The Philosophy Book: From the Vedas to the New Atheists, 250 Milestones in the History of Philosophy (Union Square & Co. Milestones)

This was a great intro to philosophy. It briefly describes influential events and people that shape our world and history of philosophy to help you decide who you want to research more.

The book is beautiful and very clear. Not too deep, but that is up to you to get further information on topics that you may get interest (and you get a wid range of topics in this book).In my opinion, the book is aimed to novices with an interest in philosophy. Not aimed to experts.

From my experience the most important thing about philosophy is:The understanding that everything flows from the assumptions we make at the beginning of the argument and/or discussion. Everything flows from the assumptions one makes at the beginning.The introduction in the book by Mr. Bassham is very good.Please be aware that Mr. Bassham has included two entries for Alvin Plantinga, page 462- "1974-Essentialism," and page 490- "1984 Revival of Christian Philosophy.""Mr. Plantinga From 1963 to 1982, Plantinga taught at Calvin University before accepting an appointment as the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.[3] He later returned to Calvin University to become the inaugural holder of the Jellema Chair in Philosophy.[4]" (Wikipedia).

Excellent overview of the major figures.

I like it.

This may actually be the most exciting and stimulating introduction to philosophy ever written. Anyone who picks it up and looks through it however cursorily will quickly be impressed with the magnificent range and subtlety of the presentation. And what a presentation: 250 gorgeous, stunning illustrations, all on the right side, with an oversize page on the left containing background information.If I can count correctly, THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK: FROM THE VEDAS TO THE NEW ATHEISTS is the ninth book in the Sterling series of 500 page encyclopedias, But the earlier books were all on science and technology, on topics like math, physics, the history of medicine, drugs, space, psychology. But 9 is a charm because this book breaks out of the mold. It is not on a hard science or even a soft science, nor is it on a technology. Professor Bassham realizes this and, in the introduction, he explains that though philosophy is not cumulative like science, it is hardly the waste of time that H L Mencken says it is. In fact many philosophical ideas deepen after centuries of discussion. Political theories, psychological theories, and deontic theories are particularly prone to improvement over time. Just think of the influence of Plato, Rousseau, Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Derek Parfit, and Robert Nozick on the modern world!This book is so rich and deep in part because of the author's implicit definition of what constitutes "philosophy." For Professor Bassham, as for Plato, Hegel, James, Derrida, and Foucault before him, philosophy is the way a culture or a person learns to make sense of the world. THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK is particularly knowledgeable about Eastern religion and Eastern philosophy from the Upanishads and the Analects to the Buddhist meme that there is only one mind. There is also rich material on Islamic philosophy which, as everybody knows, was the start up and the inspiration for Maimonides and Aquinas. The great thinkers of medieval Islam were literally the carriers of Aristotle, Euclid, and Ptolemy, figures largely unknown to the West for over a thousand years. And Aristotle was in turn the start up for Western science.TPB breaks the mold of at least some of the books in the Sterling series in yet another way: It occasionally allows three or four spreads to thinkers who cannot be covered in one or two spreads. For example Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell each get three spreads. This is intelligent and appropriate,Philosophy then, when it is works the way it is supposed to, involves an extended fascination with new and exciting ideas in physics, biology, psychology, the arts, politics, morality, and ethics. When all these ideas get to be cooking or brewing, philosophy comes along and finds links and patterns that unify two or more of these subject areas. Metaphysics, logic, and epistemology is the end product of the synthesis of the arts and sciences. The great summas of the past were put together by the likes of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, Hegel, and Marx. In our day, we too look forward to an appropriate summa that will deliver the totalization of our knowledge and experience in the context of historical moment.The reason that this book is at once so harmonious and so uncanny and unsettling is because Bassham has a strong awareness of the vast potential of philosophy to unify and explain so many facets of our world.This is a book that is an absolute must for anyone with an interest in philosophy. It has the potential to inspire a whole generation of thinkers.

A great overview and introduction to various philosophers and time-periods of philosophy as it has evolved. Bassham's book reads much like a reference work that brings the reader into the world of philosophy - ranging from Ancient Greek philosophies, Eastern philosophies, and various modern philosophical movements. Important philosophers and figures are briefly explored page by page.

Rather