Showing results by author "Paul Strathern" in All Categories

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Schopenhauer in just one hour.Arthur Schopenhauer, the ‘philosopher of pessimism,’ makes it clear that he regards the world and our life in it as a bad joke. However, if the world is indifferent to our fate it doesn’t thwart us deliberately – its façade is supported by what Schopenhauer calls the universal Will. He saw this as a force that is blind and without purpose, bringing on all our misery and suffering.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Wittgenstein in just one hour. Ludwig Wittgenstein saw himself as ‘the last philosopher’. In his view, philosophy in the traditional sense was finished. A superb logician, Wittgenstein distrusted language and sought to solve the problems of philosophy by reducing them to the purest form of logic. Everything else - metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics, finally even philosophy itself - was excluded.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Aquinas in just one hour. Aquinas' influence stretches far across the western world; much modern philosophy has been conceived as either a reaction against, or in accordance with, his original ideas. This audiobook showcases an account of Thomas Aquinas’s life and philosophical ideas - entertainingly written and is above all easy listening. Also included are selections from Thomas Aquinas' work.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Descartes in just one hour. Descartes was the first modern philosopher. His scepticism led him to doubt all certainties, until finally he arrived at his famous maxim 'I think therefore I am'. He would also apply his rationalism with great effect in science and mathematics, conceiving a scheme for scientific method and inventing Cartesian co-ordinates in geometry.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Confucius in just one hour.

This is the perfect audiobook for people who are on the go and don’t have time to read philosophy books but wish they knew more about certain people and how they influenced history. This is a concise, expert account of Confucious’ life and philosophical ideas - entertainingly written and most importantly easy listening. Also included are selections from Confucious’ work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Confucious in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Socrates in just one hour. Socrates is widely renowned as one of the founders of Western philosophy, despite the fact that his ideas survive largely through the work of his pupil Plato. Socrates’ dialectic – a method of aggressive questioning – was the forerunner of logic; he used it to cut through the pretentions of his adversaries and arrive at the truth.

Through 10 unique cities, from the founding of ancient capitals to buzzing modern megacities, Paul Strathern explores how urban centres lead civilisation forward, enjoying a moment of glory before passing on the baton. We journey back to discover Babylonian mathematics, Athenian theatre and intellectual debate, and Roman construction that has lasted millennia. We see Constantinople evolve into Istanbul, revolutionary sparks fly in Enlightenment Paris, and the railways, canals and ships that built Imperial London.

John Stuart Mill is remembered today as the leading exponent of Utilitarianism, arguing that our aim in life must be the attainment of pleasure and the minimizing of pain for the majority of people. The principle that lies at the heart of Utilitarianism is "the greatest benefit of the greatest number" - an idea that perhaps seems self-evident today but one that was seen as radical within Mill’s own time. This central idea has become the unspoken founding principle of our modern way of life in the free Western democracies.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Locke in just one hour. Much of Locke’s thought we would now regard as common sense. One of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers; his philosophy was to lay the foundations of empiricism with its belief that our knowledge of the world is based on experience. Locke’s work introduced the idea of liberal democracy – a concept that has become the shibboleth of Western civilisation.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Berkeley in just one hour.Berkeley’s philosophy denies the existence of matter. According to his work, there is no material world, only our own experience. So when you don’t see something, it isn’t there. Then how does the world persist? Because it is supported by the continuous perception of an all-seeing God. Berkeley’s ideas appear to take empiricism to a ludicrous extreme. But is this quite so absurd as it seems?

Augustine’s Confessions details his personal struggles with morality, his spiritual crisis and the conversion to Christianity that ultimately led him to his major contribution to philosophy: the fusion of the doctrines of Christianity and Neoplatonism. This provided Christianity with a strong intellectual backing by tying it to the Greek tradition of philosophy. Augustine also produced important philosophic ideas of his own, including theories of time and subjective knowledge that anticipated by many centuries the work of Kant and Descartes.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Russell in just one hour. Bertrand Russell claimed to be driven by three great passions that drove his personal as well as his intellectual life: a longing for love, a quest for knowledge and a heart-rending pity for human suffering. His philosophical outlook, which took deep account of the science of his time, was nonetheless rooted in logic and empiricism.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of John Dewey in just one hour.In early twentieth-century America John Dewey was regarded as the foremost philosopher of his age – no mean feat when his colleagues included the likes of Russell, Wittgenstein and Heidegger. Dewey produced a distinctly American philosophy, essentially different from that of his European contemporaries – his pragmatic theory of ‘instrumentalism’ or ‘experimentalism’, relying on modern experimental methods to prove truth and reality.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Leibniz in just one hour.Leibniz was the first great German philosopher to produce an all-embracing philosophical system. He came to the remarkable conclusion that space and time do not exist – they are mere superstitious assumptions. Only things exist and only God is able to see things as they truly are – from a perspectiveless viewpoint. Yet the infinite of ultimate objects that make up the world (‘monads’) are not material: they are metaphysical and thus not subject to the laws of cause and effect.

En Wittgenstein en 90 minutos, Paul Strathern expone de manera clara y concisa la vida e ideas del torturado genio vienés. El libro incluye una selección de sus escritos, una breve lista de lecturas sugeridas para aquellos que deseen profundizar en su pensamiento, y cronologías que sitúan a Wittgenstein en su época y en una sinopsis más amplia de la filosofía.

En los siglos anteriores a él, la filosofía había sido peligrosa para los filósofos, pero con Friedrich Nietzsche resulta peligrosa para todo el mundo. Nietzsche enloqueció y su locura presagió la demencia colectiva que había de tener consecuencias horrendas en Europa durante la primera mitad del siglo XX. La suya es una filosofía de aforismos y de penetrante visión psicológica, no un sistema, pero es brillante, persuasiva e incisiva como ninguna otra antes o después de él.

Es posible que Pitágoras fuese el primer matemático y filósofo del mundo occidental. Su obra cambió la visión contemporánea del mundo, pues estableció conceptos tales como el razonamiento abstracto o la prueba deductiva. Pitágoras y su teorema resume brillantemente la vida y la obra de Pitágoras, ya que están presentadas dentro de su contexto histórico y científico, y, además, proporciona una explicación clara y accesible de significado y la importancia que tuvieron para el mundo en que vivimos hoy en día.

En Kant en 90 minutos, Paul Strathern expone de manera clara y concisa la vida e ideas del autor de la Crítica de la razón pura. El audiolibro incluye una selección de sus escritos, una breve lista de lecturas sugeridas y cronologías que sitúan a Kant en su época y en una sinopsis más amplia de la filosofía.

En Sócrates en 90 minutos, Paul Strathern presenta un recuento conciso y experto de la vida e ideas de Sócrates, y explica su influencia en la lucha del hombre por comprender su existencia en el mundo. El audiolibro incluye una selección de opiniones de Sócrates, una breve lista de lecturas sugeridas para aquellos que deseen profundizar en su pensamiento y cronologías que sitúan a Sócrates en su época y en un panorama más amplio de la filosofía.

En Spinoza en 90 minutos, Paul Strathern expone de manera clara y concisa la vida e ideas de uno de los grandes pensadores racionalistas del siglo XVII. El libro incluye una selección de sus escritos, una breve lista de lecturas sugeridas para aquellos que deseen profundizar en su pensamiento, y cronologías que sitúan a Spinoza en su época y en una sinopsis más amplia de la filosofía."