Recent books: philosophy, people watching, Peanuts, self help
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Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life, by Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman I have been waiting for someone to write this book for years and bought it on sight. Group biography of four women philosophers (Murdoch, Anscome, Foot, Midgely) at Oxford during World War Two and then in the 1950s. One of the most enjoyable page-turning books of this nature I have read recently. Good information on every page. Clear account of the philosophy, although I would have liked more. Excellent use of letters, autobiographies, diaries, etc to show how personality and character mattered to this overhauling of philosophical ideas. A splendid overview of philosophy in the early twentieth century. Essentially a study of how groups of people create new groups of ideas, the endurance and effectiveness of the Socratic method, the relationship between fiction and philosophy, the importance of war to creating new ideas in non-war spaces, the importance of “real life” to abstract thinking, and more. So much of it has stayed in my mind, biographically and philosophically. The speculative paragraphs about the four women walking to lectures together could be cut. Otherwise marvellous. I might write about this book again.
Recent books: philosophy, people watching, Peanuts, self help
Recent books: philosophy, people watching…
Recent books: philosophy, people watching, Peanuts, self help
Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life, by Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman I have been waiting for someone to write this book for years and bought it on sight. Group biography of four women philosophers (Murdoch, Anscome, Foot, Midgely) at Oxford during World War Two and then in the 1950s. One of the most enjoyable page-turning books of this nature I have read recently. Good information on every page. Clear account of the philosophy, although I would have liked more. Excellent use of letters, autobiographies, diaries, etc to show how personality and character mattered to this overhauling of philosophical ideas. A splendid overview of philosophy in the early twentieth century. Essentially a study of how groups of people create new groups of ideas, the endurance and effectiveness of the Socratic method, the relationship between fiction and philosophy, the importance of war to creating new ideas in non-war spaces, the importance of “real life” to abstract thinking, and more. So much of it has stayed in my mind, biographically and philosophically. The speculative paragraphs about the four women walking to lectures together could be cut. Otherwise marvellous. I might write about this book again.