Philosophy Books

Erasmus conveys in his writings a deeply principled, heartfelt faith leavened with genuinely funny and often cutting wit. He is a great Rationalist while admitting the workings of the irrational and mystical. His attacks on the excesses of the Church are exactly that, attacks on the excesses but not the Church itself. There is a profound integrity that never slips into a self-righteousness. HIs letter to Martin Dorp is an excellent example. The Praise of Folly is a gem, but is only an introduction to the riches in the other selections. If your are interested in issues of religious faith, church history, theology or the early Renaissance, this is a must read.

Erasmus knew the heart of man. His writings in the 16th Century AD are completely relevant to today. If only our leaders read Erasmus he could have told them what folly any war is.

This edition has "some" of Erasmus' most influential works; namely, "The Praise of Folly", the political "Complaint for Peace", "Forewords to the Latin New Testament", "Julius Excluded from Heaven", the "Colloquis", and excerpts from his finest letters. These works are selected more to understand the humanistic side of Erasmus rather than the scholarly doctrinaire who labored for the peace of christendom. With these selections - entailed by fotenotes, the editor's prefaces, and critcical commentaries - this edition will invariably enhance a more intimate impression of the mind of Erasmus at the dawn of the reformation.

I stumbled upon Erasmus while reading Durant's Reformation volume of the Story of Civilization, and later while reading Johnson's History of Christianity. Both authors were rightly impressed with the great influence he had on the Christian world prior to and during the time of the reformation. I had previously known that Luther and Calvin were the major players in the reformation but hadn't realized that so many characters prepared for it and also tried to temper the violent outcomes. Erasmus stood out for me as an intriguing person that I wanted to learn more about. As a result, I purchased this book to get a sample of his writings.

This book of just over 300 pages contains as its major work "The Praise of Folly". This satirical gem has Folly incarnated as a type of a classical goddess discussing the virtues of folly and using various classical and everyday examples to justify why folly is such a good thing. Fortunately, the compiler has footnotes to explain the classical references to those not familiar with most of them; this helped me a lot.

There follows the brilliant anti-war piece entitled "The Compliant of Peace", where peace is embodied and complains of how he is abused and neglected. Then follows two forewords to his groundbreaking Latin translation of the Greek New Testament, explaining why he did this. I hadn't realized how intense the opposition was. After that we have the hilarious "Julius Excluded from Heaven"; an imagined conversation between Pope Julius and St. Peter at heavens gate. I can see why it was initially published anonymously.

The next section includes four of his Colloquies; very well written and bringing out some good points. Three letters are also included including one defending his Praise of Folly, another describing his travels, and another to a high ranking Bishop. The final section includes six essays of varying interest discussing Erasmus.

I loved Erasmus' writing style and though the compilation a very good introduction to his writing. Adam's translation was very clear. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more of Erasmus and sample his writing.

Robert Adams' translation is great and helps feature Erasmus wit and wisdom with modern usage, with plenty of footnote explanation of period literature. Erasmus' satirical writing is amusing and insightful of the political and social thinking of his time. Amazing to read how little has changed intellectually over 500 years.

I highly recommend this book as a graduation gift, wedding gift, and as a gift to new mothers! I love it! Every now & then I get it off the shelf and read it ALOUD to myself...it is much more powerful when read aloud. Anna Qundlen's words of wisdom put everything in perspective and get me back on track to being the mother, wife, and friend I want to be, but often lose sight of in my hectic life. It is a quick read and very inspirational.

I really liked this little book. The pictures are really cool, and the comments on what it takes to be happy are good reminders, like:

-- Being a good spouse, mother and friend
-- Laughing, listening and just showing up
-- Keeping still and being present
-- Being generous
-- Remembering to live instead of just exist...and many more

This is a very quick read, so it's easy to pull it out again from time to time to remind us of what's really important. It would make a nice gift book, too.

