A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

If you were to attempt a history of philosophy, you can write a history without imposing on the reader what your own opinions are. Hitler caused him to later renounce his pacifism, to the point that he wished he were younger so that he might don a uniform himself. Must have felt like a humanitarian act, writing this book! After all, the long stretch of time that allowed Russell to undertake the tome was granted him by a stay in prison - his crime was distributing pacifist literature during the First World War. In fact, I think that three strands of vexation can be discerned:Īny idea which Russell felt was tending towards these were roundly attacked and put in place. And more often than not, he is wary of those ideas which, from the point of view of his war-torn present, seemed 'dangerous.' The format followed is: a brief historical sketch to give context to a doctrine, an even briefer explanation, and then a long critical take that will put forward Russell’s opinions, usually about why it is misguided in the light of modern scientific approach.

Instead it is a critical survey, a long catalogue of what Russell agrees and disagrees with among all the major doctrines. This is because the book is not a mere history of philosophy, a mere account of ideas, by any stretch. Russell is consistently opinionated throughout his presentation and it might confuse some of the readers that he is so casual in writing off some of the major philosophers and their key ideas. Among the philosophers considered are: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists, Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Plotinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Benedict, Gregory the Great, John the Scot, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, the Utilitarians, Marx, Bergson, James, Dewey, and lastly the philosophers with whom Lord Russell himself is most closely associated - Cantor, Frege, and Whitehead, co-author with Russell of the monumental Principia Mathematica.Ī Critical (& Patronizing) Survey of Western Philosophy In seventy-six chapters he traces philosophy from the rise of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the twentieth century. Since its first publication in 1945 Lord Russell's A History of Western Philosophy has been universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject-unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, its clarity, its erudition, its grace and wit.

A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell