I Think, Therefore I Am: All the Philosophy You Need to Know

by Lesley Levene

Philosophers certainly like to make life sound awfully complicated. But is philosophy really so complicated? And is it really as irrelevant as it sometimes seems? "I Think, Therefore I Am" is the ideal way to take the fear out of philosophy. Written in an accessible and highly entertaining style, it explains how and why philosophy began, and how, from Greek democracy to Communism, the ways in which we live, learn, argue, vote and even spend our money have their origins in philosophical thought.Philosophers certainly like to make life sound awfully complicated. But is philosophy really so complicated? And is it really as irrelevant as it sometimes seems? "I Think, Therefore I Am" is the ideal way to take the fear out of philosophy. Written in an accessible and highly entertaining style, it explains how and why philosophy began, and how, from Greek democracy to Communism, the ways in which we live, learn, argue, vote and even spend our money have their origins in philosophical thought.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Politics

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2010

Reviews

[Beau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fantastic little read. The world of philosophy is a dauntingly enormous and complex place to dwell, let alone enter. This book gives you a great historical breakdown of philosophical thought - highlighting significant seasons of the study, and figureheads of different thought worlds along the way. If you're looking to read some philosophy, but don't know where to start or who to read, considering picking up Levene's book. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Jeffrey Debris · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I picked up this book in the British Museum I liked what the blurb read:

"Does a falling tree make a sound if nobody's around to hear it?
Are the limits of your language the limits of your world?
Is the unexamined life worth living?

Shedding light on these questions and many more, this book uncovers the origins of philosophical thought and the thinkers and movements that have used it in brilliant - sometimes frightening ways."

Sounds promising, right? Well, that's what I thought. I started reading this and quickly found out the pattern of this book. What this book basically is, is a short resume of all big philosophers. Each description, some of which start with a quote, is a short biography followed by their greatest works. Then some light is shed on their biggest thoughts and theories. After that we start with the next one, from ancient Greece, to the modern times.

To be fair, I was hoping to get answers to the questions on the back of the cover, but instead I found all of the information to be quite to the point, and shallow.

The good thing about this little book is that it's a fast read, because of Lesley Levene's writing style. It's also a good book that you can use for reference, or inspiration, if you want to read more about a certain philosopher, or school of philosophy, because there is a ton of titles of works in here. That is also about the only thing I'll be using this book for, if I'm out of inspiration and my to-read list has run out of philosophical works.

I wouldn't recommend this book if you want answers to the questions that were posed on its back. I would recommend it as a reference guide for future philosophy reading.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

While it is informative and a good reference point to remind yourself of who a philosopher is or to look well read to qt 3.14s, it isn't at all 'All the Philosphy You Need to Know'. For anyone who is truly interested in getting to know the work and life of Philosophers, I reccomend Betrand Russel's 'A Brief History of Western Philosophy'.

[Rebecca Nyanthara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to introduce one to the world of philosophy. However, it doesnt reach the necessary depths of philosophy and is limited in the views about how one chooses to interpret the world. It is more a summarised version of different outlooks.

[Apip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ringkasan falsafah yang bagi aku ditulis dengan baik. Biasa. Nothing extraordinary.
Dari segi bahasa, bahasa yang digunakan bolehlah dihadam, tidaklah terlalu tinggi buat pemula dan pembaca umum.

Aku rasa apa yang buku ni lakukan dengan baik adalah cuba menyertakan pelbagai sudut dan cabang falsafah secara ringkas dan ringan (mungkin). Kau tak baca buku ni untuk mendalami sesuatu idea, tapi lebih kepada pengenalan awal kepada idea dan pelopornya.

Satu markah juga untuk buku ni sebab sertakan sekali maklumat tambahan seperti ilustrasi idea/eksperimen yg berkaitan falsafah yg diperkenalkan dan juga fakta lucu/menarik ttg filsuf yang diceritakan.

Markah juga untuk buku ni sebab sertakan glosari istilah dalm bidang falsafah yg akan membantu pemula atau pembaca am.

*Jangan tertipu dengan tajuk buku. Ini bukan kajian mendalam tentang falsafah Rene Descartes, ini adalah ringkasan segala falsafah dari pra-Sokrates hingga zaman moden (terutamanya falsafah barat) dan filsuf2nya.

[Liam Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very convenient and revealing handbook that offered a basic insight into the life's of all the prominent philosophers up into the post-modernist era. Its recommended for anyone who would like a brief introduction to philosophy as an academic subject, this quality is recognised by the author Lesley Levene with the addition of a word reference page at the rear, I did however only discover this page when I finished the book.

