Talking Philosophy: Dialogues with Fifteen Leading Philosophers

This book presents Bryan Magee's brilliant interviews of leading philosophers for the BBC in 1978. Hereafter some very brief summaries and very few comments (MHO).Isaiah Berlin: philosophy's task is to examine and criticize and bring clarification, not to give definite answers.Charles Taylor: Marxism says nothing on the individual or the cosmic level, only on the social level. There is an internal contradiction between Marxism's inexorable laws and its use as a theory of liberation.Herbert Marcuse: comments on the Frankfurt School and its linking of Freudianism and Marxism, as well as politics and economic power.William Barret (on Existentialism): Heidegger gives a descriptive analysis of our being in the world: What is it to exist?(MHO: Heidegger poses the wrong question: what is? Not, what does?)Sartre confronts freedom and responsibility.Anthony Quinton (on Wittgenstein): he explains the 2 Wittgensteins:1. language is a picture of the world2. language is a social toolA.J. Ayer (on Logical Positivism): any statement that is not a formal one, or empirical testable (verifiability), is nonsensical. But the most important of LP's defects is that nearly all of it is false.Bernard Williams (on Linguistic Philosophy): Understanding what a word means is nothing more or less than knowing how to use it. LP is a tool for the investigation of this use.R.M. Hare (on Moral Philosophy): The most central of moral concepts is what we ought to do. `As you wish that men should do to you, do to them likewise.'W. van Orman Quine : Philosophy is a part of science. Processes (like emotions) in physical objects (people) are always accompanied by microphysical changes. In fact, they are those changes. Neurology is ultimately the place for explanations.(MHO: abstract numbers don't exist in reality. They are only characteristics of physical processes.)J. Searle on the Philosophy of Language): Our concept of reality is a matter of our linguistic categories. The purpose of language is communication.N. Chomsky: Human beings are biologically preprogrammed for the use of language and must all have in common a basic structure that corresponds to the preprogramming.H. Putnam (on the Philosophy of Science): `test your ideas' and `remember that your ideas are corrigible'.R. Dworkin (Philosophy and Politics):on J. Rawls (A theory of Justice):1. there are certain liberties that must be protected2. every change in the social structure should benefit the worst-off group.on R. Nozick (Anarchy, State and Utopia): individuals have rights not to have their persons injured or their liberties limited or their property taken without their consent.Iris Murdoch (Philosophy and Literature): A philosopher must try to explain exactly what he means, use an unambiguous candid style. Philosophy and literature are both truth-seeking and truth-revealing activities.Ernest Gellner: Knowledge is central to life. The task ahead is bring together the cognitive and the social restraintsThis book is a must read for all those interested in philosophy. It is written in an extremely clear, comprehensive and unambiguous language, a major plus for that kind of work.

These 15 dialogues or interviews conducted by Bryan Magee are very skillfully designed so as to make transparent the strategic thought of some of the best philosophers of the last century on 15 themes of contemporary significance. Bryan Magee is a Philosopher of substance in his own right having written a very influential work on the Philosopher Schopenhauer. The series itself took place in the 1970's, a time of intense philosophical activity in England. Bryan Magee's intention was to subject an intellectually curious audience to the phenomenon of philosophers doing what they do best, thinking spontaneously about how to characterize their own positions in relation to the respective chosen theme, whether it be a theme such as "Philosophy of Language" or a theme relating to philosophical movements such as "Existentialism" or themes relating to the works of Philosophers such as Wittgenstein or Heidegger. I remember viewing these dialogues in 1978 as a research student studying Philosophy and finding them extremely inspiring and thought provoking. I was forced several times to alter my program of reading in order to explore aspects of my research not conceived of at its inception. This little autobiographical note suggests that this series of dialogues were not just an excellent introduction to the field of Philosophy for the beginner, they were also very useful for the kind of research product conducted in English Universities in the 1970's

The interviewees and the interviews are amazing - you will learn a lot about philosophy from both.What made the book really tiring to read for me was the print that is so small that it taxes even perfectly healthy eyes. It looks as if somebody prepared the text layout for the A4 format and then shrunk it to the size of a pocket paperback. I was seriously thinking of reading with a magnifying glass. Unfortunately a Kindle edition is not available.

Magee interviews with philosophers are always good. I never got disappointed. This seems to be the second series, of 1975.

In his many radio and TV interviews Bryan Magee had the remarkable knack of giving clear guidance to the audience, while questioning the guest in such a way as to make them equally clear. At the same time his relaxed charm and excellent pace and timing prevented the interviewee from rambling and the audience from getting lost. This was a rare skill, which carries over from the spoken interviews to the books, as in this case.Some prior knowledge is demanded, but Magee rarely uses a term or raises an issue he doesn't concisely explain.Having found the subject opaque for years, I myself suddenly got a grip when I read 3 books-- Flew's Introduction to Philosophy, Russell's HWP, and a book of interviews (with such people as Gilbert Ryle, Strawson and Ayer) that Magee brought out in c.1974.Certainly recommended, though I do prefer the hardback version--any philosophy requires clear concentration and easy-on-the-eye text, and paperbacks with flapping pages, bendy covers and small grey print do rather fail in these respects.

The author's prodigious scholarship, nuanced thinking, work ethic, love of ideas that meet his high standards make one prone to accept as gospel anything he says despite his own advice to the contrary. I can't think of another role model that deserves to be emulated more.The text is not complicated, but it is so nuanced that it must be studied, not read like a novel. When that is done, it goes slowly but the depth of thought and the strength and clarity of the arguments make it both exhausting and hard to put down. Exhilarating.The most educational volume I have ever read and now re-read.