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Title: Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey by Roger Scruton ISBN: 0-14-024907-9 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A fantastic introduction for those wishing to learn
Comment: There is too much to recommend Scruton to the beginner, so I won't attempt to summarize them. I will say that this book is the best survey I've ever read.
The complaints of complexity are legion in philosophy- it's not a subject for the average man by its very nature. Scruton does as well as any man living or dead in making philosophy understandable to the novice. The reviewers below simply do not understand that this comes with the territory by definition: philosophy is exegesis at the limits of the human grasp. I previously thought there was no way to make it as accessible as this without sacrifising too much: Scruton proved me wrong. You get farther with less hard work under Scruton than any philosopher since Nietzsche. And I know of no one who can make Kant instantly intelligable.
I disagree with Scruton a good amount of the time, and it makes not one iota of difference: this is a little masterpiece. Even the scattered criticism is wrong. Scruton has taken on left philosophers head on more than once (he has a book on the subject). For the most part, he does an excellent job with the quick hack and slash job he does here. The line about anyone asking you to believe that nothing is true is asking you not to believe them is a little rhetorical gem. I don't think it's hard to dismiss the Sausser and Derrida clique outright and then get on to the job of doing philosophy. Maybe that is my fault for not being smart enough- I don't think being able to spot the inconsistancy of an argument from the first sentence means that I have to continue debating the issue.
Either way, the hardest and most worthwhile philsophers extant get the long shrift here, which is precisely how any book purporting to be a survey should work. This book is for everyone: for the beginner looking to uderstand and for the veteran who likes clear and cogent argument. Buy this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent
Comment: Roger Scruton provides an excellent introduction and survey (500 pages plus notes). The best part of the book is that it is organized topically; so, rather than a series of short biographical studies, you get an overview of an issue. For example, there is an excellent discussion of what Frege, Russell, Meinong & Strawson were trying to accomplish.
Scruton is also funny: "[Ayer's] Language, Truth and Logic . . . should be read if possible, provided it is read quickly and innatentively. The details of the argument are preposterous . . . ."
Rating: 5
Summary: The World According to Spock
Comment: Modern philosophy, in the narrow sense that Roger Scruton defines it, is not for the faint hearted. Like much of contemporary science, the technical, jargon bound nature of the subject bars all but the most dedicated from tackling its primary sources. Hence the need for books such as this. As far as philosophical primers goes, this is a good one. Scruton wisely breaks his text down into short easily digestible chapters. Eschewing the usual chronological approach he bases each chapter around a particular theme, bringing the ideas of philosophers from different historical periods together in an enlightening fashion. All the big theories are here from Descartes cogito, to Kants transcendental idealism, to Wittgensteins private language argument. Like Bertrand Russell, Scruton has an admirably clear and economical prose style (and an equally dry sense of humour) which enables him to give us non-philosophers some idea of what, for example, Kants Critique of Pure Reason is on about, and why it is such an important book. Modern Philosophy, however, is much more than just a historical compendium of philosophies greatest hits. Scruton spends a good deal of the book dealing with the current theories and controversies that exist within the subject, so that one comes away with a good idea of the state of contemporary philosophy and where it's heading.
On the downside Scruton, a self-professed conservative, displays the usual Right-wing hysteria when it comes to "discussing" the ideas of the Left. Throughout the text he never mentions the Left other than to disparage it. By the end of the book he can no longer contain himself and dedicates an entire chapter to vilifying the whole socialist philosophical tradition. In this bizzare chapter, luridly entitled "The Devil", he lets it all hang out, attacking Marx and Co. with an evangelical fervour that has to be read to be believed. In a nutshell, Scruton maintains that all left-wing philosophy, from Marx to Foucault, is the work of the devil, while (no surprises here) his own conservative values are equated with those of the Almighty himself: the immutable Law that must be obeyed! This Manichaean view of the world is puzzling given that early in the book Scruton claims that one of the main tasks of philosophy is to teach people to resist such vulgar reductionism. Still it's comforting to know that even super intellectuals like Roger Scruton are prey to the same ideological prejudices as the rest of us. The unwillingness of the Right to engage with the Left - both politically and philisophically- in any form of meaningful debate is highlighted by this sort of caricatured nonsense. It is salutary reminder to us, however, that an intimate knowledge of the entire Western philosophical canon does not necessarily lead to an enlightened (i.e. tolerant) political viewpoint. Consider another "Man Who Knew Everything", the philosopher Bertrand Russell, who at one point during the Cold War advocated a first-strike policy against the Soviet Union. Like Russell, Scruton is also a man of logic and reason, defining philosophy exclusively as a discipline which "pays scrupulous attention to arguments, the validity of which it is constantly assessing". Logic and reason are powerful tools no doubt, but as history has all to often demonstrated, they don't always guarantee a logical and reasonable outcome (remember that even Einstein voted for the Bomb). We need other ways of looking at the world. In this context, the writings of both Modernism and Post-Modernism, which Scruton arrogantly dismisses as nonsense, provide a valuable corrective to what John Ralston Saul has termed "The dicatorship of reason in the West". Nevertheless, one ends up admiring the man. Scruton is one of the few thinkers from the Right who says what he means, and means what he says - such intellectual honesty is rare these days. To sum up, "Modern Philosophy" is the best primer on traditional philosophy I have read and, despite the above qualifications, remains an essential read.
Also Recommended:
A Short History of Modern Philosophy by Roger Sruton: less imposing and easier to read than Modern Philosophy.
A few books that Roger Scruton would NOT recommend!
Ideology an Introduction - Terry Eagleton
The Condition of PostModernity - David Harvey
Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Postmodernism and Beyond - Douglas Kellner
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Title: An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy by Roger Scruton ISBN: 0140275169 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Short History of Modern Philosophy (Routledge Classics) by Roger Scruton ISBN: 0415267633 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 09 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Kant: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Roger Scruton ISBN: 0192801996 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy (Penguin Reference) by Thomas Mautner ISBN: 0140512500 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Roger Scruton ISBN: 0192803166 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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