Book Review: Socrates' Children Vol. IV by Peter Kreeft

Socrates' Children Volume IV: Contemporary Philosophers by Peter Kreeft

See my review of volume I here, volume II here, and volume III here.

Kreeft concludes his survey of philosophy with thinkers from the past 150 years. The philosophers are grouped topically rather than ordered chronologically. Existentialists, pragmatists, phenomenologists, and analytic philosophers are presented in sets, making them a little easier to understand with their similar (though often contrasting) ideas. This scheme works well since modern thinks have more complicated philosophies that are easier to understand in their immediate contexts.

This book is not as good as previous volumes. One difficulty is his struggle to resist just quoting the thinkers rather than explaining their theories. Sometimes he intersperses his own comments, other times he just leaves the reader with a core dump. After excellent summaries and commentaries in the first three volumes, this one is occasionally disappointing. Sometimes Kreeft provides a list of recommended books by an individual thinker, sometimes he does not, in a seemingly haphazard manner. 

Kreeft concludes with five philosophers in the Thomistic school. They follow Thomas Aquinas, but like Aquinas, build up from previous foundations, incorporating knowledge and ideas from other thinkers. Obviously Aquinas had no access to modern existentialism or phenomenology, so using the best from the new fields is certainly a plus. The final thinker covered in the book is G. K. Chesterton, whom Kreeft readily acknowledges is not thought of as a philosopher. Chesterton was an essayist and pundit in the early 1900s and is known for his witty style and commonsense insights into all sorts of topics. Chesterton is another thinker who gets more quoted than commented. Kreeft provides enough to justify Chesterton's joining the ranks.

This volume ends with a nice call to action by readers to take on these great ideas and discern which ones are true and applicable in life.

Recommended.

Book Review: Socrates' Children Vol. III by Peter Kreeft

Socrates' Children Volume III Modern Philosophers by Peter Kreeft

See my review of volume I here and volume II here.

Kreeft continues his survey of the 100 most important philosophers, ranging in this volume from Rene Descartes (1596-1650) to Karl Marx (1818-1883). He mostly follows his previous format of giving some biographical information and context for the thinker and then a summary of their thought. Many of the philosophers are also subject to various critiques, some from subsequent philosophers and some from Kreeft himself. While the summaries reference key texts by these philosophers, no bibliographies are added at the end of each as in previous volumes.

The text, as before, is very readable and entertaining. While Kreeft delves into the ideas of these thinkers, he doesn't get lost or lose the reader by moving too quickly. He has some comic asides and is generally pleasant to read.

The big challenge in this volume is some of the summaries (especially Rousseau and Marx) have a lot commentary about their lives and how they do not at all match up to the philosophies they espouse. While the contrast is important to point out, Kreeft becomes very heavy-handed and judgmental at times. I am sympathetic with his disdain but I wish he were more scholarly and less vindictive.

I am still enjoying this series and will continue on to the Contemporary Philosophers.

Recommended.

Sample quote, on Kant's idea of the highest good being pleasure:

Contrast what premodern philosophers like Aristotle meant by "happiness": not mere subjective contentment but objective perfection or completeness. The test that distinguishes the two is suffering: happiness in the sense of contentment excludes suffering, but happiness in the sense of perfection or completeness includes and even requires suffering. (As Rabbi Heschel said, "The man who has not suffered--what could he possibly know, anyway?") The ancients typically identified happiness (in this rich, deep, moral sense) as the greatest good, the summum bonum, and the greatest question in their ethics was what it consisted of and how to attain it. [p. 136]

Book Review: Socrates' Children Vol. II by Peter Kreeft

Socrates' Children Volume II Medieval Philosophers by Peter Kreeft

See my review of volume I here.

After the regular introduction to philosophy in general and justification for this series in particular, Kreeft covers numbers 34 to 54 of his 100 most important philosophers in the Western tradition. He starts off surprisingly with Saint John the Evangelist, who wrote the fourth gospel in the New Testament. John was a harbinger of things to come, not just theologically, but philosophically. To be more precise, he began the serious union of theology and philosophy that would dominate the Medieval period. 

