The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

By: Daniel N. Robinson, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Daniel N. Robinson

Length: 30 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Grasp the important ideas that have served as the backbone of philosophy across the ages with this extraordinary 60-lecture series. This is your opportunity to explore the enormous range of philosophical perspectives and ponder the most important and enduring of human questions - without spending your life poring over dense philosophical texts.

Professor Robinson guides you through more than 2,000 years of philosophical thinking and gives you a coherent, comprehensive, and beautifully articulated introduction to the great conversation of philosophy. Every lecture contains substance that can change your view of the world and its history.

You'll journey from the early philosophical ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; chart the origins of Christian philosophy and investigate the Islamic scholars who preserved and extended Greek thought during the Middle Ages; and venture through Enlightenment contributions to philosophy, from Francis Bacon to Locke, Hume, Kant, Mill, and Adam Smith.

Then shift your attention to the modern era, where you see groundbreaking ideas like psychoanalysis, pragmatism, and nihilism, as well as the collision between the inherently social understanding of meaning created by Wittgenstein, the vastly different estimation of human thought developed by the code-breaking genius Alan Turing, and the subtle response to him made by the American philosopher John Searle.

While the lectures cover an enormous range of key thinkers and ideas, they always focus on the most important ideas. The result is a course that gives you everything you need to finally grasp humanity's exciting philosophical history - without years of intense academic study and piles of dense reading.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2004 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2004 The Great Courses

Very interesting lecture, but why Trumpets?

Any additional comments?

Oh please, let's drop the trumpets and the clapping. The lectures are so interesting, but it is irritating and irrational to have clapping and trumpets.

Boring

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

no

Would you be willing to try another book from The Great Courses? Why or why not?

absolutely

How did the narrator detract from the book?

pompous academic

Did The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition inspire you to do anything?

no

Any additional comments?

could have been interesting, but lost my interest; very wordy rehashing of same vague concepts; should have been more concise and meaty

Best course ever!

Best course ever! 30 hours of nonstop brilliance. I only wish I'd been able to attend these lectures in person.

Professor Daniel N. Robinson is brilliant!

Any additional comments?

60 Lectures: not all equal in substance but certainly equal in quality. Prof. Robinson is subperb at the art of lecture. The material wasn't always great. The depth of the subject matter was lacking in some situations. I would recommend listening to this after fully investigating your subjects first. This will help remind you and round things out.

WOW!!!

Professor Robinson has a way with words unlike anyone I've listened to in awhile! My vocabulary isn't quite up to par with Professor Robinson; not by a long shot, but I'm good enough using context clues that I was able to listen and interpret/understand everything he talks about. Plus he teaches at Oxford University so I would expect nothing less!

Excellent review of how thought has evolved.

narrator does an extraordinary job of explaining complex philosophical ideas without dumbing it down. He shows how important Greek philosophy was to our philosophy of meaning of life today. Further he was able to show how Christianity influenced Greek thought in furthering justice and virtue, while pointing out the fallacies of organized religion. Next brings in modern philosophical thought in its critique of orthodox religious beliefs.

Best Great Course and Professor Ever

I LOVED this course and its professor. I was engaged through every minute of each of the 60 lectures. I learned a lot, but better yet I want to learn more-the hallmark of a great course. I will take other Great Courses with this professor.

Great Narrator

After only 5 chapter I've already started feeling very englihtened. However, that music is too loud and I feel like it doesn't really fit the concept. Overall, it seems like this is going to be a great experience for me!

Interesting subject very poorly presented

Interesting subject but very poorly presented. A couple of chapters are quite interesting but everything else is unfortunately very boring. And it is certainly not because topics are boring...

good review of philosophical masters.

helped me with vocabulary immensely. great narrator even though a little new yorkish. opinions given beccons continuing further thought.