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Intelligence in the Modern World: Philosophy of John Dewey, Modern Library, NY, 1939, 1077pp. A classic interpretation and critique of Dewey's work. ... Read more

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Argues that Confucianism can be important to the contemporary, global conversation of philosophy and should not be confined to an East Asian context.

Is it possible to be a Confucian without being East Asian, as so many philosophers have been Platonists without being Greek? Strangely enough, many scholars would answer in the negative, citing the inextricable connection between Confucianism and East Asian culture. Boston Confucianism argues to the contrary, maintaining that Confucianism can be important to the contemporary global conversation of philosophy and should not be confined to an East Asian context. It promotes a multicultural philosophy of culture and makes a contribution to Confucian-Christian dialogue, showing that the relations among the world's great civilizations today is not a "clash," as Samuel Huntington has argued, but an entanglement whose roots are worth sorting and whose contemporary mutual developments are worth promoting. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Intellectually interesting, but lacking in practical applications
I very much enjoyed this book.What I liked best was being introduced to the work of Dr. Tu Wei-Ming.The references gave me many works to study, which I appreciated.I became very interested in how an American could apply Confucianism to his or her life, but this book is not about practical applications of Confucianism.For that I recommend another book: "Achieve Lasting Happiness, Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Life" by Robert Canright.

Can you be a Christian and a Confucian?
The author is attempting to define a form of Confucianism for non-Chinese. One of the main problems is translating the Confucian notion of ritual/etiquette into Western ideas. Neville relies on Fingarette's study, "Confucius The Secular as Sacred" to do this: basically by using a much wider concept of ritual, referring to all the *signs* in our relationships: signs of friendship, love, commitment... it goes beyond courtesy, to a definition of roles in relationships, although these can be very flexible.
Next Neville, who is a Christian, attempts to reconcile Confucianism and Christianity, and to do this he looks for some form of transcendence (an absolute beyond the perceptible phenomena) in Confucianism to match the transcendent Christian God: Hall & Ames have shown that such a transcendence does not exist in early Confucianism and I don't think that Neville succeeds in proving that they are wrong. He does point though to the Neo-Confucian concept of "principle" that is transcendent since it structures all things and man. This then could be a bridge towards Christianity.
Well the great thinkers (Neville, Hall & Ames) have given us a green light: we can be Western Confucians!
Thomas ... Read more

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An important collection from the largely unknown writings of women philosophers of the early modern period. Each selection is prefaced by a headnote giving a biographical account of its author and setting the piece in historical context. Atherton's Introduction provides a solid framework for assessing these works and their place in modern philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

INSIGHTFUL PRESENTATION OF SEVEN WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS
Margaret Atherton has written and compiled an excellent introduction to the work of a number of women philosphers of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The book contains a biographical introduction, followed with selections from one of the works of seven women philosophers: Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Margaret Cavendish, Anne Viscountess Conway, Damaria Cudworth (Lady Masham), Mary Astell, Catherine Trotter Cockburn, and Lady Mary Shepherd.

Atherton's own comments are frequently insightful: "Perhaps it is also unusual that only one of these women, Catherine Trotter Cockburn, was the mother of a large family.The others were either childless or had only one child."

The book contains numerous historical "nuggets," as well.For example, Atherton notes that "Descartes' "Passions of the Soul" is said to derive from his conversations with Elisabeth (of Bohemia), and he thought sufficiently well of her to dedicate his magnum opus, René Descartes: Principles of Philosophy: Translation with Explanatory Notes (Synthese Historical Library), to her."She notes that Leibniz also wrote that "My philosophical views approach somewhat closely those of the late Countess of Conway."

This is an excellent selection and introduction to this group of women philosophers. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Ideological
Goldfarb, "Poincaré against the Logicists." Poincaré complained that attempts to define arithmetic formally actually presupposed it, for example in using the concept "in no case" when defining zero. Goldfarb claims to "defeat" this objection as follows. "Poincaré is ... construing the project of the foundations of mathematics as being concerned with matters of the psychology of mathemtics and faulting logicism for getting it wrong." (p. 67). But "it is a central tenet on antipshychologism that such conditions are irrelevant to the rational grounds for a proposition. Thus the objection is defeated." (p. 70). But what about the question, central to Poincaré and many others, of whether it is possible to reduce arithmetic to logic? Goldfarb is apparently happy to dismiss this as an "irrelevant" matter of "pshychologism."

Dauben, "Abraham Robinson and Nonstandard Analysis." I have only read the incompetent section on Lakatos (section 2) of this chapter. Here Dauben offers a groundless and ideologically motivated attack on Lakatos' paper on Cauchy. First there is the nonsense about Robinson's non-standard analysis. Dauben writes correctly that: "There is nothing in the language or thought of Leibniz, Euler, or Cauchy (to whom Lakatos devotes most of his attention) that would make them early Robinsonians" (p. 180). This is all true, but it is also true that Lakatos never claimed otherwise, which is why Dauben must resort to underhand insinuations like this. Leaving this straw man aside, Lakatos wrote correctly that: "The downfall of Leibnizian theory was not due to the fact that it was inconsistent, but that it was capable only of limited growth. It was the heuristic potential of growth---and explanatory power---of Weierstrass's theory that brought about the downfall of infinitesimals" (p. 181). Dauben foolishly claims that "Lakatos apparently had not made up his mind" and "even contradicts himself" (p. 182) in acknowledging that Leibnizian calculus is inconsistent. This makes no sense. There is no contradiction. The inconsistency of Leibnizian calculus is even referred to as a fact in the first quotation. Dauben also claims that Lakatos is wrong because "the real stumbling block to infinitesimals was their acknowledged inconsistency" (p. 181). Why, then, did the calculus "stumble" only after two hundred years? If Dauben thinks that classical infinitesimal calculus "stumbled" before it had dried up, I suggest that he shows us what theorems it could have reached were it not for this obstacle.

Askey, "How can mathematicians and mathematical historians help each other?" Most of this article deals with haphazard and obscure notes regarding Askey's own historical research and does nothing to answer the title question. Askey's basic perspective is that mathematicians are well-meaning saints who do nothing wrong but that mathematical historians are incompetent and prejudiced in various ways. For example, Askey amuses himself with finding errors in Kline's history, and concludes that "it is clear that mathematical historians need all the help they can get" (p. 212). But it makes no sense to blame historians, for Kline was a mathematician. He obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics and was a professor of mathematics at a mathematics department all his career. Elsewhere Askey writes: "One cannot form an adequate picture of what is really important on the basis of current undergraduate curriculum and first-year graduate courses. In particular, I think there is far too much emphasis on the emergence of rigor and the foundations of the mathematics in much of what is published on the history of mathematics." (p. 203). The obvious lesson is for mathematicians to stop teaching lousy courses that trick students into thinking that rigour is a huge deal, etc. But no. That would entail admitting a flaw among the glorified mathematicians that Askey loves so much. So instead he nonsensically blames historians without further discussion. ... Read more

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Here is the concluding volume of Sir Anthony Kenny's monumental four-volume history of philosophy, the first major single-author narrative history to appear for several decades.
Here Kenny tells the fascinating story of the development of philosophy in the modern world, from the early nineteenth century to the end of the millennium. Alongside (and intertwined with) extraordinary scientific advances, cultural changes, and political upheavals, the last two centuries have seen some of the most intriguing and original developments in philosophical thinking, which have transformed our understanding of ourselves and our world. In the first part of the book, Kenny offers a lively narrative introducing the major thinkers in their historical context. Among those we meet are the great figures of continental European philosophy, from Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche to Heidegger, Sartre, and Derrida; the Pragmatists such as C.S. Pierce and William James, who first developed a distinctively American philosophical tradition; Marx, Darwin, and Freud, the non-philosophers whose influence on philosophy was immense; and Wittgenstein and Russell, friends and colleagues who set the agenda for analytic philosophy in the twentieth century. Kenny then proceeds to guide the reader lucidly through the nine main areas of philosophical work in the period, offering a serious engagement with ideas and arguments about logic, language, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, politics, and the existence of God.
Graced with many beautiful illustrations, Philosophy in the Modern World concludes Kenny's stimulating history of the intellectual development of Western civilization, allowing readers to trace the birth and growth of philosophy from antiquity to the present day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Strong Finale to Strong Series
`Philosophy in the Modern World' is the fourth of four volumes in Anthony Kenny's `A New History of Western Philosophy' recently published by Oxford University Press. For those unfamiliar with the author, Kenny is a leading contemporary scholar that has previously written noteworthy texts on Aquinas, Descartes, and Wittgenstein amongst others.

The series is the best single-author overview of Western philosophy of which I am familiar, more readable than Copleston and more even-handed than Russell. Kenny is a talented writer with an impressive knowledge of the Western tradition, able to tell the story of philosophy is an integrated and insightful manner. As is becoming popular in introductory texts Kenny blends a chronological and subject matter approach, over viewing the period chronologically in the first third of the book then looking at specific subjects in more detail in the latter part (e.g. ethics, epistemology, metaphysics). This would seem to be a helpful approach to the newcomer; providing some important historic context before delving into specific material in detail.

Assessment of introductory books such as this are often colored not only by the author's writing ability and knowledge but also by their focus.This latter point is particularly important as one approaches the present day - it is difficult to judge which thinkers and notions will ultimately have the greatest significance.That said, I found myself to be generally in agreement with Kenny's choices; heavy doses of Wittgenstein, Mill, Frege, and Russell with some Darwin and Freud thrown in to round out the intellectual milieu.I also agreed with his decision to minimize Quine and largely pass over Davidson.My only criticism in this regard would be his coverage of Schopenhauer - while not unimportant he strikes me as the poor man's Buddhist and given the intellectual giants in this period discussion of his views could have been reduced.

While I feel Kenny's work deserves a wide audience I am uncertain if it will readily find one. Those with sufficient background to follow the discussion may pass on the book, while those unacquainted with philosophy may find that the text moves too fast and somewhat opaque. And, finally, from a physical perspective the paper is glossy making it difficult to read it certain lightening conditions (reflection).

Overall, this is a good work and a strong series by an excellent philosopher

A. Kenny, Philosophy in the Modern World
A good read; valuable for a newcomer to the discipline, or for anyone who is looking for a compact summary. Author's opinions at times overstated without full justification. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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With their dozens of universities and colleges, the Jesuits held a monopoly over higher education in Catholic Germany in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Using rich yet previously untapped sources, Marcus Hellyer traces the development of science instruction at these institutions over a period stretching from the Counter-Reformation to the height of the Enlightenment. He argues that the Scientific Revolution was not an all-or-nothing affair; Jesuit professors enthusiastically adopted particular elements, such as experimental natural philosophy, while doggedly rejecting others, such as mechanical theories of matter. Hellyer’s examination of the Jesuit colleges over a span of two centuries, from the late sixteenth century to 1773, demonstrates that digesting the New Science was a lengthy process. Jesuit colleges were still actively confronting, rejecting, or absorbing crucial components of the Scientific Revolution when the Society was suppressed in 1773.

Catholic Physics also explores the fascinating interaction between Jesuit natural philosophy and theology, which, though marked by constant tension, was also quite fruitful. For example, this study reveals that censorship of natural philosophy by the Jesuit hierarchy in Rome was a negotiated process in which Jesuit professors accepted the necessity of censorship, yet constantly sought to circumvent regulations imposed on them by teaching controversial topics such as Copernican cosmology. After the Galileo affair, Jesuit physics professors made sure they declared that heliocentrism was wrong, but they also taught their students the advantages it held over the rival cosmology sanctioned by the Catholic Church.

By investigating the neglected yet influential Jesuit colleges of early modern Germany, Hellyer brings new sources and insight to the field of history of science. His pioneering book will be welcomed not only by historians but by those engaged in the important and ongoing debate between science and religion.

"This well-written and thoroughly researched work, the only recent one of its kind in English, provides a sympathetic but judicious account of the institutions and activities of Jesuit natural philosophers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Catholic Physics contains a great deal of useful information on Jesuit teaching and doctrine, much of which contradicts the more or less conventional wisdom on these matters. Any historian of natural philosophy working in this period will take from it fruitful lessons on the diversity of the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge." —Dennis Des Chene, Washington University

"Marcus Hellyer has done a truly extraordinary amount of careful and reliable research. This book is historical scholarship in its best sense." —Richard Blackwell, St. Louis University ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Typical Victorian writer -- long winded
I am sorry to disagree with the other reviewers here.I found this book simply unreadable. Royce writes in the florid style typical of his time (think Bulwer-Lytton), and in his treatment of the philosophers mentions mostly his own reaction to them so that I could simply not hack through all the verbiage to get to what the philosophers actually said. It baffles me how anyone could rate this 5 stars. Variety is the spice of life, I guess. Look elsewhere for clearer, more terse exposition.

Used it for school
I'm new to philosophy, and in my 19th century philosophy class we had a lot of discussions that blew right over my head.I heard this book was good so I got it.I was very happy I did.Royce is very concise in his explanations about each philosopher.My biggest complaint is that sometimes philsophers try to use too many "big words" to explain things, Mr. Royce avoids this and sticks to english.I highly recommend the book for any person interested in philosophy, especially beginners.

Josiah Royce: underrated, but not forgotten.
I'm delighted to see this work of Royce's in print; it wasn't, the last time I looked for it. Royce was one of the truly great American philosophers and I'm glad he hasn't been forgotten.

In this volume,originally published in 1892 and based on a series of lectures, Roycepresents masterly critical overviews of such philosophers as Spinoza, Kant,and Hegel, rendering in clear language what those philosophers (especiallyHegel) presented technically and with great complexity. This work will beof interest both to readers of those other philosophers and to those whowant to trace their influence on Idealist philosophy.

There is also someof Royce's own thought here. William James once teased Royce that he was inthe habit of writing long books and then sticking everything important thathe _really_ wanted to say in an appendix. This volume is no exception; oneof the later chapters presents what may be the clearest exposition of theIdealist thesis ever presented. Royce was a fine expositor, and whether youagree with his thesis or not, you will be hard pressed to find a betterpresentation of it.

Royce was an unusual Idealist -- rather tooindividualistic for the tastes of the block-universe fellows over in GreatBritain, and thus something of a heretic. He was a highly original thinkerwhose influence is still felt today even when his name isn't mentioned.(His influence on pragmatism alone is worthy of mention, but he also madeimportant critiques of Bradley and others that really should be taken upinto the current renaissance of Idealist studies.)

