Emile Faguet

Initiation into philosophy Emile Faguet

This is a charming book in its masterfulness, in its clearness, in its perspective, and in its devotion to its own message. It is not a book for one who must read for personal achievement in any field other than philosophy, direct or indirect. The study of philosophy may be professional or amateurish, a vocation or an avocation, business or pleasure. This book will greatly help anyone who would like to know the junction points in the highway of philosophy. Few men have ever presented philosophy from this standpoint as effectively or entertainingly as has Emile Faguet. If an untraveled person wishes to go to the Pacific Coast for the first time and has only four or eight or twelve weeks in which to do it there is not much that he needs to know. He should seek someone who has been by every route, who knows the lines of interest and who will tell him his best route, what he will see on that route, where he better stop off, how long to stop off, and what to see when he stops off, and a wise adviser will not waste one minute in portraying the things he will not see on other routes if he goes by this route. This wise adviser will say, I should go via the Northwestern and Union Pacific, because you do not have to change cars, etc., etc., but it is too bad you will not see the Grand Canyon, because that is the biggest thing, etc. The chief beauty of "Initiation Into Philosophy" is that Emile Faguet advises one how to come from the antiquities of Heraclitus and Pythagoras to Schopenhauer. Spencer and Compte by a direct, comfortable and luxurious route without wasting his time or yours in telling what one might learn if he went off on sidelines from time to time. The Journal of Education, Vol. 79, No. 19 (1979) (MAY 7, 1914), p. 525