The History of Philosophy Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

A. C. Grayling (Author), Neil Gardner (Narrator), Penguin Audio (Publisher)

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in Existentialist Philosophy

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The story of philosophy is an epic tale: an exploration of the ideas, views and teachings of some of the most creative minds known to humanity. But since the long-popular classic Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, first published in 1945, there has been no comprehensive and entertaining single-volume history of this great intellectual journey.

With his characteristic clarity and elegance A. C. Grayling takes the listener from the worldviews and moralities before the age of the Buddha, Confucius and Socrates, through Christianity's dominance of the European mind, to the Renaissance and Enlightenment, and on to Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre and philosophy today. And, since the story of philosophy is incomplete without mention of the great philosophical traditions of India, China and the Persian-Arabic world, he gives a comparative survey of them, too.

Intelligible for students and eye-opening for philosophy listeners, he covers epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, logic, the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language, political philosophy and the history of debates in these areas of enquiry, through the ideas of the celebrated philosophers as well as less well-known influential thinkers.

He also asks what we have learnt from this body of thought and what progress is still to be made. The first authoritative and accessible single-volume history of philosophy for decades, remarkable for its range and clarity, this is a landmark work.

Listening Length

28 hours and 6 minutes
Author

A. C. Grayling
Narrator

Neil Gardner
Audible release date

20 June 2019
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Audio
ASIN

B07RT13QD3
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	28 hours and 6 minutes
Author	A. C. Grayling
Narrator	Neil Gardner
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	20 June 2019
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07RT13QD3
Best Sellers Rank	1,237 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 1 in History of Ancient Greece 1 in Existentialist Philosophy 1 in Religious Studies (Audible Books & Originals)

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Pliny

Informative and easy to read

Reviewed in Australia on 28 February 2020

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An excellent text for the curious reader who wants to understand in more details the origins and development of our philosophical history and culture. Grayling managers to make complex topics very readable.

Helpful

No as described.

Reviewed in Australia on 16 August 2019

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It's a frightful bore I'm sorry to reveal. Disappointing.

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NEM

Sometimes what’s left out is as important as what’s left in

Reviewed in Australia on 7 November 2019

As the title says it’s a good review of the history of philosophy albeit a heavy read.

Sadly there are a few missing philosophers - for example Ayn Rand and objectivism. A particularly relevant topic I would say in today’s world.

Reading some of Grayling’s other works part of me wonders why such topics were left out.

One person found this helpful

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Paul Macneill

Grayling's 'The History of Philosophy'

Reviewed in Australia on 27 August 2019

This book is much much better than I expected (given Grayling is an analytic philosopher). He presents a great deal of material in a very accessible and neutral (without prejudiced) manner. The book gives an overview of philosophy, even beyond Western philosophy, that would take many years of reading to come to on one's own.

One person found this helpful

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Gazza

So far, wonderful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 June 2019

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The book is very comprehensive, well structured so you can easily find your way around and, most of all, readable for the interested layperson like myself, who wants to delve into this subject without having too much difficulty understanding of its subject matter.

I shall update my review when I’ve completed reading the book.

UPDATED REVIEW:

Grayling’s History of Philosophy

I have now completed Anthony Grayling’s History of Philosophy and can truly say that it is a comprehensive and highly impressive work.

It covers not only the history of western philosophy, as Bertand Russell’s book did over 70 years ago, but also philosophies from around the world, including India, China, Arabia and Africa. In addition, there are a number of specific chapters covering themes and developments in philosophy that bring the subject right up to date. Examples include Popper’s theory of falsification, the debate between Rawls and Nozick and various schools that have emerged in the twentieth-century, such as the movement in analytical philosophy and the existentialism of Sartre and Camus. Indeed, Grayling’s history covers just about everything.

But apart from the sheer comprehensiveness of the book, Grayling gets the writing almost perfect; not too difficult, yet also not over simplified as one often gets these days with ‘mini-type’ histories of philosophy, offering no other than ‘snapshots’ of philosophers and their ideas that fail to bring the subject alive for the reader.

