The Little Book of Bathroom Philosophy: Daily Wisdom from the Greatest Thinkers

The German translation of Bergman's book is titled "Philosophy for the bath-tub," which sums it up nicely. You may soak in the tub while skimming through this slim volume. There's no pretense at scholarship, no bibliography, no footnotes. The selection of philosophers for this volume reflects the "Western canon." Conspicuous by their absence are Confucius, Buddha, Lao-tse and - if I may dare categorize them as philosophers - Mohammed and Jesus. Being an American author, Bergman included his compatriots John Dewey, Ayn Rand and W.V.O. Quine. Ayn Rand in particular is a uniquely American phenomenon. I have never come across her name in any European anthology of philosophy. Had Bergman been a European, he would have probably replaced the three American philosophers by Karl Popper, Martin Heidegger and - I am pushing the limit of the definition for "philosopher" again - Sigmund Freud. But never mind, for a quick refresher in Philosophy 101, this is a quite pleasant read. When painted in such broad strokes as here, it is really striking how little interest Anglo-Saxon philosophers had in metaphysical and religious questions when compared to their continental European counterparts. Bergman presents his philosophers in chronological sequence from Thales and the pre-Socratics to Quine. The only hiccup occurs when he places the 18th century philosopher Rousseau not after his contemporaries Hume and Kant, but after Hegel and Marx who lived in the 19th century. Each of the philosophers has his own chapter with a short summary of his life, an introduction to a few basic ideas and a number of quotes from the philosopher's works. All of this is very basic, but you would not expect much more from a book you are invited to read in the bathroom.