Royce, in short, stillvery much deserves to be read. This volume is a fine place to start. (I seethat _The World and the Individual_ is in print again too, so try that onenext!) ... Read more

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This major new study of Heidegger is the first to examine in detail the concept of existential truth that Heidegger developed in the 1920s.Daniel Dahlstrom offers a critical focus on the genesis, nature, and viability of Heidegger's radical reconceptualization. The book has several distinctive and innovative features.First, it is the only study that attempts to understand the logical dimension of Heidegger's thought in its historical context.Second, no other book-length treatment explores the breadth and depth of Heidegger's confrontation with Husserl, his erstwhile mentor. Third, the book demonstrates that Heidegger's deconstruction of Western thinking occurs on three interconnected fronts: truth, being, and time. ... Read more

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From Freud to Babbitt, from Animal Farm to Sartre to the Great Society, from the Theory of Relativity to counterculture to Kosovo, The Modern Mind is encyclopedic, covering the major writers, artists, scientists, and philosophers who produced the ideas by which we live. Peter Watson has produced a fluent and engaging narrative of the intellectual tradition of the twentieth century, and the men and women who created it.

Customer Reviews (33)

gift
This book would make a great graduation gift for any high school student as he begins a liberal arts education. They would also be essential for business or engineering graduates who of necessity might have missed a humanities education altogether. Perhaps the book is too ambitious, but it is well written and a compelling read. My only criticism is that towards the end one senses his reliance on the great popular work in the sciences written in the 1990's.( Dawkins, Weinberg, Wilson, Pinker, Dyson et al - great stuff, butmore essential material has been added in the last 10 years particularly in astrophysics and the neurosciences.) But the core questions as Watson defines them still hold. This is the kind of book that needs to be rewritten every 10 years and is due for an update which I very much hope is coming soon. (Also check out his more recent book "Ideas" which is even more ambitious). These books follow in the tradition ofTarnas or Jacob Bronowski and deserves to become even more admired. Few people are capable of writing,or can be trusted to write.... these kind of intellectual Uber-histories.Watson has done a wonderful job.

A Fantastic Attempt
There is much to praise and plenty to criticize about this (any) volume, but let's not nitpick about how much attention is devoted to one person or subject over another or that he left out items or events here and there.There is only so much space in a book and so much a single author can do in one attempt.What a fantastic attempt it is.He lifted a full bucket from the well of human accomplishments.

The overriding positive thought must be that Watson has attempted a monumental new history and succeeded.Sure there are omissions and natural biases in the information, but we must accept the human.This is a profound achievement and Watson should be proud that it is even coherent, much less a fascinating, provocative read.I love the concept of looking at history in a new way, from a new direction.More histories of ideas, sciences, and arts are needed.Hope to see more of this style in the future.Very much worth the read.

Like a hugetable ofdelicious hors d'oeuvres
It took weeks of on-and-off reading to finally finish this 770-page "intellectual history of the 20th Century".An amazing feat--summarizing every significant idea of the era.Inevitably superficial, often so much so that it leaves the reader as puzzled as enlightened.But it's the kind of book that sets your mind churning with almost every page and, like a good quotation book, stirs you to want to read the original works.It sharpens your regret over all those college courses you passed up. It also makes you intellectually modest."The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know".

The Modern Mind
This purports to be an intellectual history of the 20th century.It's that and more.Science, literature, art, and technology are discussed as well.

Bloody good read.This is especially suggested to those grandparents attempting to teach grandkids about their own growing up

Pretty Much as Advertised

Dense, erudite and challenging, but never boring: An 800-page panoramic view of the intellectual history of the 20th Century. It follows both the paradigms and the paradigm shifts in the arts, humanities and most of all in the sciences -- paradigms and shifts that have taken place over the 20th Century mostly in the Western world.

All of the big ideas and the people that introduced them are present, accounted for, and are neatly and economically summarized, in context. The core elements of most of the key intellectual ideas and theories across a vast expanse of the intellectual landscape -- from Freud to Nietzsche, and Darwin to Einstein -- that have driven us from Modernism to Post-modernism are given with the historical connective tissue left in.

Importantly, the author makes a distinction between "cultural" and "intellectual" history and advances; between "big ideas" and "big people" and "big events" that normally drive history and uses these distinctions as a tool for ignoring the latter two; thus paring down his selections to a manageable size. As a result, the book has a unity that is simply uncanny in its utter coherence and precision.

What an exhilarating ride. Intellectual history doesn't get much better than this. Read and enjoy.Amen

Five Stars ... Read more

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This book is a systematic reconstruction of Heidegger's account of time and temporality in Being and Time. The author locates Heidegger in a tradition of "temporal idealism" with its sources in Plotinus, Leibniz, and Kant. For Heidegger, time can only be explained in terms of "originary temporality," a concept integral to his ontology. Professor Blattner sets out not only the foundations of Heidegger's ontology, but also his phenomenology of the experience of time. Focusing on a neglected but central aspect of Being and Time this book will be of considerable interest to all students of Heidegger both inside and outside philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Solid, but a bit too Pricey
In `Heidegger's Temporal Idealism', Blattner explores Heidegger's early view of temporality articulated in `Being and Time'.Blattner's central thesis is that Heidegger seeks to expound a strong view of temporal idealism, and, that he is unsuccessful in this endeavor.

