Rousseau in 90 Minutes
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Narrated by:
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Robert Whitfield
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By:
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Paul Strathern
About this listen
In Rousseau in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Rousseau's life and ideas, and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world. The book also includes selections from Rousseau's work, a brief list of suggested readings for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place Rousseau within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.
©2002 Paul Strathern (P)2004 Blackstone AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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"Witty, illuminating, and blessedly concise." (The Wall Street Journal)
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- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Confucius knew all about life and told us how to behave, but we can't find out precisely what he was up to. His well-meaning platitudes, quaint maxims, and quasi-enigmatic anecdotes combined to produce an ideal philosophy for civil servants. It would appear that his aim was to turn his pupils into good government officials, but his teachings succeeded beyond his wildest expectations, providing rules of conduct and spiritual fodder for more than two thousand years.
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The author seems to dislike Confucius
- By DMC on 06-07-06
By: Paul Strathern
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Spinoza in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Spinoza's brilliant metaphysical system was derived neither from reality nor experience. Starting from basic assumptions, with a series of geometric proofs he built a universe which was also God, one and the same thing, the classic example of pantheism. Although his system seems an oddity today, Spinoza's conclusions are deeply in accord with modern thought, from science (the holistic ethics of today's ecologists) to politics (the idea that the state exists to protect the individual).
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Very Useful for the Beginner
- By Jesse on 05-06-06
By: Paul Strathern
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Nietzsche in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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With Friedrich Nietzsche, philosophy was dangerous not only for philosophers but for everyone. His ideas presaged a collective madness that had horrific consequences in Europe in the early 1900s. Though his philosophy is more one of aphorisms than a system, it is brilliant, persuasive, and incisive. His major concept is the will to power, which he saw as the basic impulse for all our acts. Christianity he saw as a subtle perversion of this concept, thus Nietzsche's famous pronouncement, "God is dead."
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Shallow and misleading
- By Mark G on 07-17-04
By: Paul Strathern
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Plato in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In an age when philosophers had scarcely glimpsed the horizons of the mind, a boy named Aristocles decided to forgo his ambitions as a wrestler. Adopting the nickname Plato, he embarked instead on a life in philosophy. In 387 B.C. he founded the Academy, the world's first university, and taught his students that all we see is not reality but merely a reproduction of the true source. And in his famous Republic he described the politics of "the highest form of state."
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Less progressive opinion, more on Plato
- By Josiah Brunette on 09-08-21
By: Paul Strathern
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Schopenhauer in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Schopenhauer, the "philosopher of pessimism", makes it very plain that he regards the world and our life in it as a bad joke. But if the world is indifferent to our fate, it doesn't thwart us on purpose. The world's facade is supported by what Schopenhauer calls the Universal Will, blind and without purpose. This Will brings on all our misery and suffering; our only hope is to liberate ourselves from its power and from the trappings of individualism and egoism that are at its mercy.
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In 90 Minutes Series overview
- By L Mark Higgins on 08-01-12
By: Paul Strathern
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Kant in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Immanuel Kant taught and wrote prolifically about physical geography yet never traveled further than forty miles from his home in Kvnigsberg. How appropriate it is then that in his philosophy he should deny that all knowledge was derived from experience. He insisted that all experience must conform to knowledge. According to Kant, space and time are subjective; along with various "categories," they help us to see the phenomena of the world, though never its true reality.
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Kant lite
- By CyberMind on 05-25-04
By: Paul Strathern
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Confucius in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Confucius knew all about life and told us how to behave, but we can't find out precisely what he was up to. His well-meaning platitudes, quaint maxims, and quasi-enigmatic anecdotes combined to produce an ideal philosophy for civil servants. It would appear that his aim was to turn his pupils into good government officials, but his teachings succeeded beyond his wildest expectations, providing rules of conduct and spiritual fodder for more than two thousand years.
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The author seems to dislike Confucius
- By DMC on 06-07-06
By: Paul Strathern
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Spinoza in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Spinoza's brilliant metaphysical system was derived neither from reality nor experience. Starting from basic assumptions, with a series of geometric proofs he built a universe which was also God, one and the same thing, the classic example of pantheism. Although his system seems an oddity today, Spinoza's conclusions are deeply in accord with modern thought, from science (the holistic ethics of today's ecologists) to politics (the idea that the state exists to protect the individual).
