Book 67 - Simon Blackburn "Think"

[jazzy_dave]

Simon Blackburn "Think" (Oxford University Press)




I remember back in the day when I was studying the Open University Arts Foundations course and the second level art history course that the subject of philosophy was integrated into these courses and although the O.U. did have separate courses on philosophy I did prefer the interdisciplinary aspect of the courses I took.

I still wanted to understand some of those big, abstract thoughts that excited, scared, and mystified me in equal measure as a distant learner. Simon Blackburn's "Think" is a pretty decent place to pick up the thread again. It's certainly written for the curious layperson, and Blackburn writes in a personable and straightforward tone on all the Big Questions. The author, to his credit, admits the problems he's addressing are likely intractable, though it should probably be noted that he did this in the book's closing pages, not in its introduction. Some qualms: though he's usually careful to label them as such, he inserts his own opinions in the text more than many philosophy professors would, and his take on God he considers a theistic God to be something of a non-starter which might alienate a few Christian readers but it does not bother me. Others might complain that the excerpts from the philosophical texts that he includes here could probably have been more extensive.

It was nice to see an introductory volume that had no other ax to grind than an earnest desire to make an incredibly complex field somewhat more accessible to the layperson. So in essence I applaud this effort.