The Cave and the Light

Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization

By: Arthur Herman

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

The Cave and the Light reveals how two Greek philosophers became the twin fountainheads of Western culture, and how their rivalry gave Western civilization its unique dynamism down to the present.

©2013 Arthur Herman (P)2013 Recorded Books

Great Breath and Depth

great narrator...worth listening. better to take notes..hard to remember all the swirls of this and that....

Condensing a long wonderful history

This book is mainly a solid introduction to the greatest western minds in philosophy that start in Ancient Greece.

The beginnings of the history told in this book are the most potent and based. The author takes care to humanize Socrates and Plato without making light of their significance.

As the book progresses though it is clear to me that the author cares more for politics (modern and historical) than the philosophy that the people in this book hold. The book turned out to be more about how the philosophers of western history were seen and influenced politics than the meat of their philosophy. If that’s the sort of book you are into then this is up your alley but I often saw this as a detour into the author’s own political biases than something worth considering.

The inclusion of Ayn Rand was wild and really took me by surprise since she feels like a punchline nowadays in comparison to Kant or Aristotle which were also featured in this book. Ayn Rand popping up at the final chapter made this book feel like cheap capitalist propaganda.

Gripping, Thoughtful

This book kept me coming back for more, every time. love the flow and personal details of the historical characters lives. really liked the reader.

at 3X speed this is enlightening.

You can fall asleep listening. However, this is a great book if you like to think and see the world differently.

Very worthwhile

Really learned a lot, well researched and sweeping in its coverage from presocratics to 9/11