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Sartre in 90 Minutes
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 40 mins
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Publisher's Summary
In Sartre in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Sartre's life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world. This audiobook also includes selections from Sartre's work, a brief list of suggested readings for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place Sartre within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.
Critic Reviews
"Mr. Strathern's books are well-written, clear and informed; they have a breezy wit about them." ( New York Times)
"Each of these little books is witty and dramatic and creates a sense of time, place, and character....I cannot think of a better way to introduce oneself and one's friends to Western civilization." ( Boston Globe)
Featured Article: J'adore—The Best French Authors to Listen to Now
Ah, France—the food. The wine. The style. From the City of Lights to the countryside, France is one of the most popular tourist destination spots in the world. But whether your French travel plans are on hold or you’re ready to take a virtual trip now, French literature is one of the best ways to get to know France’s fascinating history, people, and culture. Discover three centuries of the best French authors and their greatest works.
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What listeners say about Sartre in 90 Minutes
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- L Mark Higgins
- 08-01-12
In 90 Minutes Series overview
If you could sum up Sartre in 90 Minutes in three words, what would they be?
aka Cliff Notes
Would you recommend Sartre in 90 Minutes to your friends? Why or why not?
Yes - I've listened to each book in the series about a major philosopher that is available on Audible. Strathern's books don't have the analytical depth found in Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy" books, but he does a good job summarizing each philosopher's biography, major philosophical points, and criticisms. Additionally, Strathern's breadth is broader than Durant's in that he covers a greater number of philosophers. I believe that the time spent listening to these books has been well-spent.
My reviews for each book in the series about a philosopher are identical.
What about Robert Whitfield’s performance did you like?
Voice is clear, well-modulated, and easily understood, even at 1 1/2 speed.
3 people found this helpful
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- James Brennan
- 11-16-21
Should be advertised that this is a half takedown/biography
I don’t know what personal slight Sartre did to the author but it clearly pissed him off. Within 10 minutes it will be abundantly clear to the listener the author has a negative view and is using only the bare minimum levels of subtlety. Literally takes the time to use intentionally critical language *for a child*. I think we can excuse the 10 year old Sartre for handling his father’s death and mother’s remarriages.
It’s worth your time to find a more objective biography.
1 person found this helpful
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- yanks45a1
- 08-09-20
Heidegger Part II
Creepy Sartre copies ideas from Heidegger and befriends Communists, than becomes famous. The author says basically, the French didn't have any great philosophers at the time, so praise Sartre. The author goes on to explain Heidegger and his philosophy as much as explaining Sartre's.
1 person found this helpful
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- amber
- 04-04-18
quick and basic understanding
easy to keep up with. interesting bits about his life and philosophy. will buy others like this.
1 person found this helpful
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- Brad
- 03-05-16
Good biography but lacks depth on his work
It has a lot of biographical information on Sartre's life but is lacking in depth on his philosophy and main ideas of his work. Read if you want to learn about the person but if you want to know his existentialist views better to just read his short work "Existentialism is a Humanism".
1 person found this helpful
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- Dakota Jones
- 04-30-23
Great Crash Course
Another great highlight by Philosophy in 90 minutes, on the life of Sartre, and interesting insight into his philosophy.
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- Brian
- 10-24-22
Great book
It was about enlightenment , A man’s surch for human nature, why do we do the things we do
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- Michael FM
- 09-13-22
Excellent Introduction
a great place to start with both Sartre and Existentialism. Certainly a prompt to further reading and the quest for deeper und3rstanding.
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- ER
- 07-30-22
Perfect! Just what I was looking for!
Perfect book, just what I was looking for to understand Sartre. I wish there were more books like this that would give me an excellent overview, and then allow me to decide to get more detailed volumes or not.
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- Roderick Molasar
- 06-22-22
Jean Paul Sartre is a BEAST.
His greatest philosophical proposition is that philosophers talk twaddle. And there you have it in three words or less.