Most of the philosophers in this period were Christians; most of them were theologians who used philosophy to help understand the Christian faith. The texts of Aristotle (except for his works on logic) were lost at the beginning of this period, leading to a dominance of the Platonic tradition. Resolving Platonic and Neo-Platonic theories with Christian teaching proved difficult, though St. Augustine did a masterful job reconciling the two in the late 300s and early 400s. In the 1100s, the texts of Aristotle came back to Europe by way of the Muslims (who had them in translation), creating a new need for a synthesis between the popular philosophy and Christian understanding. Thomas Aquinas stands as the best at uniting the two, taking the good things out of Aristotle to help explain and understand the Christian faith. Some theologians put more emphasis on Aristotle, leading to various dubious ideas like the "two truths" theory where what is known from philosophy sometimes contradicts what is known from Christian faith. To resolve the problem, thinkers posited that both were accurate in their own way, a not very satisfactory solution. The Medieval period wound down with William of Ockham's theory that there are no universals and that everything has its being in God. Moral goodness only comes from the divine fiat, not from the nature of reality, because there is no nature. All things are individuals, generalizations like "cat," "dog," or "human" do not exist in reality, but only Fifi and Fido and Frank. Ockham set up a lot of ideas that would get champions later on (probably in the next volume?).

The book is entertainingly written, with a nice blend of clarity and humor. Kreeft does a good job reviewing various people even when he disagrees with them (he even calls Ockham a villain!). Augustine and Aquinas, the two big thinkers from this period, get much longer descriptions. The others are reviewed in three to five pages. It is easy to ready for amateurs and a great review for those who have already studied philosophy.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Socrates' Children Vol. 1 by Peter Kreeft

Socrates' Children Volume 1: Ancient Philosophers by Peter Kreeft

Unable to find a satisfactory introduction to philosophy text for beginners, Peter Kreeft wrote his own four-volume work. His idea was to have a text that covers the history of philosophy by discussing the one hundred greatest philosophers. The text has four volumes, covering (1) the ancient philosophers (roughly 1000 BC to AD 400s), medieval philosophers (500s to 1300s), modern philosophers (1400s to 1700s), and contemporary philosophers (1800s to present). Most books that cover all this range are too long or too dry or too simplistic (or some combination of the three) for someone first learning about philosophy. Kreeft argues that the best thing is to read these authors in their original texts, but sometimes that is not easy. Like Netflix or YouTube, there are too many options to choose from without some sort of guide. This series provides that sure start to further investigation.

He calls the book "Socrates' Children" because Socrates is both the prime example of what a philosopher should be like and it can be argued that every thinker after him grappled with one or more ideas Socrates philosophized about. Twentieth-century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead is famous for saying that European philosophy is "a series of footnotes to Plato." Plato was the student of Socrates and wrote extensively about his teacher, though at some point in Plato's works he switched from presenting Socrates' ideas to using Socrates as a mouthpiece for Plato's own ideas. Socrates never wrote anything, so we rely on Plato and other authors. Since they were contemporaries of each other and of Socrates, they surely would have ratted each other out if they misrepresented the Socratic method.

Socrates did not claim to be wise but to be a lover (philia) of wisdom (sophia). He went about asking questions of people, trying to clarify their thoughts and ideas, which were often muddled and imprecise. This method leads to a deeper understanding even when it didn't come to a decisive conclusions. He used logic and common sense to get to the bottom of things, or as close as he could come. This method, which tends to point out errors and misjudgments, was not very popular with people on the receiving end of a Socratic conversation. Socrates was tried for impiety (he taught the Greek gods (Zeus, Hera, Ares, etc.) were not true gods) and for corrupting youth (he passed on his "impiety" to others). Found guilty by the court, Socrates was executed, a martyr for the truth.

Subsequent philosophers (and the handful before Socrates) all looked for truth, even if it was hard to find. This volume starts with the pre-Socratic philosophers and even goes back further to the ancient sages like Solomon, Zoroaster, Shankara, Confucius, and Jesus, who provide great insights and have had substantial influences on intellectual life the world over. After Socrates, Kreeft presents Greek and Roman philosophers, working his way through skeptics, cynics, hedonists, and ending with Plotinus, the founder of neo-Platonism. Well, that's the end of the ancient philosophers.

Kreeft presents brief overviews of each philosopher (though Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are much longer than others because they had much more to say and much more impact). He recommends key texts and secondary sources for learning more. And he tells their stories, often humorous incidents that show their beliefs in action. A reader can easily skip to people of interest (or come back to them) and branch out into other works to get an even better understanding. Kreeft's style is very readable and accessible. This book is an excellent start to learn more about philosophy and how it grew.

Highly recommended. I am looking forward to the other three volumes.