No comments about Roger Bacon's Life And Work.

2 comments about Introducing Hegel (Beginners).

1. Introducing Hegel, like all the introducing series provides only an introduction to the philosophy of Hegel. Still, I found it interesting. I now know that Hegel's philosophy is tied to history. History, and humanities progress through it, represents our becoming aware that we are self conscious. History is a process of taking a whole broken into fragments and piecing it together into a whole. Hegel was very interested in Napoleon and the French Revolution. He believed the struggle by the oppressed was a struggle for recognition. As the oppressed are the ones who have made the world, they are the ones who benefit most from the experience of history. This aspect of his work is represented in the Master and the Slave where one "person" gets control of another "person" and forces him to do work. But in forcing him to do so the Master becomes dependent on the slave and meanwhile the slave learns the self respect that comes from working. So in the end the Master becomes even more dependent on the slave and the slave becomes free. I think the purpose of the introducing series is to whet your appetite for more and this book certainly has done so. Hegel is a fascinating person and his ideas are well worth exploring.



2. Enough said. This book is short, simple, and sweet.
   A fantastic launchpad into Hegel's philosophy of history!

No comments about Kierkegaard's Psychology (Psychological Series Vol 7).

No comments about Adam Smith's Lost Legacy.

No comments about Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.

1 comments about Beyond the Margins: Reflections of a Feminist Philosopher (Suny Series, Feminist Philosophy).

1. Linda Bell's book divides, not so neatly, into two broad sections: a biographical exploration of her life (a coming-of-age and awareness) and the philosophical issues that have given meaning to the life she describes in honest and open reflection.
   
   A feminist, who learned first-hand what sexism was in the halls of the academy, Bell's writing indicates that to think, to explore one's life in a disciplined fashion, can take one far from the environment in which one was raised, educated, and employed. In fact, a thoughtful consideration of the issues Bell raises are not only appropriate for those who consider themselves "philosophers", but are topics all humans should deal with in our ever more complex society.
   
   Well done.

1 comments about Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography.

1. Karl Popper is yet another exceptional student of the Austrial school that produced a plethora of scientists, mathematicians, philosophers and economists at the turn of the century. The only other comparison would be the extraordinary number of scientists from tiny Scotland that almost single-handedly began the Industrial Revolution. Popper and friends were Renaissance men, masterful in numerous subjects, at ease in a laboratory, classroom or lecture hall.

   They were rationalists of a specific kind. Not for them, the ramblings of a street preacher, social "activist" or leader of mass movements. Instead their actions were didactic, in the cause of something greater. Popper served as gadfly, professor, mathematician, scientist, philosopher and could be considered a spokesman for the groups. His life in Europe was remarkable for what was accomplished - oh, to have a such an inquiring, multi-faceted mind!!

   This book is perhaps more approachable that some of his others. The title says it all; it is the story of the evolution of an intellect that seemed to retain its core. He was interested in so many things and so many areas that all his works are to some degrees syntheses of his interests. Whether he is admiring the logic of scientific discovery or the illogic of taxes, he is brillant, informative and endearing. The intellectual battles are here for all to see (and choose sides). He emerges with not only his mind but his soul intact.

No comments about On Gurdjieff (Wadsworth Philosophers).

No comments about The Many Faces of Philosophy: Reflections from Plato to Arendt.

No comments about McDowell and His Critics (Philosophers and their Critics).