2007-09-28 Don't like the approach

Having studied philosophy at university (including as it happens briefly under Edward Craig), I bought this book for someone else and haven't read it in detail. However having looked through it I decided I didn't like the approach and so didn't give it to them after all.

The book seems to explain philosophy in terms of the writings of particular philosophers and in particular puts a lot of emphasis on ancient and pre-modern philosophy. This is somewhat in contrast to the reality of philosophy, in which most of the work discussed is from the last century or so. (For a comparison, think of medicine.) Yes, earlier stuff was important for laying the foundations of the subject and defining the major issues, but it seems to be a widespread misconception that philosophy is the study of the works of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato etc.

Also this method of presentation seems to me to be like the old-fashioned 'great man' theory of history, in which individuals are given undue prominence - rather than, in this case, ideas. Which is not to deny that key ideas in philosophy did come from particular individuals.

So I would have preferred a treatment primarily in terms of the problems of philosophy, rather than the people & the history.