The Knowledge Trilogy: Volume 3 - The Seekers

The Knowledge Trilogy: Volume 3 - The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World - Daniel J. Boorstin [epub]

From the time of Socrates to today, humans have sought the answers to fundamental questions: Who are we? Why are we here? Previous bestsellers, The Discoverers and The Creators, told how we discovered the reality of our world, then celebrated artistic achievements.

Boorstin now turns to the great figures in history who sought meaning and purpose in existence. He says Western culture has seen three grand epics of Seeking. There was first the heroic way of prophets and philosophers - men like Moses, Job, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, as well as those in the communities of the early church and the Protestant Reformation - seeking salvation or truth from the god above or the reason within everyone. Then came an age of communal seeking, with people like Thucydides and Thomas More, Machiavelli and Voltaire pursuing civilization and the liberal spirit. Finally, there was an age of the social sciences, when man seemed ruled by the forces of history.

Here are the stories of exceptional men such as Marx, Spengler, Toynbee, Carlyle, Emerson, Malraux, Bergson and Einstein. These thinkers still have the power to speak to us, not always so much for their answers as for their way of asking the questions that intrigue or obsess. This climax to his trilogy again shows Boorstin's ability to present challenging ideas coupled with sharp portraits of great writers and thinkers