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Very Useful for the Beginner
- By Jesse on 05-06-06
By: Paul Strathern
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Heidegger in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the two major philosophical traditions of the twentieth century was linguistic analysis, derived largely from Wittgenstein. The other, diametrically opposed, came from Heidegger, and its fundamental question was, "What is the meaning of existence?" For Heidegger, this question could not simply be "analyzed away". It was beyond the reach of logic or reason. It was the primary "given" of every individual life. To confront it, Heidegger needed to develop an entire new form of philosophy.
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not a fair treatment
- By Robert on 07-16-07
By: Paul Strathern
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Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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We see our age as the greatest in human history, filled with seemingly unending originality. Yet such dynamism is not a necessary characteristic of great eras. Among the most long-lasting and stable civilizations was that of medieval Europe. There stasis was achieved, and with it a stability that permitted the development of structured thought and intellectual embellishment of unparalleled degree.
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A mixed bag
- By RAC on 11-26-05
By: Paul Strathern
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Kierkegaard in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Kierkegaard wasn't really a philosopher in the academic sense. Yet he produced what many people expect of philosophy. His subject was the individual and his or her existence, the "existing being." In Kierkegaard's view, this purely subjective entity lay beyond the reach of reason, logic, philosophical systems, theology, or even "the pretenses of psychology." Nonetheless, it was the source of all these subjects. The branch of philosophy to which Kierkegaard gave birth has come to be known as existentialism.
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Great intros
- By Peter on 09-05-04
By: Paul Strathern
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Socrates in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Just a century after it had begun, philosophy entered its greatest age with the appearance of Socrates, who spent so much of his time talking about philosophy on the streets of Athens that he never got around to writing anything down. His method of aggressive questioning, called dialectic, was the forerunner of logic; he used it to cut through the twaddle of his adversaries and arrive at the truth. Rather than questioning the world, he believed, we would be better off questioning ourselves.
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I thought it was OK
- By Theodore on 11-21-11
By: Paul Strathern
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Descartes in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Rene Descartes spent most of his childhood in solitude, a situation that also came to characterize his adult life. Fortunately, these countless lonely hours helped Descartes produce the declaration that changed all philosophy: "I think, therefore I am." Eventually convincing himself to doubt and disregard sensory knowledge, Descartes found he could prove his existence through his thoughts. This internal information, he believed, was the true reality and external forces were hopelessly deceiving.
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The title says it all
- By James McIlvaine on 10-27-20
By: Paul Strathern
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Hegel in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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With Hegel, philosophy became very difficult indeed. His dialectical method produced the most grandiose metaphysical system known to man. Even Hegel conceded that "only one man understands me, and even he does not." Hegel's system included absolutely everything, but its most vital element was the dialectic of the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. This method sprang from Hegel's ambition to overcome the deficiencies of logic and ascended toward mind as the ultimate reality.
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WWF Bodyslam on Hegel
- By quinet on 10-22-05
By: Paul Strathern
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Aristotle in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Aristotle wrote on everything from the shape of seashells to sterility, from speculations on the nature of the soul to meteorology, poetry, art, and even the interpretation of dreams. Apart from mathematics, he transformed every field of knowledge that he touched. Above all, Aristotle is credited with the founding of logic. When he first divided human knowledge into separate categories, he enabled our understanding of the world to develop in a systematic fashion.
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Misrepresentation of Aristotle
- By Jonathan Wells on 09-09-20
By: Paul Strathern
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Sartre in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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During his lifetime, Jean-Paul Sartre enjoyed unprecedented popularity for a philosopher, due partly to his role as a spokesman for existentialism at the opportune moment, when this set of ideas filled the spiritual gap left amidst the ruins of World War II. Existentialism was a philosophy of action and showed the ultimate freedom of the individual. In Sartre's hands, it became a revolt against European bourgeois values.
