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The Book Of Dead Philosophers (2008)

by Simon Critchley(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1847080103 (ISBN13: 9781847080103)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Granta Books (UK)

review 1: KNJIGA MRTVIH FILOZOFA JE POPUT MAGIČNOG POTEZA MERILINA. NA POVRŠINI ONA JE NIZ PRIČA O MRTVIM FILOZOFIMA , POVREMENO URNEBESNO SMEŠNA, ALI U SUŠTINI VEOMA SOFISTICIRANA TRAGIČNA DRAMA O SMRTI ISPROPOVEDENA FILOZOFSKIM JEZIKOM. HTELI BI STE DA BUDETE CINIK O TAKO OZBILJNOJ TEMI KAO ŠTO JE SMRT; ONDA ĆE TE SE SUOČITI SA SVIM ONO ŠTO JE TAKO PROLAZNO KAO REKA..JER SE DVA PUT NE MOŽE UĆI U NJU A TAKO NAS BESKONAČNO PRATI.. FILOZOFI SU TO DEFINISALI RAZLIČITO..GLEDALI NA TO DUHOVITO, CINIČNO, RELIGIJSKI..PA ČITAJTE..VOLIM OVU KNJIGU..
review 2: Like any popular overview of the history of philosophic thought on a given subject, Critchley's cuts some corners, collapses important distinctions (especially in regards to Christianity), and in general has... more to leave out a good deal of interesting stuff just to get through the story he selected to tell. That said, this is a really fun meditation upon death through the thoughts and deaths of a wide swath of (mostly but not entirely Western) philosophers from Thales and Plato to Foucalt and Derrida.The book is built as a series of brief little articles detailing some of the thought, experiences, and especially the actual demise, of philosophers. It can be read straight through or by meandering, but a general philosophy of how Critchley thinks we ought to view death creeps through. He favors Montaigne's mix of Epicureanism and Stoicism which forgets of any pretension to an afterlife but focuses rather on living happily in the present, anticipating the "philosopher's death," hopefully a peaceful kind. It's a bit homiletic on this point. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that Critchley isn't simply offering a way to better understand death through the teachings and lives of various philosphers, but a better way to understand the history of philosophy in general---a different posture toward the dead of the past and thus a way to rethink our place in the present. He tries in his limited way to spread recognition of his view that philosophers the world over contribute to the exercise of thinking about what it means to think and be, that philosophy is a universal activity with all of humanity's messiness, plurality. The most obvious common tie is found in the fact that we all die, and thus it presents a great point of discussion. Overall, the book's concept itself, I think, is much better than Critchley's actual execution (pun intended). less

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