Terrific Writter.
I have picked up about 5 copies of this book to give as Graduation gifts for High School and College students.
She take ordinary situations and simply everyday moments and show us how to really look at them and learn.
This book is a treasure.
You'll want to hold onto a copy for yourself.
~Jane

Wow- Anna Quindlen's book "A Short Guide to a Happy Life" is a revelation. This small book may offer the appearance of brevity, but when it comes to wisdom and applicable life-altering perspectives, Ms. Quindlen offers an approach to life that is abundant with possibilities for hope and happiness. I have long been a fan of her fictional work, particularly her novels "Blessings", Black and Blue (Oprah's Book Club)" and "One True Thing: A Novel", in addition to her insightful articles in The New York Times. However, in this brief- yet abundantly wise reflection- she is able to document her quest for attaining a peaceful, enlightened existence.

Quindlen's life abruptly shifted when her mom died during her freshman year of college. Subsequently, she spent many of her formative adult years looking for a deeper meaning to her life. She spends a good portion of the book examining popular misconceptions about how to achieve a fulfilling, happy life. She questions which of our life experiences we will prioritize when we are faced with our own mortality. When that last day, last hour, last minute beckons will you be able to reflect upon a life has been busy with meaningful, enriching experiences- or a life that has simply been `busy'? Quindlen derives a simple, yet very applicable philosophy that has helped her attain an enlightened life: "Show up. Listen. Try to laugh."

Two of my favorite authors, Ariel and Shya Kane, also offer inspiring, magical examples of how to live a fulfilling, happy life in their book "Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment." The Kanes write about how the art of listening and showing up for your life by simply becoming engaged in the `current moment of now' can transform the qualitative experience your life- in an instant. In one of my favorite passages, Ariel and Shya are working with one of their clients in a weekly workshop that they facilitate in New York City on Monday Nights. (btw- if you find yourself in NY- check it out at www.ask-inc.com - these workshops are truly life altering!) Their client, Sarah, talks about how she always finds herself in a stage of "upset" in her life. The Kanes suggest that when you find yourself complaining about life, awash in a pity party for one- pretend that you are driving a car down a one way street, apply the brakes and back out of it! There is no need to indulge, justify or rehash your misery- just put your foot on the brake of unhappiness and drive down an alternative road! It sounds simple. It sounds easy. It is. It just takes brakes and the willingness to travel down an alternative pathway.

After reading the inspirational ideas set forth by both Quindlen and the Kanes, I can see that living a magical, transformational life is both accessible and easy! All it takes is being open to the possibilities.

Anna Quindlen's charming and engaging little book is a refreshing reminder that life is short, magical and that every moment matters. In a direct and elegant way, Quindlen shares the lessons she learned during and after her mother's death. These lessons focus on embracing your life and not taking it for granted whether you're in one moment enjoying spring flowers or being of service to another human being. I was really touched by the author's honest and humble sentiment throughout the book; Quindlen manages to bypass the drama and darkness of the experience of her mother's death and offer up the richness of what she experienced as a result. Reading it felt like receiving a sweet gift from a friend.

Another book that shares profound life lessons with a similar sense of sincerity and sweetness is Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment, by Ariel & Shya Kane. Through incredible stories and examples from real life, the Kanes share what they have discovered on their 20+ year journey as a couple about how to have life be richer and more fulfilling than you ever imagined. If you want to feel inspired, refreshed and enlivened (rather than 'worked on' or preached to), pick up both of these books and treat yourself to a truly delightful experience.

I use this book as a supplementary text for a few of the philosophy courses I teach. As an introductory-level, supplementary text, it is quite helpful. One of Weston's core themes is how to promote constructive dialog, and how to avoid dialectical dead-ends. In a world beset with simplistic moral dualism, this is a handy toolkit.

I found this book to be less of an introduction and more of a glossing over of ethics. It is based on a grade school understanding of how to get along with people, in which case I found Robert Fulghum to be more educating and insightful. Weston's introduction dismisses the works of philosophers as not "concentrat[ing] . . . on how to live." His practical approach of dealing with ethics through the heart, leaves the reader with a loss of backbone as well. If you really are interested in ethics, I would go elsewhere for explanation.

