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Text in both Greek and English ... Read more

Book Description
1909. Contents: The Apology, Phaedo and Crito of Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett. The Golden Sayings of Epictetus translated by Hastings Crossley. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Translated by George Long. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

A Great Read for Bad Times
This is a book to be read and reread every few years.With all the irrationality in the world today, this book gives one hope. It's hard to pick a favorate but I've reread the chapters on Marcus Aurelius and John Stuart Mill many times with great pleasure.Blanchard's ideas as well as his beautiful literary style and wonderful story telling are amazing.It's not often that a book about ideas is also a great read.

A triumph by this century's greatest rationalist
Brand Blanshard, twentieth-century philosophy's greatest exponent of rationalism, here turns his pen to an examination of reasonableness in action, as exemplified in the lives of Marcus Aurelius, John Stuart Mill,Ernest Renan, and (Blanshard's own favorite exemplar of the "rationaltemper") Henry Sidgwick. Though himself a rationalist, Blanshard wasnot under the illusion that only avowed rationalists could be reasonable,as his selection of examples clearly shows. In each essay, he presents alucid and sympathetic account of his subject's life and thought in aseamless combination that deserves to be called "philosophicalbiography."

While this volume is of course highly informative abouteach of its four subjects, it also of interest as regards Blanshard's ownthought. He was ninety-two years old when he wrote this delightful andhighly readable work, and his examinations of these four men distill alifetime of his own reflections on the role of reason in the ordering ofhuman affairs. A final chapter -- "The enemy: Prejudice" --summarizes his mature views on the nature and importance of the rationaltemper.

The entry under Blanshard's name in the _Oxford Companion toPhilosophy_ closes on an uncharacteristically personal note:"Blanshard's personal demeanour," writes the entry's author Prof.Peter H. Hare, "was one of extraordinary graciousness." Thatgraciousness, evident throughout his work, is especially so here, whereBlanshard deals less directly with philosophical questions and moredirectly with reasonableness as instantiated in actual human lives; hisgenerosity and sympathy (much neglected rational virtues!) are almostpalpable. If the rest of us could absorb something of his rational temperand spirit, our lives and the life of the world would undoubtedly betransformed for the better. And there is no better place to begin than thisvolume by a great man whose religion was the service of reason.

An easy read of a complex topic, this is worth seeking.
Wow! Who'd have thought that an author could approach such a topic as "reasonableness" and render it so well-defined, so palatable and so attractive.By using four historical examples, with focus not primarily upon their philosophies, but more upon their lives, Blanshard is masterful.As a noted philosophical and social commentator in his own right, the author does an excellent job of inserting his own interpretation on the four subject persons, and upon their historical & intellectual significance.Last, and maybe most important, is Mr. Blanshard's ability to communicate clearly.As far-fetched as it may sound, this book is truly a page-turner!I'd recommend this to anyone who feels the need for a book that makes you go, "Hmmmm."At the very least, it will leave any reader with an increased appetite for more reasonableness in his/her own life. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more