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Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition
- Narrated by: Alan Charles Kors, Darren Staloff, Dennis Dalton, Douglas Kellner
- Length: 43 hrs and 41 mins
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Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition
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Publisher's Summary
For 3,000 years, mankind has grappled with fundamental questions about life. What is real? Who or what is God? When is it legitimate for one person to have power over others? What is justice? Beauty?
This 84-lecture, 12-professor tour of Western philosophical tradition covers more than 60 of history's greatest minds and brings you a comprehensive survey of the history of Western philosophy from its origins in classical Greece to the present.
It took 3,000 years for the debate chronicled in these lectures to reach maturity.
With this series of lectures, you can encompass it by the end of next month. You'll travel chronologically through the history of the Western world, charting the intriguing development of Western philosophy and drawing fascinating connections between thinkers separated by the gulf of time and space. You'll acquaint yourself with the Greek Pre-Socratics (the world's first scientific thinkers) and examine in detail the insights of three towering figures: Socrates, his student Plato, and Plato's student, Aristotle.
You'll examine the contributions to philosophy from biblical traditions and the great minds of the Christian age. Then, you'll mark the critical schism that developed between the claims of faith and those of science and participate in the breathless discovery found during the Enlightenment, which reveled in the new freedom of human potential and scientific expansion. You'll study the provocative philosophical responses (by the Existentialists and others) to the challenges raised by the new scientific consciousness. And you'll conclude with an overview of the work of Derrida and other late 20th-century philosophers and theorists.
The full list of lecturers includes Professors Alan Charles Kors, Darren Staloff, Dennis Dalton, Douglas Kellner, Jeremy Adams, Jeremy Shearmur, Kathleen M. Higgins, Louis Markos, Mark Risjord, Phillip Cary, Robert C. Solomon, and Robert H. Kane.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
What listeners say about Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- elcucuy
- 2019-04-16
Very disappointed
A caricature of every philosopher and their philosophies. Would only recommend for an absolute beginner.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Phonse Fagan
- 2021-05-27
Ambitious!
For those wanting a decent synopsis of "western philosophy" this ambitious tome will get you started. But you will want to keep your dictionary handy to try and keep track of the frequent "ologys" and "isms" that get tossed around - many of which seem to mean the opposite of what one would expect from their monikers. This is not the fault of the authors, but the overwrought pedantry and (sometimes) deliberate obscurantism of the "great minds" - many of which seem to also struggle mightily with fallacy of the excluded middle: by asking us to make a choice of A or B, when the better option is more likely to be some mixture of both.
And I did find myself frequently asking: Why don't they drop the pedantic jargon and cut to the meat of subject? Indeed, many of the disagreements in points of view and speculations discussed appear to be a matter of semantics - which only occasionally gets pointed out.
In terms of content, it's also hard not be impressed (or puzzled) by the intellectual gymnastics that have been, and continue to be, employed to hang on to "traditional" attitudes - and to find loopholes for belief in the supernatural: where our ability to reason is casually employed to attack the process of reasoning itself. The question of where to ground our ethics arises again and again. And yet, I don't recall hearing anything on the rather obvious point that it is likely to be rooted in the Darwinian and Maslowian notion of a common human nature: a seeming obvious bulwark against absolute moral relativism.
I also take some issue with the title. Instead of "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition" I think, "Philosophers of Note in the Western Tradition" would be more fitting. Although Newton gets a brief nod and there are some passing references to Einstein's work, most of the geniuses behind our science, technology, medicine, mathematics, arts, and (yes) business are pretty much ignored.
Having said all that: there is a good chance you will learn (or be reminded of) something interesting and/or useful in this sweeping overview.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tyler Gates
- 2022-12-25
Mostly good
I am enjoying this greatly but some speakers (Adams) forget they are speaking on philosophy and spend a lot of time on history.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MarianaPontes
- 2022-06-04
Enthralling lectures
Highly recommend for anyone who wants to get a general knowledge of philosophy and pick what topics you might want to deep dive in the future!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christopher Staniforth
- 2021-03-18
Wow!
This was excellent for those who want a broad exposure to western philosophy. It’s a good launching off point to read more deeply into the works of specific philosophers.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Zac
- 2020-10-03
Pretty good series
I liked the stuff on Parmenides, Plotinus, and a few others. They missed Deleuze though:(
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Evan Goodwin
- 2019-05-25
Excellent Overview
Most of the narrators are excellent, all of them good. It was a great way to move through Western philosophy.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Zonefreek
- 2018-07-12
Well done.
I found the lecture series useful and insightful. I would recommend the series to anyone interested in philosophical discourse.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2015-02-28
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."
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101 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- SP
- 2015-06-13
One request
please provide a chapter to philosopher map - otherwise to look back at any single chapter is a real chore
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83 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robin
- 2013-08-25
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.
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59 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel
- 2013-07-10
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...
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49 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Benzion N. Chinn
- 2018-08-06
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.
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48 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- SAMA
- 2013-11-27
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.
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33 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Jon Crawfurd
- 2014-12-22
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.
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24 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Dixon
- 2020-07-31
Avoid the Sections by Prof. Kors.
While many of the sections are fantastic, Prof. Kors sing-song, preacher like, delivery makes this book unlistenable. If there was something beyond a celebration of Christianity in his lectures I could have made it through, but no, just evangelical furvor and passionate lisping.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- DAW
- 2015-01-19
Uneven Lectures
What would have made Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition better?
The subject is very interesting, but the lectures are not from "the best college professors in the world" or even the United States. Some lectures are superficial, suited to high school level not college. They often fail to give the reader a feel for the true meaning and substance of a given philosopher, i.e., why should we care about this persons ideas and thoughts complete with illustrations of how these ideas live on today. The lectures on 20th century philosophers are as barren as 20th century philosophy--stick with the classics up to the 19th century. And, dump the fake clapping before and after each lecture.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Renaissance Man
- 2015-04-10
SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!!!
An excellent series of philosophy lectures by some brilliant professors...this audio series is better than a first year philosophy college course.
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11 people found this helpful