμο.
Οι φιλόσοφοι παρουσιάζονται με χρονολογική σειρά μέσω μιας σύντομης αναφοράς στα βιογραφικά τους στοιχεία και μιας συνοπτικής ανάλυσης της σκέψης τους, καθώς και των σημαντικότερων από τα συμπεράσματα στα οποία κατέληξαν.
Οι φιλόσοφοι παρουσιάζονται με χρονολογική σειρά μέσω μιας σύντομης αναφοράς στα βιογραφικά τους στοιχεία και μιας συνοπτικής ανάλυσης της σκέψης τους, καθώς και των σημαντικότερων από τα συμπεράσματα στα οποία κατέληξαν.
192 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2004
9 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Peter J. King
20 books19 followersI was born and brought up in Boston, Lincolnshire. Moving to London when I was eighteen, I discovered the Poetry Society (then based in Earl's Court) in 1975, and started getting involved, helping out in the print room and the shop, and with odd jobs (such as chaperoning Dom Sylvester Houédard on one of his visits to London). I started tapocketa press, initially self-publishing, but then going on to publish work by other poets, including Jeremy Adler, Paul Buck, Bob Cobbing, Cris Cheek, Lawrence Upton, Bill Griffiths, Herbert Burke, and many others. With Alaric Sumner I started publishing "words worth" magazine, and Alaric and I also performed together; I was a regular at the Troubadour, round the corner from the Poetry Society (at its old address in Earls Court Square), and aside from readings in London and beyond I was involved in the Poetry in Schools scheme.
I stopped writing at the end of the 1970s, and after a shortish break I became interested in philosophy, doing a B.A. at Middlesex Plytechnic, then going on to Brasenose College, Oxford for my B.Phil. and D.Phil. I've been teaching philosophy since, and have been a lecturer at Pembroke College since 2003. Aside from papers in academic journals, I've published "One Hundred Philosophers" (which has been translated into over twenty languages), and I'm the co-author of "The Philosophy Book".
I had a brief return to writing and publishing poetry in the 1980s, and started working on translations of modern Greek poetry with my partner, the philosopher Andrea Christofidou. There was a long gap, finally broken in 2013 when I became involved in Lucy Newlyn's workshops and forum at St Edmund Hall.
Since then I've been published in magazines such as Acumen. Tears in the Fence, Three Drops in the Cauldron, Dream Catcher, Molly Bloom, Ink, Sweat, & Tears, streetcake, Lighthouse, eyot, Raum, Bare Fiction, The Interpreter's House, and New Walk. I've continued translating poetry from modern Greek, and have started working on translations from German. My latest collection, "All What Larkin (2017, Albion Beatnik Press) is a set of jazz cut-ups from the critical writings of Philip Larkin, some of which I've had the pleasure of performing a number of times with jazz violinist Chris Garrick and keyboard player Dave Gordon.
I stopped writing at the end of the 1970s, and after a shortish break I became interested in philosophy, doing a B.A. at Middlesex Plytechnic, then going on to Brasenose College, Oxford for my B.Phil. and D.Phil. I've been teaching philosophy since, and have been a lecturer at Pembroke College since 2003. Aside from papers in academic journals, I've published "One Hundred Philosophers" (which has been translated into over twenty languages), and I'm the co-author of "The Philosophy Book".
I had a brief return to writing and publishing poetry in the 1980s, and started working on translations of modern Greek poetry with my partner, the philosopher Andrea Christofidou. There was a long gap, finally broken in 2013 when I became involved in Lucy Newlyn's workshops and forum at St Edmund Hall.
Since then I've been published in magazines such as Acumen. Tears in the Fence, Three Drops in the Cauldron, Dream Catcher, Molly Bloom, Ink, Sweat, & Tears, streetcake, Lighthouse, eyot, Raum, Bare Fiction, The Interpreter's House, and New Walk. I've continued translating poetry from modern Greek, and have started working on translations from German. My latest collection, "All What Larkin (2017, Albion Beatnik Press) is a set of jazz cut-ups from the critical writings of Philip Larkin, some of which I've had the pleasure of performing a number of times with jazz violinist Chris Garrick and keyboard player Dave Gordon.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 4, 2009
I love introductory books to philosophy, but this is philosophy equivalent to Us Weekly and, worse, utterly biased against the dominant philosophers of the last two centuries. Each philosopher gets a slim one or two pages, which is disappointing, but ok for a breezy introductory book; however those one of two pages are predominately occupied by boring biographies (reading about someone's life spent in a library sucks), often pointless pictures, and little space for the philosopher's actual philosophy.