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In 90 Minutes Series overview
- By L Mark Higgins on 08-01-12
By: Paul Strathern
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Dostoevsky in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 2 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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After narrowly avoiding a firing squad when he was just twenty-eight years old, Dostoevsky never took things lightly. His great novels burst upon the European literary scene like a succession of thunderbolts. His understanding of the darker and more extreme recesses of the human mind cast a forceful light into these areas of experience. The raw psychology and passionate involvement of his books galvanized writers and thinkers as disparate as Nietzsche and Kafka.
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Appetizer!
- By Cam on 04-04-13
By: Paul Strathern
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St. Augustine in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 1 hr and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In St. Augustine in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of St. Augustine's life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world. The book also includes selections from St. Augustine's work, a brief list of suggested readings for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place St. Augustine within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.
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Author hates subject
- By MM on 06-21-10
By: Paul Strathern
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Wittgenstein in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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"If we accept Wittgenstein's word for it," Paul Strathern writes, "he is the last philosopher. In his view, philosophy in the traditional sense was finished."
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Hatchet Job
- By Joseph on 05-13-05
By: Paul Strathern
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Kafka in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A handsome recluse, plagued by indecision and hypochondria, Franz Kafka nonetheless exhibited an extraordinary strength. He developed the uncanny ability to observe himself with cool objectivity, and he cultivated this ability in his writing, where it appeared in increasingly original metaphorical form. His works became among the greatest of the twentieth century, and his influence permeated far and wide, transcending literature.
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Excellent
- By Samantha Cohen on 12-13-20
By: Paul Strathern
What listeners say about Rousseau in 90 Minutes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- L Mark Higgins
- 08-01-12
In 90 Minutes Series overview
If you could sum up Rousseau in 90 Minutes in three words, what would they be?
aka Cliff Notes
Would you recommend Rousseau in 90 Minutes to your friends? Why or why not?
Yes - I've listened to each book in the series about a major philosopher that is available on Audible. Strathern's books don't have the analytical depth found in Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy" books, but he does a good job summarizing each philosopher's biography, major philosophical points, and criticisms. Additionally, Strathern's breadth is broader than Durant's in that he covers a greater number of philosophers. I believe that the time spent listening to these books has been well-spent.
My reviews for each book in the series about a philosopher are identical.
What about Robert Whitfield’s performance did you like?
Voice is clear, well-modulated, and easily understood, even at 1 1/2 speed.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 07-29-21
Interesting , short, focused
great catch up on Rousseau for those who need a refresher as well as who may not have known his work
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- yanks45a1
- 06-15-20
Good and Balanced
In 1hr and 28 mins you have a very good overall view of Rousseau's life and ideas, as well as its affects on our world today. It is not as funny as some other "90 minute" books. This is a very good overall view of Rousseau. Maybe its because he is still very popular today. It didn't talk about his fascination with the "Native American" as I had understood throughout my studies. Like the other "90 minute" books it does say much about the author's relationship with women. They are companions for men and having children. Not very "woke" there. This book treats him with respect and understanding.
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1 person found this helpful
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- MT
- 02-15-22
not bad but mostly biographical
While Rousseau’s sordid personal life inevitably has some bearing on what he wrote and why, it would have been more interesting if the bulk of the audiobook had focused on his ideas and their historical applications.
The ear has trouble making sense of the collection of excerpts read in sequence near the end.
As regards the performance, only one criticism could be made: an occasional dramatic or comical drop in Whitfield's voice made it a bit difficult to make out what he was saying at times. I think there's some sort of technology which can fix this, but it hasn't been applied -- be prepared to fiddle with the volume.
Also, if time is of the essence as the title seems to indicate, a canny editor might consider omitting a few of Paul Strathern’s cheeky allusions to his own open-mindedness. At one point, Strathern appears to be saying, ‘I am throwing children under the bus in an attempt to (artificially?) include women in this discussion on human development.’ Does he suppose women lack awareness of historical (not to mention modern) prejudice, or is he only under the impression that women might mentally exclude themselves from humanity if the word ‘man’ be used? It seems a bit dodgy though, to make such a public effort at inclusivity only to collapse from the strain.
That said, I’m sure there are thousands of audiobooks which are simply unendurable. This one is concise and well-written, although I had hoped for a different focus.
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