Everything You Need to Know
How Philosophy Can Set You Free
A fresh, irreverent, and wildly original take on why philosophy matters and how it has changed the world.
Why have so many philosophers risked their lives for their vocation? Why have reigning authoritarian rulers been so keen to silence them? This book frames the philosophical search for wisdom as part of the human quest for freedom. Matthew Stewart argues that philosophy is not a body of specialized expertise but an activity―like conversation, making music, or starting a revolution―open to everyone and capable of transforming the world.
A sweeping new history of philosophy, the book rescues forgotten gems such as Giordano Bruno and Pierre Bayle, challenges our understanding of canonical figures such as Plato and Descartes, and weaves major Eastern and Western traditions into a single global story reaching back to prehistory. Along the way, it offers brisk interpretations of key philosophical subdisciplines such as metaphysics, philosophy of mind, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. Lively and accessible, it will be of interest to both novices and seasoned readers in philosophy.
Praise for Everything You Need to Know
“Everything You Need to Know is an entertaining, freewheeling and often cheeky history of philosophy as an emancipatory enterprise.”—Steven Nadler, author of Heretics!: the Wondrous (And Dangerous) Beginnings of Modern Philosophy
“I’ve spent years trying to convince students that philosophy isn’t a museum piece—it’s a confrontation. Matthew Stewart has no patience for the sanitized, textbook version of the love of wisdom. He gives us thinkers who are messy, contradictory, and alive. Th is is the book I wish I’d had when I first started asking the questions that wouldn’t let me go.”—John Kaag, author of Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are