Original link: https://wmdpd.com/ping-xi-fang-zhe-xue-shi/
This is not a new work, but an old book review I wrote. I actually have it on my book review page. Here is the formatted version that I brought back directly from Douban. Actually, there are not many formats, just a few carriage returns.
Because someone on Douban sprayed me, I decided to delete the content that I liked a lot, so that they don’t take advantage of me.
It’s not my loss that Douban readers can’t see it, it’s none of my business hahaha.
This book review is for the ninth edition, corresponding link : rating 5/5.
Original text below:
To be honest, I struggled a bit with the rating, maybe four stars or four and a half stars according to my own rating, but to be fair, I read this book last, and I don’t have the ability to read the general knowledge that I have read before. The impact on me is left in my head and then I read this book, so it’s not fair to rate my personal feelings, at least I’m pretty sure if I started philosophy from this book, I would definitely give 5 stars without a doubt Undoubtedly, in this case, don’t worry about five stars.
Regarding several perspectives of general philosophical knowledge, I have read several books one after another. It is impossible to comment on this book without involving the books I have read before. In this case, I will make a summary here.
One of the angles is to start from the problem and lay out the content of the book according to different problems :
The worst thing written here is undoubtedly “Intuition Pump”. I wrote it for a long time with unclear key points, especially for the long essay on evolution theory. It is also painstakingly for readers under the influence of foreign beliefs, but it is fundamental to Chinese readers. It’s just nonsense, this book is completely unnecessary to read;
The second is Solomon’s “The Big Question”. To be honest, I read the ninth edition of the big question, and it should be the first general philosophy book I read. It shocked me a lot, but looking back on it , the big problem brought me less profound gains. I can’t tell whether it is because my starting point is too low or the book itself, but no matter what, there is no problem in killing “Intuition Pump”. It is very good for beginners to get started. of;
The best written one is ” Doing Philosophy ” which I recommend the most. It is much deeper and more detailed than “The Big Question” on many issues such as free will. Since the discussion issues are limited to six, the whole book is limited to six. It is quite enjoyable to discuss these issues at length .
The three books are recommended in order.
The above general knowledge perspectives are actually different, and the real universal general knowledge readers start from the history of philosophy, just like this book.
First of all, I haven’t read Hilbeck’s “History of Western Philosophy”, so the following evaluation has nothing to do with this book.
The worst written is Russell’s “History of Western Philosophy”. The literary value is greater than the academic value . It’s okay for Xiaobai to pretend to be forceful. If you really want to learn by yourself or get started, don’t read it. It’s a waste of time to read books written by blind chickens. , it is even worse if the thinking is brought crooked.
Next is Tilly’s “History of Western Philosophy (Supplementary and Revised Edition)”, first of all, no matter how people add and revise later, that is, until the first half of the 20th century, the content is incomplete, and secondly, when Tilly himself wrote the book, he was thick with the past and thin on the present ( His perspective of the past and the present), for example, Nietzsche has only two pages, which is a waste of space in the eyes of modern people. In the history of medieval philosophy, the style of the final book is also too academic, the style of the reference book is dry, when the dictionary looks up But, if you want to learn by yourself, then you think too much .
And then there’s The Power of Thought, the American textbook, I’m reading the ninth edition. This book is very good as a self-study textbook. For most of the philosophers introduced, there will be an appreciation of the original text, but the biggest disadvantage is also here. The more the original text is appreciated, the less the text content , and the introduction from the perspective of an American The philosophical general knowledge, in my opinion, the religious and colonial parts are not very nourishing, and of course feminism hehe. This book also has the advantage that it has a detailed introduction to the background of the era, which can be very effective in helping to understand the philosophical thoughts of the corresponding era and the origin of thinking thoughts.
Then there is this book. This book is extremely competent as a textbook. The five chapters are evenly spread out, and the content is arranged in a strong way. Each philosopher is introduced from life to thought. It can be considered comprehensive. The biggest shortcoming is of course the West. As a history of philosophy, only the Western part is described , so naturally there are some problems. The second problem is that it is acceptable as a textbook, the breadth is sufficient, but the depth is not enough , giving people the feeling that they have just tasted it, and just had a feeling, the book has been replaced, and “The Power of Thought” can let you appreciate it at this time. The original text makes you feel good again, each has its own merits. Another problem is that the intensity is too average, especially the first two parts. I personally feel that it is a bit of a waste of space. Is it necessary to arrange so much space for the scholastic philosophy and other parts ? this is a problem. And my personal feeling is that I don’t have any passion to read this book, but I said that this is what I read recently, so is it because the writing of the book can’t make people passionate or because I can’t face the overcooked content to ignite passion, This is an unanswerable question.
