Items related to The Book of Dead Philosophers
Synopsis
In this collection of brief lives (and deaths) of nearly two hundred of the world's greatest thinkers, noted philosopher Simon Critchley creates a register of mortality that is tragic, amusing, absurd, and exemplary. From the self-mocking haikus of Zen masters on their deathbeds to the last words of Christian saints and modern-day sages, this irresistible book contains much to inspire both amusement and reflection.
Informed by Critchley's acute insight, scholarly intelligence, and sprightly wit, each entry tells its own tale, but collected together they add up to a profound and moving investigation of meaning and the possibility of happiness for us all.
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Review
Amazon Best of the Month, February 2009: For professor Simon Critchely, how we die is possibly more important than how we lived. In The Book of Dead Philosophers, Critchley presents a lineup of nearly 200 famous (and not so famous) philosophers and explores how, through their deaths, one might be inspired to lead a richer life. From a few words to a few pages, each great thinker's death is examined in an enlightening and entertaining manner as the author waxes on the often brutal (and odd) ways they left this mortal coil. And along with natural causes, murders, and suicides, you'll discover what dark departures from suffocating in cow dung, indigestion, and lethal insect stings have to do with how we live today. At times the "sobering power of the philosophical death" might seem more like a morbidly ironic punchline to the life each philosopher led, but Critchley writes, "My hope is that, if read from beginning to end, a cumulative series of themes will emerge that will add up to a specific argument about how philosophy might teach one how to die, and by implication, how to live." --Brad Thomas Parsons
About the Author
Simon Critchley is Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. His many books include Very Little . . . Almost Nothing, The Faith of the Faithless, and The Book of Dead Philosophers. He is the series moderator of The Stone, a philosophy column in The New York Times, to which he is a frequent contributor.
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- PublisherMelbourne University Press
- Publication date2008
- ISBN 10 0522855148
- ISBN 13 9780522855142
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages298
- Rating
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The Book Of Dead Philosophers
Published by
Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 2008, 2008
ISBN 10: 0522855148
ISBN 13: 9780522855142
Used
Softcover
Seller: THE CROSS Art + Books, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Seller rating 3 out of 5 stars
21.0 x 13.5cms, 298pp, very good paperback & cover (canary yellow spine black type) This book argues that estern philosophers have ben preoccupied with the idea of dying well. covers c 190 dead philosophers, beginning with the pre-Socrates, Physiologists, Sages & Sophists and ends with the 20th century analytics, continentals, a few moribunds & a near death experience. Seller Inventory # 174088
Quantity: 1 available
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The Book Of Dead Philosophers
Published by
Melbourne University Press, Carlton, VIC, Australia, 2008
ISBN 10: 0522855148
ISBN 13: 9780522855142
Used
Paperback
Seller: Goulds Book Arcade, Sydney, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 298 pages. The cover has a little wear. The page edges are lightly foxed, as are the first and last page. Books listed here are not stored at the shop. Please contact us if you want to pick up a book from Newtown. Seller Inventory # 169632
Quantity: 1 available