Peter Cave
About the author
Peter Cave read philosophy at University College London (UCL) and King's College, Cambridge. He has held lectureships in philosophy at UCL, University of Khartoum, Sudan, and City University London; he was an associate lecturer for many many years at the Open University (and is now Honorary) and New York University (London). Further, he is a principal examiner for the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Member of Population Matters, former member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and Chair of Humanist Philosophers – and is a Patron of Humanists UK. He is also a keen supporter of the Wigmore Hall and for some years English National Opera (now under unjustified funding cuts). He was elected to The Athenaeum Pall Mall Club in 2007.
Author of numerous philosophical papers, both serious and humorous, Peter’s particular interests are paradoxes, ethical matters and life and death dilemmas. He has given guest philosophy lectures at, for example, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Bucharest and has edited collections and written articles for various publications. In previous decades, he was columnist on taxation and money myths for The Investor magazine.
Peter has scripted and presented BBC radio philosophy programmes – from a series on the Paradox Fair to more serious ones on John Stuart Mill. He often takes part in public debates on religion, ethics and socio-political matters, in Britain and on the Continent – and believes that one should ‘stand up and be counted’ when faced with some horrors, horrors that are often the result of religious belief or unbridled enthusiasm for capitalism.
His philosophy books include 'This Sentence is False: an introduction to philosophical paradoxes'' and 'Humanism'. He is author of the light trilogy, 'Can a Robot Be Human?', 'What’s Wrong with Eating People?' and 'Do Llamas Fall in Love?' each one of which is subtitled '33 Perplexing Philosophy Puzzles'. He also authored 'How to think like a bat – and 34 other really interesting uses of philosophy', reissued and revised as 'How to outwit Aristotle'. In 2012 his 'Philosophy: A Beginner’s Guide appeared'; and 2015 saw his 'Ethics: A Beginner’s Guide' – both introductions being highly recommended – ‘lucid, witty, erudite, and wise’, ‘with his signature sharp style’. His puzzling paradox books have appeared, revised as 'The Big Think Book: Discover Philosophy through 99 Perplexities'.
Recent works include The Myths We Live By and two works co-authored with Professor Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok on Israel, Jews and Judaism: namely, 'Jews: Nearly Everything You Wanted To Know* *but were too afraid to ask' and 'Arguments about Judaism'.
Peter's latest work, published by Bloomsbury (2023), is 'How To Think Like A Philosopher: Scholars, Dreamers and Sages Who Can Teach Us How To Live.
Peter cannot resist writing grumpy, challenging or sceptical letters to newspapers, often published, often pointing out fallacies in the reasoning of political leaders, frequently critical of the current Zeitgeist that disparages the poor. He objects to the current obsession for thunderous beat music in shops, restaurants and bars - and everlasting screeches of building and road works.
He has occasionally dabbled in life drawing, is keen on opera, lieder and string quartets, lives in dust and in Soho – and is often seen with a glass of wine…or two.
‘Do you believe in a life to come?’ asks Clov of Hamm in a Samuel Beckett play, the answer being, ‘All my life’s been a life to come.’ ‘How true,’ reflects Peter Cave.
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How to Think Like a Philosopher: Scholars, Dreamers and Sages Who Can Teach Us How to Live Paperback – June 18, 2024
by Peter Cave (Author)
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
An entertaining guide to history's most fascinating philosophers – from Sappho to Kant, and Aristotle to Simone de Beauvoir – which seeks to help us answer life's big questions.
In showing how the great philosophers of human history lived and thought – and what they thought about – Peter Cave provides an accessible and enjoyable introduction to thinking philosophically and how it can change our everyday lives. He addresses questions such as: Is there anything 'out there' that gives meaning to our lives? Does reality tell us how we ought to live? What indeed is reality and what is appearance – and how can we tell the difference?
This book paints vivid portraits of an assortment of inspiring thinkers: from Lao Tzu to Avicenna to Iris Murdoch; from Hannah Arendt to Socrates and Plato to Karl Marx; from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to Sartre to Samuel Beckett – and let us not forget Lewis Carroll for some thought-provoking fantasies and Ludwig Wittgenstein for the anguishes of a genius. As well as displaying optimists and pessimists, believers and non-believers, the book displays relevance to current affairs, from free speech to abortion to the treatment of animals to our leaders' moral character.
Cave brings to life these often prescient, always compelling philosophical thinkers, showing how their ways of approaching the world grew out of their own lives and times and how we may make valuable use of their insights today. Now, more than ever, we need to understand how to live, and how to understand the world around us.
Print length 304 pages
How to Think Like a Philosopher: Scholars, Dreamers and Sages Who Can Teach Us How to Live
Peter Cave
3.8 out of 5 stars 12
https://www.everand.com/book/624497788/How-to-Think-Like-a-Philosopher-Scholars-Dreamers-and-Sages-Who-Can-Teach-Us-How-to-Live
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Dr. Susanne Mathies
5.0 out of 5 stars Philosophy matters
Reviewed in Germany on June 15, 2023
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In this enjoyable book, Peter Cave shows how 30 famous philosophers of the past have influenced each other, and how their views challenge the way we view the world today. The book is academically precise but not bookish – delightful anecdotes serve to illustrate each philosopher’s way of thinking. The chapters end with a recommendation on how to ‘think like a philosopher’. My favourite advice regards Bishop Berkeley: ‘Focus on your experiences – and don’t forget the tarwater’.
