The Dream of Reason, a stepping stone for beginners and philosophy “regulars"

Ellora Biggs - December 4th, 2023

“Know Thyself,” and philosophy. Author Anthony Gottlieb presents this thousands year old art in a compelling and thoughtful way in his 2000 book The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy From the Greeks to the Renaissance. Philosophy has a rather notorious reputation for being dry and intellectually stuffy, but Gottlieb takes these intimidating writings and makes them all that much more accessible in just 430 pages of content only (not including glossary). 

As a scholar of philosophy, Gottlieb is obviously very knowledgeable on the subject and surveys a vast amount of information. The book covers many different branches of philosophy such as the ethics of Aristotle and the Stoics, the metaphysics of the milesians, and the religious doctrine of early Christian scholars such as St. Augustine. All of this is presented chronologically which I think was a great choice for the formatting of the book. It makes it much more clear how ideas have changed over time, and it makes it easier for Gottlieb to tie ideas together which is something I thought he did really well.  

In addition to tying back, he also connected the philosophies discussed to better-known, more modern philosophies. I think this was a great decision because it gives the reader a frame of reference for ideas that are possibly completely new to then. One instance where he does this is whilst describing the Epicurean philosophy, he compares it to utilitarianism: “the Epicureans focussed on conquering fear and anxiety, whereas utilitarianism tends to be concerned with more positive measures of welfare” (Gottlieb 294-5). The inclusion of these repeated connections enhances the complexity of his explanations as well as showing how the study has evolved over time. 

Moreover, Gottlieb included excerpts from the actual philosophical texts he was referencing. This was a smart move on his part. This book is obviously an introduction to philosophical ideas, but I think by adding in excerpts, it further exposes readers to philosophy until they pick up one of the books mentioned in the text. It’s a good way to show the ideas in the original format without relying solely on them since they can be a bit difficult to understand, yet it almost provides evidence for his explanations. In one of my personal favorites, Plato’s chapter, he includes multiple excerpts to explain the cave metaphor which enhances his explanations, he includes, “‘do you think it at all strange… if a man returning from divine contemplations to the petty miseries of men cuts a sorry figure’” (191). For the sake of context, the meaning of the cave metaphor is that society often persecutes those who see the “truth” or the light.   

All these factors really support Gottlieb’s writing. His style was actually one of my favorite parts of the book and definitely added to the experience. An excerpt from the chapter on Parmenides sums it up perfectly: “Earlier thinkers tried to account for the events in a changing world of varied phenomena, but Parmenides seemed to prove that there was no such thing as change or variety. Reality, according to him, consisted of one complete, unchanging and eternal thing. After Parmenids and his pupils, the edifice of knowledge had to be rebuilt from the rubble that their puzzling proofs left behind. Yet Parmenides did not see himself as a destroyer. He thought he was lighting the way out of a forest of delusion” (52).  That being said, his writing style can be convoluted at times, so I think it would be difficult for someone who is new to reading to understand. 

Although his writing is beautiful, the organization of the book beyond the chronological organization of it is admittedly not my favorite. In fact, I find that it takes away from the book at times. Gottlieb tends to lump all the information on certain people or group together like his chapters on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, including all their different types of philosophy in a single section without any sub-chapters. These scholars discussed a wide variety of subjects such as early Zoology, Political Science, Ethics, Metaphysics, etc. I think it would have been more helpful to have sub-chapters within the bigger chapters separating these ideas. It can be a bit jarring to jump from discussions of “philosopher kings” to an extremely meta theory of higher forms in a completely different dimension. I also think it would help readers to differentiate between ideas presented in his book. 

In its entirety, I truly feel that the Dream of Reason is a wonderful resource. It presents so much information in a much more accessible way than in their original formats. It’s perfect for someone who wants to get into philosophy, but doesn’t know where to start. It’s essentially a big taste-tester of so many different philosophers and branches. It offers a stepping stone of exploration into interests! I found the abundance of ideas explained in Gottlieb’s book to be thoroughly fascinating, and everyone could be able to find something of interest here!