Dying for Ideas

An intriguing 'dramatic narrative' of philosophers' clash with death … a book that is accessible to all philosophers, academic and non-academic alike. In this intelligent and artful account, [Bradatan] ranges from the ancient world to our own times, drawing on the stories of individual philosophers who defended and died for their beliefs ... Bradatan's rich examination of the philosopher's act of dying for ideas brings into focus the riskiness of living for them as well. * Times Higher Education *
[Bradatan] argues persuasively that death is not simply the opposite of life, but that it enters life and lends it urgency – that it can even 'breathe new life into life'. * Times Literary Supplement *
Dying for Ideas: The Dangerous Lives of the Philosophers [is] a stimulating spiritual journey through an essential topic of human existence, and a reading of the history of human vision about it... Bradatan’s highly intelligent and challenging book is an exemplary scrutiny of the life of the human mind, the human soul and body. -- Norman Manea * The Los Angeles Review of Books *
[Bradatan's] style is nimble. A register of directness works throughout the book, moving from argument to quip, to narrative as appropriate. The book is well designed, with each chapter building on the previous ... Dying for Ideas is a lucid discussion of mortality and an unsparing portrait of philosophy's ends - in both senses of the word. -- Damon Young * The Australian *
Accessible, penetrating and erudite, [Dying For Ideas is] a beautifully written book which reveals that philosophy is not about academics grinding out dry papers but about mortals confronting the truths of the human condition in order to develop an art of living ... Bradatan has achieved something special in writing this book. As a comprehensive philosophy of death, it amounts to a profound philosophy of the true nature of philosophy itself -- Gary Cox * Morning Star Online *
Books of philosophy are rarely page-turners, but Bradatan takes us through a fascinating exploration of the existential limit-situations in which philosophers find themselves when their only means of communicating the truth is their own dying bodies. * Existential Analysis *
The choice of philosophers to sacrifice their lives for their ideas is lofty and grim. In Costica Bradatan’s book, it is also fun and funny. Dying for Ideas is full of joie de mourir, which as Plato’s Socrates would have put it, is just the other side of joie de vivre. The book is at once heroic and ironic ... Too often when young people announce their intention to study philosophy, well-wishers ask them what they are going to do with it, assuming it is a commodity that is bought from professionals and should lead to monetary returns. The correct answer is: live right, be prepared to die. Dying for Ideas reminds us of this ancient truth. * Aspen Review *
[This is] a pithy book that is hard to put down as each section promises a new surprise. * Trouw (Bloomsbury translation) *
One of the greatest merits of Costica Bradatan's book is that it explores a cluster of topics that represent the untold, the unuttered, almost the unutterable in contemporary philosophy: death, dying, sacrifice and self-sacrifice. Ours is a culture of 'happy endings' and, in this respect, most philosophers of today are the spokespersons of their time. Bradatan is a dissenter. His book approaches death head-on. Indeed, what makes this project fascinating is the fact that, while the book purports to be about 'dying for an idea,' it in fact sings praise to life. Death, in Bradatan's view, is something that brings new meaning to life, a renewed intensity to the act of living. * Simon Critchley, New School for Social Research, New York, USA. *
A thoroughly stimulating exploration of philosophers and their courageous deaths, pushing us to reflect on the fascinating question: what is philosophy for? * Sarah Bakewell, author of 'How to Live: A Life of Montaigne' *
Written with verve and humor, at once deeply learned and wickedly ironic, this book explores how philosophy is not only an art of living but also an art of dying - and dying well! Original and irreverent! * Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor for Political Science and Philosophy, Yale University, USA *
What it all comes down to, unexpectedly enough, is laughter, even if it isn't clear at whose expense the joke has been played. The martyr laughs in the face of death, as More did... 'If you are the first to laugh at yourself,' Bradatan asks, 'what else can death possibly do to you?' ... a suggestive and finely delineated argument. -- Stuart Walton * Review 31 *
Poignant, provocative, astute, moving, thoughtful. * The Millions Magazine *