The Book of Dead Philosophers [Paperback]

Don't be misled by the "Little Book of..." style title and the jokey jacket: in his book Simon Critchley succeeds in setting out philosophical ideas on life and death across the millennia in a serious, accessible, and often witty, way.

The structure of the book, set out in roughly chronological, biographical paragraphs, makes it a page turner. Philosophical positions which may sound forbidding to the non-philosopher (me) - the ontological argument for the existence of God is just one example - are set out in such clear fashion that the flow is uninterrupted.

Many years ago, I took an undergraduate course titled, History of Modern Philosophy; the most modern of the philosophers considered was Immanuel Kant. So, it was interesting to read about thinkers such as Foucault and Derrida, who, until now, have only been names. There were other names that I'd never even heard, but that I was fascinated to read about: Edith Stein, Gadamer, and Levinas.

Although the book is written with considerable wit, at times, particularly in the earlier chapters, I wondered if some of the references were spoofs:

Could someone called Gilles Menage really have written a History of Women Philosophers in 1609 ? And was there an early Christian Father called John the Dwarf ?

As I read on, however, I realised that the jokes in the book - there are some good ones - are more subtly expressed. There are also some enjoyable asides: what links Hegel and the Brooklyn Bridge ? How are A J Ayer and Mike Tyson connected ?

A minor criticism I was going to make has been torpedoed by looking in the dictionary: the verb "preponderate" is in the OED. On first reading, I thought the author had been in LA for too long.

Simon Critchley summarises his own ideas in the final chapter; after almost two hundred deaths, they are lively and uplifting.

For those who are encouraged by the book to read more, there is an extensive bibliography.

This is a serious book (you won't find any quotes from Bill Shankly) which wears its erudition lightly.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of ideas.

This book isn't quite what it says on the tin: the circumstances of the deaths of many philosophers, particularly the earliest, were unknown, too bizarre to be believed, or described in contradictory ways. The book is far more than that - a highly readable introduction to the lives and major thinking of 190 philosophers, ranging from a few lines to a few pages. The subject of death is always in sight (and it's thought-provoking to read how many philosophers died in absurd and undeserved circumstances despite all noble preparations), and a sense of humour enriches Critchley's writing. Thoroughly recommended.

This book is built on a truly interesting idea. It makes an effort to provide brief accounts of the way the great philosophers of the Western tradition died. It in the course of this provides very incidental and also brief accounts of aspects of their respective philosophies. It does not claim to be a comprehensive scholarly work. In fact Critchley makes the point that the purely academic philosophers especially of the positivist tradition tend to lead less interesting lives than those for whom Philosophy is not a mere academic study but rather a crucial element in living. So Critchley's concluding pages contain a large number of Continental primarily French philosophers.
They also include a section on Chinese philosophers with a commentary on the Zen way of thinking about Death.
Critchley too is guided by his own 'philosophy of life and death'. This is one in which there is a strong objection to ideas of an afterlife or world- to - come. He prefers a kind of straightforward courageous looking of Death straight in the eyes, and accepting it. The 'learning how to die wisely' that he commends involves a preparation in acceptance and understanding. The idea seems to to be, to be here when we are here, without worrying where we will one day not be.
What surprised me in one sense is that while most of the accounts are interesting few are moving. It is perhaps possible to be moved by Sartre's final words to his Beaver, de Beauvoir assuring her of his Love ( provided that is that they are not her invention). It is possible to be amused by Thoreau's reply to the question, "Have you made your peace with God?" in which he says , "I did not know we had quarrelled " It is possible to be struck by the philosopher of the Absurd Camus' dying in an absurd car- accident. There are dozens of accounts which have some kind of fascinating twist or detail. And often what is best in them is what they reveal about the character of the philosopher involved. Often as for instance with the no- nonsense courageous Hume and the endlessly fussing and deceptive narcissistic Rousseau their deaths are the continuation of their characters in life.
The book fascinates but in focusing on the deaths of the philosophers and not on their overall conception and experience of Death it misses much.
Thus for me the most profound and insightful words of the book come quite close to the beginning . They paradoxically have little to do what the book is about. Critchley writes about "the aspect of death is hardest to endure: not our own death, but the deaths of those we love.It is the deaths of those we are bound to in love that undo us, that unstitch our carefully tailored suit of the self, that unmake whatever meaning we have made.In my view...it is only in grief that we become most truly ourselves.That is , what it means to be a self does not consist in some delusory self- knowledge, but in the acknowledgment of that part of ourselves that we have irretievably lost".
I would suggest another book could be written about what the deaths of those close have meant to the great Philosophers. And in fact in the pioneering work of Ben- Ami Scharfstein on how the lives of philosophers have effected them we learn that many of the greatest philosophers lost a parent at an early age. Still another book of great interest could be written on what the Deaths of the Philosophers themselves have meant to those closest to them.
This is by the way not a book for students of Philosophy only- but rather one for all those who somehow wish to know and think more about the inevitable- and prepare themselves for it. And this though I doubt it will deprive each and every one of us of his own experience his own most likely very unpleasant surprise.
I will only add one personal note. The traditional Jewish way, for philosophers and not philosophers, of leaving this world- if that is one has a chance to do it peacefully - is through uttering the great affirmation of the Jewish faith - 'Shema Yisrael'. Surrounded by loved ones after having bid farewell to each and all in the most considerate way possible- I can imagine myself saying the 'Shema' as word of prayer and faith not only for myself but for all those I love and care about who continue here. A word of prayer and blessing as a way of ending this life may be the best a person can do.