{"id":1997446,"date":"2023-08-11T04:22:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T08:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/peter-kreeft-is-making-philosophy-great-again\/"},"modified":"2023-08-11T04:31:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T08:31:05","slug":"peter-kreeft-is-making-philosophy-great-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/peter-kreeft-is-making-philosophy-great-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Kreeft Revives Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpeter-kreeft-is-making-philosophy-great-again%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1997446&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>I\u2019m always surprised by the reactions I get when I tell people my interest (and\u2062 sincere trust) in \u200bphilosophy as a means of understanding the world and getting at \u2063the real truth. A \u200blawyer friend told me an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/peter-kreeft-is-making-philosophy-great-again\/\" title=\"Peter Kreeft Revives Philosophy\">introductory university philosophy \u2064class\u2062 convinced<\/a> him there are no objective truths (that\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Conversations_with_Steve_Martin\/rwIbBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&#038;gbpv=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">same conclusion Steve Martin drew<\/a> from his college philosophy courses). A\u200c former colleague\u2062 disparaged Aristotle \u2014 \u200done of\u200c the greatest \u200bphilosophers, and the originator of syllogistic logic \u2014 as absurd\u2062 because of the\u2063 Greek philosopher\u2019s flawed physics.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, contemporary philosophy does the\u200c discipline few favors. The academy has made philosophy\u2064 about as arcane as possible, persuading many that it is impractical \u2063and \u2062irrelevant for everyday\u200c purposes. The philosopher of public imagination is a pretentious, condescending windbag, enamored with his own supposedly \u2063clever use of six-syllable words; or, perhaps, more charitably, a\u2063 well-intentioned ideological zealot \u2063who believes\u200d it\u200b her mission to regularly\u2064 remind everyone that they have \u200cterribly misunderstood themselves, each other, and \u2062the world.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-897117086\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-af039ce6b54a0d53f078e2f488143beb fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-af039ce6b54a0d53f078e2f488143beb\"><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s all too bad, really. Our society, \u2063government,\u2062 and\u2062 economy, not to \u200dmention <em>every single human \u200cinstitution<\/em>, all exist,\u2063 function, and perpetuate themselves based on various philosophical premises \u2014 whether about ourselves, the natural order, \u2064or \u2062how we\u200c acquire knowledge. We\u2019re all <em>doing <\/em>philosophy (either well or poorly) all\u2063 the time: every time we articulate an\u2064 argument, conduct research, \u200dor even weigh options for spending our money. So it would certainly be nice if \u200bsomeone \u200ccould help us better appreciate the connection between philosophy and our actual everyday experiences. Thankfully, \u200dvenerable philosophy \u2063professor and prolific author Dr. Peter Kreeft has done just that with his new four-volume series, <a href=\"https:\/\/books.wordonfire.org\/socrateschildren\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Socrates\u2019 Children: An Introduction to Philosophy from the 100 Greatest\u2064 Philosophers<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Makes \u200cIt Different<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Don\u2019t let the title fool you \u2014 this is no kitschy \u200dcompilation of the \u2064author\u2019s favorite\u200d subject matter, soon to be thrust into a bookstore\u2019s \u201cbargain deals\u201d box. Rather, Kreeft explains:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>I decided to write this \u2064book when the \u2064umpteenth\u2062 person asked me \u200cthe\u200b following question: \u2018Could \u200byou recommend just one book that covers\u2064 the whole history of philosophy that beginners can understand and even \u2064get excited about?