Changing the Subject

Combines polyglot philological rigor with supple intellectual sympathy, and it is all presentedas Geuss puts ithilaritatis causa, or in a spirit of funThis bracing and approachable book [demonstrates] that there is life in philosophy yet. -- Jonathan Re * Times Literary Supplement * If one of philosophys crucial tasks is to snap us out of complacency and re-frame the parameters of debate, then there is always scope for a roll call of practitioners who have particularly enjoyed inspiring the moment when the gears shift. Raymond Geuss defines his splendid book as an intellectually relaxed, essayistic introduction to the rule-benders. Big names predominateMontaigne, Hobbes, Hegel, Nietzsche, et albut Geuss, who wears his expansive learning lightly, has interesting things to say about them all. * Catholic Herald * Exceptionally engagingAll of the books chapters exhibit an unusually deep understanding of the thinkers they cover. Like a good teacher of philosophy, Geuss goes straight to what he takes to be the heart of the systems of thought he means to explain, without getting lost in scholarly detailsGeuss has a remarkable knack for putting even familiar thinkers in a new lightA perfect remedy for harried professional philosophers[who] sometimes forget why they fell in love with philosophy in the first place. -- Frederick Neuhouser * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews * Geuss is something like the consummate teacher, his analyses navigable and crystal, his guidance on point. -- Doug Phillips * Key Reporter * Changing the Subject is the fruit of a long lifetime mastering the subject, and so demonstrates much more than an impressive breadth of scholarship: the works structure, style, and often trenchant critical evaluations give expression to a genuinely distinctive and distinguished view of the world. -- Stephen Mulhall, University of Oxford Geuss is an astute reader and conveys with remarkable clarity, elegance, and wit some of the essential ideas of the authors whose work he is discussing. His thinking is always fresh and provocative, and arises out of a deep engagement with these philosophers. -- Richard Kraut, Northwestern University

Raymond Geuss is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. His books include Changing the Subject, Reality and Its Dreams, and Who Needs a World View?