I used this book as a basic introduction to Ethics with an introductory class. The easy to read and concise nature of the author was very helpful. The book wouldn't stand alone, but very useful as a supplementary text. Good sections in back for students and teachers. The section on Values Conflict is also good. I definitely would use this book again.

Millionaire in 365 Days: The Daily Plan to Get There

A revealing expose....and so simple an idiot can fix it...but wait the unions do not want that....so we have a mediocre system that is beat out by many other countries...a good education on the educational SYSTEM.

While Hirsch does a good job of listing most of the trends in public school education, he does a truly dismal job of explaining why they don't work. In fact, even though I lean towards more traditional learning, I thought he was so off base with his reasons as to *why* this or that educational technique doesn't work, that actually I found I agreed in several cases with his opponents, which I don't think was the aim of his book, lol.

For example, he doesn't like project-based learning, or cooperative (small group) education. He feels they're inefficient. Well, they're not inefficient if done correctly, where each student is assigned an equally difficult and important task, and the teacher keeps on top of things, individually grading each student independently of the project, and the students in the group are similar in terms of intelligence, skill, and work ethic.

However, what *really* happens, and why they don't work (which he does not mention) is that most teachers use these techniques during class as babysitting devices so they can grade papers or do other paperwork or go on break. The smarter and/or harder working students, because they don't want their grades to suffer, end up doing all of the work and the slackers skate by with a good grade because the teacher only grades the total project. The smarter students also wind up actually teaching the other students for a good deal of the school day, which gee, I thought that was what TEACHERS are paid to do.

He even fails to list that the best reason to continue with the "traditional" classroom where teacher talks and students listen is that it is often the most efficient way to get information across to large groups of people. How could he miss that?

He mentions that in Asian classrooms students are typically given an overview of exactly what they will learn in a class session. Well, go to any seminar and probably 95% of them are taught that way, because you have really large groups of people and only one instructor. Most lower-division college classes (especially those held in large auditoriums) are taught this way.

However, these classes only work if students are well-behaved (often not the case in K-12) and everyone in the class is assumed to have the ability to learn the new information with little or no follow-up (which again is often not the case in K-12). In these types of classes, the teacher (or indeed, anyone who can read the lesson plan) simply presents the information, which is hardly "teaching", by any stretch of the imagination.

The chief value in this book lies primarily in the glossary, which provides a wealth of buzzwords for the homeschooling parent to jazz up any district-required homeschool record-keeping.

There are printing errors on pages 121, 124, and 132 of the paperback edition - including repeated and truncated sentences, misplaced quotes, and truncated paragraphs. I have contacted the publisher, and advise others to check before they purchase. I found the same errors on three paperback copies, from three retailers, in two states.

I love the premise of this book, and have found a clean, hardcover copy without errors.

The only thing more inflated than grades in today's public schools is self-esteem. How a student feels about what he thinks he or she is learning is considered far more important than whether that child is learning anything at all. Considering the millions of public school graduates who can only be described as functionally illiterate, it's apparent that almost half of public school students aren't learning much of anything. As Hirsch explains, this is because the government's education system is no longer concerned with teaching facts (historical, scientific, grammar, reading & writing skills, etc.). They're more concerned with kids having fun, which ensures no one's feelings get hurt by getting a low grade on a test or writing assignment. His book makes a strong argument for classical education where content knowledge from core courses like English, math, science and history is emphasized, rather than modern educators' bloated rhetoric of "learning about learning" or teaching "critical thinking skills" when students don't have enough facts to think clearly about anything. It is a fact that public school students who are taught using classical rather than modernist teaching strategies perform better on standardized tests, but the elitists progressives who support these modern strategies will argue that standardized tests only reflect one aspect of what a child is learning. I say these tests also point out what a child is NOT learning, which is all the more reason to support a return to classical education. And since public schools are controlled by the above modernists, that's not likely to happen, which is why I strongly encourage parents to remove their kids from public schools right now. Put them in a privite or Christian school, most all of which follow classical teaching methods, or you can home school your kids yourself using a classical curriculum. It's not as difficult or expensive as you might think, but it's far cheaper than what it'll cost you to leave your child in the government's care.

A long time ago, a well known theorist of education - John Dewey - decried certain "dualisms" in education. Schools, in other words, should not put all of their educational eggs in one basket by focusing either SOLELY on teaching factual recall or SOLELY on teaching students how to think. Schools should do both and avoid the idea that the two can be seperated. Thinking, in Dewey's mind, was dependent on factual knowledge and factual knowledge was useless without a mind trained to think about it.

Hirsch's book is written amongst a steady tide of educational thought that has forgotten this most basic insight. Most educators today believe the primary goal of education to be promotion of critical thinking and creative expression at the expense of fact-b ased instruction, which is often decried as 'mindless repitition of facts.' (In my education classes, I often hear it referred to as the 'three R's' - read, remember, regurgitate.')

In this sense, the thesis of Hirsch's book - that critical thinking and creative expression MUST be accompanied by firm, factual understanding - is a very Deweyan idea. And Hirsch makes a good case, both philosophically and scientifically.

The first half of the book is the more philosophical half. First, Hirsch traces the ideological roots of the 'learning as a social, constructivist enterprise' theory. Owing to the work of a handful of theorists in and around the 1930's, the 'learn from the bottom up' approach (facts first, then higher-order reflection) became replaced by a "bottom down" approach that sees learning as more holistic and constructivistic.

Next, Hirsch shows that by most any measure, these ideas have failed - ever since their inception in the '30's - to produce any improvement in the United State's educational situation. More than that, while these 'reforms' flounder in the public schools, those schools that still hold to a fact-based rigorous educational model - private schools and universities - continue to thrive. So, is it any wonder that we might find reason to question whether these reforms have done more harm than good?

But, as Hirsch points out next, not only are these ideas not questioned within the education establishment, they are simply treated as common sense - even in the light of their repeated failure to deliver on their promises.

AS a masters student in Special Education and a first year teacher, this was a pertinent section for me. I can see the dominance of the constructivist model not only in the school where I teach, but permeating every inch of the Graduate School which I attend. We are taught EXCLUSIVELY in the constructivist approach and the more fact-based approach only comes up when we talk about how things used to be (ah...those draconians!).

Finally, we get to the meat of Hirsch's case. The last third of the book presents the data. While most of the alleged data supporting the constructivist approach boils down to philosophy dressed in the language of science, the data supporting the other, more fact-based approach, consists of numerous studies that independently come to the same conclusion - that fact-based, large-group, disciplined instruction, rather than the more free-form, constructivist, small group approach, wins the day more often than not.

Of course, as I have not done any exhaustive reasearch on this subject, I cannot say that there is NO research to support a constructivist approach. But I can attest that many articles in support of constructivism are thinly veiled philosophizing under the guise of sceintific research, the quality of which would be laughed at in any journal with scholarly standards. (Unfortunately, education journals don't seem to have very high publishing standards.)

My only complaint about this book - and it is a big one - is that Hirsch really should have focused more on the scientific case against a wholly constructivist approach.It may be true that the science supports a more fact-based approach, but, if so, he should rebut it more with science than his own philosophy. Otherwise, he is only doing what he alleges others of doing - being a partisan to philosophy rather than data. If the data is as staggering as he suggests, he shold show it rather than relegate it to the last third of his book.

Be that as it may, this book is sorely needed in an educational world that has been trying the same thing over and over (under new names every few years) only to find that it doesn't work. Perhaps we should take a cue from the schools that are working - private schools, universities, and the pulbic schools of other countries. Of course, if we did that, we might have to admit that Hirsch, and Dewey, are right; education is not worth much without factual rigor.

This is a great book for people who want an introduction to Moral Philosophy. However, they only offer a few pages from the authors. If you want the whole picture, go directly to the source. Also, it was great to see some Ayn Rand.