Although this is a review of this book, I recommend Schdurich’s History of World Philosophy the most. Since it is a general reading of philosophy, the “History of World Philosophy”, which includes Indian and Chinese philosophy, certainly kills all “History of Western Philosophy” hahaha. The key point is that Sturich, as a German, is very much to my taste. On the one hand, the content of the book is rich in the past. On the other hand, the content of German philosophy greatly overwhelms British and American philosophy . I am very uninterested in the research content of British and American philosophy. It is similar to the feeling that the Qing Dynasty can only engage in exegesis without learning. Philosophy does not study big problems, that is, surrender to the world . What is the philosophy that does not study big problems? The science of science? I can only be a little sister-in-law of science. Moreover, Sturich’s writing style also makes the reader very immersed, but in this aspect I am not sure whether it is the difference between Sturich and Stumpf or the translator of the two books, but my feeling is that of self-learning I should definitely read “History of World Philosophy” instead of this book. I was really sleepy when I read this book, but my eyes were bright when I read Schdurich.
The order in which these books are listed is the more recommended.
The last angle is to lay out the content according to Kuhn’s theory, focusing on the formation of ideas and worldviews and the transformation in different worldviews .
Watson’s “History of Ideas” is an extremely poor example. The content of the whole book is sparse, and the historical materials are sometimes selected incorrectly. You can’t even be sure whether it is the author’s fault or he has found the wrong references. Combining a bunch of second-hand content, “The History of 20th Century Thought” has been paid for and has not yet had time to read, but if the two books are of the same level, they will both suck, unless they are really boring . However, I reserve the right to reverse the case for Watson after reading it in the future, in case, hahaha.
Tanas’ “History of Western Thought” is an excellent example. The content of the whole book is divided into three parts according to the Greek, Christian and modern worldviews, and then adds the transformation of different worldviews, making a total of five parts. I haven’t finished this book yet, but it’s well written for what I’ve read. If you’re interested in the history of ideas and the evolution of ideas, you should read this rather than Watson. The really detailed book review will be updated after I read it under the content of that book, trust me, Tanas has written really well.
Supplement after reading: Tanas’ “History of Western Thought” collapsed. Sure enough, the book should be read and re-evaluated. The evaluation of the book is adjusted to be inferior to Watson’s “History of Thought”. It is too literary and too weak in academics . do not like.
” Worldview ” (Second Edition) focuses on the formation and transformation of the scientific worldview, mainly on the popularization of the paradigm shift of the worldview. The main advantages of this book include the most complete and profound introduction to quantum mechanics and other related content in all popular science books I have read, and it is very easy to read . In theory, this is not a philosophical general reading book, but since the transformation of the world view is mentioned, it will be included.
I highly recommend watching The World View.
Pang Da presses when carrying it: At the time of writing this article, “World View” only had the second edition, and now the third edition has been published. Although I have not read it, I infer from common sense that you can directly read the third edition.
Speaking of Stumpf’s book, the printing and binding of the book is quite good, and the texture is first-rate in the hand . I must give Houlang and the publishing house a big praise, haha.
This book is very competent as a textbook , especially the post-chapter discussion questions are provided, but if you don’t read it yourself under the leadership of an expert, you will have different opinions on whether it is suitable for you. I hope you can have your own after reading my horizontal comparison above. choose.
Even if the book is endorsed by Deng Xiaomang, in my opinion , the ratio of reference books to textbooks is a little too high , what do you think? Of course, Deng Xiaomang is a professor, maybe this is the right way in his opinion, hahaha.
Finally, I would like to add that the ninth edition that came out later has quite a lot of content added to the previous editions, such as Rawls’s theory of justice and Bentham, Mill’s utilitarianism, etc., including some of the translations mentioned earlier Errors have also been corrected. Douban’s previous accusations of the shortcomings of this book are outdated, so please pay attention.
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