A selection of the best from recent issues of the Philosopher

Their obituaries and encyclopaedic entries condense life long achievements into garbled accounts of their philosophies, dates of publication of their more respectable works and odd biographical details. 

Fortunately, in Philosophical Tales  Martin Cohen has compiled highly entertaining accounts of all too human aspects of thirty philosophers, presumably the more quirky of the breed. But of course the whole point of the exercise is selection of behaviours exponent of, or in marked contrast to, their perpetrators' stated philosophies. Schopenhauer, an example of the former, and Marx, of the latter, appear prominently on the cover. Raul Gonzalez III's illustrations complement the text admirably. His Augustine is a masterpiece, suitable for reproduction as a missal book mark.

Philosophical Tales is both readable and enjoyable with the added advantage that potted versions of their philosophies, required to appreciate the relevance of accounts of their misdemeanours, illuminate these thirty philosophers' works remarkably well. They are longer than encyclopaedia entries, shorter than extended essays and allow a generally rounded account.

Nevertheless, readers will not take Cohen's potted versions too seriously. They are somewhat slanted to achieve impact in conjunction with the tale. Anyone who thinks Sartre derived Being and Nothingness from Beauvoir's She Came to Stay has not studied either in any great depth. She no doubt criticised and contributed to one of the greatest works of the twentieth century. It's difficult to believe anyone could have sustained such effort without the most serious encouragement by someone he loved and revered, even in a boring provincial town like wartime Le Havre. 

Philosophers are frequently pompous; Cohen's own tongue-in-cheek 'Pompous Footnotes' show him consciously capable of the genre but so do several judgements of his with which I totally disagree, such as the one above. However, as the objective of this book is to entertain and stimulate, let no one be in any doubt that it achieves both admirably. 

An interesting diversion, 'Scholarly Appendix: Women in Philosophy',  calls Diotima the Mother of Western philosophy, in so far as she taught Socrates, spokesperson for Plato's philosophy. Whitehead proved the point with his dictum that Western philosophy is no more than a footnote to Plato.

Luce Irigaray based her An Ethics of Sexual Difference on Diotima's speech with which she inaugurated distinct feminist philosophy. It has only just begun and could make monkeys out of male exponents, a task for which Cohen has now contributed to; hence, presumably, his diversion on Women in Philosophy. (Alas, his account of the best known love affair in early Mediaeval Europe, that of Peter Abelard and Heloise is superficial and repeats old errorsÖ)

Whether or not Pascal was right in his assertion: To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher, levity certainly makes the subject more enjoyable and could well lead to deeper exploration. Therefore, Philosophical Tales is highly recommended, not only for debutants but also for the cognoscenti who will find much here both amusing and stimulating. 

Great philosophers only become well known after their deaths. Indeed, to speak of contemporary celebrity philosophers is oxymoronic. Still, one can't help wondering who amongst living philosophers will merit future Philosophical Tales. 

Colin Kirk