One good thing: the book mentions several non-Western philosophers and includes a few women. What is offensive, however, is his section on the 20th century, which is brazen propaganda for the analytic school. A book highlighting the analytic school would be fine if the author didn't claim to write a general overview of philosophy. (There are TWO dominant schools of philosophy in the West, the so-called "continental school" and the "analytic school," and by most accounts, the continental school has dominated the world for most of last century. The analytic school dominates the UK and U.S. philosophy schools and has lost ground in the U.S. since the 80s. The author, of course, is from England.) According to this book, there is only ONE school of philosophy in the 20th c., and that is analytic philosophy.
Some examples of his pathetic bias: the 19th. century Germanic philosophers are given little space, despite their historical importance, and worse, Nietzsche and Heidegger get ONE page! One page, despite their boundless influence in Europe and the U.S.! The Heidegger page doesn't talk about his philosophy at all, and the page on Nietzsche is flat out wrong. There's no page for Schopenhauer, and even though Foucault is on the cover, he doesn't appear in the pages, nor do any continental philosophers since Sartre. No Deleuze, Derrida, de Saussure, Bataille, Gramsci, Bakhtin, Merleau-Ponty, Kropotkin, etc., or anyone that a contemporary philosophy student might see in a classroom, let alone in a bookstore. Nothing but analytical philosophers, as if the book was written in the author's own Bizarro version of 20th c. philosophy.
The book acknowledges continental philosophy, but then ignores it completely. Just as bad, the author focuses on the UK, even though the UK has had little impact in philosophy for a hundred years or more (but remember, the writer is British). According to this book, the last 50 years of philosophy have been dominated by UK and U.S. philosophers. Instead of two pages for Nietzsche and Heidegger, we get two pages for obscure philosophers such as Strawson, Dummett, Lewis, and single pages on boring Academics such as Haack, Wiggins, Kripke, Hare, etc., who are unknown except to die-hard analytic philosophy fans; unknown even to most philosophy students. Not only that, but a few of the biggest U.S. philosophers of the last century don't get any mention, such as Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty and Steven Pinker (and surprise, surprise, those philosophers aren't from the analytic school).
The book is stupid and disgraceful. Can you imagine a history of U.S. presidents that excluded Democratic (or Republican) presidents? Or a UK history that excluded Labor or Tory prime ministers? It wouldn't be complete, by any stretch of the word, just like this book.
Why, if the author dislikes continental philosophy so much, didn't the author just leave out any philosopher who came about after WWII?
This book is a joke. If you don't like the state of the world, write a fantasy book that claims to be reality.
One good thing: the book mentions several non-Western philosophers and includes a few women. What is offensive, however, is his section on the 20th century, which is brazen propaganda for the analytic school. A book highlighting the analytic school would be fine if the author didn't claim to write a general overview of philosophy. (There are TWO dominant schools of philosophy in the West, the so-called "continental school" and the "analytic school," and by most accounts, the continental school has dominated the world for most of last century. The analytic school dominates the UK and U.S. philosophy schools and has lost ground in the U.S. since the 80s. The author, of course, is from England.) According to this book, there is only ONE school of philosophy in the 20th c., and that is analytic philosophy.
Some examples of his pathetic bias: the 19th. century Germanic philosophers are given little space, despite their historical importance, and worse, Nietzsche and Heidegger get ONE page! One page, despite their boundless influence in Europe and the U.S.! The Heidegger page doesn't talk about his philosophy at all, and the page on Nietzsche is flat out wrong. There's no page for Schopenhauer, and even though Foucault is on the cover, he doesn't appear in the pages, nor do any continental philosophers since Sartre. No Deleuze, Derrida, de Saussure, Bataille, Gramsci, Bakhtin, Merleau-Ponty, Kropotkin, etc., or anyone that a contemporary philosophy student might see in a classroom, let alone in a bookstore. Nothing but analytical philosophers, as if the book was written in the author's own Bizarro version of 20th c. philosophy.