This is text is geared toward readers with a good knowledge of Heidegger's early work.I read this book in conjunction with Bert Dreyfus's course on Division II of `Being and Time' (available at itunesu/UCBerkley/Phil/Phil 189). While Dreyfus reads Heidegger as a temporal realist, the two resources are a nice fit, providing the student with two informed perspectives on this interesting question.

While I am a fan of Blattner, he is an excellent young Heidegger scholar, this text book could benefit from a bit of tightening-up.In its present state, the book has an excess of structural packaging (e.g. interim summaries and such). Certainly, structure can be helpful with difficult thinkers like Heidegger, however in this case it is overdone.This choppiness may stem from the book's genesis as a series of disparate articles.

Overall, this is the best book-length discussion of Heidegger's early views on temporality of which I am aware.That said, at over $60 (paperback) it is too pricey.

A Brilliant Book!
This is probably the best scholarly treatment of Being and Time available.Heidegger called his unfinished magnum opus Being and Time, but readers have not had much luck making sense of his claim that he was grounding being in time.Blattner's book explains what Heidegger meant, and why he was unable to finish the book.No serious reader of Heidegger can ignore this book. ... Read more

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Conceived originally as a serious presentation of the development of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, Frederick Copleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy has journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to universal acclaim as the best history of philosophy in English. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Review of Copleston's Ninth Volume
I'm a student, not a scholar, but I have read all nine of Copleston's volumes, so I understand the scope and style of his writing.

This volume covers a very broad range of topics. Not only does it discuss the giants like Comte and Sartre, but it also discusses about a dozen miscellaneous French trends and their proponents. Discussing small-time philosophers is common for Copleston, but this volume is more impressive than usual.

I regret that Copleston mentions nothing of Derrida and only references Focault in passing, but one could hardly expect him to wait forever--these philosophers were still developing their outlook in his old age. Also, I noticed several editing overlooks, so many so that I'm mentioning it here. It won't subtract from your overall enjoyment, but it is annyong when encoutered.

To start and finish Copleston is an amazing expreience, and I recommend it to any avid amateur in philosophical history.

A decent overview
The ninth volume of focuses mostly on the modern French philosophers.As with most modern thought, there is a general tendency away from vast metaphysical systems.A lot of the themes that were discussed amongst the British and German philosophies such as Phlosophy of Science, idealism, and the bases of ethics are again here.

The high prophet of scientific positivism is Auguste Comte, whose committed the common fallacy of thinking that the dawn of the scientific age will remove the need for religion and create a peaceful society.This was rightfully mostly abandoned after the horrors of the second World War and the subsequent atheistic totalitarian regimes that came up afterwards.

There was an attack against this sort of radical positivism in the other side by the name of Henri Bergson, who stated instinct taught the real nature of things rather than conceptual thought and the sciences.Bergson emphasized the spiritual parts of knowledge, and attacked determinists as forcing reality into their own conceptual framework.While this reader agrees instinct before language enters though lends the closest view of reality, Bergson didn't seem to understand the need of analytical thought and observation in developing innate instinct, seemingly giving it an almost supernatural quality.

The section on the philosophy of Science I wich Copleston would have spent more time on.He never mentions Popper in any of his outlines of Philosophy of Science(knocked down a star for exactly this reason), and there is the problem that he only spends a few pages on each philosopher here, not giving nearly enough time to give a really good overview of their thought.

Some of the most interesting, and unintentionally hilarious, parts come from the section on Sartre.He makes it well known his annoyance with Sartre's redicuoulsly obtuse language.His thought is certainly unique, saying consciousness is a nullifying aspect on being on his environment, stating the absolute freedom, and his nihilistic views on ethics.Even though I disagreed with almost everything he has to say, at first glance his thought seemed shockingly rational.It's only when one looks at the way he uses terms and comparing it with ones own experience can one start to see the chinks, and Copleston's criticisms hit the nail on the head in this section.

Probably the most pathetic game of semantics this reader has ever seen is Sartre trying to synthesize Marxism and his radical existentialism.Never mind that Marxism and human freedom and about as antithetical as one can come by, it doesn't stop Sartre from playing elaborate word games to justify his political persuasions.While I respect his emphasis on personal responsibility, the politicizing of his philosophy as well as debauchery in his personal life speaks poorly of him.

A hard trudge, and very dull at times, but worth the effort to finish.

The Best Introduction of Philosophy Out There!
Copleston's series, "The History of Philosophy", is quite possibly the best introduction to the history of philosophical thought that has ever been published and certainly the best currently in print.

You will be hard pressed to find a better collection of solid philosophical surveys in one place.The beauty of the series is that Copleston has clearly done his research on each period and each thinker of Western philosophy.

I cannot recommend this series any more highly.It is a must-have collection for anyone who is a scholar (professional or casual) of philosophy, theology or any of the arts.

If this isn't on your bookshelf, it should be!

Buy now/read now
Copelston is one of the pre-emienent thinkers of philosophical history. Every one should read his entire works including this fine volume. ... Read more

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A collection of seminal writings on the philosophy of language.

