Official Review: The Human by John Lechte
Posted: 22 May 2020, 15:24
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Human" by John Lechte.]
In his book, The Human, John Lechte examines a wide variety of philosophical ideas regarding what it means to be human and what it means to have bare life versus having a way of life. Each chapter approaches these ideas from a different context, such as economic considerations, definitions of freedom, distinctions between humans and animals, or views on death.
There are a number of interesting ideas discussed that will cause the reader to pause and think about some of their world views. For example, thinking about how we classify developed versus underdeveloped societies, and similarly how we classify things as high-class or low-class. It is pointed out that societies that are considered underdeveloped are those in which the economy relies on subsistence living, whereas developed countries have economies that rely on consumerism. Likewise, within our own society, it is generally considered that those with jobs relating to subsistence and necessity are classified as lower class, blue collar workers. The reader is led to consider the basis on which we rank individuals, how they are treated based on that ranking, and whether those rankings actually have any legitimate meaning at all.
While the book is quite thought-provoking, it is extremely difficult to read and understand. It is clearly an academic book, and assumes the reader has a strong background in the field. One of the first problems in reading the book is that it assumes you are very familiar with the vocabulary; just in order to read the introduction one needs to have a background understanding of the concepts of “homo sacer”, “zoe”, “bios”, “bare life”, and “sacred life”. Throughout the chapters, as the author examines the ideas of different thinkers, it seems that the reader is assumed to already be familiar with those thinkers and their works, as the author delves immediately into interpreting and evaluating their work. It makes it difficult to follow the ideas of the book if the reader has to frequently stop and do background research to be able to even have a surface level understanding of what the author is discussing.
While the book seems to have been well edited for typos, I feel it needs further editing towards its readability and structure. The chapters seem more like a compilation of individual essays. Some chapters have introduction and conclusion sections, some have prologue and epilogue sections, and some have neither. In addition, there did not seem to be a clear direction to the analysis occurring in each chapter. It was unclear which ideas the author was agreeing with or trying to contradict, and how the author felt that analysis supported his own final conclusions.
I give this book two out of four stars. It has interesting ideas that may appeal to someone well studied in the field, but it is mostly unreadable to anyone else.
******
The Human
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
In his book, The Human, John Lechte examines a wide variety of philosophical ideas regarding what it means to be human and what it means to have bare life versus having a way of life. Each chapter approaches these ideas from a different context, such as economic considerations, definitions of freedom, distinctions between humans and animals, or views on death.
There are a number of interesting ideas discussed that will cause the reader to pause and think about some of their world views. For example, thinking about how we classify developed versus underdeveloped societies, and similarly how we classify things as high-class or low-class. It is pointed out that societies that are considered underdeveloped are those in which the economy relies on subsistence living, whereas developed countries have economies that rely on consumerism. Likewise, within our own society, it is generally considered that those with jobs relating to subsistence and necessity are classified as lower class, blue collar workers. The reader is led to consider the basis on which we rank individuals, how they are treated based on that ranking, and whether those rankings actually have any legitimate meaning at all.
While the book is quite thought-provoking, it is extremely difficult to read and understand. It is clearly an academic book, and assumes the reader has a strong background in the field. One of the first problems in reading the book is that it assumes you are very familiar with the vocabulary; just in order to read the introduction one needs to have a background understanding of the concepts of “homo sacer”, “zoe”, “bios”, “bare life”, and “sacred life”. Throughout the chapters, as the author examines the ideas of different thinkers, it seems that the reader is assumed to already be familiar with those thinkers and their works, as the author delves immediately into interpreting and evaluating their work. It makes it difficult to follow the ideas of the book if the reader has to frequently stop and do background research to be able to even have a surface level understanding of what the author is discussing.
While the book seems to have been well edited for typos, I feel it needs further editing towards its readability and structure. The chapters seem more like a compilation of individual essays. Some chapters have introduction and conclusion sections, some have prologue and epilogue sections, and some have neither. In addition, there did not seem to be a clear direction to the analysis occurring in each chapter. It was unclear which ideas the author was agreeing with or trying to contradict, and how the author felt that analysis supported his own final conclusions.
I give this book two out of four stars. It has interesting ideas that may appeal to someone well studied in the field, but it is mostly unreadable to anyone else.
******
The Human
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon