Socrates Meets Descartes

“How Peter Kreeft finds the time to write so many helpful books is beyond me. How he manages to fill them with such sensible wisdom is known to God alone. The Socrates Meets series is just further proof that we are witnessing something special.”

—Fr. Gregory Pine, OP, the Dominican House of Studies

“Peter Kreeft’s writing exhibits wit and erudition, but these qualities alone would not be enough to pull off the ambition of these texts: to explore major historical thinkers by putting each in dialogue with Socrates. A flexible and generous interpreter, Kreeft’s imagined conversations allow each thinker to speak for himself, while inviting the reader to participate in the dialectical questioning that draws out the ideas, appreciating their motivations and historical context, and, as often as not, putting them under gentle but critical scrutiny. Kreeft is above all a sensitive reader of texts, and he has composed works that invite new readers to learn how to think alongside, and in critical engagement with, many of modernity’s most influential minds.”

—Joshua Hochschild, Professor of Philosophy, Mount St. Mary’s University

“In this brilliant series, Peter Kreeft, like a modern-day Virgil, guides us into corners of purgatory where the father of philosophy, Socrates, instigates conversations with eight of the most provocative minds in Western history. We are in Kreeft’s debt for reminding us that philosophy is not essentially a college or university subject, a strange if not grotesque discipline we undergo in pursuit of a degree, but live mind encountering live mind in live conversation in pursuit of truth—and that the most fruitful conversations are often with the live minds of the dead. The humor and plainspokenness of this series make it ideal for beginning students of philosophy, whether in formal courses or in independent study, but the intellectual vigor of these dialogues will remind even the most seasoned thinkers that a bracing engagement with Socratic questioning is the best way to shake up the complacency that too often obstructs the quest for wisdom.”

—Daniel McInerny, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Christendom College, and author of Beauty & Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts

“Among the most formative influences on my development as a philosopher has been Peter Kreeft. When I first encountered his work when I was in college I could not believe that someone could make philosophy so accessible and so alive... What you will encounter in this series of cross-examinations of the world’s most important modern philosophers is Kreeft at his best. Through the character of Socrates and his famous interlocutors, you are introduced to some of the most influential and difficult thought in the history of philosophy, but in a way that requires no prior philosophical background. In the hands of this master teacher, you will come to appreciate both the strengths and the weakness of these towering figures and how the intellectual tradition of the Church ought to engage them.”

—Francis J. Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy, Baylor University