In our century, philosophers have become increasingly concerned with the relationship between language, the mind, and the world. Language has come to be viewed both as a source of puzzlement and as a repository for untapped knowledge. The philosophy of language is an attempt to understand the nature of language and to explore the link between what we say and what we intend.

Modern Philosophy of Language brings together the most significant writings on language in twentieth-century philosophy-from the work of Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, and the logical positivists to the contemporary contributions of W. V. O. Quine, Noam Chomsky, and Michael Dummett. The articles collected here are benchmarks in the development of various strands in the modern analytic philosophy of language. ... Read more

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In the second half of the eighteenth century, German philosophy dominated European philosophy, changing the way Europeans and people all over the world conceived of themselves and thought about nature, religion, human history, politics, and the structure of the human mind. In this rich and wide-ranging book, Terry Pinkard interweaves the story of "Germany"--changing during this period from a loose collection of principalities into a newly-emerged nation with a distinctive culture--with an examination of the currents and complexities of its developing philosophical thought. He examines the dominant influence of Kant, with his revolutionary emphasis on "self-determination," and traces this influence through the development of romanticism and idealism to the critiques of post-Kantian thinkers such as Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard. His book will interest a range of readers in the history of philosophy, cultural history and the history of ideas.Terry Pinkard is professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and is the author of the acclaimed Hegel: A Biography (Cambridge, 2000). He is honorary Professor of the Philosophy Faculty of TÜbingen University, Germany and serves on the advisory board for the Zeitschrift fÜr Philosophique Forschung. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Necessary Work
PInkard's book is probably the most modern of the introductions to the period in that this interpretation is the onemost free of all of the metaphysical and epistemological focus that was so frequent in texts on German Idealism even up until the early 90s. Even Beiser's excellent introduction to this period still maintains some threads to older interpretations, but he does make these explicit. PInkard's text provides us with a unique narrative that links all of the texts together: the so-called "Kantian Paradox". This paradox poses the question: if we choose to be self-legislating, what influenced us to make the choice to be self-legislating (and this something would have had to be an external influence). In contrast to Beiser, whose link is the question of how to prove the reality of the external world, Pinkard promotes freedom (self-legislation) to be the main challenge that the Idealists (and Romantics) tried to answer (although he does readily admit the myriad of other issues that drove them forward).
His introduction to Kant is brief, being only 100 odd pages, but it contains some of the most lucid and insightful exegesis of Kant's system in the English speaking world. I particularly like how he cast Kant, and Transcendental Idealism as a whole, not as an epistemological theory (what has come to be called 'Weak Transcendental Idealism), but as a theory that poses the following thesis: nothing escapes the workings of reason ('Strong Transcendental Idealism'). His discussion of the third critique, which he references throughout the book, shows the rarely emphasised insight that this work was the starting point for the departures and adaptations post-Kantians would instigate and develop.
The weakest point in the book is the middle discussion on the Romantics, where Pinkard tries to cover a large amount of material within a very short amount of time. But even here both students and Professors can learn a great deal about the development of thought in the 1790's and early 1800's. The discussion of Hegel, of course, is incredibly insightful, and his non-metaphysical reading of Hegel truly justifies Hegel's place as an important played in 20th Century philosophy.
Overall this is a very good introduction to German Idealism for anyone interested in German Idealism, regardless of their place in academic life. Of course, with any topic as complex as this, extra reading is required, but Pinkard has given us a book that rightly deserves a place on every philosopher's shelf. Its main benefit, as I mentioned above, is that it shows us the German Idealist free of the metaphysical baggage placed on them for the past 150 years, and gives us a picture of a period of history that could enlighten us immeasurably today.

Won't help to demystify Kant
First, some background.I have a Ph.D. in philosophy and history of philosophy from Cornell.I studied for a year with R. M. Hare at Oxford, and attended Norman Malcolm's classes at Cornell. I got my Ph.D. when linguistic and analytic philosophy were still considered the cutting edge, and I still consider myself in that camp.

Over the years, I have moved into another profession, but have a continued interest in philosophy and continue to read about it.I have been looking for a good book on German philosophy.Some of the reviews indicated that the writing in this book was clear, so I bought it.

I was hoping for something like "The Secret of Kant": somthing that would explain in clear terms what Kant was all about, and explain what it was (about his philosophy) that subsequent philosophers found so mesmerizing.

Unfortunately, I didn't find that.I waded through the opening chapters on Kant, but instead of finding Kantian gobble-de-gook explained ("de-gobbled" if you will) I simply found it repeated.

I won't say this is a bad book.If you find Kantian idealism a compatible milieu, then this might be a very good book for you.But I want to warn folks who are coming from an Anglo-American analytical background, and looking for an entree into an understanding of Kant, etc. You won't find it here.

I am beginning to suspect that it doesn't exist anywhere, and that this business about the "transcendental" will never look (to my empirical Anglo-American sensibility) like anything other than complete hocus-pocus.In any event, be warned.If you have similar suspicions, and are trying to determine if there is anything out there that can disconfirm your suspicions and change your mind, you won't find it in this book.In philosophy, the English Channel is *still* wider than the Atlantic Ocean.

