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You Kant Make it Up!

Strange Ideas from History's Great Philosophers

Published by Oneworld Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Drawing on the writings of the great philosophers, You Kant Make it Up sends the reader on thrilling, non-stop tour of their most outrageous and counter-intuitive conclusions. Harry Potter is real. Matter doesn't exist. Dan Brown is better than Shakespeare. All these statements stem from philosophy's greatest minds, from Plato to Nietzsche. What were they thinking? Overflowing with compelling arguments for the downright strange - many of which are hugely influential today - popular philosopher Gary Hayden shows that just because something is odd, doesn't mean that someone hasn't argued for it. Spanning ethics, logic, politics, sex and religion, this unconventional introduction to philosophy will challenge your assumptions, expand your horizons, infuriate, entertain and amuse you.

About The Author

Gary Hayden is a journalist and popular philosopher. He has a master's degree in philosophy and has written for The Times Educational Supplement, Scotsman, Church Times, and a selection of magazines. He is the author of This Book Does Not Exist: Adventures in the Paradoxical. He lives in the UK.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Oneworld Publications (September 1, 2011)
  • Length: 248 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781851688708

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Raves and Reviews

'This book could be picked up and enjoyed by people no matter how much or how little they already know... you should buy two, and give one to someone you could have a good argument with.'

– The Book Bag

"A well-put-together collection of the most intriguing philosophical thoughts and arguments from Socrates to the present day… Provocative and inviting."

– The Good Book Guide

"Lively and entertaining...shows some great philosophers, through history, at their weirdest and wonderful best."

– Peter Cave

“A delightful read, fun and informative. Truth is stranger than fiction, and philosophical truth is the strangest of all!”

– William Irwin - Professor of Philosophy, King's College Pennsylvania and Editor of The Blackwell

"A tasty smorgasbord of problems, which belie their apparent simplicity by getting to the heart of what it it to reflect on the world philosophically.”

– Martin Cohen

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