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Kant in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Immanuel Kant taught and wrote prolifically about physical geography yet never traveled further than forty miles from his home in Kvnigsberg. How appropriate it is then that in his philosophy he should deny that all knowledge was derived from experience. He insisted that all experience must conform to knowledge. According to Kant, space and time are subjective; along with various "categories," they help us to see the phenomena of the world, though never its true reality.
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Kant lite
- By CyberMind on 05-25-04
By: Paul Strathern
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Socrates in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Just a century after it had begun, philosophy entered its greatest age with the appearance of Socrates, who spent so much of his time talking about philosophy on the streets of Athens that he never got around to writing anything down. His method of aggressive questioning, called dialectic, was the forerunner of logic; he used it to cut through the twaddle of his adversaries and arrive at the truth. Rather than questioning the world, he believed, we would be better off questioning ourselves.
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I thought it was OK
- By Theodore on 11-21-11
By: Paul Strathern
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Heidegger in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the two major philosophical traditions of the twentieth century was linguistic analysis, derived largely from Wittgenstein. The other, diametrically opposed, came from Heidegger, and its fundamental question was, "What is the meaning of existence?" For Heidegger, this question could not simply be "analyzed away". It was beyond the reach of logic or reason. It was the primary "given" of every individual life. To confront it, Heidegger needed to develop an entire new form of philosophy.
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not a fair treatment
- By Robert on 07-16-07
By: Paul Strathern
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Spinoza in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Spinoza's brilliant metaphysical system was derived neither from reality nor experience. Starting from basic assumptions, with a series of geometric proofs he built a universe which was also God, one and the same thing, the classic example of pantheism. Although his system seems an oddity today, Spinoza's conclusions are deeply in accord with modern thought, from science (the holistic ethics of today's ecologists) to politics (the idea that the state exists to protect the individual).
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Very Useful for the Beginner
- By Jesse on 05-06-06
By: Paul Strathern
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Marx in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Karl Marx's devastating critique of capitalism, and his proposal of communism as the answer to the failings of the capitalist system, bore their greatest fruits in the twentieth century with the formation of the communist state in the Soviet Union. This great venture has now all but completely failed. Yet the force of the communist belief offered the prospect of "justice on this earth" to countless numbers. And Marx's critique has influenced generations of thinkers who call themselves Marxists.
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Save your 90 minutes
- By Derek on 04-15-06
By: Paul Strathern
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Wittgenstein in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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"If we accept Wittgenstein's word for it," Paul Strathern writes, "he is the last philosopher. In his view, philosophy in the traditional sense was finished."
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Hatchet Job
- By Joseph on 05-13-05
By: Paul Strathern
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Confucius in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Confucius knew all about life and told us how to behave, but we can't find out precisely what he was up to. His well-meaning platitudes, quaint maxims, and quasi-enigmatic anecdotes combined to produce an ideal philosophy for civil servants. It would appear that his aim was to turn his pupils into good government officials, but his teachings succeeded beyond his wildest expectations, providing rules of conduct and spiritual fodder for more than two thousand years.
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The author seems to dislike Confucius
- By DMC on 06-07-06
By: Paul Strathern
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Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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We see our age as the greatest in human history, filled with seemingly unending originality. Yet such dynamism is not a necessary characteristic of great eras. Among the most long-lasting and stable civilizations was that of medieval Europe. There stasis was achieved, and with it a stability that permitted the development of structured thought and intellectual embellishment of unparalleled degree.
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A mixed bag
- By RAC on 11-26-05
By: Paul Strathern
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Hume in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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David Hume reduced philosophy to ruins: he denied the existence of everything, except our actual perceptions themselves. I alone exist, he argued, and the world is nothing more than part of my consciousness. Yet we know that the world remains, and we go on as before. What Hume expressed was the status of our knowledge about the world, a world in which neither religion nor science is certain.
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A cynical history of philosophy
- By Kindle Customer on 12-07-10
By: Paul Strathern