Kant in 90 Minutes

by Paul Strathern Narrated by Robert Whitfield

Overview

Immanuel Kant taught and wrote prolifically about physical geography yet never traveled further than forty miles from his home in Königsberg. How appropriate it is then that in his philosophy he should deny that all knowledge was derived from experience. Kant's aim was to restore metaphysics. He insisted that all experience must conform to knowledge. According to Kant, space and time are subjective; along with various “categories,” they help us to see the phenomena of the world-though never its true reality.

In Kant in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Kant's life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world. The book also includes selections from Kant's work, a brief list of suggested readings for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place Kant within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Strathern, a graduate of Dublin's Trinity College, has lectured in philosophy and mathematics and written history, travel literature, and fiction. His attempt to provide the reader with accessible guidance to the ideas of a half dozen great names in the canon of Western philosophy fails on all counts except readability. The time given in the title for each presentation is about three times that even the least-informed reader might require, for these books are nothing but outlines. Half of each volume highlights the more peculiar details of the individual philosopher's personal life, with passing remarks about one or two substantive ideas from his work. The remaining pages include surprisingly brief quotations from the works (an epigraphic style suitable to presenting a sample of Nietzsche's writing but hardly appropriate to Kant's), chronologies (including one five-page "Philosophical Dates" that is repeated in each tiny volume), and a suggestion of four or five books for further reading. The intended audience for this series is unclear as there is too little substance to provide either the sort of introduction offered by such competing works as the Writers and Readers's illustrated series "For Beginners" (e.g., Robert Cavalier's Plato for Beginners, 1990) or critical understanding of difficult concepts as Frederick Copleston and William Jones have achieved in their histories of Western thought (e.g., Copleston's A History of Philosophy, 1985). Strathern's publisher promises more than a dozen future volumes in this series but, given the severe limitations of the first six under review here, it is not possible to recommend that we look forward to them.Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.

The Boston Globe

Each of these little books is witty and dramatic and creates a sense of time, place, and character...I cannot think of a better way to introduce oneself and one's friends to Western civilization.
— Katherine A. Powers

The Wall Street Journal

Witty, illuminating, and blessedly concise.
— Jim Holt

The New York Times

A godsend in this era of the short attention span.
— Daryl Royster Alexander

New York Times

A godsend in this era of the short attention span.
— Daryl Royster Alexander

Wall Street Journal

Witty, illuminating, and blessedly concise.
— Jim Holt

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169519839
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	06/25/2005
Series:	The Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series
Edition description:	Unabridged

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