David Hume: The Newtonian Philosopher

This is an excellent way to begin an exploration of the ideas to Thomas Aquinas (Unlike most of the other reviews, I'm actually writing about Aquinas!). The information is mostly biographical, but I believe this should be the first step in studying any great thinker. If all you want is to know who Aquinas was, then this program is enough. If you want to know about his theology, let this be the starting point.

If you are looking for a thoughtful and honest summary of the more important aspects of Aquinas' contribution to the history of philosophy, this is the best audio book I have yet found. Unlike the glib and grossly naive attempts at dealing with Aquinas such as Strathern's cheesy "Aquinas in 90 Minutes", this is actually written by a scholar devoted to understanding Aquinas. The treatment of his "five proofs for the existence of God" is precise and accurate. In fact, if you listen closely to them it will save you from thinking that the flaccid objections of people like Bertrand Russel had anything to do with what Aquinas was communicating in these proofs. Of course, if you are looking for Aquinas' theology, it is not here addressed. But then again, the title of the series is not "Giants of Theology." Overall, this is the best bang for your buck in Aquinas on audio.

The way I look at these tapes as the best way of reading philosophy while you are driving. Please keep your eyes on the road while you are driving. These series are great. I believe they are not intended to be comprehensive and they could not be in two hours but they give you %60 biography %40 philosophy. Some of them even have accent as they though they were immigrants from original contries to US, Kant speakes with German/English accent. It is fun, entertaining, illuminating. Much better than talk shows. Please this is not a substitute for a real book so judge accordingly.

This brief introduction to Hume is exceptional. I went from this tape to Hume's "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" and "An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals". I don't think it would have been such an easy transition without learning how Hume fits into Western philosophical history and what problems concerned him. It startled me to discover that Hume's major point is that inductive thinking (thinking about "matters of fact" ) is irrational: forming general laws about the world has its basis in custom and experience and not by the sort of reasoning used in math and logic ("relations of ideas" in Hume's lexicon).Hume's political, historical, and ethical ideas are also interesting and I was surprised to learn how much Hume's ideas on the separation of powers in government had influenced James Madison.

This is a very good overview of Kant's thought that can be listened to while driving. Does not cover epistomology well.