The One-Minute Philosopher - Hardcover

Brown, Montague

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1928832253 ISBN 13: 9781928832256

Publisher: Sophia Inst Pr, 2001

Synopsis

This little book to help you resolve many of the big problems that life poses. In this handy guide, you ll come to understand and learn how to explain in less than a minute each! such fundamental notions as why truth is more than just someone s opinion; what freedom is and how it differs from license; the difference between justice and law, judgment and prejudice, equality and fairness, happiness and pleasure . . . and over 160 other truths that most of us find hard to grasp and even harder to explain. Confronting the dilemmas of teenage rebellion? Can t figure out whether what you re feeling is love or lust? Having trouble explaining where virtue ends and hypocrisy begins? Or whether punishment is only revenge by another name? The clear, bite-size explanations found here will solve those problems for you, and many more. In less then the time it takes for an argument to start or for someone you love to turn away, you can learn to make yourself clear and keep the peace: all you have to do is open The One-Minute Philosopher. Within seconds, your understanding will be greater, your mind sharper, and your explanations clearer. With help from The One-Minute Philosopher, you ll soon be able to make better sense of the world and make better decisions in it. That s why this handbook is perfect for parents, teachers, students, politicians, social activists, and anyone who wants to understand our world better, live a richer life, and lay the foundations for a truly just society.

About this title

About the Author

Montague Brown came late to the joys of philosophy: after he completed his undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, his wife gave him a copy of The Collected Dialogues of Plato for Christmas. Plato s quest for truth and all-encompassing intellectual honesty soon had Brown hooked on philosophy. Brown moved on from Plato to devour the works of Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas. After avidly reading the entire text of Aquinas s more than 2,000-page Summa Theologica, he decided to undertake the formal study of philosophy and received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston College in 1986. Literature and its real-life preoccupations - such as those in The One-Minute Philosopher - have always loomed large in Dr. Brown s philosophical work. He has served as chair of the Com-mission on the Arts at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, where he teaches courses involving John Milton s Paradise Lost and Dante s Commedia. Dr. Brown has lectured on everything from Antigone and Hamlet to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. In 1993 he published a characteristically practical book entitled The Romance of Reason: An Adventure in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas. In 1996 he followed up with a matter-of-fact ethics book, The Quest for Moral Foundations. An amiable raconteur and an accomplished bassist - as well as a professor of philosophy at St. Anselm College for more than fifteen years - Dr. Brown lives in Weare, New Hampshire, with his wife, Meeta, and their four children.

Reviews

Do you wonder whether you are being frank or rude when dealing with others? Are you pondering the differences between chastity and prudery or fidelity and idolatry? Confused about whether your humility is really self-contempt? Unclear if your new relationship is love or lust? Philosopher Brown (of St. Anselm College) offers an abecedary of short meditations (from "Admiration" to "Wonder") that provide the answers to these and other questions. Each reflection pairs with a particular virtue, quality or concept with which it is often confused. For example, "Hope," which Brown defines as "the will that what is good might be," appears with "Wish," which is called "the desire that what one wants might be." He goes on to summarize the differences and similarities between each, and then offers a one-sentence summary of the meanings of the two concepts. Each meditation includes a quotation from a famous thinker and a concluding "Ask Yourself" section that contains several questions to help readers interpret their own motives and actions. The book includes recommended books so readers can pursue some of these ideas further. It is misleading to contend, though, that anyone can think philosophically about important matters like love and justice for just one minute. Moreover, these reflections are reductive and simplistic, and they do not encourage deep thinking about any of the concepts about which Brown writes. Finally, this is more self-help manual than philosophy, and the book would be more appropriately titled The One-Minute Psychotherapist.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sophia Inst Pr
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1928832253
• ISBN 13: 9781928832256
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 207