Description
Book SynopsisThis book consists of fifteen dialogues between Bryan Magee and some of the outstanding thinkers of the twentieth century. It is based on a highly successful BBC television series which had enormous impact. The informality and clarity of the conversational form makes even the most difficult ideas accessible to the general reader.Isaiah Berlin opens by considering the fundamental question ''What is philosophy?'' Subsequent conversations examine such widely different schools as Marxism and existentialism. Chomsky, Quine, Marcuse, and others discuss their own work; A. J. Ayer reviews logical positivism; Iris Murdoch talks about the relation between philosophy and literature. Moral philosophy, political philosophy, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of science are all treated in depth by the thinkers whose work has shaped the fields.
Trade ReviewReview from previous edition 'Intellectual instruction and entertainment of a high order' * Observer *
Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. An Introduction to Philosophy ; 2. Marxist Philosophy ; 3. Marcuse and the Frankfurt School ; 4. Heidegger and Modern Existentialism ; 5. The Two Philosophies of Wittgenstein ; 6. Logical Positivism and its Legacy ; 7. The Spell of Linguistic Philosophy ; 8. Moral Philosophy ; 9. The Ideas of Quine ; 10. The Philosophy of Language ; 11. The Ideas of Chomsky ; 12. The Philosophy of Science ; 13. Philosophy and Politics ; 14. Philosophy and Literature ; 15. Philosophy: The Social Context ; Suggestions for Further Reading