(Additional Note - August 10, 2007)

I have had the book for a month now, and had a chance to examine it morecarefully.And my judgment has grown even harsher.

Here is an example of Pinkard's writing.On page 320 he discusses Schelling's"growing suspicion that ... all the post-Kantians had in effect confused logicwith existence; they had labored under the illusion that a coherent, consistentsystem of thought was necessarily identical with the way the world had to be.(Later philosophers would label something like this a form of 'verificationism,'the doctrine that nothing could be said to be unless it could be humanlyverified to be -- unless, for example, propositions asserting its existencecould be shown to be in accordance with accepted standards of evidence -- adoctrine that seemed to make what existed dependent on human capacities forverification.)"

First, a simple examination of the sentence construction here shows how bad thewriting is.Second, this passage shows that Pinkard (like many of the subjectsof this book) is a horribly fuzzy thinker, or a horribly fuzzy writer, or both.With the term "verificationism" Pinkard must be referring to the early LogicalPositivists. To describe verificationism as a doctrine that "seemed to make whatexisted dependent on human capacities for verification" is absurd.Verificationism was an attempt to develop criteria that would allow us todistinguish meaningful statements from statements that (although they appear tobe meaningful) are not. Only in the most fevered excesses of philosophicalhyperbole could that be jumbled around to the point that the Logical Positivistscould be made to look like post-modern relativists. And it is no defense to picknits and say that Pinkard is attributing this view to "later philosophers" andnot espousing it himself. This is just plain bad writing.

Excellent Scholarship
As in his lauded biography of Hegel, Pinkard does an amazing job in this book.To those "analytic" philosophers, still under the influence of the cavalier early 20th century rejection of the idealist tradition by Russel et. al., this is a must read.Pinkard presents detailed, cogent, and clear reconstructions of the key positions of the most important philosophers in Germany between Kant and Schopenhauer.Being a Hegel scholar, he understandably devotes a great deal of attention to Hegel's work.But, other figures, included the neglected early Romantics and the later Schelling, are given fair and lucid consideration.Pinkard's work (along with that of some other recent scholars) is a clarion call - the German tradition needs to be taken seriously, and needs to be treated in a fashion that is freed from the post-modernist humbug that it, in part, inspired.If only there were more books like this!

German Philosophy - Idealism and Romanticism.
_German Philosophy 1760 - 1860:The Legacy of Idealism_ by Terry Pinkard is a unique book which examines the sorts of philosophical systems being proposed in Germany during that time period.Although at first Germany was not united, philosophy came to take on a unique German flavor, often meaning little more than the opaqueness of the language.For a generation of disenfranchised youth, Goethe captured the spirit of the times in his novel (with mistranslated title), _The Sorrows of Young Werther_.The first part of this book deals with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who created a "Copernican revolution" in philosophical thought with the writing of his three _Critiques_.Kant provided the foundation that many youth of the period were seeking in terms of philosophical thought.The second part of this book deals with post-Kantians, many of them founders of the Romantic movement, who took off from Kant's philosophy in the _Critiques_.Two issues played a central role for these early post-Kantian figures, one being the French Revolution and the other being the issue of Spinoza's pantheism (and alleged atheism).Two early individuals involved in the controversy over Spinoza were Jacobi, who argued against both Kant and Spinoza and is often associated with a dark kind of irrationalism, and Reinhold who defended Kant against these claims in the 1780s.In the 1790s, Fichte came to play an important role in philosophy, extending the thought of Kant with a form of subjectivism in his _Wissenschaftslehre_.The 1790s also witnessed the Romantic appropriation of Kantianism.Many of these early Romantics wrote for the journal _Athenaum_.These included the poets Holderlin and Novalis, the Protestant theologian of sentimentalism Schleiermacher, the brothers Schlegel who wrote in fragments, and the philosopher Schelling.Originally Schelling came to embrace Spinoza; however, later in his career he would become more conservative and reject him while explicitly defending Christian revelation.In addition, Jacob Fries played some role as a non-Romantic philosopher who appropriated Kant.The third part of this book deals strictly with Hegel.Hegel's _Phenomenology of Spirit_ provided an early groundwork for his _Encyclopedia_ and _Logic_.The book also covers some of Hegel's later lectures including his _Philosophy of Right_.Finally, the fourth part of this book deals with the revolution in question.This includes sections on Schelling's attempts at restoration in the second half of his career and on the philosophers Schopenhauer (a radical pessimist) and Kierkegaard (an early Danish existentialist).Finally, Hegel's philosophy was turned on its head and idealism abandoned for materialism in the writings of the Left Hegelians (who became increasingly radical) including such figures as Feuerbach, Marx, and Engels.This book gives an excellent introduction to German philosophy during a crucial period of years.Mostly this philosophy reflects the influence of Kant as well as the spirit of the times in which large sections of the youth and intelligentsia felt abandoned and left to pursue a life of autonomy.

