The great conversation
a historical introduction to philosophy
by Norman Melchert · first published 1991
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3HN commenters
2016–2026first – last mentioned
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For introductions on broad subjects I always go to textbooks, the kind used in Universities in introductory courses. On philosophy a good one used in many universities is "The Great Conversation" by Normam Melchert. Bonus tip: try to find it used online. It will be a lot cheaper.
on “Ask HN: Learning about philosophy” ↗From the author's Best Textbooks On Every Subject Subject: History of Western Philosophy Recommendation: The Great Conversation, 6th edition, by Norman Melchert Reason: The most popular history of western philosophy is Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy, which is exciting but also polemical and inaccurate. More…
on “Pre-Socratics: A Painless Introduction” ↗Nice! I've been using Claude Code and ChatGPT for something similar. My inspiration is Adler's concept of The Great Conversation and Adler's Propædia. I've been able to jump between books to read about the same concept from different author's perspectives.
on “Show HN: I used Claude Code to discover connections between 100 books” ↗