Great Thinkers summary

Thomas Aquinas was a thirteenth-century Italian monk who is famous for his sainthood and the visions he had of the Virgin Mary.

In today’s secular times, Aquinas may not seem like the most apparent candidate for a great thinker, but his intellectual contributions remain important, especially in his attempts to reconcile science and faith.

If you’re making small talk at a party, there’s a good chance you could end up confounded if you ask someone what their job is. You might scratch your head, wondering, what exactly does a logistics supply manager do?

The reason behind these confusing job titles isn’t some new trend. It’s actually the result of job specialization – an occurrence that was first identified by the eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith.

There’s very little biographical information on Lao Tzu, the Chinese philosopher believed to have lived during the sixth century BC. Yet, despite this mystery, his ideas are still a major influence in the world today.

To get a quick idea of the kind of philosophy Lao Tzu taught, there’s a popular story that puts him, along with Confucius and the Buddha, at a vinegar tasting ceremony. Confucius, with his views of people being corrupt, found the vinegar sour; Buddha, who focused on the suffering in the world, found the vinegar bitter; but Lao Tzu believed it tasted sweet.

A common mistake can be to think of the world in black and white terms, like looking at modern technology as being entirely good and the ways of past societies as being entirely bad or useless.

The great thinker Margaret Mead found great insight through anthropological research, and her work shows that there’s much to be gained from the ways of more traditional societies.

Even though he was a highly successful doctor in his day, Sigmund Freud was also an unhappy workaholic. But it’s safe to say that much of his hard work paid off, as there is a great deal of Freudian wisdom that can still be applied today.

One of the lasting and primary tenets of Freud’s work was the pleasure principle, or the human tendency to move toward pleasure and away from pain.

For some of us, living in the big city is the only way to go, and we couldn’t imagine life in the boring countryside or a dreary suburb. But that doesn’t mean city life is free of problems.

One of the sharper minds to consider how cities could be more comfortable and enjoyable is that of Jane Jacobs.

People love Jane Austen’s novels for their witty portrayal of romance and English life in the early nineteenth century. But let’s not forget that her books also contain a number of highly relevant moral lessons.

At the top of Austen’s important messages is that couples should educate each other.