[Miha · Rating 2 out of 5]

"for one dollar, name a woman"

[tealeaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

the perfect introduction to the field of philosophy, and more precisely, it's history. concise while not losing its comprehensive nature. chapters are written in chronological order and begin with an introduction to the time period to give you the much needed historical context under which these ideas were produced. it provides you with information you use to continue learning in your area of preference, as well as regularly including fun tidbits, such as where the word Academy came from, and Immanuel Kant's precise daily routine (which provides a levity and humanisation these discussions, funnily enough, often gloss over). the language is very accessible, and the oftentimes very complicated theories of the various philosophers Levene writes about are broken down in such a way that even someone starting from square one can wrap their head around these esoteric concepts.

[Rose :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has a lot of information despite what it looks. So good I gave it to my philosophy teacher as a leaving present. I tabbed it so much because of how interesting it was. Only problem was that the structure was confusing and at times it felt not fully explained while trying to cover a lot of content.

[Philip Clewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent summary of philosophy through the ages, putting things in chronological order.

[Laura Egendorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

The version I read was titled Philosophy in Bite-Sized Chunks, but it's the same book. I think it would have been better organized by idea rather than chronologically. I mostly read it because of The Good Place.

[Stuart Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and Informative. A lot to remember though.

[Zohal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tries to cover too much ground that it is too surface level.

Wastes a lot of space on dates and names of works and locations.

[Alisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

One would think after reading this book that there was no such thing as a female philosopher. There isn't one mentioned in the entire book. To disprove this, here is a list of female philosophers throughout history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great overview. As a lover of history, I particularly enjoyed the introduction of each time period and the overview of what was going on in the world at the time.

[Rory Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relatively comprehensive summary of Western and Arabic Philosophers over the last 2000 years. With books like this it is always possible to cite an omitted philosopher who should have been included, but the overall representation gives a good summary of what is traditionally thought of as Philosophy in an Anglo American perspective.

The book is marketed as ‘all the philosophy you need to know,’ but it is really a history of philosophers, rather than an analysis of their philosophy. A history is a perfectly reasonable presentation, but it isn’t quite what the book claims to be doing.

For example, we hear about Plato, Aristotle and the ancient Greek philosophers, and we get quick summaries of their thought. But we don’t get the critique of their thought that would traditionally be thought of as philosophising. For example, we know that Plato thought that there were Forms which were the perfect realities of which our world was imperfect copies. To some extent he anticipated the critics of his model by recognising the problem of infinite regression (ie the third man). If Humans are human to the extent that a physical human participates in the Form of the perfect Human, then what is it that makes the perfect Form of humanity? Must it participate in a third such From… and so on to infinity?

Exploring issues like that constitutes the doing of philosophy, rather than just the learning about Philosophy. By the end of the book I wished that there was more doing, rather than just learning about historical figures.

This became a particular issue at the end of the book, where we heard about modern philosophers who reacted against other philosophers. For example we heard that Russell and Moore were reacting against Hegel’s Idealism. But we get no sense of the philosophising that constituted their reacting against. What did they dislike, and how did they express their dislike? Did they have good arguments or bad arguments for the conclusions that they reached?

Overall, a good historical overview of philosophers, but less effective as an analysis of their actual philosophising.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review on my blog: Imagination Bubble

It wasn't exactly what I expected. The short description at the back of the book is quite misleading. It says that the book will shed light on questions such as "Does a falling tree make a sound if nobody's around to hear it?" or "Is the unexamined life worth living?". I didn't feel like it has even come close to doing any of that.

What this book really is, is a short summary of life and works of many philosophers, ranging from Presocratic to modern times. There is a variety of thinkers and their philosophical works, so the book can act as a good point of reference - out of many topics in this read, if you find one of interest to you, you can always explore it in more details in your own free time, with additional reading. "I Think, Therefore I Am" can act as an introduction into philosophy, but I found it to ramp up too quickly in terms of complexity. While the first half of the book or so was easy enough to follow, the second half had me confused multiple times.

[Ellie Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a challenging, but worthwhile read for me. Philosophy is something I’ve become interested in since studying my undergraduate degree, and I found myself revisiting a lot of theories that were taught to me back then.

It is a lot to take in though. Despite these philosophers and their achievements being organized into different time periods, I still found it quite convoluted and had to take many breaks to finish the book (even though it’s only 180 pages).
Socrates was the philosopher that stood out to me the most, as I found I could attribute this theories and dynamics of argumentative rhetoric to some people I know today...

If you’re looking to push yourself outside of your comfort zone, whilst also learning about the fundamentals of thought and reason, then maybe give this book a go. Just take it slow and don’t read when distracted, otherwise it becomes a punish.

