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The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition cover art

The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

Written by: Daniel N. Robinson, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Daniel N. Robinson
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Publisher's Summary

Grasp the important ideas that have served as the backbone of philosophy across the ages with this extraordinary 60-lecture series. This is your opportunity to explore the enormous range of philosophical perspectives and ponder the most important and enduring of human questions - without spending your life poring over dense philosophical texts.

Professor Robinson guides you through more than 2,000 years of philosophical thinking and gives you a coherent, comprehensive, and beautifully articulated introduction to the great conversation of philosophy. Every lecture contains substance that can change your view of the world and its history.

You'll journey from the early philosophical ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; chart the origins of Christian philosophy and investigate the Islamic scholars who preserved and extended Greek thought during the Middle Ages; and venture through Enlightenment contributions to philosophy, from Francis Bacon to Locke, Hume, Kant, Mill, and Adam Smith.

Then shift your attention to the modern era, where you see groundbreaking ideas like psychoanalysis, pragmatism, and nihilism, as well as the collision between the inherently social understanding of meaning created by Wittgenstein, the vastly different estimation of human thought developed by the code-breaking genius Alan Turing, and the subtle response to him made by the American philosopher John Searle.

While the lectures cover an enormous range of key thinkers and ideas, they always focus on the most important ideas. The result is a course that gives you everything you need to finally grasp humanity's exciting philosophical history - without years of intense academic study and piles of dense reading.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2004 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2004 The Great Courses

What listeners say about The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

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    2 out of 5 stars

Too idiosyncratic for my taste

The first half of the course was very enjoyable, and I particularly appreciated how Prof. Robinson linked early literature and mythology with philosophical ideas. The problem is with the second half of the course where the course covers more modern philosophy. Some of the choices are just too idiosyncratic for a course called “The Great Ideas of Philosophy.” For instance, the professor quickly dismisses Marxism as wrong and moves on. This approach may sound fine to some, depending on your ideological inclinations, but what makes this decision bizarre is that this is a treatment that not even phrenology gets. He also spends too much time discussing William James’s ideas when maybe that time could have been devoted to covering David Hume or Kant with a bit more detail. His references to contemporary discussions such as political correctness and abortion seem a bit shallow. Also, no mention whatsoever of postmodern philosophers. These and other self-indulgent choices on the part of the professor lowered my impression of the course overall.

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18 people found this helpful

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Do you love philosophy? ... You will.

This may be one of the longest Great Course series but it only scratches the surface of an ancient tradition. After all 30 mins per great mind is really nothing but its the best primer you will find anywhere.

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5 people found this helpful

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Just sweet

only issue when regarding Islaam. he talks about the truthfulness of the Holy Quran. I think that has nothing to do with the great Ideas of philosophy. I mean he doesn't know anything of Muslim philosophers. ex Avaros and others. just a little disappointed when he talks about Islaam and looks for possible faults in the religion and not at the actual philosophy. other than then Just AMAZING. I leaned so much. heavily recommended

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2 people found this helpful

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  • Jen
  • 2023-01-15

racist old white Christian male

Horrible. He's stuck dreaming of the good old days. Except when it comes to brown/not Christian people. Made it to the 22nd chapter, but I'm done... horrible

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Excellent recollection of Philosophy

The book is long but it is because it covers philosophy ideas from the ancient greeks to the present. It is a great way to get acquainted with majoe philosophical development in himan history.

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....just could.t get through it......

I have listened to almost all the episodes of "Philosophize This" on Spotify and absolutely loved the podcasts. Interesting, thought provoking, educational....a real pleasure from beginning to end. So in order to continue learning more about philosophy, I decided to buy this Great Courses on Philosophy. OMG....this is such a snore! I made many attempts to get through this but finally gave up half way through. It is boring, often incomprehensible, and a struggle from beginning to end. The author/narrator seems more interested in trying to impress with his obscure comments than trying to actually engage us. Do yourself a favour, if you're interested in philosophy, and listen to the 150-odd podcasts of Philosophize this instead.

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  • Overall
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Fantastic!

Professor Robinson is an excellent narrator. I love his Great Courses material! These 60 lectures are a wonderful introduction to the wide variety of philosophical inquiry and ponderings our world's great minds have produced.
Very highly recommmended.

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excellent delivery and well worth the effort.

I learned a tremendous amount from this course about life and myself, the people and the world around me. it was an intriguing dive into content from one of the best universities, and one of the best professors on this subject matter. bar none this is a great course worthy of the title, your purchase and time.

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Wonderful.

Robinson lectures beautifully. He makes difficult concepts accessible. He has personality and good cheer. Highly recommended.

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excellent introduction to philosophy

I'm trying to bring myself up to speed with the history of philosophy... and I find this lecture series to be an excellent first step

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