Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #651711 in Books
• Published on: 1994-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews

Extremley Funny yet suprisingly informative
Hankinson's "Bluff Your way in Philosophy" is a real treat for anyone interested in philosophy.

Being one book in a whole "Bluff your way series" I didn't expect much from it (I haven't read the others though). I was therefore really surprised when I found out what this book contains.

The first thing to note about this book is that it is extremely funny. Philosophy is usually such a pretentious subject - it is really refreshing to read a book written by someone who takes the subject seriously yet not too seriously. However, the humorous part of the book contains a catch: if you are a real bluffer (and not an impersonating philosopher) this book is probably not be funny at all.

The more surprising feature of this book is that it is actually very informative! In 64 pages Hankinson manages to mention almost every important name term or sect in Western philosophy (and has even a few words about the so called "Eastern Philosophy").In particular, it is a nice quick reference to the chronological order of the different philosophers.

To sum up: If you know nothing at all about philosophy this book will probably not help you to learn more, and will not be much fun (although it will probably be quite effective in helping you to bluff your way through). On the other hand, if you are somewhere between a frustrated beginner and a frustrated expert this book will be a lot of fun and probably quite informative (not to mention a guaranteed improvement in your bluffing skills). .

One word of warning: not everything in it is true (is it possible that Hankinson is a bit of a bluffer himself?). Check out the mathematical definition of "rational numbers" - Hankinson has got it wrong. So double check the info in this book before you bluff it in to your PhD thesis...