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Socrates\u2019 Children<\/em> is intended for beginners, who have little, if \u200dany philosophical background. \u2063It\u2019s also a direct refutation of the aforementioned esotericism that has so plagued philosophy over the last \u200bcentury. \u201cTraditionally, philosophy was about life, \u200dand it was something to be lived,\u201d writes Kreeft. That changed, \u2063however, following the \u2062writings of\u2064 people like Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and A.J. Ayer, who aimed to model philosophy after scientific and mathematical thinking, creating what we call today \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-government-imposes-first-of-its-kind-fee-on-greenhouse-gas-emissions\/\" title=\"Federal Government Imposes First-of-Its-Kind Fee on Greenhouse Gas Emissions\">analytic philosophy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kreeft\u200b favors the more ancient, venerable understanding of the philosopher\u2019s\u2064 craft: to \u2062engender wonder \u200cthat ultimately leads to wisdom. And, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/he-lost-his-cool-jesse-watters-mocks-biden-press-conference-as-a-political-field-sobriety-test-that-he-failed\/\" title=\"\u2018He Lost His Cool\u2019: Jesse Watters Mocks Biden Press Conference As \u2018A Political Field Sobriety Test \u2014 That He Failed\u2019\">good teachers<\/a> know, the best means of accomplishing \u200cthat is through captivating storytelling. Thus Kreeft\u2019s approach: introducing readers to not only\u200c the thoughts of the \u2062great thinkers of \u200dhuman history, but also their lives. To help the reader appreciate\u2063 the interrelatedness of these philosophers, Kreeft presents their stories \u2064and ideas \u200cas part of a \u201cgreat conversation\u201d\u200c spanning more than three millennia.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2f31e455dba10ab2b369f32911680308 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2f31e455dba10ab2b369f32911680308\"><\/div>\n<p>The four-volume series also serves as an\u200b excellent resource \u2064to inspire \u200dfurther study, with Kreeft \u200bsuggesting \u201ceasy, short\u201d books and \u201chard, \u2063long\u201d books from many of the thinkers \u2064he discusses, including Plato, Augustine, Machiavelli, Descartes, Hume, and Marx. His introduction includes a\u2062 \u201cdoable do-it-yourself course\u2064 in the classics of philosophy\u201d with recommended readings, as well as a short list of recommended other histories of philosophy. All that \u2064aside, one\u2062 could easily spend a third of a year, each day reading one of the chapters of \u2062Kreeft\u2019s book, and be more knowledgeable and better equipped to understand philosophy\u2019s real value to our lives than the \u200bvast majority of \u2062anyone you\u2019ll ever debate about,\u200c well, \u2064just about anything.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Leaving No Stone\u2063 Unturned<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The book presents a\u2063 remarkably \u200bdiverse set of characters that\u200d demonstrates both Kreeft\u2019s breadth of\u2062 knowledge but\u2062 also his willingness to make \u200cthis\u200d compilation a\u2063 truly global study. The first section of the first volume, \u201cThe Sages,\u201d features two Jews (Solomon and Jesus),\u200b three \u2062Indo-Aryans (Zoroaster, Shankara, Gotama the Buddha), and three Chinese \u200c(Confucius, \u2063Lao Tzu, and Mo \u2062Tzu). Though Kreeft is himself a Catholic, he \u2064exemplifies a veritable scholarly impartiality; for \u2064example, he\u2064 writes of Confucius\u2019s thought: \u200c\u201cIt was\u2063 human \u200cand humane, and therefore worked for human\u2062 beings, leading them to live more human and happy lives. Can philosophy do anything\u2063 more important than that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The next section of \u2063the first volume, featuring more than 20 Greeks, makes clear the real origins of intellectual energy in the ancient world. And, as the \u200dbook\u2019s title suggests, \u200bthe font of that energy is Socrates. His greatest student, Plato, describes him thus in \u2063his <em>Symposium<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>When you listen to Socrates\u2019 talk it seems at first to be silly. \u2026 Donkeys and\u200c blacksmiths and shoemakers and tanners are what he talks about, and he\u2064 always seems to be saying the same things and the same words,\u2064 so that the ignorant and foolish would laugh at them; but when they are\u200c opened\u200c out and you get \u2064inside them, you find his words\u2064 full of more sense than anyone else\u2019s, and the most godlike, and full\u2063 of the best images of virtue,\u2062 and reaching the farthest into what is the most profitable.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is \u200cwhat philosophy is \u2062 <em>supposed <\/em>to \u2064do to us, to appeal to our own experiences and senses to\u2064 help us see ourselves, the world, and truth more clearly, dispelling the impressions and deceits that so often cloud\u200c our thinking, and giving us a template for a better life.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3db633c72baead7d6fc8e9d9cee07c67 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3db633c72baead7d6fc8e9d9cee07c67\"><\/div>\n<p>The fourth and final \u2064volume\u2064 on contemporary philosophers points to how this broke down. It is by far the largest of\u2063 the volumes, and contains thinkers that even professional academics have \u200bdifficulty interpreting: Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Husserl. \u201cOf\u200d the one hundred \u2062philosophers in this \u2064four-volume work, none has demanded of me as\u2064 much \u2063qualitative rethinking \u200cand reappraisal, and \u2062as much quantitative expansion of \u200bpages, as Wittgenstein,\u201d Kreeft explains. More arresting than that comment is the fact that\u2062 Wittgenstein, who boasted\u200c of never \u200chaving read a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/happy-anniversary-lincoln-project-founder-rick-wilson-celebrates-7-years-since-390k-tax-lien\/\" title=\"Happy Anniversary! Lincoln Project Founder Rick Wilson Celebrates 7 Years Since 0K Tax Lien\">single word<\/a> of Aristotle,\u2062 was embarrassingly ignorant of everything that\u2062 intellectually preceded him.