Audiobook: The Making of a Philosopher by Colin McGinn
There are plenty of works trying to make science accessible to the lay person, says Colin McGinn, but there are not that many trying to do the same with philosophy.
The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy
Sometimes the biographical sections feel a bit self-serving, but that is a risk in any first-person narrative. Mostly though, he talks about the ideas and philosophers that captured his interest growing up and during his academic career. During these pages, he does try to overview these ideas and thought processes. If you’re like me, some will make sense while others will just go flying over your head.
I took some philosophy classes in college but a lot of the more modern ideas are very abstract and live in the mental. I compare this to the realm of theoretical physics.
For example, I can get that electricity running through a wire creates a magnetic field. That’s experimentally provable. But my mind is going to have a much harder time handling the idea of bendy space and non-linear time.
Similarly, I can deal with discussions of whether Man is inherently good or evil better than I can grasp whether or not I exist and the proof thereof.
But as McGinn points out, these questions are the most basic ones out there. And strangely enough, at least to me, he posits that our physical biology may leave us unable to get at the answers.
I wouldn’t say that The Making of a Philosopher
At the very least, his real life biographical sections will give your brain a chance to relax and stop hurting so much.
Audiobook Challenge: two down, ten to go.
New Author Challenge: five completed, ten to go.