The Heart of Philosophy by Jacob Needleman

The Heart of Philosophy Reviews

• 
  Maughn Gregory

  "Whether we are speaking about the education of young people, or the education of what is young and searching in ourselves, it is first of all necessary to support the love of wisdom, the sensitivity to universal ideas that throw the whole of our common life in question. To think in new categories; to envision life within a vast, new frame of reference; and, through that, to awaken and orient that impulse in human nature which is deeper and higher than ego--this is the first task of real philosophy." (p. 177)
  
  I've been reading and learning from Jacob Needleman for a few years now, and was delighted to accidentally discover this book, in which he addresses all the most important themes of my own work: philosophy, wisdom studies, and education. In some chapters Needleman discusses how certain philosophers (Socrates, Pythagoras, DesCartes, Kant, Wittgenstein) have followed philosophy's impulse toward self-questioning and the transcendence of ego; in others he tells stories from his own childhood in which he became of aware of this impulse within himself; in others he relates how he attempted to make that kind of self-discovery the point of a philosophy program he started in a high school in the 1970s. (Needleman also wrote a nice piece about this for our journal _Thinking_, 1982).
  
  I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in Philosophy for Children / Philosophy in Schools programs.
• 
  Caleb Chan

  It's okay! I struggle to apologize for being a philosophy major (turned minor), but the first chapter renewed my faith in the practice of philosophy. Needleman presents philosophy as an act of inward questioning: who am I? What is this?
  But there are deeper books to be read, smellier fish to fry, than, well, a presentation of groundless self-chatter. I like the idea of inward questioning as the unifying tie between me and Socrates, and philosophy will remain ever sexy to me, but I want to read theology this summer. I want to know God more! Sorry, philosophy—you're still the handmaiden of theology! Onward!
  
  Read 3/5ths.
• 
  Robert

  Needleman seems more interested in presenting himself as a kind of New Age guru than exploring any serious philosophical inquiry.
• 
  Maria

  I thought this book would be a nice introduction to philosophy. Unfortunately for me, it does assume a familiarity with Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Hume, Kant, and Wittgenstein. So there were sections of this book that I did not understand as I have never studied philosophy. My personal experience reading this book was probably at 2 stars.
  
  But I gave it 3 stars, because I did like the parts I understood. I found Needleman's description of teaching philosophy to high school students and their parents to be interesting. I learned a bit about Wittgenstein's philosophy, with which I was completely unfamiliar. I was inspired to learn more.
  
  In the Conclusion, Needleman says that his book "is a plea for the return of one of the modalities of this higher influence in human life - philosophy, philosophical ideas." I got that when I read the Conclusion. I'm not sure that I realized that was his goal as I was reading the parts that led up to the conclusion. So I'd recommend reading this book, assuming you have already studied philosophy.
• 
  May Ling

  The book delivers on that which the description describes. This book attempts to make philosophy more approachable by recounting significant discourses in the context of the authors life experience. It is actually a fairly effective technique for introducing the subject.
  
  
  
  As an entry into some of the major ideas and faces of Philosophy, it's not bad. I think if it wasn't trying to broadly tackle philosophy but started smaller, it might be slightly even more effective. I always think of Phaedrus and how much Socrates tackled in such an adorable little story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Joshua

  Needleman explores our need for meaning in life. Probing our deep, even subconscious, desires to know our place in existence. Using Plato, Aristotle, and many others he weaves an entrancing theory.
• 
  Jeff

  This was one of my first introductions to philosophy.