Verified Purchase
In this enjoyable book, Peter Cave shows how 30 famous philosophers of the past have influenced each other, and how their views challenge the way we view the world today. The book is academically precise but not bookish – delightful anecdotes serve to illustrate each philosopher’s way of thinking. The chapters end with a recommendation on how to ‘think like a philosopher’. My favourite advice regards Bishop Berkeley: ‘Focus on your experiences – and don’t forget the tarwater’.
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CONTENTS
Prologue
ix
1 Lao Tzu: The Way to Tao
2 Sappho: Lover
3 Zeno of Elea: Tortoise Backer and Parmenidean Helper
4 Gadfly: aka 'Socrates'
5 Plato: Charioteer, Magnificent Footnote Inspirer - Nobody Does It Better'
6 Aristotle: Earth-Bound, Walking
7 Epicurus: Gardener, Curing the Soul,Ably Assisted by Lucretius
8 Avicenna: Flying Man, Unifier
9 Descartes: With Princess, With Queen
10 Spinoza: God-Intoxicated Atheist
11 Leibniz: Monad Man
12 Bishop Berkeley, "That Paradoxical Irishman': Immaterialist, Tar-Water Advocate
13 David Hume: The Great Infidel or Le Bon David
14 Kant: Duty Calls, Categorically
15 Schopenhauer: Pessimism With Flute
16 John Stuart Mill: Utility Man, With Harriet,Soul-Mate Soren Kierkegaard: Who?
18 Karl Marx: Hegelian, Freedom-Fighter
19 Lewis Carroll: Curiouser and Curiouser
20 Niezsche: God-Slaying Jester, Trans- Valuer
21 Bertrand Russell: Radical, Aristocrat
22 G. E. Moore: Common-Sense Defender,Bloomsbury's Sage
23 Heidegger: Hyphenater
24 Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist, Novelist, French
25 Simone Weil: Refuser and Would-Be Rescuer
26 Simone de Beauvoir: Situated, Protester, Feminist
27 Ludwig Wittgenstein: Therapist
28 Hannah Arendt: Controversialist, Journalist?
29 Iris Murdoch: Attender
30 Samuel Beckett: Not I
Epilogue
Dates of the Philosophers
Notes, References and Readings
Acknowledgements
In Memory
Name Index
Subject Index
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Summary of 4 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 4
Thinking in contradiction: Lao Tsu and Spinoza
Imagine starting a book by saying that you can’t possibly speak about its subject. Pretty strange, right? But that’s precisely how the Tao te Ching of Lao Tsu begins – it declares that words can’t express the full meaning of Tao, loosely translated to mean the way.
Since its emergence in China in the sixth century BCE, this enigmatic and poetic text has confused many with its contradictions and puzzles. It declares that Tao, or true reality, is unknowable and beyond description. So when humans try to grasp it, it slips through their fingers.
Its author, too, slips through our fingers if we try to grasp for a historical person. Lao Tsu translates simply to old master, and was likely not a single author. Like Tao, the author is unknowable and unnamed, but that doesn’t lessen their impact.
This ancient text uses enigmas and strange metaphors as a way to point at things beyond understanding. It’s full of strange comparisons – like saying that governing a large country is like cooking a small fish, in that it’s easy to overdo things. Or that the Tao is like water, because it flows into the deepest crevices and nourishes everything equally.
These cryptic verses point to a particular way of being, one where nature is the true window into reality. A certain quietness of mind and spirit is needed to truly observe, though. Freeing yourself from desire, like in Buddhism, is necessary to observe the mysteries of reality. Because of its focus on the way, the book has often been viewed as a religious text – despite it noting that religion only arises when humans lose sight of Tao.
If the true nature of reality is so ungraspable and unknowable, then philosophy is bound to run into religion in more places than just ancient China. Let’s consider the experience of seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch, or Bento, Spinoza.
Born in Amsterdam in 1632 to Jewish immigrants from Portugal, Spinoza’s philosophy was radically different from that of his family and the Jewish community. He believed that any idea of God couldn’t be separate from the natural world. Like Lao Tsu long before him, nature and the universe itself were true reality for Spinoza – and he paid a steep price for it.
Excommunicated from the Jewish faith at the age of just 23 after his publication of Deus sive Natura, or God or Nature, he became a total outcast. His Jewish heritage already excluded him from Dutch society, and his excommunication from Judaism left him without any community.
Spinoza’s response in the face of this suffering was to become kind. His personal experience of suffering grew his compassion for others. His outcast status helped further his philosophical work in some ways. Freed from outside influences, he developed a view of reality that was almost pantheistic – everything around him was a part of God, even those who rejected him.
For this, he was vehemently declared both a godless atheist and a religious zealot. He anonymously published a treatise in 1670, called Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, but everyone who read it immediately knew it was Spinoza. In it, he argued for things like freedom of speech and a secular society. It was then that he was labeled blasphemous – quite an accomplishment for an author formally rejected from religion!
So how can you think like Lao Tsu or Spinoza? Open your eyes to nature and the world around you with wonder, and quiet your mind so you can take it all in.
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Humanism: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guides)
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Arguing about Judaism
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Product details
Publisher : Bloomsbury Continuum (June 18, 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 304 pages
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
