A Brief History of Thought
Ratings2
Average rating2.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating2.5
Eight months on the bestseller lists in France! From the timeless wisdom of the ancient Greeks to Christianity, the Enlightenment, existentialism, and postmodernism, Luc Ferry’s instant classic brilliantly and accessibly explains the enduring teachings of philosophy—including its profound relevance to modern daily life and its essential role in achieving happiness and living a meaningful life. This lively journey through the great thinkers will enlighten every reader, young and old.
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The first few chapters were interesting but this is not a “History of Thought”, this is a history of a very few specific schools of thought cherry picked I assume by Ferry's personal preferences. Normally, that'd be fine but when reading “A Brief History of Thought” I'd prefer a more comprehensive primer. Also, this book is hugely weighted towards Nietzsche and deconstruction, the last 100 pages, of this 260 page book are dedicated to these topics while Stoic thought, Christianity and Humanism are given a Cliff Notes treatment in the first two thirds of the book.
Ferry attempts to create some hope for salvation out of a secular humanist perspective but for me, as a subscriber to the Christian ideal, this largely fell flat. Ultimately the promise of “salvation” as Ferry defines it felt hallow and a pale imitation of the far greater reward promised in Christian theology. While I realize that not all readers are Christian and many, like Ferry, may be looking for an alternative source of hope equal to the Christian ideal of “salvation”, but if that's the case then I would argue that Ferry is not a very good spokesman for the task.
