Bryan Magee 12.04.1930-26.07.2019

[Guest]

Obituary in today's Times - I hadn't heard this elsewhere. Like many forumites I have read (several times) his Wagner and Philosophy, likewise his The Philosophy of Schopenhauer. I also remember his broadcasts. A great mind, and great polymath.

Jayne, I dimly remember you posting that as a youngster you went up to speak to Robert Simpson when he was talking to Bryan Magee - I'm not misremembering I hope.

Shockingly the Times obit fails to mention Wagner (or Schopenhauer). I must read his Confessions of a Philosopher.

[Joseph K]

I enjoyed reading his Wagner and Philosophy book, even though I didn't agree with everything in it. And Aspects of Wagner is quite good

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

[Richard Barrett]

I enjoyed reading his Wagner and Philosophy book

Me too. I don't know much about Schopenhauer but pretty much everything I do know has come from that book. Given that Magee was writing from a politically conservative perspective, it's inevitable that I (and you no doubt) would find plenty to disagree with in his writings about Wagner, but he presents his arguments in such a way that their many valuable aspects are clearly articulated and lead to an enhanced appreciation of the music.

[Joseph K]

Given that Magee was writing from a politically conservative perspective, it's inevitable that I (and you no doubt) would find plenty to disagree with in his writings about Wagner, but he presents his arguments in such a way that their many valuable aspects are clearly articulated and lead to an enhanced appreciation of the music.

Yes. So saying, having read this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Magee

… it is evident that he wasn't always a conservative. I think that is what I remember and disagree with in the book - Magee makes sweeping statements about how people tend to get conservative over time, just like Wagner and, now it appears, Magee himself.

[Jazzrook]

I well remember his BBC television programmes back in the 1970s &1980s on the great philosophers.
Can't imagine anything like that on TV today.
Here's his obituary in The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jul/26/bryan-magee-obituary

JR

[muzzer]

Those progs are on YouTube for all to admire and enjoy.

[Mal]

... I must read his Confessions of a Philosopher.

You must! He had a great love of music and he talks about it in great detail in this wonderful autobiography. This would probably be my desert island book.

[Mal]

… it is evident that he wasn't always a conservative.

Was he ever a conservative? Certainly in "Confessions" he comes across as a consistent supporter of the left, and became a Labour MP. OK he moved to the SDP when Labour moved far left, but that's still not quite conservative!

[Richard Tarleton]

Thanks Mal, I've ordered it. His "...Schopenhauer" is a great introduction which I find hugely rewarding and enlightening on all sorts of subjects including religion and death. Actually reading "The World as Will...." is a work in progress which I keep coming back to......

No I don't think so.

[DracoM]

And his book on Karl Popper?

[Mal]

And his book on Karl Popper?

Superb! The first book of his I read. He gives us lots of personal reminiscences of Popper in his Confessions. To get more insight into Magee 's early life Clouds of Glory: A Hoxton Childhood is also a good read. It won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography in 2004.

[Conchis]

VERY unfair to label Magee a ‘conservative’ or indeed any species of rightwinger. I certainly don’t think the penisbrained troglodytes who currently populate Blow Job’s execrable government would recognise him as one of their own.

Apparently, he wanted to be Arts Minister in the 1974 to 79 Labour government but neither Wilson nor Callaghan thought he was ‘ministerial material.’

I’m a fan of his books on Wagner but haven’t read his purely philosophical works.

[Sir Velo]

VERY unfair to label Magee a ‘conservative’ or indeed any species of rightwinger.

For some people, anyone to the right of Trotsky is a conservative!

[Bryn]

For some people, anyone to the right of Trotsky is a conservative!

For some, Trotskyism was/is "left in form, right in essence".