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Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy (2nd Edition) by Jay Stevenson ISBN: 0-02-864338-0 Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 07 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.83 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Comparison
Comment: Some time ago I sat down and read through "Philosophy for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy." My intentions were to find a book that I might recommend to friends who have a passing interest in the subject, so that I might encourage their understanding and gain more people to discuss ideas with.
Not only was I disappointed with "Philosophy for Dummies" but I found the presentation to be both offensive and underhanded. While appearing at first to be an introduction to the greater subject, it turns out to be a packaging of the author's own beliefs... heavily skewed and full of personal bias. Whole movements are passed over with little or nothing said, other than a dismissive comment from the author, who apparently does not think them worth mention because he does not agree. This is HARDLY proper for what is supposed to be an introduction to the subject. The novice reader is left with a lopsided, limited presentation that while written well enough, leaves him needing to go buy ANOTHER book so he can actually BE introduced to what this title led him to believe he would be -- the subject of philosophy in a wide ranging sense.
In surfing Amazon tonight, I decided to look at the reviews for this book ("Philosophy for Dummies"). I was VERY glad to see that a number of people saw the same thing as I did in this.
Pro-God or not, is not the point. The glory of philosophy is all the different views, and this is what an introduction should present. A book like this should be written with the intention of exposing the reader to the subject of philosophy itself, not just the author's step by step program of -- "This is what I think, so I am going to show you why you should think this way too. Don't worry about the other stuff, it's just nonsense, so we won't say anything much about that."
"Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy" is a much better choice if we were to compare the two. It presents a wide variety of thoughts and explanations, leaving each person to think for himself and later search out more of what he finds speaks to him. The layout is well organized, and the progression of ideas fit well together, allowing the novice reader to not only see the varying concepts, but how each stage of thought fed into the next, and how differing theories challenge one another. The reader is exposed to the ideas themselves, as presented by the given philosophers, not as packaged by a single author who is spending less time introducing and more time selling his own views. Concepts are not examined in great detail, but then again, that is not what this book is trying to do.
While "Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy" is not the best introduction to the subject, it is a good, concise volume of work. As its intention was to be just that, it does its job well. There are better introductions available, but these are often much longer with ideas being developed in greater detail... something that while would be sought by a true student of the subject, might turn off those just looking for a surface exposure. The examinations are cursory at times, but this is again understandable considering the breadth of the subject in relation to the attempt to introduce as much as possible in a limited space, in simple terms.
If you are choosing between the two...
Buy "Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy" if you want an introduction to the subject.
Buy "Philosophy for Dummies" if you want an introduction to Tom Morris.
Actually... check out "Thinking Through Philosophy" - Horner and Westacott - Cambridge University Press. The format and organization of this book is different from the two spoken of above, feeling less "rushed" though still concise and accessible... and the style of introduction is good for both casual readers and those seeking to later move into a deeper study.
Rating: 3
Summary: Useful if you have no knowledge of the topic
Comment: I originally bought this book because I was supposed to supplement a creative writing class I was teaching with an occasional exploration of philosophy. I thought the book might present philosophy at a beginner's level that would make it interesting for my high school class. I never used it.
This is a decent book though. I'm a little hesitant to applaud the author and recommend the book to just anyone. First, the author. Jay Stevenson does have a PhD, but not in philosophy. That worries me. Sure, he may know quite a bit about philosophy, I'm sure there are a lot of people without degrees in philosophy that know a lot about it, but why would The Complete Idiot's Guide people hire a non-PhD to write a book about philosophy when there are thousands of unemployed, professionally trained philosophers looking for work? Who knows. Maybe they thought Stevenson, whose credentials are in English, could do a better job getting his point across.
Second, why I wouldn't recommend the book to just anyone. For two reasons. First, the writing is a little boring at times and for people that aren't interested in philosophy, this book probably won't suck you in and make you want to read it. Second, the philosophies are dumbed down almost to the point that it isn't really worth reading about them. The book turns into a nicely packaged dictionary with fun little explanations rather than a treatise on philosophy. But, what should we expect, right? This is, after all, The Complete Idiot's Guide. So, the book is boring and not a very detailed explanation of the philosophies that it attempts to discuss. However, for an introduction to someone that is interested but knows absolutely nothing, this book probably wouldn't be too bad a place to get ideas of where to look for more information.
Overall, the book was semi-useful in exploring most philosophical perspectives but could have benefited from more depth in discussion of the philosophies and perhaps a history of philosophy (maybe even in some sort of graph-like form).
Rating: 1
Summary: don't waste your money!!!!
Comment: PLEASE!!! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY AND THIS ...!!!! This whole series of books treat topics as though the reader has an IQ five points over their shoe size. If you really want a good book on genral topic of psychology, then buy something like the Story of pschology by Morton Hunt. Please don't waste your money on this .... or in the case of philosophy, I just picked up a good book titled Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers. by S E Frost, Jr. I'm sure you'd get more out it than this ... Series.
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Title: Philosophy for Dummies by Tom Morris ISBN: 0764551531 Publisher: For Dummies Pub. Date: 03 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers by S. E. Frost ISBN: 038503007X Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 01 September, 1962 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Philosophy Made Simple by Richard H., Ph.D. Popkin, Avrum Ph.D. Stroll ISBN: 0385425333 Publisher: Made Simple Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Psychology by Joni E. Johnston, Joni Johnstone ISBN: 1592570690 Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide(R) To Understanding Ethics by David Ingram, Jennifer Parks ISBN: 0028643259 Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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