Tag Archives | James Gillies

A BRIEF HISTORY OF 20TH CENTURY WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

A BRIEF HISTORY OF 20^TH CENTURY WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

by Garrett Thomson

Read by James Gillies
11 hours 12 minutes

During the 20th century, our understanding of the world was transformed thanks to the likes of relativity, quantum physics, molecular biology, chaos theory and computer science. Likewise, our comprehension of ourselves developed dramatically courtesy of theories such as behaviourism, structuralism and cognitive science. Continue Reading →

WHAT IS PROPERTY?

by PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON

Read by James Gillies
11 hours 12 minutes

‘Property is Theft’, a phrase which has passed into common parlance, was the rallying call of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s political treatise What Is Property?Proudhon (1809-1865) was both admired and excoriated. A political theorist of the first order, he was vilified in his native France by the Communists and the Monarchists alike, though admired by Karl Marx as well as many in the nation’s academia and judiciary who valued the clarity of his thought and analytical method. Continue Reading →

ON HEROES, HERO-WORSHIP and THE HEROIC IN HISTORY

**ON HEROES, HERO-WORSHIP and THE HEROIC IN HISTORY**

by Thomas Carlyle

Read by James Gillies
11 hours 16 minutes

Though conflicted, polemical and argumentative, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) made a lasting impact on 19^th century culture as a multi-talented man of letters. And though his lengthy history of the French Revolution proved his major scholarly legacy, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History remains perhaps his most popular and accessible work. It presented his deep-seated belief that ‘Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here.’ Continue Reading →

SARTOR RESARTUS

by Thomas Carlyle

Read by James Gillies
10 hours 40 minutes

Sartor Resartus is one of the most unusual, even quirky, British novels, to emerge from the first half of the 19^th century. Published in 1836, its varied heritage reflects the earlier eccentricities of Sterne and Swift, curiously mixed with influences from Goethe. Continue Reading →

AN INQUIRY INTO THE HUMAN MIND: ON THE PRINCIPLES OF COMMON SENSE

by Thomas Reid

Read by James Gillies
11 hours 58 minutes

Though now little known outside specialist philosophical circles, the Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid (1710-1796) is remembered both for the founding of the Scottish School of Common Sense and his major work, An Inquiry into the Human Mind:on the Principles of Common Sense (1764). With his feet firmly on the ground, he challenged the speculative ideas of David Hume and George Berkeley who regarded ideas in the mind as a basis for the external world. Continue Reading →

EPICURUS OF SAMOS: HIS PHILSOPHY AND LIFE

All the Principal Source Texts Compiled and Introduced by Hiram Crespo

Read by James Gillies and Jonathan Booth
6 hours 21 minutes

Epicurus of Samos (341-270 BCE) was the founder of the philosophical system to which he gave his name: Epicureanism. It is a label that is often misused and misunderstood today, with ‘a life of pleasure’ as the key aim misinterpreted as a life of indulgence. In fact, the philosophy of Epicurus demonstrated also by his life, was anything but! Continue Reading →

James Gillies

James Gillies trained at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire, and initially taught Speech and Drama, developing many of the core school examinations in the subject. From the 1990s he became a familiar voice across BBC television and radio. He left in 2013 to concentrate on his favourite part of the job: performance and, in particular, storytelling. Since then he has recorded hundreds of projects, including one to two audiobooks per month, and voiced ads and games for clients around the globe. James lives on Speyside in Scotland.