Product Description

In this inspirational book Bryan Magee tells the story of his discovery of philosophy, and in doing so introduces the subject to his reader. Experiences of everyday life provide discussion of philosophers and explain why certain philosophical questions persistently exercise our minds. With great fluency Magee untangles philosophy, making it seem part of everyone's life. Intensely personal and brimming with infectious enthusiasm, this is a wonderful introduction to philosophy by one of the most elegant and accessible writers on the subject.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61706 in Books
• Published on: 1998
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent advocacy of the study of philosophy
Magee has spent a good slice of his life trying to popularise philosophy. He has never cheapened the subject. On the way he has written a very competent introduction to Popper and an unusual yet compelling account of Schopenhauer. Those who might expect some detailed personal insights into his life will remain disappointed. However his love affair with philosophy is perfectly represented and as your other reviewers suggest he constantly engages us. I also believe that tribute should be paid to his open mindedness-anyone who can appreciate both Karl Popper and Martin Heidegger deserves to be heard. This is an excellent and unpretentious account which can be safely read as an introduction to some central issues in philosophy. Long may Mr Magee continue to write

The point of philosophy revealed
I've just subjected this book to the ultimate test: did I want to read it in hospital while waiting for surgery? It takes a truly compelling book to pass that one, and Magee's book passes it with ease. As others have noted, the mix of autobiography with potted insights to what Real Philosophy is about is a delight. But the most valuable thing for me is the way Magee fearlessly exposes the sham philosophy indulgently "studied" for many years in the UK, specifically in Oxford. It was this linguistic analysis that led to philosophy becoming a laughing stock outside the narrow confines of academe in the UK, derided as navel-gazing of the very worst sort. Magee shows how it came about, and why it proved worthless. And one knows it's not sour grapes propelling his attack (he had a perfectly respectably academic career himself), but genuine insight. As someone trained in physics, I never thought I'd say this, but...philosophy might actually be worth finding out more about after all.

No better introduction to instil real interest in philosophy
For most people, philosophy is a dry subject. The development and emphasis on linguistics over the past fifty years or so leads the novice and would-be student to conclude it to be a specialist field, of interest only to those who have reached some strange, indefinable height of intellectual achievement, and are more often than not put off further study. Here, at last is a book which is a personal testament of a real philosopher who recognises this to be a flaw in philosophy, who has been drawn to the subject over a long life-time immersed in real concerns and real ideas and how they come to influence the shape of reality as we encounter it. He restores to its study and exploration that cosmopolitan feel which recognises no boundaries that would narrow it to some dusty corner of interest only to a tiny minority of cognoscenti. While his peers concerned themselves with post-Viennese positivistic and linguistic tracts, he went further afield to where philosophers, scientists, religious and the political were exchanging thoughts and ideas with each other on matters of moment. His main concern is always ideas in themselves and not the shoring up of the current status quo burdened by its own weight in the specialism called philosophy. The range of his concerns is extraordinary, and the conduct of his life is no different from that of an explorer embarked upon ventures of discovery, fascinated by everything. Beneath that fascination are still the same fundamental questions of reality and existence, to which philosophy is fast estranging itself, but in reality are the concerns and inspiration behind so much literature and motive in human action and desire. For this reason, the book contains an element of tragedy which comes to light only because Bryan Magee is ruthlessly honest. While his interests are legion, these interests themselves become a source of dogmatism and constriction in their application to problem-solving to certain existential problems which are the heart of real philosophy. He seems to lack the faith in himself to further the exploration of ideas on the frontiers of thought because he does not feel accomplished enough, on the grounds that he feels the lack of originality or that others are better suited than himself. As a result, when faced with a dilemma at a crisis point in his own life, instead of looking inwardly to his own resources, he comes upon the philosophy of Schopenhauer whose perspectives of reality inform him of a way of resolving the dangers that this turning point in his life presented. What he has to say about Schopenhauer is illuminating, but I would have preferred to know how he might have resolved his difficulties unaided. Consequently, while he is capable of instilling in readers the sense of wonder and curiosity (sadly rare these days!) which is the source of being of philosophy, he seems himself to be pessimistic about his own contribution, almost as though it were second rate and not worth mentioning. For instance, he recalls in passing a moment in his life when he was writing a dissertation on the subject of metaphor, and then does not mention it again. We live in a time in which we do not see that what we take for reality is riddled with metaphors that are an aspect only of reality and a partial representation of it. Yet we take it to be complete, or heading for completion. There is so little work done in this area, work requiring a keen mind and a strong background knowledge, making Bryan Magee the most likely candidate to pursue this to which his intuition draws him, yet he shrinks from the challenge, preferring to recommend a reading list (and a very good list at that) and conducts his life teaching and informing others of the best ideas around, while revealing few of his own. This is such a disappointment, since his insights on others are so sharp. However, at a time when there are hundreds of critiques and texts that we are encouraged to read about almost every philosopher that has ever been, it is refreshing to find a philosopher who encourages us to read the original texts and form opinions of our own rather than embarking on a kind of look-around to see what others think of them. It is just such pity that he does not reveal more about his own ideas, and is content to explore other minds more than his own. All the same, because the book reads both like a detective story and biography, I can think of no better introduction to the subject of real philosophy and no better person to write it.