Philosophy Is an Escape Plan: The Path of Thought from Thales to Artificial Intelligence
About this ebook
This book tells the 2,600-year story of that escape. It is a journey of thought that runs from the public squares of Ancient Greece to the monasteries of the Middle Ages, from Baghdad’s Bayt al-Hikma to the salons of the Enlightenment, from the logical circles of Vienna to the laboratories of artificial intelligence. Yet this is not merely the story of the West. Indian thinkers questioned whether the self might be an illusion. Chinese sages found action in non-action. African philosophers showed that the individual can exist only within community. Aztec thinkers sought balance on the slippery ground of reality.
Across fifteen chapters, philosophers appear not as frozen statues, but as living minds in conversation and conflict with one another. From Plato’s cave to Descartes’s doubt, from Nietzsche’s hammer to Sartre’s freedom, from Foucault’s analysis of power to the ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence, each chapter reckons with what came before and prepares the ground for the next question.
Based on 388 sources, including direct quotations from primary texts, and supported in each chapter by concept maps and reading suggestions, this book was written for every reader who may have no formal training in philosophy but has a strong intellectual curiosity. Its aim is not to load the reader with information, but to provoke thought. Because philosophy is an escape plan, and that plan is still alive.
About the author
After graduating from Istanbul University Faculty of Business Administration, Tayfun Kandıralı worked in the capital markets field for 23 years in the markets, surveillance, inspection and audit units of Borsa İstanbul A.Ş. (formerly known as Istanbul Stock Exchange) as market expert, expert, chief inspector, chief auditor, and Vice President of the Audit and Supervision Board. Kandıralı, who served as a manager for 18 years of his career in the stock exchange, served as project leader and project manager in many important projects such as the design, creation and development of the electronic transaction system and electronic surveillance and monitoring systems currently used in the stock exchange; and provided numerous trainings in-house and externally regarding the developed systems, projects and markets.
Throughout his career, he has always kept people at the forefront and has attended numerous personal development trainings within this framework. His love and belief in people, his curiosity to understand and know himself and people, his passion to benefit and serve people have taken him on a journey from the world of numbers and legislation to serving as a professional coach, educator and consultant.
Tayfun KANDIRALI has been providing professional coaching, team coaching, strategic consultancy services, leadership development programs, management and leadership competency training to institutions since 2014 and has 5000+ hours of professional training and 3500+ hours of leadership and executive coaching experience.
In addition to his professional coaching titles, KANDIRALI also holds the titles of international Erickson certified NLP Master Practitioner and international IGH (International Guild of Hypnosis) certified Hypnotherapist.
His main interests are cultural travel, camping, photography, poetry, philosophy, history and Far Eastern martial arts. He holds a 4th Dan black belt in Aikido.