A Philosophical Apex
The sudden flowering of German classical philosophy in the generation of Kant and the aftermath of the French Revolution is one of the enigmas of world history. Gestating in Kant and then taking off in the 1780's and 90's this exploration and journey took philosophy to a height it has since lost to the vagaries of prgmatism and analytic philosphy. The author of the recent excellent biography of Hegel surveys the whole terrain up to the time of Schopenhauer, the last thunderclap of this storm. It is hard to cover this difficult and vast terrain, and if one is a student of Hegel, or else Kant, one will end up with half or less of the extraordinarily difficult totality in motion. The author has no Hegelian agenda to color the account and the result is a superb short summary. ... Read more

Product Description
Conceived originally as a serious presentation of the development of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, Frederick Copleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy has journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of  its author to universal acclaimas the best history of philosophy in English.



Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit of immense erudition who once tangled with A.J. Ayer in a fabled debate about the existence of God and the possibility of metaphysics, knew that seminary students were fed a woefully inadequate diet of theses and proofs, and that their familiarity with most of history's great thinkers was reduced to simplistic caricatures.  Copleston set out to redress the wrong by writing a complete history of Western philosophy, one crackling with incident and intellectual excitement - and one that gives full place to each thinker, presenting his thought in a beautifully rounded manner and showing his links to those who came after him. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Volume 4: The Birth of the Modern
Volume I of this series covers the pre-Christian philosophies of Greece and Rome, while Volumes II and III are devoted to Medieval and Scholastic philosophers. (I have, for the moment, jumped over those last two).

Volumes IV, V, and VI cover "modern" philosophy from Descartes through Kant, and this volume (Volume IV) has a special treat at the beginning.There is a fascinating, well-written introduction which is actually an introduction to Volumes IV, V, and VI --- and is therefore a brilliant 62-page essay on everything from Descartes to Kant.Naturally, it's a bird's-eye overview, but it is the first thing I have ever read which actually made me feel I understood Kant!(When in college, I made a serious blunder and just went and bought "The Critique of Pure Reason" and sat down and tried to read it!:-)30 pages later, I abandoned my foolish task with a bad headache!)

Volume IV covers Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, and Leibniz.As usual, the discussion and illustrations are excellent.

Excellent
Fr. Copleston is a treasure. Initially, he wrote these books of history to better a seminarian's understanding of philosophy, but his influence now goes beyond the classroom. Thank God!

Interesting
After the modern philosophers shed Aristotlianism and Platonism at least to a large extent, things got a lot more interesting when they started espousing their theories.The first principles of their arguments became more divierse, and many times lead to some very different metaphysics.How much you enjoy a philosopher probably says a lot about what your own mentality is.

I personally liked Descartes, that, though still more or less a dualist, he came from the existential principles of experience.Some of his thought was flawed, like being able to espouse metaphysics without sufficient empirical study to back it up, but he most certainly was on the right track.

Spinoza, on the other hand, I could not stand.He just replaces Nature with the word God and hopes nobody notices he's not saying anything at all.I hate people who deny any sort of freedom then espouse how one can live a virtuous life.Hey Spinoza, it's all either matter in motion or it's not.

Liebniz was downright headache inducing at points, and his theory of monads was wonderfully goofy.That being said, his theory of knowledge was excellent.Can't say I ever thought of the universe the way he did.

As always, Copleston is even handed, probably too even handed for some of the sillier things they said.Then again, as a layperson with no formal training, maybe I missed something too that he saw.Still, I'd prefer Copleston's fairness to the in your face bashing of Russell anyday.

The Best Introduction to Philosophy Ever!
Copleston's series, "The History of Philosophy", is quite possibly the best introduction to the history of philosophical thought that has ever been published and certainly the best currently in print.

You will be hard pressed to find a better collection of solid philosophical surveys in one place.The beauty of the series is that Copleston has clearly done his research on each period and each thinker of Western philosophy.

I cannot recommend this series any more highly.It is a must-have collection for anyone who is a scholar (professional or casual) of philosophy, theology or any of the arts.

If this isn't on your bookshelf, it should be!

Comprehensive and enlightening
I read the whole series nine volumes twice. Being a business major in school I didnot have any true understanding of philosophy, but this book really got me interested and I started reading on philosophy. I definitely recommand it for anyone interested in serious reading. ... Read more

Product Description
The Evolution of Logic examines the relations between logic and philosophy over the last 150 years. Logic underwent a major renaissance beginning in the nineteenth century. Cantor almost tamed the infinite, and Frege aimed to undercut Kant by reducing mathematics to logic. These achievements were threatened by the paradoxes, like Russell's. This ferment generated excellent philosophy (and mathematics) by excellent philosophers (and mathematicians) up to World War II. This book provides a selective, critical history of the collaboration between logic and philosophy during this period.After World War II, mathematical logic became a recognized subdiscipline in mathematics departments, and consequently but unfortunately philosophers have lost touch with its monuments. This book aims to make four of them (consistency and independence of the continuum hypothesis, Post's problem, and Morley's theorem) more accessible to philosophers, making available the tools necessary for modern scholars of philosophy to renew a productive dialogue between logic and philosophy. ... Read more