The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy

Anyone interested in philosophy should read this book. It is very interesting and very hard to put down. However, the main factor that makes this book unique has a negative effect, and hence the four stars. The book is basically a dialogue between Magee and other philosophers. This is a very interesting approach and the result was a great book. The problem is that I don't think that the best way to introduce philosophy is to have two philosophers talk about it. Magee always tries to clarify things when he feels that the discussion is getting a bit too complicated and succeeds most of the time, but some times this didn't pay off. I found the chapters concerning the philosophers that I had a little background information of much easier than those concerning philosophers that I knew nothing of. I know that this is logical, but in a book that is meant to be an introduction, the novice reader should find it easy to read about what he/she does not know. Apart from this little difficulty, the book is an amazing one. Magee is a great host and his guests are extremely knowledgeable about their subjects. The most important thing is that this book covered most great philosophers as the title promises.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that ever wonder what philosophy is about but couldn't get pass the first sentence on other philosophy books. You will get a better understanding of the ideas of the most influential western philosophers from Socrates all the way to the 20th century. I reread it from time to time to refresh my understanding of the topic. And is never boring. A very special book to have in your library.

I have a non-professional interest in philosophy. I loved this book. It provides a short and clear introduction to a dozen major philosophers. Magee loves his subject and is a great explainer. Highly recommended.

For those that are either new to Western Philosophy or require a review of it in an entertaining package of multiple dialogs mediated with an engaging and knowledgeable host, this book is recommended.However be aware that the book is a cursory survey relegated almost entirely to epistemology and far from comprehensive. Also be aware that this is essentially a British book (based on BBC shows) and therefore hopelessly anti-religious and anti-metaphysics, although to its merit the book does not show this British quirk too strongly except by way of omission(see below). Bryan Magee is very careful and circumspect but sometimes the prejudices do show in the guest philosophers.Difficult subjects are parsed out with ease in an engaging and non-academic manner. This book is pure fun and easy to skip around from dialog to dialog reading about those philosophers you are most interested in (or most in need of discovering).The highlight of the book may be the almost tense conversation with Father Copleston who was obviously struggling to hide his intense disgust of Schopenhauer, who is ironically the philosopher Magee may be most famous for (he wrote The Philosophy of Schopenhauer).The discussion of Nietzsche with J.P. Stern was very good at unintentionally exposing the sick madness of that man who pretty much hated everybody and everything and why his eventual insanity was well deserved and poetically just.As is typical with books that endeavor to enumerate the subjective concept of "great", the book is not without criticism for who is included and excluded from discussion. I give the book only 3 stars for having committed the eternal sin of omitting Plotinus as a great philosopher. On the same note I do not think it was proper to omit Nicolas Cusanus, Fichte, Schelling, Kierkegaard, Bradley, Royce, Whitehead and Bergson. This is just shameful. Russell is a greater philosopher than these guys?Husserl is discussed in the same chapter as Heidegger yet is quickly brushed aside, although the discussion of Heidegger is excellent and eye-opening. I am looking forward to reading Being and Time now but I really wish there was more on Husserl and the Phenomenologists.The medieval philosophers are given rather short shrift and discussed too much in relation to Britain. Not good, but again not really unexpected by a British book. It is unfortunate that the Muslim influence on Medieval philosophy is not even given a mention.On a personal note I am not yet convinced that Russell and Frege deserve to be included as great philosophers. Being a great mathematician does not equate to being a great philosopher.

excellent

Great for philosophy students!

This book should not have been misrepresented as being in good OR very good condition. It all speaks to a materialistic culture where all that matters is a buck.

In short, this book is a masterpiece, consisting of Magee going head to head with some of the most noted academics and specialists in the work of the philosophers surveyed. Magee proves himself not only to be a masterly thinker on western philosophy — but at least equal in intellect to the luminaries he interviews (A J Ayer, B Williams, Nussbaum, Searle, H Dreyfus, P Singer, Copleston, etc). The late Magee never had a permanent academic appointment, and he joins the august group that includes Spinoza and Schopenhauer in this respect.No, this book is not suitable for a novice except for the most talented and persevering,Sadly, the production value of this paperback is of the lowest standard, with cheap glued bindings that scatter the pages under any pressure (I use a rubber band to hold it together). And the quality of the paper is similarly cheesy, brown and coarse as evidence of the lignin that remains after the cursory *papermaking” process. Certainly the disparity between the quality of the text and the form in which it is published is enormous. The paperback is, resultingly, very inexpensive. An imperative read from which even the experienced reader will draw many insights.

Easy to read. Gives a good all round revision of the most important philosophers in history. East to read and understand. Would hand this to your teenager for a good all round education.

とっても親切な「西洋哲学入門」です。対談形式でプラトンからウィトゲンシュタインまで連なる欧米の（アメリカのプラグマティズムも含む）偉大な哲学者たちの思想を噛み砕いて解説してくれています。専門用語は最小限に抑えてあり、登場しても分かりやすく解説を加えてくれる、素人に親切な一冊。しかしいくら言葉を噛み砕いてもらっても難しいものは難しいのでした。何故なら哲学そのものが難しいから…。哲学の難解さは専門用語だけの問題ではないのだなぁ、としみじみしつつ、哲学ワールドの大パノラマに緩い頭脳で感動…。頭脳のある方のレビューを待っています（苦笑）。

Take a peripatetic stroll down memory lane by reading the views of contemporary philosophers on the greatest philosophers from Plato to Wittgenstein. This book is a written record of the interviews conducted as a series of BBC television programs during 1987. This is not a work for beginners in Philosophy because it presupposes philosophical knowledge for a full understanding of the issues discussed. The usual stumbling blocks for a historical work of this kind would be the treatment of the great greats, namely Aristotle, Kant, and Wittgenstein. Very often authors reveal their philosophical limitations in dealing with one or more of the aforementioned philosophers. Magee superbly negotiates these obstacles with some grace and style. The scope of such a work of course needed to be limited but I do regret the decision not to spend more time on political philosophy in general and that no room could be found for Hannah Arendt's work in this field, perhaps in dialogue number 12 on the existentialists.There are many things in this work to highlight but perhaps I can mention dialogue number 10 on Schopenhauer where two of the leading published experts on his work namely, Copplestone and Magee meet in a fascinating discussion. Dialogue number 15 on Wittgenstein was also important at the time the interviews were being broadcasted because there were a number of intellectual skirmishes over the work of Wittgenstein which demonstrated a lack of understanding of his work. Subsequent publications have disentangled some of the more important ideas of Wittgenstein from the thickets of misunderstanding that arose, making John Searle's prediction that the future would bring greater understanding of his work seem almost clairvoyant.

This is a great book for philosophy students. It breaks ideas down in a clear way, without oversimplifying.I like the interview style (this is basically the transcript from the show) as it makes it easier to read and find what you need. I use this to make sure I understand the famous philosophers general concepts. I definitely recommend this!

Amazing