Weaving together studies of eighteen ancient, medieval and modern philosophers from Socrates to Judith Butler, Gideon Baker provides a gripping genealogy of Western philosophy as a history of questioning. As well as revealing the ancient in the modern, Baker reflects on newer questions in Western philosophy, including: is human being uniquely defined by questioning? And does the negativity of questioning lead to nihilistic despair? Staying faithful to his theme, Baker calls Western philosophy itself into question, asking why questioning should be seen as central to the true life. Is this not the same prejudice that led Socrates, at the beginning of Western philosophy, to ask whether the unexamined life is worth living?Far from being timeless, the questioning that lies at the heart of Western philosophy is revealed to have a strange and unsettling history that yet concerns us all.

About the Author
Gideon Baker, Associate Professor in the School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University.


Book Information
ISBN 9781474498067
Author Gideon Baker
Format Hardback
Page Count 224
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press