Great Thinkers Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Brief Summary

The great thinkers came up with many important ideas throughout history, many of which are still relevant today.

From a variety of disciplines, there are lessons that can be applied to your life. Philosophers can help you get into the right frame of mind. Literature and anthropology can help you learn from other people and cultures. Economics and architecture helps you think about cities and systems. Just keep an open mind because old ideas may not be outdated.

About the Author

The School of Life is an organization that uses a variety of mediums to help people improve. With physical spaces around the world as well as an online presence, the School of Life offers workshops, books, and films.

Subjects addressed by the School of Life include relationships, self-improvement, career advice, and wellness. In 2016, the School of Life Press was created to share many of these ideas.

Alain de Botton, founder of the School of Life, is the series editor for the books from the School of Life Press. Alain de Botton is philosopher born in Switzerland who also has British nationality.

De Botton has degrees from the University of Cambridge, King’s College London, and Harvard University. In addition to his work with the School of Life, he has written several fiction and non-fiction books. His philosophy background was used for a television series sharing lessons from philosophy on how to be happy.

Topics

Great Thinkers Book Summary Preview

Key Insights

Are the thinkers of today better than the thinkers of previous eras? Not necessarily. Many problems in modern society can be faced by relying on old wisdom.

Sure, society has made great progress in science and technology since the days of Plato, Adam Smith, and Jane Austen. But issues like anxiety can’t be fixed with an app or a quantum mechanics equation.

Great Thinkers distills the ideas of the most revered individuals from the fields of philosophy, political theory, eastern philosophy, sociology, psychotherapy, art and architecture, and literature.

While many things have changed about society since the times of each of these thinkers, their ideas still apply. Superficial changes don’t cancel out the validity and impact of their ideas.

From each field of Great Thinkers, there is something you can apply to your life or to society as a whole.

You can use the principles of stoicism to deal with anxiety.

Among the great thinkers in philosophy are the stoics. The movement of stoicism can be traced to ancient Greek and Roman societies in the third century BC.

The basic notion of stoicism is to not be shaken by all of the bad things in life. You act with virtue and you don’t let the day-to-day fluctuations affect you. No matter how much your circumstances may change, or the good or bad, you can’t get too emotional.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from a stoic personality is an anxious one. According to stoicism, anxiety comes from hoping for something good or fearing something bad. In either situation, you’re anxious about what will come.

Stoics believe in the goddess Fortuna. With Fortuna, it doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve been good or bad. It’s not like karma where there are consequences for how you’ve behaved. Instead, something good or bad could happen to anyone regardless of their character.

By understanding that your fortune isn’t in your control, you can let go of your anxiety and just let things happen as they may.

Confronting your worst fears can reduce their power over you.

Even if you know you have no control over what may or may not happen, the worst-case scenario may still make you anxious. The stoics offer sage advice for handling this issue.

Face your fears and they won’t seem as terrible. If you try to experience what it may be like if your worst fears come true, you won’t be as scared of them. You can think about how to handle losing your job or home. You can try handling the spider that scares you. Whatever the situation, jump into what scares you.

Meanwhile, don’t focus on your hopes and dreams. If it happens, it happens thanks to Fortuna. If the worst happens, you’re ready. Just center yourself and charge on with stoicism.

Faith and science are not mutually exclusive.

Thomas Aquinas was an Italian monk who lived during the thirteenth century. He also received sainthood. His religious pedigree may not seem ideally suited for modern times, but the battles between science and religion can be settled with the philosophy of this...