Modern Philosophy, by Robert Scruton, is a book that attempts to cover almost every subject investigated by modern philosophers. You may think I kid, but chapters cover topics such as truth, god, science, the even the soul. Of course with so many topics no one subject can be discussed in great depth. Instead the author attempts to present a brief overview of modern thought on the subject, as well as his own take on it. This makes each section an entertaining read, since he presents many arguments while at the same time making an original point of his own. In my opinion too many books focus either exclusively on the writings of other authors, making them simply summaries of ideas, or they focus exclusively on developing their own argument, which leaves the question open as to how their argument addresses issues raised by other philosophers.
From this presentation you may get the idea that the book is an excellent choice for those new to philosophy. Although it is true that anyone can read this book an understand it, which is definitely a good thing, it takes someone who has had previous experience with philosophical argument to get the most value out of it. This is because to able to evaluate the arguments put forward by the author one needs to be able to critically analyze them, which requires, among other things, a familiarity with philosophical argument in general, the ability to raise and refute ones own objections, and knowledge of common thought experiments. I worry that someone without such a background will simply think that the author’s own arguments are the last word on the subject, and thus be somewhat confused as to why philosophers continue to debate them.
This book also demonstrates how it is possible to both be religious and a good philosopher. Although the author is religious he does not let his beliefs get in the way of his arguments, and never once did he argue for or against a particular conclusion by appeal to his beliefs. This is an admirable trait, and one many other religious philosophers are not able to emulate. (Just in case you are curious: most modern philosophers, myself included, are not religious. Neither are most modern scientists.)
Of course no book is perfect, and I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t inform you of its flaws as well. In terms of content the book has two gaping omissions. One is that it ignores the AI debate, at least for the most part. Since the AI question has become central to much of the modern debate about consciousness I expected it to have at least a chapter of its own. The other glaring omission is the topic of ethics. Ethics is generally considered to be one of the three main branches of philosophy (the others being metaphysics and epistemology). However ethics only merits one chapter, entitled “Morality”, out of the 31 total chapters. Finally, I would criticize the last two chapters. What for the most part is a series of clean arguments contrasts sharply with the poorly constructed and vague arguments contained in the last two chapters (at least in my opinion). Perhaps I simply don’t understand the assumptions being made, or the way in which the author is using certain terms.
Other Uses:
Weighing in at 610 pages the book makes quite a handy paperweight if you need one. It also contains a rather extensive list of references in the back (roughly 100 pages), which serve as a good guide for further reading. Finally, if you wanted to make your own philosophy blog you could do one post per chapter and have a couple of months worth of material. (In fact several of my posts have been in response to the material contained in one or more chapters.)
Overall Score:
Philosophical value: 8/10
Style: 7/10
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