Western Philosophy Made Easy

Dennis Waite is the author of many books on Advaita, series provides an excellent and concise introduction to Western philosophy in a mere 100 pages. It is interesting that, like quite a few of us including myself, his philosophical journey included the course run by the School of Economic Science, where non-dual Advaita underpins the approach. He also introduces philosophical counselling on the basis that many people who read books on philosophy are dissatisfied with their lives. He explains the main branches of the discipline before considering key philosophers from the Pre-Socratics onwards. He then moves on to consider some central issues – morality, free will, believe and consciousness. His own view is that we do not have free will, being largely driven by habit, but he does not frame the issue in terms of carefully weighing up alternatives before making a considered decision. So far as consciousness is concerned, he thinks that it is intrinsically closed to science and that the brain is a medium through which Consciousness manifests. We know it because we are it, and without it nothing can be known. In his conclusion, the author introduces Advaita in more detail, commenting that, for him, it provides the answers that Western philosophy has not.