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Philosophers Behaving Badly
Nigel Rodgers and Mel Thompson
Peter Owen, - pounds12.95
THE grey area between the life and work of intellectuals, especially philosophers, is a fascinating juncture for the abstract and the corporeal. How do utilitarian moral philosophers behave? Are epiphenomenalists emotional? What do logical positivists have on their toast? Nigel Rodgers and Mel Thompson attempt to introduce the person behind the philosophy with this collection of biographies, which unapologetically leans towards exposing the less virtuous aspects of men (for they are all men) we hold in high intellectual esteem. Much of it is unpleasant reading.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, regarded by many as the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century, was an exceedingly arrogant misanthropist whose inability to tolerate stupidity in others occasionally led to violence. Popular existentialist Jean Paul Sartre inevitably had women problems given his view that women consume the lives of men, exacting "sickly sweet feminine revenge", and also opted to support...