The book acknowledges continental philosophy, but then ignores it completely. Just as bad, the author focuses on the UK, even though the UK has had little impact in philosophy for a hundred years or more (but remember, the writer is British). According to this book, the last 50 years of philosophy have been dominated by UK and U.S. philosophers. Instead of two pages for Nietzsche and Heidegger, we get two pages for obscure philosophers such as Strawson, Dummett, Lewis, and single pages on boring Academics such as Haack, Wiggins, Kripke, Hare, etc., who are unknown except to die-hard analytic philosophy fans; unknown even to most philosophy students. Not only that, but a few of the biggest U.S. philosophers of the last century don't get any mention, such as Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty and Steven Pinker (and surprise, surprise, those philosophers aren't from the analytic school).
The book is stupid and disgraceful. Can you imagine a history of U.S. presidents that excluded Democratic (or Republican) presidents? Or a UK history that excluded Labor or Tory prime ministers? It wouldn't be complete, by any stretch of the word, just like this book.
Why, if the author dislikes continental philosophy so much, didn't the author just leave out any philosopher who came about after WWII?
This book is a joke. If you don't like the state of the world, write a fantasy book that claims to be reality.
May 5, 2013
It's about philosophers more than "Philosophy". It's a good book to start with specially for people who are new to philosophy -like me- they will find it a good and interesting book, and it helps to read other philosophical books.
It talks about some of the greatest philosophers, contains one-tow pages for each one of them, shows some information about their lives, studies, books and of course a litte bit about their philosophical ideas.
For me, I got some good historical information about some of the greatest philosophers and about the history of Philosophy in general.
Now, if I decided to read something in philosophy, I could open this book, review some of the titles, read about the philosophers, their trends and ideas, and pick something to read. So I think this book will stay on my shelf for a while.
It talks about some of the greatest philosophers, contains one-tow pages for each one of them, shows some information about their lives, studies, books and of course a litte bit about their philosophical ideas.
For me, I got some good historical information about some of the greatest philosophers and about the history of Philosophy in general.
Now, if I decided to read something in philosophy, I could open this book, review some of the titles, read about the philosophers, their trends and ideas, and pick something to read. So I think this book will stay on my shelf for a while.
June 25, 2021
I've read some bad reviews on this book. I don't think it's actually that bad. For the size of the book, it does pretty well to discuss the 100 philosophers. It does a fairly decent job of covering the main philosophers and ones I had no idea about or just scant knowledge of. I also like the fact it gives their full names. It's really just a primer and isn't really a deep inspection of their work, but doesn't do a bad summing up of their work/s.
