Philosophy in 30 Days

By Dominique Janicaud

Plunge straight in and try out philosophy for real in just ten minutes a day. This book may not turn you into a great philosopher in thirty days, but it will show you how to begin to think... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1862077320
• ISBN13: 9781862077324
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Granta Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.3" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

a superb introduction!

This was the last book of this respected philosopher. Janicuad died at age 64 from a heart attack, after walking down the hill path from Nietzsche's summer retreat and going for a swim. He had just completed the first draft of this book and his student Simon Critchley (Dead Philosophers) made sure it was translated into English. The book was meant for his daughter, who was just about to start studying philosophy in secondary school. He was upset about the abstruseness of French primers, and decided to write his own. This translation matches Bryan Magee, and other English popularisers, for clarity and succinct explanation. If you have read an introduction by a British philosopher (Magee, Blackburn, Warburton...) it's worthwhile dipping into this one before doing what you should really be doing (plunging into the original writings of the great philosophers.) It gives a perspective that, in many respects, matches that of his British counterparts, but deviates in interesting ways. For instance, the British tradition in empirical philosophy is largely ignored! Instead you get to explore the ideas of 'second rank' French philosophers like Camus and Comte. But like Magee (Confessions of a Philosopher), Janicaud reserves most praise, apart from Descartes, to Ancient Greek and German philosophers, i.e., Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. Nietzsche was his favourite philosopher, and gets a chapter to himself. Plato (via Socrates) is the only other philosopher to get this compliment. But he gives wonderful sketches of the main ideas of all these philosophers, and suggestions on how to approach them through their own writings. This is the shortest and most convivial introduction to philosophy that I have ever read. It manages to convey the importance of the subject, and the enjoyment that can be obtained from it, in thirty short chapters and just over a hundred pages. A remarkable achievement! It's a perfect gift for anyone, from secondary school age to pensioner, who wants a first overview of the subject. (If they then complain that the Brits were not covered, point them to Magee!)

Excellent book for both beginners and sophisticated students of philosophy

This little book was written for beginners, highly readable but also very rich in content. I also discovered its value for long-time students of philosophy. Many of them, including myself, started by reading either textbooks or the classics of individual philosophers, and ended up seeing individual trees but not the forest. Janicaud paints a great picture of the philosophy forest, and by doing so, he stimulates readers to think more.