This volume presents a selection of Professor Rickman's essays published over a period of 40 years. They reflect his view of philosophy and defend it against attacks on two fronts. On one side the assault comes from a substantial proportion of professional philosophers particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world, who treat philosophy as a purely academic, highly technical subject, dealing merely with the clarification of concepts, the solving of logical puzzles and the refutation of similarly abstruse theories of fellow philosophers. On the other side there is the widespread popular view of philosophy as dealing with abstract problems remote from everyday life and invented by philosophers in their ivory towers. Both sides share a common premise: the uselessness of philosophy.;These misrepresentations or misunderstandings betray the great traditions of philosophy represented by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche - to mention just a few outstanding philosophers. Though they engaged in metaphysical speculations and developed intricate arguments not easy to follow, they yet dealt with universal problems and offered solutions for them. While it is not a new idea that philosophy is about how to live as a human being, the author maintains that a reminder of it is not superfluous.
| ISBN: | 9781871871425 |
| Publication date: | 1st January 2000 |
| Author: | H P Rickman |
| Publisher: | Open Gate |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 153 pages |
| Genres: |
Western philosophy from c 1800 |
This volume presents a selection of Professor Rickman's essays published over a period of 40 years. They reflect his view of philosophy and defend it against attacks on two fronts. On one side the assault comes from a substantial proportion of professional philosophers particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world, who treat philosophy as a purely academic, highly technical subject, dealing merely with the clarification of concepts, the solving of logical puzzles and the refutation of similarly abstruse theories of fellow philosophers. On the other side there is the widespread popular view of philosophy as dealing with abstract problems remote from everyday life and invented by philosophers in their ivory towers. Both sides share a common premise: the uselessness of philosophy.;These misrepresentations or misunderstandings betray the great traditions of philosophy represented by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche - to mention just a few outstanding philosophers. Though they engaged in metaphysical speculations and developed intricate arguments not easy to follow, they yet dealt with universal problems and offered solutions for them. While it is not a new idea that philosophy is about how to live as a human being, the author maintains that a reminder of it is not superfluous.
The Challenge of Philosophy features in the following genres: Western philosophy from c 1800
The Challenge of Philosophy is available in Paperback
The Challenge of Philosophy was written by H P Rickman and published by Open Gate
The Challenge of Philosophy has 153 pages