In progress. Just added the more well known philosophers atm
Contents
6 Introduction
10 ANCIENT
14Thales of Miletos
15 Pythagoras of Samos
16 K'ung fu-zi (Confucius)
17 OVERVIEW: Chinese philosophy
18 Lao-zi (Lao-tzu)
19 Heraclitus of Ephesus
20 Parmenides of Elea
21 Zeno of Elea
22 Mo-zi (Mo-tzu)
23 Socrates
24 Plato
26 Aristotle
28 OVERVIEW: Human nature
29 Meng-zi (Mencius)
30 Zeno of Kition
31 Epicurus of Samos
32 Han Fei-zi
33 Wang Chong
34 OVERVIEW: Skepticism
35 Sextus Empiricus
36
37 Plotinus
38 Augustine of Hippo
40 OVERVIEW: Women in philosophy
41 Hypatia
42 MEDIEVAL
46
47
48
49 John Scotus Erigena
50
52
54
56 OVERVIEW: Indian philosophy
57
58
59
60 Pierre Abelard
62
64
66
68 Roger Bacon
70 Thomas Aquinas
72 William of Ockham
74
75
76
77
78 EARLY MODERN
82
84 Thomas Hobbes
86
87
88 Rene Descartes
90
91 OVERVIEW: Mind and body
92
93
94 Baruch Spinoza
96 John Locke
98
100
102
103
104
106 OVERVIEW: Common sense
107
108 David Hume
110 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
112 Immanuel Kant
114 Jeremy Bentham
115 Mary Wollstonecraft
116 NINETEENTH CENTURY
120 George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
122 John Stuart Mill
124
126
128
129
130 William James
132 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
133
134
136 TWENTIETH CENTURY
140
142
144 Bertrand Arthur William Russell
146
147
148 Ludwig Wittgenstein
150 Martin Heidegger
151
152
153 Jean-Paul Sartre
154 Sir Karl Raimund Popper
156
158
159
160
162
164
165 John Bordley Rawls
166
167 OVERVIEW: Philosophy of science
168
170 Jacques Derrida
172 OVERVIEW: African philosophy
173
174 David Wiggins
175 Thomas Nagel
176 Saul Aaron Kripke
178 David Kellogg Lewis
180 Susan Haack
181 OVERVIEW: Moral philosophy
182 Peter Singer
184 Suggested reading
186 Glossary
188 Index
192 Credits
In progress. Just added the more well known philosophers atm
Contents
6 Introduction
10 ANCIENT
14Thales of Miletos
15 Pythagoras of Samos
16 K'ung fu-zi (Confucius)
17 OVERVIEW: Chinese philosophy
18 Lao-zi (Lao-tzu)
19 Heraclitus of Ephesus
20 Parmenides of Elea
21 Zeno of Elea
22 Mo-zi (Mo-tzu)
23 Socrates
24 Plato
26 Aristotle
28 OVERVIEW: Human nature
29 Meng-zi (Mencius)
30 Zeno of Kition
31 Epicurus of Samos
32 Han Fei-zi
33 Wang Chong
34 OVERVIEW: Skepticism
35 Sextus Empiricus
36
37 Plotinus
38 Augustine of Hippo
40 OVERVIEW: Women in philosophy
41 Hypatia
42 MEDIEVAL
46
47
48
49 John Scotus Erigena
50
52
54
56 OVERVIEW: Indian philosophy
57
58
59
60 Pierre Abelard
62
64
66
68 Roger Bacon
70 Thomas Aquinas
72 William of Ockham
74
75
76
77
78 EARLY MODERN
82
84 Thomas Hobbes
86
87
88 Rene Descartes
90
91 OVERVIEW: Mind and body
92
93
94 Baruch Spinoza
96 John Locke
98
100
102
103
104
106 OVERVIEW: Common sense
107
108 David Hume
110 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
112 Immanuel Kant
114 Jeremy Bentham
115 Mary Wollstonecraft
116 NINETEENTH CENTURY
120 George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
122 John Stuart Mill
124
126
128
129
130 William James
132 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
133
134
136 TWENTIETH CENTURY
140
142
144 Bertrand Arthur William Russell
146
147
148 Ludwig Wittgenstein
150 Martin Heidegger
151
152
153 Jean-Paul Sartre
154 Sir Karl Raimund Popper
156
158
159
160
162
164
165 John Bordley Rawls
166
167 OVERVIEW: Philosophy of science
168
170 Jacques Derrida
172 OVERVIEW: African philosophy
173
174 David Wiggins
175 Thomas Nagel
176 Saul Aaron Kripke
178 David Kellogg Lewis
180 Susan Haack
181 OVERVIEW: Moral philosophy
182 Peter Singer
184 Suggested reading
186 Glossary
188 Index
192 Credits
October 30, 2015
The last section about contemporary philosophers was interesting. The book really just gave a quick overview of the different philosopher's ideas, which was nice, in theory. Unfortunately, that also meant that a lot of these ideas where hard to understand because concepts and terms were often not explained.
May 27, 2012
Excellent short history and thoughts of major philosophers
September 11, 2023
Since I promised myself to read more into philosophy at the start of the year, I decided to read this book, which I bought at the second-hand shop for €1.90.
