Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition

Fantastic overview

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I have recommended it to my friends, because this is, as far as I know, the best and most simultaneously accessible and comprehensive overview of philosophy that is available in the audio-book format. Furthermore, the fact that such a variety of scholars present the material is helpful: everyone seems to be an expert on the thing that they're talking about, and almost every one of the lectures is informative and interesting.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The lectures on Nietzche, Rorty, Aquinas and Kierkegaard.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

They are all confident and clear in their presentation, and it seems obvious that they are all truly experts and experienced teachers.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

33 of 33 people found this review helpful

One request

please provide a chapter to philosopher map - otherwise to look back at any single chapter is a real chore

26 of 26 people found this review helpful

A high-quality, college course without text or ref

What made the experience of listening to Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition the most enjoyable?

The breadth was quite strong until the later half of the eighteenth century. Up to that point, the impact of non-philosophical thought was given reasonable consideration: Copernicus and Newton for example. However, the impact and, to some degree, the writings of Darwin, Einstein, Heisenberg and Hubble, to name a few, were left out as the narrative focused more narrowly on work more explicitly labeled as modern philosophy.

What did you like best about this story?

The sense of continuity. It would have been unsurprising for a lengthy series of lectures by so many distinct academics to seem disjoint. This did not. Numerous references are made to previous lectures and far more to previous topics in a remarkably consistent fashion.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

One of the speakers gave the impression of being in a rush, needing to fit as much as possible in to the available time. He was very lucid and clear, which is good because the rushing could have made his fairly dense presentation hard to follow.1 problematic professor out of 12 is an excellent ratio.

If you could give Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition a new subtitle, what would it be?

None needed.

Any additional comments?

BE AWARE!!The lack of the accompanying course notes is very unfortunate. I contacted The Great Courses and they refuse to provide the course notes to Audible customers. On the Audible site, the publisher's description ends with "Disclaimer: Please note that this recording may include references to supplemental texts or print references that are not essential to the program and not supplied with your purchase."

59 of 61 people found this review helpful

A Selection From Other Courses

This course suffers from being a selection of lectures from other courses. As such, it has no coherent theme and is very difficult to follow. Lecturers will bring up ideas and say they will get back to them in later lectures but we never get those lectures.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Your Mileage May Vary

Prepare yourself for some sophisticated concepts. This is not your average audiobook, and if you want to get your money's worth you'll have to concentrate and often repeat certain lectures to fully understand all the interrelated concepts mentioned and discussed in it. And some lectures mention concepts that have been introduced in previous lectures, with little more than a quick recap. So better get your academia ready.

With multiple professors contributing, I couldn't help but notice that a few of them had certain pronunciation perks which started to bother me after a couple of courses they give. It shouldn't take too much value away, however.

25 of 30 people found this review helpful

Excellent. Long but so rich and complex

Paradigm altering. Really influenced how I think about western history and thought. Would recommend to anyone if they can get through all the length of the course.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Pretty Good

The speakers are all very good. They do mostly explain various pholosophers point of view. The one on Martin Luther was the best for me because it explained the mind and thoughts of Luther that brought about the Reformation.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

FINALLY!!

I have never written a review in 5+ years of membership on the Audible site and hundreds of books read. However, I had to write one for this collection. I have spent years borrowing these titles from my local public library (all the way back to when they only had a limited array of cassette tape courses). Each course is like sitting in on a series of college lectures discussing the topic your choosing - at your pace - with no finals or tuition bills! For anyone on the fence about buying, don't wait, they are well worth it. These courses are going to cost me a lot of credits...

35 of 43 people found this review helpful

Way too-too much

I'm a fan of the Teaching Company and have purchased a lot of their courses. So it pains me to report that this course is not up to previous high standards. It covers way to much and fails to ties all the lessons together. There are themes in philosophy, but the numerous lectures too often are disjointed from these themes. The coverage is very wide, and as a consequence, the depth is minimal, and (unfortunately) too disjointed.

15 of 20 people found this review helpful

SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!!!

An excellent series of philosophy lectures by some brilliant professors...this audio series is better than a first year philosophy college course.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful