Talking Philosophy Dialogues with Fifteen Leading Philosophers

This book consists of fifteen dialogues between Bryan Magee and some of the outstanding thinkers of the twentieth century. It is based on a highly successful BBC television series which had enormous impact. The informality and clarity of the conversational form makes even the most difficultideas accessible to the general reader.Isaiah Berlin opens by considering the fundamental question 'What is philosophy?' Subsequent conversations examine such widely different schools as Marxism and existentialism. Chomsky, Quine, Marcuse, and others discuss their own work; A. J. Ayer reviews logical positivism; Iris Murdoch talksabout the relation between philosophy and literature. Moral philosophy, political philosophy, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of science are all treated in depth by the thinkers whose work has shaped the fields.

Bryan Magee has held academic positions at Yale University, King's College London, and Oxford University. He is an independent writer, critic, and broadcaster whose many books include The Great Philosophers, Confessions of a Philosopher, and Aspects of Wagner.