A Hard Review to Write

This is one of the hardest reviews I have written. I have struggled with deciding how to judge this course. There are aspects that I really enjoyed. The professor is clearly brilliant and knows the material very well. If anything, the professor's brilliance and knowledge of the material may be too good because many, but not all, of the lessons are taught at higher than a beginner's level. I took this course to fill a gap in my education. During college, Introduction to Philosophy was an elective course that I never managed to work into my schedule. I have enjoyed using the Great Courses to fill in gaps in my education by taking the classes that I simply did not get around to in college. So, I was hoping for Philosophy 101. This course, though, was more like Philosophy 201 or 301. Throughout, the professor used terminology that he did not adequately define or assumed the listener already understood. Despite the professor being highly knowledgeable and a quality presenter, his failure to explain terminology made following portions of the course very difficult. My opinion is not completely negative, and I certainly learned some things from the course. I particularly enjoyed the last ten lessons where he summarized different philosophical approaches to topical areas such as medical ethics, legal theory, justifications for war, aesthetic judgments and the existence of God.

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448 people found this helpful

Drink Deeply...

It will not take long for the listener to realize that Professor Robinson is one smart cookie. I worked it out less than two minutes in as the narrator reeled off his accomplishments: Ph.D in Neuropsychology, positions at prestigious universities, author of seventeen(!) books- even by the standards of Great Courses teachers, Robinson is in a class above.

This man will make you THINK. All of these lectures are packed with content. Now, you don't need a grounding in philosophy before going in, but you do need to give your undivided attention. When I listened to this while walking, commuting or doing chores, I'd often find my mind slipping away only to jump back after he's moved on. When I come back to these lectures, I'll be bringing a pen and a notebook.

Here are some passages to help get the vibe of the course:

"Now, just as for Protagoras, one, two, three and four are not mere numbers. Neither can it be a coincidence that the harmonic structure of music should have, as it's reliable effect on our auditory system, that is, that we should hear as harmonious what in fact is governed by the mathematical laws of harmony. Why is it that the perfect fifth sounds the way it does?"

"...Let me stay with materialism for a moment, it is useful to point out that defenses of it often rely on evidence gathered by methods that presuppose the validity of the claim. Namely, methods suited to identify and quantify matter, or material things. There tends to be a certain circularity, even a vicious circularity, between the ontological position we take and the methods that we employ to vindicate, or confirm, or as we like to say, objectively test it. This will be apparent in more than one major theory considered in subsequent lectures..."

"...It is a credit to Socrates' lasting genius that he understands the interconnectedness of these questions, that the problem of knowledge, the problem of conduct, and the problem of governance are various phases of the same kind of problem, and that problem is how we come to know ourselves, and realize our humanity in the course of a lifetime..."

"...and I'm going to pause here to make clear just what it means to be a radical empiricist, and to be the radical William James, for it is this that gives power and consistency to the entire range of James' thought. Now, the usual adoption of, or concession to, empiricistic philosophies is a hedged one. The apologist is likely to say something along these lines, 'Well of course, a lot of the things we know we know as the result of experience, there are some things we can't know by way of experience, this being sort of abstract Leibnizian, Cartesian sorts of things, and anyway the senses really can deceive us from time to time, but by and large I'm certainly willing to use my senses in most of the ordinary business of life." Now this, I say, is a position that is as boring as it is probably faultless. It most assuredly is not the position of a radical empiricist..."

"...In just about every area of expertise, there are achievements that simply cannot be defined in words, but only exhibited in the performance itself. So from an ontological point of view, the question must arise whether our conceptions of reality are also shaped by intuitive and tacit modes of knowing, with skepticism arising as a result of the inability to articulate or justify the grounds..."

"...Now I want to make point that I think is at once controversial and commonsensical, and those two can go hand-in-hand. The resources of the law, in matters of this kind, very often seem far more developed, far more supple, more protean, more capable of finding controlling maxims on the basis of the thick record of juridical reasoning than does the book of moral philosophy itself..."

As the poet says, "A little learning is a dangerous thing/ Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring." If you're interested, here's a nice deep well for you.

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A Rather "Spatial" Take on Philosophy

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

There is no doubt that Robinson is extremely learned. He's also a little self-impressed. His style can sometimes catapult you into the stars, or drive you nuts, depending on how well you're paying attention. Now, if your looking for a linear take on the history of philosophy, where the lecturer lays everything out according to a strict chronology and a "cause and effect" approach, you would probably do better with another overview. Yet if you're interested in being pulled through 2,500 years of thought according to an extremely erudite professor, who has, mind you, some eccentricity thrown in for good measure, than you will appreciate this approach. In other words, Robinson likes to go for the big ideas. And he likes to spend a lot of time building up to those big ideas. If you're patient and can follow his near-prose style of speaking, it does pay off. And, to his credit, he's working very hard to set things up so you can have your own epiphany with the ideas, which is what great philosophy professors should do. But then again, sometimes you just want the facts, and you want them laid out clearly and concisely. I sometimes found myself thinking "this is amazing," and other times, I found myself thinking, "ok, yeah, yeah, yeah, think I'll forward to the next lecture now." In all he gave me some great insight, some "great ideas," but I did feel it was a lot of work sometimes, and a lot of highs and lows.

What did you like best about this story?

Robinson is smart as hell and passionate, and this comes across in many of the lectures. He seems to do a little bit better with modern philosophy, starting with Bacon.

You're best off finishing a lecture if you happen to start it.

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Disappointing

Would you try another book from The Great Courses and/or Professor Daniel N. Robinson?

The Great Courses, yes. Robinson, no.

What could The Great Courses have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The Great Courses should have reviewed the content of this book for accuracy and bias.

Would you be willing to try another one of Professor Daniel N. Robinson’s performances?

No.

What character would you cut from The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition?

Professor Robinson

Any additional comments?

This is a course on the great ideas of philosophy only if "great" is defined to mean ideas of which Professor Robinson approves and which fit his narrow, Christianity-centered perspective. There were no great philosophers in the Renaissance? Really? Machiavelli, anyone? Professor Robinson's inclusion of witchcraft in this course was baffling, especially as his perspective appears to be that witches had actual magical powers. At no point does he suggest that persecuting witches was pointless because, hey, not possible to kill the neighbor's cows with the power of one's mind. Then we have the Inquisition presented as an advance in human rights. This is so ridiculous as to require no further comment. The list of the problems with this course is much too long for this review. Don't buy it.

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94 people found this helpful

Great overview with some degree of detail

I found this to be a thought-provoking and interesting overview of many of the major philosophers and their respective reasonings and arguments. This isn't a scant overview where you get a handful of minutes on profound thinkers, you get a little bit more than - usually at least one full lecture and often more when the philosopher or philosophy is refered back to in later lectures.

The Professor clearly has mastery over his course and it's a pleasure to have had he opportunity to sit in on his classes while in my car, or on my lawn mower.... or layed out on the couch/floor.

I definitely recommend this as a great starting point and believe it will push you to consider or read/listen to more writings/lectures on the subject or, at least, on a particular philosophy or philosopher.

4/5 stars represents something I'd possibly listen to again - and I very well may - probbaly selectively based upon interest in a particular lecture or two. Trying to get away from LOVING everything I hear - but I'm frequently failing. This one slips to just shy of 5 because it didn't have me so 'eager' to continue listening at every breath of my day.

Thanks,
Will

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Disorganized and unstructured

This is a long and interesting course, but has many shortcomings. Here are my thoughts on this course:
1- This is not a traditional course. It is not organized or structured like other Great Courses. I found that many lectures introduced ideas that have nothing to do with the lecture's theme. Also, I struggled to find a theme at all for many of the lectures. This is a discussion, not a course.
2- Despite the above, I found the discussion to be interesting. It was engaging and thought provoking, but to me It just wasn't a good way to learn about the great ideas of philosophy. The ideas were too unstructured and random for me to capture and learn coherently.
3- The professor is eloquent and knowledgeable,but has a tendency to complicate ideas by using unclear language. At times, I felt the ideas to be very simple but the language used to explain them is twisted and exaggerated.
4- The professor, being a Christian, emphasized Christian philosophy. I was hoping for a fair or equal review of all religion philosophies, and those philosophical views that might question religions.

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The great ideas of philosophy: Christian edition.

Would you try another book from The Great Courses and/or Professor Daniel N. Robinson?

Absolutely not. It started out in Greece and Rome not bad... but then Christianity came along and it became extremely biased and devoted to promoting the author's faith and its supposed genius.

What three words best describe Professor Daniel N. Robinson’s performance?

Passionate. Biased. Christian.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I was very disappointed. He's intelligent and he has promise, but he sees the world through a "Christianity is perfect" lens which just does not make sense for a supposed critical-thinking piece of work.

Any additional comments?

Don't bother unless you're already very devoted to being Christian.

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Voluminous, but Lacking Balance

Any additional comments?

Imagine compressing your entire life - what it was like to live in your time and all your best ideas - into a half hour. That is Professor Robinson's challenge for this course, and he is to be commended for the effort. But this course falls far short due to what is left out, and how. Professor Robinson is entitled to his opinion, and after 30 hours of lecture he decisively anchors his metaphysics in "intelligent design", a thread which runs throughout this course. That's fine - that is *a* thread of philosophy. But it is only one thread, and Professor Robinson misses almost every opportunity to expose counter arguments. For example, in the chapter on Hume, Professor Robinson completely fails to mention Hume's arguments against design, which are many, and philosophically important enough that they influenced America's founding fathers to ensure church and state were separated, and the relegating of faith to private - not public - life. There is good philosophy here. But don't make this your first - or last - dive into the subject.

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"the great ideas of Christianity"

After chapter 21 the author ties every lecture to the ideas of faith and Christianity. This book is titled wrong.

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Terrific exploration of philosophical ideas

If you could sum up The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition in three words, what would they be?

Articulate, nuanced, explanatory

What did you like best about this story?

Philosophy is the greatest subject matter to which humans turn their attention, and Professor Robinson pinpoints knowledge, conduct and governance as the three great themes of human history and experience, then explores these in a way that draws the listener in. This man knows and loves his subject.

What about Professor Daniel N. Robinson’s performance did you like?

He is erudite without being pompous, and very easy to listen to. His tone is discursive, with the light and shade generally found in conversation but not in reading -- he doesn't give the impression that he is reading out his lecture notes.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes - but good luck! 60 lectures. Extraordinary value.

Any additional comments?

Get this one if it's the only course you buy.

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