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    Philosophy: Sound smarter without trying harder
    Philosophy: Sound smarter without trying harder
    Philosophy: Sound smarter without trying harder
    Ebook63 pages51 minutes

    Philosophy: Sound smarter without trying harder

    By Adams Media

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    About this ebook

    Did you sleep through Intro to Philosophy? Does Plato leave you in the dark? Fear not! The Very Lazy Intellectual: Philosophy introduces you to both the major thinkers and the fundamentals of philosophical thought. With information on everyone from Socrates to Sartre, and theories from Epicureanism to Empiricism, you’ll have everything you need to solve your existential crises in no time.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateAug 1, 2012
    ISBN9781440556937
    Philosophy: Sound smarter without trying harder
    Author

    Adams Media

    At Adams Media, we don’t just publish books—we craft experiences that matter to you. Whether you’re diving deep into spirituality, whipping up delights in the kitchen, or planning your personal finances, our diverse range of lifestyle books, decks, journals, and more is designed to feed your curiosity. The Adams team strives to publish content that celebrates readers where they are—and where they’re going.

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      Book preview

      Philosophy - Adams Media

      The Very Lazy Intellectual

      Philosophy

      Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

      Avon, Massachusetts

      Contents

      Introduction

      Early Greek Philosophy

      The Pre-Socratics

      Pythagoreans

      Socrates: The First Moralist

      Plato

      Plato’s Dialogues

      Aristotle

      The Stoics

      Epicurus

      St. Augustine

      Reason and Faith

      Medieval Thought

      Other Medieval Thinkers

      St. Thomas Aquinas

      Aquinas’s Thought

      Renaissance Period

      Erasmus and Machiavelli

      Protestant Reformation

      Early Empiricism

      Francis Bacon

      Thomas Hobbes

      Descartes

      His Philosophy

      Spinoza and Leibniz

      Newton and Locke

      Newton

      Locke

      David Hume

      Hume’s Beliefs

      Immanuel Kant

      Understanding

      Kierkegaard: The Father of Existentialism

      Three Stages

      William James and Pragmatism

      Analytic Philosophy

      Sartre and Existentialism

      Metaphysics and Ethics

      Cheat Sheet for Philosophy

      Also Available

      Copyright Page

      Introduction

      If we were to look up the term lazy in a dictionary, we might expect to find some unflattering connotations. Let’s skip over such definitions as adverse or resistant to work, slothful, and sluggish, and adopt a more positive, charitable perspective. If instead we consider lazy as economical or avoiding waste, we get a much better picture of the idea behind The Very Lazy Intellectual series.

      This series of books is a set of short, economical references full of the fundamental knowledge you need to know to sound as if you really know something about a particular academic subject. The Very Lazy Intellectual: Philosophy lays out the indispensable facts, crucial high points, and fascinating elements of the main tenets of Western philosophical thought to build your knowledge foundation.

      Whether you want to refresh your memory of a long-since forgotten course, or merely wish to be able to say something intelligent or philosophical without having to put in a great deal of study, this book will help. Enjoy the low-effort scholarship of The Very Lazy Intellectual: Philosophy.

      If you’d like to learn more about philosophy and more, check out The Lazy Intellectual, available in print (978-1-4405-0456-3) and eBook (978-1-4405-0888-2) formats.

      Early Greek Philosophy

      The Pre-Socratics

      Philosophy in the Western world began in ancient Greece with Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes.

      Thales (ca. 625–c. 545 B.C.) was a man of broad interests in science and mathematics and likely traveled to Egypt to learn practical skills. He eschewed supernatural or mystical explanations for the world around him and tried to give rational explanations for natural phenomena. Thales believed that water was the source of all things and also subscribed to the doctrine of hylozoism, the theory that all matter possesses life or can feel sensations.

      Anaximander (610–545 B.C.) was a student of Thales and is known for inventing the sundial and providing the first map of the Greek world. Anaximander disagreed with

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