This book is inspired by a single powerful question. What is it to be great as a philosopher? No single grand answer is presumed to be possible; instead, rewardingly close studies of philosophical greatness are developed. This is a scholarly yet accessible volume, blending metaphilosophy with the long history of philosophy and traversing centuries and continents. The result is a series of case studies by accomplished scholars, each chapter trying to understand and convey a particular philosopher's greatness:

Lloyd P. Gerson on Plato

Karyn Lai on Zhuangzi

David Bronstein on Aristotle

Jonardon Ganeri on Buddhaghosa

Jeffrey Hause on Aquinas

Gary Hatfield on Descartes

Karen Detlefsen on du Chatelet

Don Garrett on Hume

Allen Wood on Kant (as a moral philosopher)

Nicholas F. Stang on Kant (as a metaphysician)

Ken Gemes on Nietzsche

Cheryl Misak on Peirce

David Macarthur on Wittgenstein

This also serves a larger philosophical purpose. Might we gain increased clarity about what philosophy is in the first place? After all, in practice we individuate philosophy partly through its greatest practitioners' greatest contributions.

The book does not discuss every philosopher who has been regarded as great. The point is not to offer a definitive list of The Great Philosophers, but, rather, to learn something about what great philosophy is and might be, from illuminated examples of past greatness.

About the Author
Stephen Hetherington is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales. His publications include Epistemology's Paradox (1992), Good Knowledge, Bad Knowledge (2001), How to Know (2011), and Knowledge and the Gettier Problem (2016).

Reviews

"What is the difference between a merely good philosopher and a great one? Lists of the great (and usually dead) philosophers presuppose an answer to this question but it's far from obvious what the answer is. The distinguished contributors to this terrific volume advance our understanding of what great philosophy is and explain the greatness of some of the greatest philosophers."

--Quassim Cassam, University of Warwick

Book Information
ISBN 9781138936164
Author Stephen Hetherington
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 385g