Western Philosophy

Humans have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous.

Western philosophy is now two and a half millennia old, but much of it came in just two staccato bursts, each lasting only about 150 years. In his landmark survey of Western philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance, The Dream of Reason, Anthony Gottlieb documented the first burst, which came in the Athens of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

For over 2000 years, philosophy has been our best guide to the experience of being human, and the true nature of reality.

A little masterpiece of originality and clarity."-George Steiner

"A necessary book."-Roberto Saviano

"A wonderful little book that will delight you."-Francois Busnel

An international bestseller in eighteen languages.

In Becoming Wise, Krista Tippett, host of the radio program On Being, has created a master class in living for a fractured world. Fracture, she says, is not the whole story of our time. The enduring question of what it means to be human has become inextricable from the challenge of who we are to each other.

Foreword by Eckhart Tolle.