I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand the authors do what they (more or less) suggest one should NOT do. And that is that one's reading should be slow, critical and analytical.....and, it is kind-of implied, though not stated, that one should be reading the original texts. And, I agree with all these sentiments. So why have they produced a digest of the key works? Well they say that it is to provide a set of keys that will make it easier to read and make sense of these six important philosophical works.
OK. I think it does that. Not easy to do but I think they have achieved their objective and it's rather like having a lecturer speaking about the various texts....but, to get the most out of it one still needs to read the originals: slowly, critically and analytically.
The six books selected for this volume represent a broad spread of philosophy's great literature. Three are indisputably classics: Plato's Republic, Descartes's Meditations and Hume's Enquiry.
Mill's On Liberty is a seminal contribution to political philosophy and ethics, and represents one of the most influential arguments for liberalism.
Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Eviland Sartre's Existentialism and Humanism however spring from a somewhat different tradition. Western philosophy since the late nineteenth century divides into two divergent traditions: the Anglo-American 'Analytic' school and the European 'Continental' school. Nietzsche can be seen as a forerunner of existentialism and an influence upon elements of the later European 'post-modern' philosophy. Sartre can be seen as a development out of the Franco-German 'phenomenological' school, which began with Husserl and Heidegger. However, Nietzsche is notoriously enigmatic, ambiguous and open interpretation,
Sartre's masterwork, Being and Nothingness, is a dense doorstop of a tome. The purpose of this book is therefore to help beginners approach these somewhat daunting thinkers — Nietzsche, through a commentary on arguably his most popular and accessible work, and Sartre, through an exploration of the brief popular account of existentialism which was originally a public lecture.
The authors say that "Having read this book slowly, critically and analytically, our hope is that you will be able to read the original texts themselves in exactly the same way".
I'ver actually done that for three of the works and have read Nietzsche's work without gaining much understanding. And have never tried with Satre's masterwork. ...though I've read abstracts like the current book. My hope was that the current book would act like a critical refresher for me...and I think it's done that. I especially like the way that they hav e added their own critical assessments of the arguments and how they have stood the test of time and critical re view by other philosophers.
Happy to give the book five stars. ( )