WHY IS THERE SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING?: QUESTIONS FROM GREAT PHILOSOPHERS

Book ID/图书代码： 09400007B14674

English Summary/英文概要： Can nature make us happy? How can we know anything? What is justice? Why is there evil in the world? What is the source of truth? Is it possible for God not to exist? Can we really believe what we see? There are questions that have intrigued the world’s great thinkers over the ages that still touch a chord in all of us today. They are questions that teach us about the way we live, work, relate to each other and see the world. Here, Leszek Kolakowski explores the essence of these ideas, introducing figures from Socrates to Thomas Aquinas, Descartes to Nietzsche and concentrating on one single important philosophical question from each of them. Whether reflecting on good and evil, truth and beauty, faith and the soul, or free will and consciousness, Leszek Kolakowski shows that these timeless ideas remain at the very core of our existence.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 西方哲学史可以被看作对现实的艰苦探索的纪录，其中寻找答案的每一次尝试都成为提出更多问题的契机。著名哲学家和哲学史家莱谢克•科拉柯夫斯基（Leszek Kolakowski）用这些问题为读者提供了用简洁和充满智慧地方式了解哲学这门神秘学科的途径，其中每个问题都是根本问题，都和具体的哲学家有关。科拉柯夫斯基警告说他的小书不是要作为“哲学药丸”。他的技巧是通过讨论让本书读起来引人入胜、趣味盎然。他的每一章的开头都是一个问题，用自己的问题（有些问题非常非常尖刻锋利）作为结束，本书包含辩证法的紧张关系，任何一个思想家，不管多么受人敬重，没有不被挑战的。结果，即便是最乏味的观点，比如柏拉图怪异的形式理论、奥卡姆的威廉（William of Ockham）的激进唯名论（nominalism）突然之间就像演员在泛光灯照明的思想剧院中而生机勃发。Kolakowski在此书中以他的角度梳理了历史上伟大哲学家们提出的最重要的若干命题,以及这些命题的当代意义,语言平实却毫不使这些光辉的思想减少色彩,切入点更是独特。Kolakowski在此书中以他的角度梳理了历史上伟大哲学家们提出的最重要的若干命题,以及这些命题的当代意义,语言平实却毫不使这些光辉的思想减少色彩,切入点更是独特。(RY)

Awards/获奖情况：Elegant … a conjuration of the history of philosophy as one great continuing moment of reflection (Guardian)

There can be few more eminent figures in the world of ideas (The Times)

The most esteemed philosopher to have produced a general introduction to his discipline since Bertrand Russell (Independent)

About the Author/作者介绍： Leszek Kolakowski. 波兰哲学家，作家。
Leszek Kolakowski is the author of over thirty books written in or translated into English, including God Owes Us Nothing, Presence of Myth, and Metaphysical Horror. One of the world’s most admired living philosophers, Kolakowski is Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University and the University of Chicago. He is a fellow of the British Academy, the Académie Universelle des Cultures, and a Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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