Good Metaphysical understanding of life - that it consists of "The one consciousness". And that, all there is anywhere is this one consciousness. That all life interacts instantaneously and non-locally through a mechanism of life and living, difficult to comprehend when understood through the distorting lens of scientific thought and object orientated materialistic living. It underlines that matter is for the most part redundant or better considered as a reflex of thought and arises totally out of conditioning and sedimentations, termed quantum collapse - or "The classical self".

On the otherhand, the past does not need to exist, to the Quantum Self, that is not beholden to the Samskaras of conditioned and congealed thought, to space or time but has access to all that is and all that happens as it happens and which underscores all our creativity and Quantum evolutionary capabilities. Also, good synopsis of the current state of physics and the current belief systems prevailing in the world at present from (i) Behaviorism to (ii) Materialism to (iii)Monistic Idealism , along with their limitations.

Does not go that step further in understanding the metaphysical derivatives of Aspect's experiment, and in realizing that everything communicates instantaneously, only because space does not really fundamentally exist at all - and with it Time - which is just another aspect of the same illusion based on Minkowsky's elucidations! And so - there is no out-there - out there! The realization that everything and ever being is just subjective essence needs to be fully assimilated. A major affront to Science. Hui Neng's understanding that "From the beginning, not a thing is"! would be a further development! along with realizing that the entire seeming objective and object-orientated functionality of the universe is just a reflex of unpurified thought - also ACIM's Statement that "Objects leave not their Source" would help usher in the new metaphysics and the transcendental understanding and awareness needed to propitiate quantum leaps in mankind and the one joined and universal consciousness.

The last section of the book, that deals with yoga and ethics is at best third rate. Reiterates OSHO, Krishnamurti and the basics of yoga! focuses on Eka Rupa and attaining the Eka Grata state in meditation as well as those of Samadhi with objects. Very fundamental but does not capitilize or deliver on the clever, well developed scientific statements that are their precursor earlier in the book.

We are all one consciousness experiencing our reality seperately. Each of us learning and contributing to this universal mind.
I found this book to be very fascinating. Maggie & Amit Gaswami take you on a journey through physics to explain our existance in the universe. Implicitly detailing what science is really telling us about life and living systems, exactly how we are connected and what we can do with this new-found knowledge. I highly recommend this book!

Very interesting book, a little bit into speculation and religion.
The scientific part was well explained.
The view about the universe changed for me.
I would recommend this book to any one who is interested in quantum mechanics and filosofy...

Your's

Dr. MJ v Dijk PhD

Goswami merges science and spirituality like no other. You don't need to possess a scientific mind to follow most of his argument. The universe is indeed self-aware and Goswami proves that fact, merging east and west in way that makes perfect sense.

This is a wonderful and timely book. It gives a fresh view of science, religion, mind, body, consciousness and the universe, stimulates thinking and makes one really understand that s/he can make a difference!!

There are many in our society today who are dissatisfied with the traditional church; too dull, not enough excitement, want to feel good when I leave on Sunday. In an effort to try to understand what this new emerging church is and how or if they are true to scripture I selected this book. D. A. Carson has given a thoughtful and frank assessment of this new movement. Just learning what the terms emerging and or emergent are was quite insightful.

Three months ago, I was at a Q&A session at Southern Theological Seminary, and the panel, which included Seminary President Dr. Albert Moehler, was asked about the Emerging Church Movement. Moehler commented that to some churches, replacing the piano and organ with a praise band is being emergent. Others claim that title because they are legitimately disillusioned with the traditional church. Still others latch on to this movement because of a heart of evangelism to today's society. He had no problem with these; his problem is when it affects doctrine. One of the other panelists recommended this book.

One thing I look for in reading a book is how broad a brush the writer uses. Does he put everyone in the same category, or does he identify the variations and praise the good as well as criticize what isn't? Dr. Carson succeeds at this, though one improvement would be to use this later in the book just as a reminder. He points out that the movement is so varied that neither his praises or his problems apply to every emergent church.