Grayling says at the very beginning of the book that he read Russell’s History of Western Philosophy as a schoolboy and relished the clarity of its prose and wit. At the same time he recognised that it was not always accurate. What Grayling does, and does very well, is use Russell as a role model, whilst at the same time you feel you are in the hands of a more impartial writer giving a more accurate account of the philosophical landscape than you would be getting from Russell.

Academics often scoff at Russell’s work but for the general reader his introduction to philosophy has remained supreme for a very long time. This is because Russell was a great writer and communicator. His chapter on Nietzsche is a case in point. Academics, perhaps rightly, may consider it rather shallow with not enough depth. Yet for the general reader the dialogue envisaged by Russell of an imaginary Buddha and Nietzsche stood before the Great Almighty arguing their respective corners is wonderfully done.

However, Grayling has his own style and provides some wonderful anecdotes and asides along the way. Towards the end of the book we have the story between the duke and the bishop when discussing inferences in reasoning. His insertion of Shelley’s Ozymandias as he reflects on who will be remembered in one hundred years time in the philosophical world is beautifully done. And earlier in the volume, Grayling provides some wonderful anecdotes when writing about McTaggart, Bradley and Russell.

In addition, Grayling’s work is much greater in scope than Russell’s. The sections on contemporary philosophers (eg, Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty), philosophical movements (eg, Existentialism, logical positivism and virtue ethics) and world philosophies (China, India and Africa) are not covered in Russell’s earlier history. Indeed, compared to Russell — whose history ended with relatively short accounts of Bergson, the American pragmatists (James and Dewey) and a chapter on The Philosophy of Logical Analysis ― Grayling’s new history stands tall.

The book is also structured particularly well. Starting at the beginning with the Presocratic philosophers, the book progresses through all the centuries and movements right up to modern times. It ends with two impressive small chapters: one that touches on the value of philosophy (Concluding Remarks) and a second that touches on common fallacies in reasoning (A Sketch of Logic). Both are very good.

Grayling writes in his concluding remarks: “Philosophy is the refusal to be lazy about the great questions. It patrols the circumference of the little patch of light that is knowledge, looking out into the dark of ignorance to seek the shapes there.”

I don’t think anyone having read the book could disagree with him.

In short, it is refreshing to have a different philosopher, with a different voice, write about topics and ideas that are truly fascinating. Indeed, Grayling’s book has helped to consolidate my own knowledge on certain topics and furthered my understanding of the subject as a whole, to which I am grateful.

I have read a few of Grayling’s other books but this one in my opinion is his greatest achievement so far. His other books I find more difficult and the writing a little too complicated, neither of which is the case with this volume. Indeed, if it doesn’t replace Russell’s work as the standard introduction to philosophy (a book that has stood the test of time for over 70 years), then it should certainly be read alongside it. Highly recommended.

I hope you find my review helpful.

98 people found this helpful

JEFFREY GOLD

Yet another Philosophy text book! There are no new or rehashed philosophical expositions here.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 June 2019

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I used the book ostensibly as a source for information and reference before I realised that I should have stayed with Scruton.
This was a cheap and quite unnecessary replica. Perhaps, the word, 'cheap' is an exaggeration: since, it is both expensive and poorly produced.
It is well-written but poorly conceived..

14 people found this helpful

Jeffrey Evans

Bring your magnifying glass

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 January 2021

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Shame on you, Penguin Books! This paperback is just a reduced version of the hardback, such that the typeface cannot be easily read - I would guess it's about 5 or 6-point.
Combined with the thickness of the volume, which will not sit open at all, makes for an impossible read.

8 people found this helpful

O. EVANS

Lengthy and comprehensive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2021

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I'm not academic, but I have read a few introductory books and also some more specific works on stoicism, logic, and existentialism. This book is comprehensive and beyond my understanding in its depth, yet, I am really enjoying it (50% through), and I think my prior intro reading has helped.

2 people found this helpful

Peter Clark

An excellent and thorough book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 June 2019

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A C Grayling is an excellent communicator and this book is very much to form. He writes in a way that is very easy to get along with but he does not over simplify. It is, in part, intended to replace books like Russell's A history of western philosophy, which is somewhat out of date now and really quite opinionated. It is not so much a critical analysis of other philosophers, but more an explanation as to why they may matter.

8 people found this helpful

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The History of Philosophy Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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