Book of the Month - October
Philosophy in Bit-Sized Chunks
Lesley Levene - ISBN: 978-1-4351-6770-4 - 2017
Author:
Lesley Levene
Lesley Levene studied archaeology and worked at the British Museum and the Institute of Classical Studies (UCL) before becoming a writer and editor. She is the author or I Think, Therefore I Am, also published by Michael O'Mara Books.
Brief Synopsis:
In Philosophy in Bit-Sized Chunks, Levene looks over the major historical eras of philosophy. She introduces us to the heavy hitters and tells their stories. She takes the sound bites of their most famous statements and starts each “bio” with them. For instance, to begin Socrates’ bio, she quotes, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” -quoted by Plato in his Apology. Each bio gives us the writings and briefly summarizes them in one to two chapters.
The Eras of Philosophy as Levene sees them:
The Presocratic Philosophers
The Greek Heavyweights
Enter the Romans
Christians, Muslims, and Just One Jew
Renaissance Men
The Age of Reason
The Age of Enlightenment
Into the Nineteenth Century
Modern Times
Insights:
The Meditations serve as a sort of Stoic self-help manual. For Marcus Aurelius, the ultimate aim in life is to live in harmony with the universe, of which all people are a part and to which they will all return. The way to achieve this is to ignore the distraction of worldly pleasures and aspire instead to self-control, which comes with the use of reason. More important than what people are is the way they behave, and they can train themselves to behave better by following Stoic principles. - pg. 56
Kierkegaard positioned himself firmly against the dominant German traditions of the day, in particular Hegel’s contention that life could be explained by intellect alone. He saw this as a misguided attempt to replace God by elevating man, despite all the limitations on man’s ability to make objective judgments. Instead, he focused on the importance of the individual, stressing the centrality of the will and of free choice. For Kierkegaard, where human action and judgment were concerned, subjectivity was all. He carried his philosophical approach over into his works against organized Christianity, which he referred to disparagingly as Christendom. Here he again stressed individual choice as opposed to blind acceptance of the rituals of the Danish Lutheran Church. - pg. 136
For Socrates, righteous living was the key. This included resisting the pursuit of fame and fortune and never, under any circumstances, returning evil for evil. The most important thing in life was to look after the moral welfare of one’s soul, as this was the route to true happiness. It was a very personal philosophy: once the meaning of the virtues had been clarified and understood, one could become an objectively better person, unswayed by ties to family and friends. - pg. 33
Should I read it or skip it?
This book contains several help items. For instance, a chapter dedicated to a dictionary of philosophical terms provides understanding to philosophical noobs (newbies). However, I had difficulty finding any biographical information on the author. Without this information, I have trouble deciding how her interpretation will lean. I am not concerned with left or right but more with an objective vs. subjective decision-making process. For instance, in the biography of Kierkegaard, I feel she makes conclusions that do not account for Kierkegaard's faith. She leads us to believe in a fight between Kierkegaard's view of Christianity and the Danish Lutheran Church. Research about how Kierkegaard views himself could show a different author how to interpret Kierkegaard's thoughts as less about individualism and more about a need to reform the church, especially since he waited until his father's priest died. If you read this book, be prepared to cross-reference the information and make sure you use a consistent interpretation process. Also, review the source material before you conclude Levene's interpretations are correct. Levene tends to summarize essential works in one paragraph. In my humble opinion, these summaries result in oversimplifying significant philosophical works.