He has an orderly and logical progression to his book, moving from defining the movement, praising its strengths (which he points out that are not exclusive to the movement), and then moving to its criticisms, with a parenthetical introduction to post-moderninsm and its relation to this movement.

The bottom line is that this movement has a problem with truth. Every other shortcoming is tied in to this. Carson deals with the problems in the movement as a whole and in two representative books by perceived leaders of the group, before pointing out what Scripture has to say about it.

Is this the best book on the movement? Having read only one, I cannot answer the question. Do I recommend this book? Yes. It is a great introduction, though it requires you wear your thinking cap when reading it; it took me a while to work through some sections because of its depth.

This book is for the intellect. It was very hard to keep my mind on the facts. There were too many difficult sentences and words to make this interesting and informative for me. Sorry! But I am sure it is truthful.

This is essential reading for anyone on the outside looking in that wants to know more about the "Emerging Church." Dr. Carson explains what the "Emerging Church" is and explains it's philosophical foundation, postmodernism. He then presents both the strengths and weaknesses of the movement in a fair way. This book made me think and helped make it clear why I have felt so uneasy about aspects of this movement.

To sum things up, the "Emerging Church" is very good at providing context, understanding culture, and reaching previously unreached segments of society. The movement however resists objective truth, which ensures that their treatment of the Gospel message is extremely problematic.

The only warning is that this book is very academic (I found myself reading this with a dictionary alongside). This is not your typical light Christian reading.

What I find interesting is that I was actually driven by watching the debate on this book to read McLaren's book "A Generous Orthodoxy" prior to reading this one as I thought the debate was a riveting one. Having read both books, I have to say that I feel McLaren has been much maligned in the characterization of that DA Carson makes of his work. That is not to say that some of his assertions are not valid in regards to areas of the emerging church.
Many of Dr. Carson assertions are quite valid. It has been my personal experience that many emergent churches (several I have visited or attended) do seem to struggle with a watering down of the Gospel through offering services about being a better you and other self help style sermons that can sometimes remove the focus on God. Many struggle with, as Carson put it, "a shallow" view of faith that often borders on a selfish pursuit by these christians of a "prosperity gospel" that portrays God as a cosmic slot machine for believing. Prayer goes in -- red corvette and wealth come out. There is truth to a tendency of these groups towards a "feel good" and "non offensive, political correct, and an all encompassing tolerance that rubberstamps all divergent beliefs&

Let me first preface this review by saying that you probably won't find a crisper compact collection of works by existentialist philosophers. (Marino's *Basic Writings of Existentialism* might be an exception to this rule, if only for its relative completeness...) But that's not because this book is of especially high quality; there just aren't too many anthologies like this out there.

What is striking about this book is how poorly it introduces the leading philosophies of key figures like Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Jaspers. Here are some more particular comments and criticisms of the different sections. There's a common thread running through my criticisms, and it's this: the editor seems less concerned with giving the reader a sense of the ideas of the authors he includes, and more concerned with justifying their inclusion in the anthology. It's as if he cherry-picked excerpts and articles to show that the philosophers in question could really be considered existential (with the exception of Dostoevsky). So, anyway, without further ado:

(1) Including the first part of 'Notes from the Underground' is brilliant. No quarrel with that.

(2) The section on Kierkegaard is pretty inadequate. My eyes widened when I realized that Kaufmann hadn't included anything from *Fear and Trembling* (at least the first two Problemata) or *Either/Or*-- even though these are considered two of his most important works. Also, Kaufmann decided to put some of Kierkegaard's quasi-autobiographical stuff in there, for reasons that are totally beyond me.

(3) The section on Nietzsche is even worse: it is twelve pages long, containing only short snippets of various books. Nothing from *On the Genealogy of Morals* or *Beyond Good and Evil*-- even though that's where you find quite a few significant essays on truth and objectivity, which you think would be relevant here.

(4) If you're only going to put eight pages of truncated Kafka in the anthology, you might as well leave him out of it altogether.

