The Cave and the Light
Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization
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Narrated by:
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Paul Hecht
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By:
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Arthur Herman
About this listen
The Cave and the Light reveals how two Greek philosophers became the twin fountainheads of Western culture, and how their rivalry gave Western civilization its unique dynamism down to the present.
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In The Dream of Enlightenment, Anthony Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short period - from the early 1640s to the eve of the French Revolution - Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story and that of the birth of modern philosophy.
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Enlightenment meets Neuroscience
- By Rodger on 12-05-19
By: Anthony Gottlieb
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Angels and Ages
- A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
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Written 200 years after Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln shared a birthday on February 12, 1809, this insightful account sheds new light on two men who changed the way we think about the meaning of life and death. Award-winning journalist Adam Gopnik's unique perspective, combined with previously unexplored stories and figures, reveals two men planted firmly at the roots of modern views and liberal values.
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Connecting Darwin and Lincoln
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: Adam Gopnik
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Soul Machine
- The Invention of the Modern Mind
- By: George Makari
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
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Soul Machine takes us back to the origins of modernity, a time when a crisis in religious authority and the scientific revolution led to searching questions about the nature of human inner life. This is the story of how a new concept - the mind - emerged as a potential solution, one that was part soul and part machine but fully neither.
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High yield
- By Mark Twain on 01-21-16
By: George Makari
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The Portable Atheist
- Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
- By: Christopher Hitchens
- Narrated by: Nicholas Ball
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
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Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices past and present that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you'll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature, and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, and more.
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This is ABRIDGED
- By David Wolf on 06-05-08
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What Are We Doing Here?
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
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Marilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America, like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Alexis de Tocqueville, inform our political consciousness or discussing how beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson's peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.
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Unpersuasive and a bit repetitive
- By Adam Shields on 03-07-18
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How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
- By: Thomas E. Woods Jr.
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 7 hrs
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Western civilization has given us modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of law, a sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, splendid art and music, philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts we take for granted.
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Fascinating and informative
- By Michael Kellogg on 09-29-05
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The Givenness of Things
- Essays
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
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The spirit of our times can appear to be one of joyless urgency. As a culture we have become less interested in the exploration of the glorious mind, and more interested in creating and mastering technologies that will yield material well-being. But while cultural pessimism is always fashionable, there is still much to give us hope.
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Mostly thoughts on religious things
- By Adam Shields on 01-26-16
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Descartes' Bones
- A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
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On a brutal winter's day in 1650 in Stockholm, Frenchman Rene Descartes, the most influential and controversial thinker of his time, was buried after a cold and lonely deathfar from home. Sixteen years later, the pious French Ambassador Hugues de Terlon secretly unearthed Descartes' bones and transported them to France. Why would this devoutly Catholic official care so much about the remains of a philosopher who washounded from country after country on charges of atheism?
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Philosophy of Modernity
- By Roger on 06-17-09
By: Russell Shorto
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A motif that works well
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Confused and not worth the time and money
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Great Listening Experience
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American Emperor
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A spellbinding storyteller, historian David O. Stewart traces the canny and charismatic Aaron Burr from the threshold of the presidency in 1800 to his duel with Alexander Hamilton. Stewart recounts Burr’s efforts to carve out an empire, taking listeners across the American West as the renegade vice president schemes with foreign ambassadors, the U.S. general-in-chief, and future presidents.
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Aaron Burr history
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Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
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This anthology is a miscellany of maxims and anecdotes that generations of Western readers have consulted for edification as well as entertainment ever since Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, first compiled in the AD third century, came to prominence in Renaissance Italy. To this day, it remains a crucial source for much of what we know about the origins and practice of philosophy in ancient Greece.
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Could be worse ....
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What listeners say about The Cave and the Light
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Joseph Cousins
- 08-02-23
Great high-level review of the history of ideas
I love this book and it’s high-level summary of ideas since pre-Socratic Greece. The only annoying part: the chapters are numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. when clearly they had titles as the narrator read them. Not sure why companies are so lazy that they can’t bother to make those titles the ones in the audible file it would make searching and review much easier.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Topher
- 07-30-15
great overview of the history of philosophy
this book is easy to listen to and I enjoyed having the Plato/Aristotle thread weaved throughout the entire book since it gave it a central theme and storyline. however, I do think it was forced in a places especially as you get to more recent thinkers.
as a Christian who supports capitalism I really enjoyed the last chapter where the author gives his conclusions. however I do think that people who do not share my view will enjoy the rest of the book, which is mostly objective in its explanation of major thinkers throughout history.
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- Jeremiah Sandahl
- 09-01-18
Great Storytelling for a Work of Philosophy
I thought this would be an introduction to the works of Plato and Aristotle, but as it turns out, it’s much more. The book traces their ideas through history as they dodge and weave throughout the most important movements of history.
The first 2/3rds of the book were clear-cut and easy. After the Enlightenment, the ideas become harder to trace, and more challenging to follow the quick changes between people and ideas. I think the post enlightenment section could use an entire volume to expand some of the ideas further.
The performance aspect is great. There’s enough interest in the voice to keep engaged with the material. He does make a few mistakes and mispronunciations along the way, but I’d rather have that than boring.
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- Joey Caster
- 09-21-24
Masterwork of Historical Philosophy
Although the length of time it took to listen to this book was over 23 hours… I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. From the content to the magnificent narrations, this is a Masterwork of historical philosophy
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- xiangyang zhao
- 06-13-22
Wow it is the linchpin I was afraid not exist
Arthur Herman is erudite, opinionated, and courageous. The result is the book. Being a student of history , philosophy and science, I wished to come across a book like this.
Hecht’s narration is perfect! It is an A
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tenzin Dawa
- 07-28-15
Amazing book and wonderful reader
This book has changed my perspective about our modern world. Filled with ancient wisdom, the author lets the reader in on the origins of many if our modern problems, and offers us a perspective from which we can make better choices based on reason rather than feeling.
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- Erik The Red
- 07-18-19
The intellectual trail always leads back to Plato and Aristotle
But what is the correct balance and why? This book is an excellent summation of both philosophers and the intellectual ends their ideologies have led to in the past. Excellent read.
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- Munster Monster
- 03-16-17
Exhilarating overview of philosophical history
The ultimate compliment I can provide is that I now want to read more philosophy! Hermann wonderfully ties together the two great Greeks to a ship sailing through history.
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- Nevets
- 11-04-22
Great Breath and Depth
great narrator...worth listening. better to take notes..hard to remember all the swirls of this and that....
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- Patrick Montandon
- 02-17-16
Gripping, Thoughtful
This book kept me coming back for more, every time. love the flow and personal details of the historical characters lives. really liked the reader.
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4 people found this helpful