How ought we to live? What is it to flourish as a human being? How should we best approach death? We all think about these questions at one time or another, and, as Socrates famously said, 'the unexamined life is not worth living'.
In showing how the great philosophers of human history reasoned - and what they reasoned about - the popular philosopher Peter Cave provides a readable and entertaining introduction to thinking philosophically, and how to change our everyday lives. He addresses questions the great philosophers have grappled with: When we look at the world, what is it that tells us what morally we ought to do? And how do we even know that something exists?
This book paints vivid portraits of a global assortment of great thinkers throughout history: from Confucius, Plato, Augustine and Spinoza to Samuel Beckett, Mary Wollstonecraft, Iris Murdoch and Simone de Beauvoir. But thiere is also contemporary relevance here – the book relates to current affairs and issues such as debates over free speech, moral character in leaders, ethical issues such as abortion debates, gun control and religion.
In each brief chapter, Cave brings to life these often prescient, always compelling philosophical thinkers, showing how their way of approaching the world grew out of their own lives and times and how we can use their insights today.
Now more than ever we need to understand how to live, and how to understand the world around us. This is the perfect guide.
About the Author
Peter Cave is a popular philosophy writer and speaker. He read philosophy at University College London and King's College Cambridge, has held lectureships in Britain and given guest presentations at various other European universities; some time ago he held a lectureship at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. For many years he has been a lecturer at the Open University and New York University, London.
Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Member of Population Matters, former member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and Chair of Humanist Philosophers – and is a Patron of Humanists UK.
Peter has scripted and presented BBC radio philosophy programmes – from a series on the Paradox Fair to more serious ones on John Stuart Mill. He often takes part in public debates on religion, ethics and socio-political matters. His philosophy books include This Sentence Is False: An Introduction to Philosophical Paradoxes (2009), and three Beginner's Guides: to Humanism, Philosophy and Ethics. More recent works are The Big Think Book: Discover Philosophy Through 99 Perplexing Problems (2015) and The Myths We Live By: A Contrarian’s Guide to Democracy, Free Speech and Other Liberal Fictions (2019).