(5) Seventy-five pages of this collection are devoted to Jaspers; he gets more space in the book than anyone else except Sartre. What the hell? It could've easily been reduced to about half that. Not only that, he picks the unhelpful 'On My Philosophy' and Jaspers' unconvincing criticisms of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche as representative of his philosophical theories.

(6) The section on Heidegger is not too bad, though I came away from it with a very poor grasp of what he was trying to say; it would've been nice to know what his eccentric terminology was meant to refer to. Same with the section on Sartre... it was like being thrown in the deep end on your first swim.

(7) No De Beauvoir whatsoever... sigh...

So, buyer beware: this should be supplemented with extensive reading to acquire the philosophical background necessary to understanding these thinkers. Kaufmann himself offers little to no guidance. His introduction dwells on their intellectual personalities and criticizes their underlying methods without providing the reader with any substantive analysis of their main ideas. And when you're dealing with philosophers whose works are less than perspicuous, you need more than just a meandering, ADD-driven preface; Kaufmann should've at least managed to say nothing in fifteen pages, not forty.

The book is layed out in a way that you can pick and choose which philosopher you want to read more about. A good read.

This book is most useful if one wishes to study Walter Kaufmann. This book is a waste of time if you wish to study the writers Kaufmann presents to us. Kaufmann warps the texts to suit his own agenda. If you share his agenda you will likely not even notice that he has an agenda.

"If you make people think they are thinking they will love you, but if you really make them think they will kill you. " - Albert Einstein

This anthology of Existentialist texts is the best introduction to Existentialism currently available in English. Walter Kaufmann (best known to philosophy readers as the twentieth century's most important translator of Nietzsche) presents a selection of key texts from Kierkegaard, Dostoyevski, Nietzsche of course, Heidegger, Sartre and others, and Kaufmann prefaces the anthology with a magisterial intro. The most important piece included is the complete text of Sartre's early lecture "Existentialism is a Humanism," the most accessible and clearest exposition of the most influential phase of his thought. If you want to know what Existentialism is all about (or if you already know but want to own a great reference book of essential texts), this is the book to buy.

I believe this book is fantastic, especially as a beginning point for understanding what existentialism is. The book has a well written preface that explains that existentialism is not really well defined, but encompasses certain themes. This book does a good job of taking a selection of those who share those themes, and introducing them here. I think it gives one a good representation and idea of existentialism, that can be studied more in depth later, by reading the full text of what is represented here. Very well translated by WK.

After this book, a sort of spa treatment for the over philosophical mind, deep cleaning our comprehension of the world into a notion of propositions and the relation between them, Wittgenstein himself cast off the training ladder of the Tractatus, as he advised his readers to do at the end of the book. He argued that the logical positivists he had inspired were mistaken in demanding excessive precision from human expressions. This led to his later theory of language games - picturing of reality is often only incidental to the success of language. On you go folks, good luck...

The `Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus' is the German monk and philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein's commentary on language and its logical failures. This not only applies to its uses in philosophy but in all fields. He explains in length how a logical proposition, by definition, cannot carry any weight because logic itself is only a framework, consisting of no substance. It can therefore only lead us to a simplification of what we already know; much in the same way that the mathematics, as a method, can lead to a simplification, if data and relationships are given but not create numbers where they didn't exist before. Because of their interchangeable nature, he often applies mathematics as a way of explaining his principles within language. These are laid out in step by step framework of propositions preceded by numbers and decimal places signifying their order and importance.

Although his book deals with an issue of great importance to philosophy and has received excellent reviews from many great philosophers, including an enthusiastic introduction by Bertrand Russell, I found this book to be, for the most part, pretty dull. After his general criticism of language is understood it seems that he spends most of the book going into an unnecessarily detailed proof of this being the case. As a foundational work, maybe this approach was necessary in order to explain away any grey areas and gaps through which criticism could be made. For the average reader however, who is interested in understanding new principles and gaining new philosophical insight, this book may come across as overly tedious, and overcomplicated. Wittgenstein's propositions on language could, I believe, be explained, still persuasively, but in much more understandable and readable manner, and in a great deal less space.