<\/p>\n<p>Wittgenstein\u2019s hubris is not uncommon among <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-muslim-reformers-new-book-strives-to-make-islam-more-feminine\/\" title=\"New book by Muslim reformer aims to feminize Islam.\">analytic philosophers<\/a>. Kreeft describes the \u2063intellectual movement thus:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u2026It claims to be \u200da cure for the intellectual\u200d diseases and errors of past philosophy. Yes, \u200dand that \u200bis precisely the problem: the arrogance, the dismissal of centuries of\u200b great minds\u2062 by decades of little ones. For the\u2062 bottom line of all\u2063 the founders\u2062 of this movement \u2063is that philosophy in the traditional sense, philosophy as \u200cnearly all\u2063 great philosophers have conceived of it for twenty-four centuries, is \u200cfatally diseased. The business is bankrupt. The enterprise is dead. \u2026 Analytic philosophy is a viral infection: just as deadly, but boring.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Though analytic philosophy was quixotically supposed to be the decisive intellectual system that transcended\u200d the seemingly irresolvable debates of the past, Kreeft wryly observes \u201cthere is as much disagreement among analytic philosophers \u200das there ever was \u200damong other philosophers.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why It\u2019s a Masterpiece<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Kreeft\u2019s incisive criticism of analytic philosophy shows that <em>Socrates\u2019 Children<\/em> is far more than a simple summary of the great philosophers. It \u200chas them \u2014 \u2064and Kreeft \u2014 insightfully\u2063 and charitably engage with\u2063 one another, which helpfully exposes various \u200dstrengths and weaknesses. Interspersed throughout is the forthright commentary that makes Kreeft such a delight to read. For instance, \u200din Kreeft\u2019s estimation Leibniz was one of the top five \u200dmost intelligent men ever;\u200d Kierkegaard \u200bhas been the most brilliant Protestant \u200bphilosopher; Nietzsche is the\u200c most radical of thinkers.<\/p>\n<p>Few attempts have ever been made to accomplish what Kreeft has done in this book \u2014 in\u200c the\u200c past I\u2019ve recommended the\u2064 very\u2062 good textbook\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Images-Human-Leonard-Kennedy\/dp\/0829408258\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Images \u200dof the Human<\/em><\/a>  as something \u200csimilar, though <em>Socrates\u2019 Children<\/em> \u200d is far more \u200dcomprehensive and digestible. Indeed, the attributes that commend this book are difficult to number. There are\u200d fascinating biographical anecdotes, instructive diagrams, and lists \u200dwithin lists of whom\u200d Kreeft deems to be the <em>most\u200d <\/em>important thinkers to\u200d know. And, of course, it has provocative controversies, including the jarring fact that there is not a \u200dsingle female included among the 100 philosophers.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure many familiar with the history of philosophy will\u2064 find more than that \u201cpatriarchal\u201d decision to provoke them,\u2064 including\u200d who makes the cut \u2063in this contentious list. Regardless \u2063of whether one \u2063is a novice, or someone like me with \u2063multiple graduate-level philosophy courses under his \u2063belt, there is much to learn \u2013 and live by\u200b \u2013 under Kreeft\u2019s gracious tutelage.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-9d39ad505ccacb2027ba1b04d4178924 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-9d39ad505ccacb2027ba1b04d4178924\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m often amazed by people&#8217;s reactions when I share my passion for philosophy as a tool to comprehend the world and uncover genuine truths. A lawyer friend, influenced by an introductory philosophy course, concluded that objective truths do not exist. This reminded me of Steve Martin&#8217;s perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":1997447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1997446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1997446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1997447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1997446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1997446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1997446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}