[Brett Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has all the western philosophy you need to know... or it insinuates that there is no philosophical contribution from the East... of the western philosophers it talks about it gives you a brief summary of there life; where they were born, their upbringing, where they studied, things they wrote and ideas they had. This book will give you enough information to be able to follow someone else's philosophical conversation but not enough to start one yourself... I found that I only deeply read the philosophers I was already fond of and skimmed over the rest... one feature which annoyed me was the bordered squares which contain interesting stories, these squares are placed throughout the book where ever they fit best on the page rather than within the content so a lot of the time they would appear in the middle of a sentence.

[Animesh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I have already forgotten all the names of the philosophers and their ideas. That is because instead of being organised by the concepts (like existentialism etc.), it has a plethora of author names and their summaries together with some very good quotes. The list of the questions at the very end is worth to ponder about though.

Though you will forget everything by the time you finish the book, you will realise that anything which you have thought about till now and probably will think in future has already been thought , debated and clearly articulated by many other people. Not recommended for a phreshie unless you want to boast about the names..

[Dodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book runs very quickly through the history and the thoughts of some of the biggest names in philosophy. Whilst it is very informative and definitely, a bit thought stimulating, I think the reader should manage their expectations – in my opinion, the book doesn’t go as deep as it should in order to give you “all the philosophy you need to know”, as its subtitle promises. Instead, it’s a quick read, just a brief summary and introduction to philosophy. Overall, not a bad book that I’d probably recommend to someone who is starting to get interested in philosophy.

Read my full review here:
https://dodireads.com/i-think-therefo...

[Lily April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book with simplistic writing, good for anyone to understand. However it was more an overview of philosophers and their life and basic ideas, it didn't go very deeply into any ideas or concepts - it all felt very contextual, which isn't what I was after. To be honest I don't think anything I read really sunk in because it was so context heavy, I feel like if I wanted to remember it I would have to make notes. I think for a basic outline of philosophers its good, but not what I was after. Will keep it on the shelf for a reference book though.

[Ragne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very short look at many many Western men's thoughts. (It seems other cultures and genders can't think important thoughts.) Many vary just a little.
I'm sure she could have found better ways to word things, it's a bit of a heavy read from time to time. So it might not be the best book for newbies, which is a shame as non-neewbs wouldn't really need this book, would they.

If you want a short insight into philosophy through the ages, you should probably find a different book.

[Mike Morrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have an interest in philosophy but don't know much about it, this is an ideal starter book. It is structured with two or three pages for each significant philosopher, starting around 650 bc and going up to current times. Each philosophers' ideas are not explained at length: even Plato gets less than three pages, but it's easy to find out more when you need to from the internet.

It's an easy read and makes it easy to understand what can be complex subjects.

[Nermeen Wahid · Rating 3 out of 5]

هو كتاب حلو ومدخل لطيف جدا وسهل. لكن بطبيعة الحال نظرا لانه بيحاول يبسط ويختصر ويكون حجمه صغير، كان غير كافي بالمرة. فا لو فيه فيلسوف انا عارفاه وعارفة افكاره بلاقي انه هو فعلا ماتمش عرض اي حاجة كافية عنه، ولو انا معرفوش خالص بحس اني مازلت معرفش حاجة عنه بردو. لكنه كا مدخل كويس ولو فكرة من الافكار شدتك تقدر تدور وراها، زائد انه فعلا بيعرض الفكرة بطريقة بسيطة فا لو حد ميعرفش حاجة عن الفلسفة خالص اظن ممكن يفهم بردو

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

All right, so it's informative and fun and all that jazz, but it's not "All the Philosophy You Need to Know" — at least if you intend to acquire a somewhat profound knowledge on any of the authors cited here, which are all amongst the greatest thinkers in Western History. But it is a good starting point, I guess. Although the sections on Hegel and Kierkegaard were a little messy, imo.

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a rather superficial trek through thought from the Greeks to modern times but then how much detail can you cover in a slim volume? As a primer it's ideal though giving the reader a starting point for further exploration in Philosophy and Ethics if that's what you want. It's certainly left me wanting more so from that point of view it's not too bad!

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cultural imperialism at its worst... At least Bertrand russell called his 'history of Western philosophy'
Eastern philosophers had been considering the relationship between thought and 'I am' for centuries before Descartes came along
... And Levene worked at the BM... Should know better!!
Truly terrible book

[Dipa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this whole book is basically a list of philosophers from the dawning of the age. It deep dives back through the great minds of the Pre-Socratic all the way to modern times. What is so special about this book? It is the way they encapsulate all of the great thinkers alongside each defining ideas and turn it into something enjoyable to digest. Informatively entertaining I say.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

'An extremely brief introduction to most of the philosophical thinkers you ought to be at least a little bit familiar with' would have been a more appropriate title.

Plus points for adequately explaining Kant and Hegel in the most 'layman' of terms.