If you are interested in a step by step, text book style read, then maybe this book will interest you. If like me, however, you prefer to cut through the jargon and onto understanding the core principles, I would encourage you to skim-read through the first two thirds of the book picking out what makes sense and not spending too much time trying to understand what can in places seem like impossibly mind boggling equations, knowing that at the heart the principles themselves are pretty simple. From around page 60 onwards I found that the book got more interesting as Wittgenstein moves from proving the validity of his propositions to their implications. For me it was this end that made the book. Had I given up half way through, as was tempting, I would have missed the best part. It was in these last pages that the genius of Ludwig Wittgenstein really shone through.

stick an alfred north whitehead lecture and a collection of hegel quotes into a blender and...it will make a mess. instead, i'd suggest reading a book. this one has lots of mathmematically themed explanations of what we know (or don't) and what we can express or understand (or can't). a little migraine-inducing at times, but then again no one said it was a stephen king novel. it's actually quite short, but since he fits such expansive theories into such neat little stanzas, it seems like 'war and peace' after someone dropped it from the sears tower. if you like thinking about thinking for thinking's sake, this guy is one pimped out g-money hustlah. or not. great stuff.

"That which we cannot speak of we must pass over in silence".

The Tractatus was Wittgenstein's attempt to solve all philosophical problems. Believing he was successful, he retired from Philosophy after publishing this text to become a schoolteacher for several years in Austria, before returning to philosophy.

The Tractatus is one of the most important intellectual works of the 20th century, arguably as important as Bertrand Russell's and Whitehead's 'Principa Mathematica', Heidigger's 'Being and Time', and Husserl's 'Logical Investigations.' This little work, beautiful in its logical simplicity and purity, can be regarded as the manifesto of analytical philosophy in the 20th century.

The Tractus is essentially a work dealing with epistemology, what we can and cannot know about the world. However, rather than looking at the mind or conciousness or sensations, Wittgenstein instead looks at how we use language and logic to describe the world. If we can solve the inherent logical ambiguity of language, we can then solve philosophical problems which are in fact simply faults which come from lack of logical coherence or clarity when we use language to make certain statements about things and the relationship between things.

Wittgenstein's approach is somewhat reductionistic. The propositional format of the work mirrors the Ethics of Spinoza, though for Wittgenstein the world is made of certain basic atomistic components which have fairly simple relations to each other. These arrangements may change in space and time but the world remains the same.

A number of propositions deal with logical problems explored by Russell, Frege and others. Some of these are very abstract and subtle and require careful study to properly understand.

Towards the end of the treatise Wittgenstein's concerns seem to border on the mystical. 'It is not what the world is, but that it is, which is mystical' and 'What we cannot speak of, we have to pass over in silence.' These Zenlike statements seem to hint at a deep mystery about things which crops up when we reach questions beyond the scope of language and logic, which can only be approached with silent contemplation, somewhat like Nicholas of Cusa's approach to the mystery of God. While Wittgenstein was not a religious man, his statements in this sense have often been quoted by philosophers and scientists whenever a metaphysical question which seems unanswerable arises in their discourse.

Wittgenstein later abandoned many of the statements he made in the Tractatus when he returned to philosophy, instead focusing more on problems with language rather than logic. This is somewhat unfortunate, given the elegance and beauty of this work from the philosophical viewpoint.

While the ambitions of Wittgenstein to solve all problems by clearing up our usage of language may seem excessive looking back, the clarity and precision of this work is admirable and the project worthwhile. For this and for many other reasons, it remains a work worth studying carefully and with sympathy, even after a century or so after its publication.

This book opened my eyes. I am an educator and this happens to our children everyday. I would love to meet the author.

This little text is so very informative. The author expertly refutes the major arguments prevelant among the conservatives that our children are deficient. I am convinced.

I'm an educator who works with middle school children. This book was an excellent read and provided more understanding for me as I work with children. I highly recommend it to caring educators!!