Peter Cave

Contemporary relevance - 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.

Prologue1 Lao Tzu: The Way to Tao2 Sappho: Lover3 Zeno of Elea: Tortoise Backer and Parmenidean Helper4 Gadfly: aka 'Socrates'5 Plato: Charioteer, Magnificent Footnote Inspirer - 'Nobody Does It Better'6 Aristotle: Earth-Bound, Walking7 Epicurus: Gardener, Curing the Soul, Ably Assisted by Lucretius8 Avicenna: Flying Man, Unifier9 Descartes: With Princess, With Queen10 Spinoza: God-Intoxicated Atheist11 Leibniz: Monad Man12 Bishop Berkeley, 'That Paradoxical Irishman': Immaterialist, Tar-Water Advocate13 David Hume: The Great Infidel or Le Bon David14 Kant: Duty Calls, Categorically15 Schopenhauer: Pessimism With Flute16 John Stuart Mill: Utility Man, With Harriet, Soul-Mate17 Søren Kierkegaard: Who?18 Karl Marx: Hegelian, Freedom-Fighter19 Lewis Carroll: Curiouser and Curiouser20 Nietzsche: God-Slaying Jester, Trans-Valuer21 Bertrand Russell: Radical, Aristocrat22 G. E. Moore: Common-Sense Defender, Bloomsbury's Sage23 Heidegger: Hyphenater24 Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist, Novelist, French25 Simone Weil: Refuser and Would-Be Rescuer26 Simone de Beauvoir: Situated, Protester, Feminist27 Ludwig Wittgenstein: Therapist28 Hannah Arendt: Controversialist, Journalist?29 Iris Murdoch: Attender30 Samuel Beckett: Not IEpilogueDates of the PhilosophersNotes, References and ReadingsAcknowledgementsIn MemoryName IndexSubject Index

In showing how the great philosophers of human history lived and thought - and what they thought about - Peter Cave provides an accessible and enjoyable introduction to thinking philosophically and how it can change our everyday lives. With a lightness of touch, he addresses questions such as: Is there anything 'out there' that gives meaning to our lives? Does reality tell us how we ought to live? What indeed is reality and what is appearance - and how can we tell the difference?This book paints vivid portraits of an assortment of inspiring thinkers: from Lao Tzu to Avicenna to Iris Murdoch; from Hannah Arendt to Socrates and Plato to Karl Marx; from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to Sartre to Samuel Beckett - and let us not forget Lewis Carroll for some thought-provoking fantasies and Ludwig Wittgenstein for the anguishes of a genius. As well as displaying optimists and pessimists, believers and non-believers, the book displays relevance to current affairs, from free speech to abortion to the treatment of animals to our leaders' moral character.In each brief chapter, Cave brings to life these often prescient, always compelling philosophical thinkers, showing how their ways of approaching the world grew out of their own lives and times and how we may make valuable use of 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.