A New History of Western Philosophy: In Four Parts

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Continental and Anglophone philosophers went their separate ways, hardly speaking the same language as each other" (p. Though one can dispute the success of any particular approach in philosophy, it strikes me as unfair and inaccurate to deem all of this to be merely "well-meaning. Beyond single book histories, arguably the gold standard for thoroughness is the series by Copleston. Sir Anthony Kenny continues his magisterial new history of Western philosophy with a fascinating guide through more than a millennium of thought from 400 AD onwards, charting the story of philosophy from the founders of Christian and Islamic thought through to the Renaissance. A condition of his proceeding to a doctorate at the Gregorian University (he had already passed the exams) was that he take an oath declaring that it was possible to demonstrate the existence of God.

Some parts of the book were superficial in explanation which sometimes leaves you with more questions (and I used some other online sources for more clarification). There is by no means one story to tell about the history of recent philosophy and it is to Kenny's credit that he does not pretend there is. The title of the first chapter -- "Bentham to Nietzsche" -- is indicative of this cosmopolitan approach, as is the inclusion of thinkers as diverse as Schopenhauer and Mill in one chapter. Some aspects of Quine's philosophy -- his deflationary views on modality, his indeterminacy of translation thesis -- do come in for discussion (and Quine is also one of those exalted few to have a portrait included among the illustrations, though I must admit that the criteria for the selection of illustrations was not readily decipherable). As the first book since Bertrand Russell's 1945 A History of Western Philosophy to offer a concise single-author review of the complete history of philosophy from the pre-Socratics to the modern masters of the 20 th century, Kenny's work fills a critical gap in the modern philosophy reading list and offers valuable guidance for the general reader of philosophy an ideal starting point for anyone with an interest in great thinkers and the family lines of philosophical evolution.Mиний бодлоор эхнээс дуустал нь уншихаас илүүтэйгээр хажуугаар нь өөр юм хараад, гол эх сурвалжуудаас нь уншаад явах хэрэгтэй байх. This text sets out the story of the development of western philosophy, from Anaximander to Wittgenstein. The concepts and arguments of the philosophers are presented in a way intelligible to modern readers, and their ideas are set in their historical context.

But he does so as a non-Catholic, always careful to limit his participation in the liturgy to those portions that do not imply either religious belief or membership in the Church. As Kenny notes at the outset, the third volume ended with the death of Hegel, and the present volume continues onward from there to close to the end of the 20 th century. Newly revised and expanded for a special 20 th anniversary publication, the latest edition of An Illustrated Brief History of Western Philosophy contains all of Kenny's original writings on the history of Western philosophy from ancient to modern, along with new writings on the philosophy of the mid-20 th century, covering important contributions from continental philosophers and philosophers of the post-Wittgenstein anglophone tradition, including the work of many women who have too often been neglected by the historical record.During 1963–64, Kenny was a lecturer in philosophy at Exeter and Trinity Colleges, Oxford, and he served as University Lecturer 1965–78. He was a member of the Board of the British Library 1991-96 and Chairman 1993–96, and has served as Chairman of the Society for Protection of Science and Learning (1989–93), of the British National Corpus Advisory Board (1990–95), of the British Irish Association (1990–94), and of the Board of the Warburg Institute (1996–2000).

With Peter Geach, he has made a significant contribution to analytical Thomism, a movement whose aim is to present the thought of St. The only minor issue is in relation to trhe way this book is structured: I am not 100% sure that splitting each period into two parts (a relatively short history of the individual philosophers, followed by an analysis by thematic area) is necessarily the best approach, as it may cause a loss of focus on the system of thought and contribution of the individual philosopher. This book is no less than a guide to the whole of Western philosophy-the ideas that have undergirded our civilization for two-and-a-half thousand years.There were a few explanations of theories that were not particularly clear and could have been helped with illustrations or perhaps an alternative approach to explain it. Unfortunately, the cosmopolitanism characteristic of late 19th and early 20 th century philosophy did not survive beyond that point. Yet the impression that Kenny gave me is that Kant’s philosophical views are torn into different pieces in different thematic chapters, so that terms like a priori, a posteriori, analytic, synthetic, antinomies and mathematical/dynamic sublimity are, to me, loosely connected words with Kant’s views but their relationships with each other remain obscure to me. The start of the 2020 and the quarantine oddly enough had its benefits, it gave me the opportunity to finish it. Presenting the history of Western philosophy, this book charts the story of philosophy from the founders of Christian and Islamic thought through to the Renaissance.

A New History of Western Philosophy is a stimulating chronicle of the intellectual development of Western civilization, allowing readers to trace the birth and growth of philosophy from antiquity to the present day. It is not (just) an introduction to the famous names, as so many other such introductions tend to be, but it really does introduce philosophy itself as a subject.Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA (born 16 March 1931) is a British philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of Wittgenstein of whose literary estate he is an executor. There is, however, nothing on Quine's conception of naturalized epistemology (the epistemology chapter ends with a discussion of Wittgenstein's On Certainty), which strikes me as a serious oversight, given the extent to which Quine's brand of naturalism, with its attendant blurring of the distinction between philosophy and science, came to dominate Anglophone philosophy.