Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition

By: The Great Courses, Alan Charles Kors, Darren Staloff, Dennis Dalton, Douglas Kellner

Narrated by: Alan Charles Kors, Darren Staloff, Dennis Dalton, Douglas Kellner

Length: 43 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

For 3,000 years, mankind has grappled with fundamental questions about life. What is real? Who or what is God? When is it legitimate for one person to have power over others? What is justice? Beauty?

This 84-lecture, 12-professor tour of Western philosophical tradition covers more than 60 of history's greatest minds and brings you a comprehensive survey of the history of Western philosophy from its origins in classical Greece to the present.

It took 3,000 years for the debate chronicled in these lectures to reach maturity.

With this series of lectures, you can encompass it by the end of next month. You'll travel chronologically through the history of the Western world, charting the intriguing development of Western philosophy and drawing fascinating connections between thinkers separated by the gulf of time and space. You'll acquaint yourself with the Greek Pre-Socratics (the world's first scientific thinkers) and examine in detail the insights of three towering figures: Socrates, his student Plato, and Plato's student, Aristotle.

You'll examine the contributions to philosophy from biblical traditions and the great minds of the Christian age. Then, you'll mark the critical schism that developed between the claims of faith and those of science and participate in the breathless discovery found during the Enlightenment, which reveled in the new freedom of human potential and scientific expansion. You'll study the provocative philosophical responses (by the Existentialists and others) to the challenges raised by the new scientific consciousness. And you'll conclude with an overview of the work of Derrida and other late 20th-century philosophers and theorists.

The full list of lecturers includes Professors Alan Charles Kors, Darren Staloff, Dennis Dalton, Douglas Kellner, Jeremy Adams, Jeremy Shearmur, Kathleen M. Higgins, Louis Markos, Mark Risjord, Phillip Cary, Robert C. Solomon, and Robert H. Kane.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great Courses

A high-quality, college course without text or ref

What made the experience of listening to Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition the most enjoyable?

The breadth was quite strong until the later half of the eighteenth century. Up to that point, the impact of non-philosophical thought was given reasonable consideration: Copernicus and Newton for example. However, the impact and, to some degree, the writings of Darwin, Einstein, Heisenberg and Hubble, to name a few, were left out as the narrative focused more narrowly on work more explicitly labeled as modern philosophy.

What did you like best about this story?

The sense of continuity. It would have been unsurprising for a lengthy series of lectures by so many distinct academics to seem disjoint. This did not. Numerous references are made to previous lectures and far more to previous topics in a remarkably consistent fashion.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

One of the speakers gave the impression of being in a rush, needing to fit as much as possible in to the available time. He was very lucid and clear, which is good because the rushing could have made his fairly dense presentation hard to follow.1 problematic professor out of 12 is an excellent ratio.

If you could give Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition a new subtitle, what would it be?

None needed.

Any additional comments?

BE AWARE!!The lack of the accompanying course notes is very unfortunate. I contacted The Great Courses and they refuse to provide the course notes to Audible customers. On the Audible site, the publisher's description ends with "Disclaimer: Please note that this recording may include references to supplemental texts or print references that are not essential to the program and not supplied with your purchase."

One request

please provide a chapter to philosopher map - otherwise to look back at any single chapter is a real chore

Fantastic overview

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I have recommended it to my friends, because this is, as far as I know, the best and most simultaneously accessible and comprehensive overview of philosophy that is available in the audio-book format. Furthermore, the fact that such a variety of scholars present the material is helpful: everyone seems to be an expert on the thing that they're talking about, and almost every one of the lectures is informative and interesting.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The lectures on Nietzche, Rorty, Aquinas and Kierkegaard.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

They are all confident and clear in their presentation, and it seems obvious that they are all truly experts and experienced teachers.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

FINALLY!!

I have never written a review in 5+ years of membership on the Audible site and hundreds of books read. However, I had to write one for this collection. I have spent years borrowing these titles from my local public library (all the way back to when they only had a limited array of cassette tape courses). Each course is like sitting in on a series of college lectures discussing the topic your choosing - at your pace - with no finals or tuition bills! For anyone on the fence about buying, don't wait, they are well worth it. These courses are going to cost me a lot of credits...

A Selection From Other Courses

This course suffers from being a selection of lectures from other courses. As such, it has no coherent theme and is very difficult to follow. Lecturers will bring up ideas and say they will get back to them in later lectures but we never get those lectures.

Your Mileage May Vary

Prepare yourself for some sophisticated concepts. This is not your average audiobook, and if you want to get your money's worth you'll have to concentrate and often repeat certain lectures to fully understand all the interrelated concepts mentioned and discussed in it. And some lectures mention concepts that have been introduced in previous lectures, with little more than a quick recap. So better get your academia ready.

With multiple professors contributing, I couldn't help but notice that a few of them had certain pronunciation perks which started to bother me after a couple of courses they give. It shouldn't take too much value away, however.

Way too-too much

I'm a fan of the Teaching Company and have purchased a lot of their courses. So it pains me to report that this course is not up to previous high standards. It covers way to much and fails to ties all the lessons together. There are themes in philosophy, but the numerous lectures too often are disjointed from these themes. The coverage is very wide, and as a consequence, the depth is minimal, and (unfortunately) too disjointed.

Avoid the Sections by Prof. Kors.

While many of the sections are fantastic, Prof. Kors sing-song, preacher like, delivery makes this book unlistenable. If there was something beyond a celebration of Christianity in his lectures I could have made it through, but no, just evangelical furvor and passionate lisping.

Uneven Lectures

What would have made Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition better?

The subject is very interesting, but the lectures are not from "the best college professors in the world" or even the United States. Some lectures are superficial, suited to high school level not college. They often fail to give the reader a feel for the true meaning and substance of a given philosopher, i.e., why should we care about this persons ideas and thoughts complete with illustrations of how these ideas live on today. The lectures on 20th century philosophers are as barren as 20th century philosophy--stick with the classics up to the 19th century. And, dump the fake clapping before and after each lecture.

SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!!!

An excellent series of philosophy lectures by some brilliant professors...this audio series is better than a first year philosophy college course.

Surprisingly good

There is something for everyone in this introduction to philosophy. I have a Masters Degree in the subject and bought this course as a refresher, overlooking some of the negative reviews from the hard-to-please crowd. That was the right choice. Here are my thoughts. The choice of philosophers was a good, including both the usual greats as a few surprises. The selection is well-balance across time (sampling each period from the pre-socratics to the present) and also across space, the different approaches to and branches of philosophy (from softer spiritual, ethical, and political questions to harder questions of analysis, knowledge, and science). This evenhandedness was quite an accomplishment in my opinion. In terms of rigour, the level is about right for this sort of course: there is plenty of substance for people with a background in philosophy yet beginners will also be able to enjoy and benefit from it. The fact that I am going to listen to it again is probably the surest sign that's it's achieved it's aim. Overall, a very solid and enriching course.

A perspective-altering epic

This gargantuan collection of lectures covers great Western philosophers from Ancient Greece to the present. In general, it was very well lectured (however occasionally I had to increase the speed to 1.25x or 1.5x). It was perpetually provocative, fairly balanced in viewpoint, and has substantially broadened and deepened my understanding of philosophical thoughts and ideas. A side effect of this course is a significant lengthening of my to-read list: pretty much all of the works mentioned in this course!

Too many lecturers without auditive appeal

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would delete the chapters about the bible. It is not the result of a work of a great mind, whomever may have inspired it, and does not belong in this company. It seems almost propagandist placed in this context

What was most disappointing about The Great Courses’s story?

There are especially two Professors who get a lot of speaking time, but I am afraid are grating to listen to. One is Pr. Carrie, I am certain he is very knowledgable, but his habit of saying "right ?" after each sentence in certain parts which is really annoying, as if he is trying to convince the listener, or start a debate which is impossible to partake in. As most if not all of this subject is conjectural, and really the basis for debate, I wonder why he says "right?" all the time.. The other I think is a Pr Kors, I think his name was. His narration is so mechanical, and the voice so grating, that is is rather painful to listen to. My apologies to these gentleman, I do not mean to offend, but reviews are for truthful feedback. The material is at time difficult enough as it is, without the added distraction of difficult narrative style.The material is a bit cursory, but then it is a romp through the history of philosophy and one cannot expect more.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

That is difficult, but seeing that most of this is European history, someone with a British accent, and a more pleasant tone.

Was Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition worth the listening time?

Good question.

lots and lots of matrial

This is a great resource and has given me a glimpse into profoundly deep thoughts from 3 thousand years of grear western minds. Many of these were not known to me before. So much material! Just thinly spread; despite many hours of lectures.

A really good overview of the subject

I really enjoyed this set of lectures, and will listen again, it gives the opportunity to delve deeper into the subjects that are found most interesting , I specially enjoyed the parts on Socrates and Plato, and will be delving deeper into this, thank you for a great course.

Great introduction to various facets of Western

why West dominates the world. some of reason lies with their ideology over the centuries. Science and democracy are the key reasons.1

huge amount of crucial information.

some of this information is hugely important for a thinking mind. the ability to track behavioural patterns of the human animal as far back as this material travels and to aid in context for our own confusing lives seems paramount to improving negative conditions or improving already solid foundations. the need to learn about religion is a humanitarian need in aiding the understanding as to how we as creatures operate and the spiritual nature of our involvement in the cycle of life and death. don't be afraid, learn fearlessness from men who have lived better.

The best GC

This was one os the best GC, it touches the most important topics in western intellectual minds.. I loved every moment without skipping.

Too much too thin.

30 minutes on each of these vast subjects provides nothing more than a broad overview of the people rather than the philosophy and to much opinion of the lecturer.

Wikipedia provides a better summary.

i didn't come away from these lectures with much new information.

Also the Introductory music and the ridiculous fake ( canned ) clapping before and after every lecturer is tedious and trite and should be removed.

Awesome stuffs

Something everyone should listen to, fascinating and lots of practical wisdom to live by. Can't wait for the 4th edition to include some more (post) modern philosophies