I saw that this book has a lot of negative reviews about how it is too short and too basic, but what do you really expect from an introductory book into philosophy. As someone who knows little to nothing about philosophy, it is very clear. Of course a limit at 100 philosophers means some famous names (like Simone de Beauvoir, Arthur Schopenauer, Max Weber, etc.) are excluded. Other philosophers are included, but did very little besides influencing others. Yet, King manages to also include philosophers from outside Western Philosophy and women. There is even place for some comments about the position of women in Ancient Greece or the difference in origin of Chinese, Indian and Western philosophy.
I recommend reading this book if you know absolutely nothing about philosophy or hardly anything, since it is clear. I do believe that thr book contains a lot of biographism, which would not be a bad thing, but by half of the chapters it is more about the lives of philosophers than their ideas. Yet you should see the book as a starting point.
I saw that this book has a lot of negative reviews about how it is too short and too basic, but what do you really expect from an introductory book into philosophy. As someone who knows little to nothing about philosophy, it is very clear. Of course a limit at 100 philosophers means some famous names (like Simone de Beauvoir, Arthur Schopenauer, Max Weber, etc.) are excluded. Other philosophers are included, but did very little besides influencing others. Yet, King manages to also include philosophers from outside Western Philosophy and women. There is even place for some comments about the position of women in Ancient Greece or the difference in origin of Chinese, Indian and Western philosophy.
I recommend reading this book if you know absolutely nothing about philosophy or hardly anything, since it is clear. I do believe that thr book contains a lot of biographism, which would not be a bad thing, but by half of the chapters it is more about the lives of philosophers than their ideas. Yet you should see the book as a starting point.
January 30, 2025
Not a philosophy book, but more of a history book. 75% of each entry (which is two pages at a maximum) is the life of the philosopher. Their beliefs are barely touched, but you get enough of an idea to know which ones you may want to read. Nietsche is especially mistreated. The graphic design and layout is impeccable. Every page has a consistent and eye-catching layout.
October 14, 2018
Cât de cât ok. Cam prea multă biografie pe alocuri.
September 6, 2020
Used it as a quick reference guide for certain figures. It was mediocre. I wouldn’t recommend as an introduction. However, ironically, I found it quite useful.
October 24, 2024
A wonderful resource that provides an overview of 100 of the world's most important philosophers.
May 19, 2025
Έμαθα από εκεί αρκετούς φιλοσόφους που δεν γνώριζα. Διάβασα πράγματα και για φιλοσόφους όπως ο Κομφούκιος.
February 20, 2008
It was a good overview of a sometimes difficult, abstract study. I enjoyed the personal bios, but I thought the philosophical development and work of the 100 was lacking. It would be nice to see a stream time line with the shifts and divisions of philosophy. That way, the reader can have a more clear idea of the development and contributions of the philosophers. Overall, a great book to read for a general idea of philosophy and the philosophers.
June 13, 2012
Meh, this book had to much biographical information on each philosopher and skimped out on the actual philosophical ideas on a lot of them, or didn't explain them very well at all.
Also, the author seems to completely ignore all of the continental philosophers after Heidegger. Which didn't bother me because I was looking to know more about analytic philosophy anyway, but be warned going into this, that the guy really focuses on nothing but analytic in the later half of the book.
Also, the author seems to completely ignore all of the continental philosophers after Heidegger. Which didn't bother me because I was looking to know more about analytic philosophy anyway, but be warned going into this, that the guy really focuses on nothing but analytic in the later half of the book.
February 8, 2008
I really like this book. I would like to say that it's kind of sketch of the idea of philosophers from east to west including their biography and world historical time line. It's very easy to read and helpful, especially for those who want to read philosophy, but don't want to be "lost in translation"
October 5, 2015
This book profiles 100 philosophers and their central ideas and concepts from day one to the present. Reading philosophy is an undertaking that is not for everyone but being familiar with the basic ideas and the men behind them is certainly a worthwhile endeavor and this is a nice introductory for further exploration.
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August 6, 2015Great book on work, thoughts and life of selected 100 philosophers.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews