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Knowledge in a Nutshell: Enlightenment Philosophy: The complete guide to the great revolutionary philosophers, including René Descartes, Jean-Jacques ... and David Hume
"...there is nothing elementary about O'Grady's primer. She pulls off the feat of writing a reliable and accessible introduction to modern philosophy that is also a meaningful contribution to the subject." - London Times Literary Supplement
From Descartes' famous line 'I think therefore I am' to Kant's fascinating discussions of morality, the thinkers of the Enlightenment have helped to shape the modern world. Addressing such important subjects as the foundations of knowledge and the role of ethics, the theories of these philosophers continue to have great relevance to our lives.
Ranging across Enlightenment thinking from Berkeley to Rousseau, Enlightenment Philosophy in a Nutshell explains important ideas such as Locke's ideas of primary and secondary qualities, Kant's moral rationalism, and Hume's inductive reasoning.
Filled with helpful diagrams and simple summaries of complex theories, this essential introduction brings the great ideas of the past to everyone.
ABOUT THE The critically-acclaimed Knowledge in a Nutshell series provides accessible and engaging introductions to wide-ranging topics, written by experts in their fields. -- Johnny Lyons
From Descartes' famous line 'I think therefore I am' to Kant's fascinating discussions of morality, the thinkers of the Enlightenment have helped to shape the modern world. Addressing such important subjects as the foundations of knowledge and the role of ethics, the theories of these philosophers continue to have great relevance to our lives.
Ranging across Enlightenment thinking from Berkeley to Rousseau, Enlightenment Philosophy in a Nutshell explains important ideas such as Locke's ideas of primary and secondary qualities, Kant's moral rationalism, and Hume's inductive reasoning.
Filled with helpful diagrams and simple summaries of complex theories, this essential introduction brings the great ideas of the past to everyone.
ABOUT THE The critically-acclaimed Knowledge in a Nutshell series provides accessible and engaging introductions to wide-ranging topics, written by experts in their fields. -- Johnny Lyons
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 22, 2020
Nutshell in the title of this book got my attention first. It gave me an impression of an overview; I thought it would be kind of similar to introducing the enlightenment . It started off like that, showing a purview of how huge Enlightenment is. Until this year, I had no idea how many centuries it spanned and over many countries and continents. Neither did I have any idea of what a cultural impacted it had and how much it changed our thinking. introducing the enlightenment gave me a sense of what exciting times this was, along with the horror and danger that happened. In comparison, after I got through the intro, this book is sombre in comparison. To be fair to ‘O Grady, she does mention how her focus will be narrow – her book concentrates on 7 philosophers of which 2 get 2 chapters.
IMHO, and I completely appreciative that I am new at grasping this subject, I found her choice of philosophers pitched only one side of the argument; the focus being the mind, in some case the mind-body connection, where it was presented as the beginning of what we would later call science. The introducing the enlightenment left me with the sense that this ideology had different splinter groups and also opposition which would later be the start of the Romantic Movement. So, in some ways this book was a big step up for me, and not really my impression of presenting an idea in a nutshell.
However, the 7 philosophers O’Grady covered was a good intro to each, where she covered their works and influence whilst adding her own commentary. I grasped some of it, but I had to look up terms elsewhere though a glossary is included at the back. This is no criticism of the book or the author as it could be down to me and how I learn new things; I can imagine as I keep reading about the Enlightenment, this is a book I will keep coming back to reference or reread parts. There were parts of this book I did manage to grasp, and I thought this was because of how O’Grady presented her ideas. I’ve discovered, with my reading of many translations of The Iliad, it took several reads before I found myself less dazzled and disorientated, where now I’m better able to read The Iliad to assimilate more of my own thoughts and ideas rather than be so dependent on the text for an understanding. So, with time I will approach this subject and read this book with much greater ease. And maybe O’Grady’s book only a narrow springboard of 7 philosophers but I’m giving this 4 stars knowing that with time what she says will help me to develop my own thoughts about the subject and these philosophers.
IMHO, and I completely appreciative that I am new at grasping this subject, I found her choice of philosophers pitched only one side of the argument; the focus being the mind, in some case the mind-body connection, where it was presented as the beginning of what we would later call science. The introducing the enlightenment left me with the sense that this ideology had different splinter groups and also opposition which would later be the start of the Romantic Movement. So, in some ways this book was a big step up for me, and not really my impression of presenting an idea in a nutshell.
However, the 7 philosophers O’Grady covered was a good intro to each, where she covered their works and influence whilst adding her own commentary. I grasped some of it, but I had to look up terms elsewhere though a glossary is included at the back. This is no criticism of the book or the author as it could be down to me and how I learn new things; I can imagine as I keep reading about the Enlightenment, this is a book I will keep coming back to reference or reread parts. There were parts of this book I did manage to grasp, and I thought this was because of how O’Grady presented her ideas. I’ve discovered, with my reading of many translations of The Iliad, it took several reads before I found myself less dazzled and disorientated, where now I’m better able to read The Iliad to assimilate more of my own thoughts and ideas rather than be so dependent on the text for an understanding. So, with time I will approach this subject and read this book with much greater ease. And maybe O’Grady’s book only a narrow springboard of 7 philosophers but I’m giving this 4 stars knowing that with time what she says will help me to develop my own thoughts about the subject and these philosophers.
April 4, 2019
Excellent. Gives the reader exactly what it promises – enlightenment philosophy in a nutshell. Takes the key philosophers of the period and in clear and accessible language in a clear and structured format explains their key ideas. A book for any level of knowledge – a useful reminder for the adepts and an invaluable introduction for the less than adept. The easy to digest format, with lots of bullet points and helpful summings up, make it a wonderful resource and a reference book to treasure.
March 2, 2019
For being an "In a Nutshell," version of philosophy and philosophers, I actually was quite impressed by the expansiveness of the descriptions in this book. The author did a great job of selecting the most important figures of the period and explaining aa bit about who they were, where they came from and what basic ideals they held.
This book is far from boring and, in fact, there are some histories included here, like that of Rousseau, that actually brought a smile to my face, somewhat unusual for a book like this. I think this would be a great place for any student new to philosophy to pick up to introduce themselves to the various figures and some of the concepts. I was both entertained and educated whilst reading this, and can't ask for more than that.
Definitely recommended.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
This book is far from boring and, in fact, there are some histories included here, like that of Rousseau, that actually brought a smile to my face, somewhat unusual for a book like this. I think this would be a great place for any student new to philosophy to pick up to introduce themselves to the various figures and some of the concepts. I was both entertained and educated whilst reading this, and can't ask for more than that.
Definitely recommended.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
December 12, 2019
My favorite sentence in Jane O'Grady's wonderful book occurs in her treatise on Immanuel Kant: "If this sounds baffling, that's because it is!"
But she really does a very good job of making these philosophers' texts a little less baffling (which I desperately needed!). She writes in a very approachable way and gives examples (something I wish these philosophers would do) to elucidate the assertion being made.
For those looking for a way in to philosophy in general, I highly recommend it.
But she really does a very good job of making these philosophers' texts a little less baffling (which I desperately needed!). She writes in a very approachable way and gives examples (something I wish these philosophers would do) to elucidate the assertion being made.
For those looking for a way in to philosophy in general, I highly recommend it.
May 26, 2019
This book is an excellent first step in the exploration of Enlightenment thought. Unlike a lot of recent works on the Enlightenment, which tend too heavily toward the history, or lean too heavily on postmodern interpretations of the 18th century, Enlightenment in a Nutshell does a good job of presenting the case for the Enlightenment as it has traditionally been presented in the academy (at least, in the anglo-sphere), as a positive project of reconstructing the world systematically through a synthesis of classical thought and modern empirical methodologies.
O'Grady does not withhold her own point of view from the work, and any wise reader should be able to recognize where her own point of view enters the text. But this is not primarily a polemical work. It is written in an accessible style which makes it an excellent introduction into the Enlightenment, but O'Grady integrates nuggets of modern criticism that will leave the reader with plenty of breadcrumbs to follow up on. In addition to the central thinkers highlighted by the chapter titles, you'll find responses to them from across the spectrum from Roman commentators, to contemporaries of Descartes and Hobbes, to thinkers as late as Simon Blackburn and Donald Davidson.
The book is also written in a way that lends itself to group engagement, and self-study. It includes helpful summary pages at the end of each chapter that could easily be used to explore issues more deeply, or discuss broader questions, in a group study environment.
The only serious criticisms I have, come to two complaints:
1) The question of curation. O'Grady addresses this herself, in the introduction. But I think it's important to raise, nonetheless. Any compression of the "Enlightenment" into a short list of "essential" thinkers is inevitably going to end up being very high resolution, and much of the complexity and controversy of the ideas gets lost when this happens. What's more, in the end, it really comes down to personal preference, which thinkers an author chooses to include in such a volume. In this case, the list is largely the accepted anglophile academic canon from Descartes to Kant, with emphasis on Hume and Kant. Given the impact of counter-Enlightenment and post-modern critiques of the Enlightenment, shouldn't we be giving more space to the varieties of Enlightenment thought? If not, it would be good to have a standard, or at least a clear set of reasons, for the curation that is adopted.
2) Blind citation. To be more useful as an introductory text, I had hoped that the modern thinkers at least, would have been referenced in a bibliography. I mentioned Simon Blackburn above. But O'Grady doesn't actually explicitly name him. I knew, because I am aware of Blackburn's theory of "Quasi-Realism". But an incautious new reader wouldn't be expected to know that. She also invokes concepts like Type and Token identity, in the problem of universals, which is a theory by another modern thinker who's name escapes me at the moment. She does, thankfully mention Donald Davidson by name, but without a book reference, the untutored reader is going to be left to themselves, to find a work on his theory of causation. This is no small task, having had to find it myself.
Outside of these two complaints, however, I think this book is highly readable, and highly recommended.
O'Grady does not withhold her own point of view from the work, and any wise reader should be able to recognize where her own point of view enters the text. But this is not primarily a polemical work. It is written in an accessible style which makes it an excellent introduction into the Enlightenment, but O'Grady integrates nuggets of modern criticism that will leave the reader with plenty of breadcrumbs to follow up on. In addition to the central thinkers highlighted by the chapter titles, you'll find responses to them from across the spectrum from Roman commentators, to contemporaries of Descartes and Hobbes, to thinkers as late as Simon Blackburn and Donald Davidson.
The book is also written in a way that lends itself to group engagement, and self-study. It includes helpful summary pages at the end of each chapter that could easily be used to explore issues more deeply, or discuss broader questions, in a group study environment.
The only serious criticisms I have, come to two complaints:
1) The question of curation. O'Grady addresses this herself, in the introduction. But I think it's important to raise, nonetheless. Any compression of the "Enlightenment" into a short list of "essential" thinkers is inevitably going to end up being very high resolution, and much of the complexity and controversy of the ideas gets lost when this happens. What's more, in the end, it really comes down to personal preference, which thinkers an author chooses to include in such a volume. In this case, the list is largely the accepted anglophile academic canon from Descartes to Kant, with emphasis on Hume and Kant. Given the impact of counter-Enlightenment and post-modern critiques of the Enlightenment, shouldn't we be giving more space to the varieties of Enlightenment thought? If not, it would be good to have a standard, or at least a clear set of reasons, for the curation that is adopted.
2) Blind citation. To be more useful as an introductory text, I had hoped that the modern thinkers at least, would have been referenced in a bibliography. I mentioned Simon Blackburn above. But O'Grady doesn't actually explicitly name him. I knew, because I am aware of Blackburn's theory of "Quasi-Realism". But an incautious new reader wouldn't be expected to know that. She also invokes concepts like Type and Token identity, in the problem of universals, which is a theory by another modern thinker who's name escapes me at the moment. She does, thankfully mention Donald Davidson by name, but without a book reference, the untutored reader is going to be left to themselves, to find a work on his theory of causation. This is no small task, having had to find it myself.
Outside of these two complaints, however, I think this book is highly readable, and highly recommended.
January 19, 2019
Enlightenment Philosophy in a Nutshell by Jane O'Grady is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in mid-January.
7 different philosophers and 9 different philosophies (double Kant and double Hume, in case you were curious). As you might guess, it’s a nutshell view through seven different lenses onto enlightenment era philosophy, rather than one overhanging, conglomerate explanation. The inset boxes help to parse out details occasionally, but, really, it becomes overwhelming as more arguments/theories are introduced.
7 different philosophers and 9 different philosophies (double Kant and double Hume, in case you were curious). As you might guess, it’s a nutshell view through seven different lenses onto enlightenment era philosophy, rather than one overhanging, conglomerate explanation. The inset boxes help to parse out details occasionally, but, really, it becomes overwhelming as more arguments/theories are introduced.
November 4, 2019
This is probably pretty elementary stuff to someone who has a little bit of background in philosophy; not being one of those I spent a lot of time looking at the glossary and still feeling mildly baffled. Enjoyed the book though, I think I have a notion of where each of the philosophers are coming from...
September 25, 2021
A very readable account of Enlightenment philosophy
With chapters ranging from Descartes to Kant, the author gives a detailed appraisal of the philosophy of the Enlightenment period. Scholarly yet readable, I thoroughly recommend this to any reader interested in the development of ideas in Western culture.
With chapters ranging from Descartes to Kant, the author gives a detailed appraisal of the philosophy of the Enlightenment period. Scholarly yet readable, I thoroughly recommend this to any reader interested in the development of ideas in Western culture.
July 27, 2019
Great book, but not easy
This is a great book, however is not the easiest read for someone who doesnt know much on the subject to begin but could be extremely informative on the other side
This is a great book, however is not the easiest read for someone who doesnt know much on the subject to begin but could be extremely informative on the other side
January 10, 2020
Good, clear overview of the enlightenment's main thinkers and their ideas, with criticisms of each.
March 17, 2021
A very good general summary of some of the most well-known Enlightenment philosopher. This is good read to gain a very basic understanding of Enlightenment philosophy.
November 8, 2021
Lucid, wide-ranging and engaging. It is presented like a text book with generally well chosen illustrations and clear key point summaries.
September 1, 2023
it was what i signed up for but mediocre execution
December 23, 2023
Its alot crammed into a short review, but hits almost all the important bits.
July 16, 2024
This was a good overview.
June 8, 2019
I am what may be considered as a philosophy layperson- I have no background knowledge of philosophy. I was interested in learning more about it. That being said, I struggled with this book. I'm not sure if it was because I attempted to read it in a digital format (knowing full well that I do better with physical books) or if it was because my brain did not want to cooperate.
If I were in a different mindset, and perhaps had a physical copy of this book, I may be more interested.
If I were in a different mindset, and perhaps had a physical copy of this book, I may be more interested.
January 24, 2019
A nutshell review: A very good summary of the early philosophers' views of enlightenment. The pictures and numerous quotes were a nice touch. Also glad that there was a little humor mixed-in with the more serious/academic info. I learned a lot and enjoyed this free copy for review very much. Thank you! Recommended for those that want to learn a little more about early philosophy.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews