I’m looking for a good source to get summaries of the great (and lesser known too) philosophers’ philosophies. Summations of their ideas. Anyone have any suggestions?
The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Philosophy. They really do have a book for everything in that series.
Thanks, Ultra, I always forget about the Dummies/Idiots guides…I hope that that’s not telling.
The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy is absolutely fantastic, though weighty. Brilliantly cross-referenced.
Fifty Major Philosophers is also a very engaging read. From what I know of philosophy it is quite unbiased. This was the first philosophy book I ever purchased. Very tightly written but doesn’t chince you on the details. As the title doesn’t suggest, though, it is only western philosophy.
Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy is also quite good, but he is not ashamed to put his own two cents in, and it is also told from the point of discussing philosophy historically, not qua philosophy. Still, a good read and a great summary of major ideas.
I really liked Sophie’s World, which is a book on the history of philosophy thinly disguised as a fiction novel. Quite interesting work.
I always liked the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I came across an article from their site a few years back in school, and I’ve been using it since.
They’ve got articles arranged chronologically, indexed by topic, and alphabetically by subject (subject being topics and persons). I’ve always found their articles to be fascinating. It can be a little inconsistent in coverage (for example, the article on Michael Dummett, who I don’t know, is pages and pages, while the one on Denis Diderot, who I love, is a scanty three paragraphs. But that’s neither here nor there), but in the main is a wonderful resource.
It’s online, as opposed to the other suggestions which have all been books. I hope that’s not cheating.
This site has some interesting links, games and interactive conundrums. Try the “Battleground God” or the Philosophy Quiz.
But I would definitely recommend (secondly) Sophies World for a good overview of the history of thought.
I’ll second the IEP for White Lighting. http://plato.stanford.edu/ is quite a good website, as well.