A New History of Western Philosophy

A New History of Western Philosophy

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  • Create Date:2021-07-15 09:54:45
  • Update Date:2025-09-06
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  • Author:Anthony Kenny
  • ISBN:0199656495
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Summary

The individual volumes of Sir Anthony Kenny's acclaimed History of Western Philosophy have been hailed as "wonderfulauthoritativehugely rewarding" (Times Higher Education Supplement) and "genial and highly accessible" (London Review of Books)。 Now these four splendid books have been combined into one magnificent volume, providing a continuous sweeping account of the great thought of the Western world。 Here readers will find not only an authoritative guide to the history of philosophy, but also a compelling introduction to every major area of philosophical inquiry。 Kenny tells the story of philosophy chronologically, his lively narrative bringing the great philosophers to life and filling in the historical and intellectual background to their work。 Kenny also looks closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration: knowledge and understanding; science; metaphysics; mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God。 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。

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Reviews

Matthias

After reading Bertrand Russell's history, it was a welcome change to see so much of philosophies history treated with respect and dignity。 Kenny, inevitably colored by some bias, finds a way to present even the most antiquated ideas in a way that does justice to the originator or advocate of the idea。 His method of presentation may be somewhat off putting to some, and even is a bit redundant at times, but I found it intensely helpful to committing the major ideas and thinkers to memory。 He start After reading Bertrand Russell's history, it was a welcome change to see so much of philosophies history treated with respect and dignity。 Kenny, inevitably colored by some bias, finds a way to present even the most antiquated ideas in a way that does justice to the originator or advocate of the idea。 His method of presentation may be somewhat off putting to some, and even is a bit redundant at times, but I found it intensely helpful to committing the major ideas and thinkers to memory。 He starts with a brief history of the people of a period in the first couple chapters of each volume and then, discusses their ideas in greater depth in successive chapters by discipline。 This method is one I much enjoyed but realize that many may prefer the more linear method of Russell or Grayling's history。 That said, after also reading Russell's history, I found him to be much more judgemental of antiquated ideas then Kenny even though Russell is clearly the more eloquent writer。If you are interested in a genuine history of Western Philosophy that does its best to treat all past thinkers with their due dignity, this is the best I've found。 Some people object that this book poorly handles continental thinkers, and it is apparent that Kenny has an analytic bias, but the other available single author histories do much worse by thinkers like Hegel and Marx。 Worth a read for anyone who wants a grand overview of the discipline and its history。 。。。more

Mike F

A surface-level history of mental masturbation a。k。a。 philosophy。

Goo

Will add individual parts once read。

Kseniya

It took me two years to read it in my free time。 The start of the 2020 and the quarantine oddly enough had its benefits, it gave me the opportunity to finish it。It was all worth it。 I would recommend it to anyone curious about philosophy, but who has enough patience to finish a long read。 You will be gratified at the end of the journey, a lot of things in European culture would make more sense。

Б。 Ачболд

Философи сурахад хэд хэдэн төрлийн материал байвал нэмэртэй юм шиг:1。 Платон, Аристотель г。м。 философичдын өөрсдийн бүтээл—анхдагч эх сурвалжтай тодорхой хэмжээнд танилцахгүйгээр философи сурна гэж байхгүй байх。2。 Ямар нэгэн төрлийн ‘нэвтэрхий толь’: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy интернэт дээр байнга шинэчлэгдэж байдаг мэдээж хамгийн шилдэг нь。3。 (Яваандаа) сурах бичиг маягийн номууд: epistemology [‘мэдэхүй’ гэхээр арай л биш]-ийн нэг ном, logic-ийн нэг ном, metaphysics [‘оршихуй’ гэхээр б Философи сурахад хэд хэдэн төрлийн материал байвал нэмэртэй юм шиг:1。 Платон, Аристотель г。м。 философичдын өөрсдийн бүтээл—анхдагч эх сурвалжтай тодорхой хэмжээнд танилцахгүйгээр философи сурна гэж байхгүй байх。2。 Ямар нэгэн төрлийн ‘нэвтэрхий толь’: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy интернэт дээр байнга шинэчлэгдэж байдаг мэдээж хамгийн шилдэг нь。3。 (Яваандаа) сурах бичиг маягийн номууд: epistemology [‘мэдэхүй’ гэхээр арай л биш]-ийн нэг ном, logic-ийн нэг ном, metaphysics [‘оршихуй’ гэхээр бас арай л биш]-ийн нэг ном г。м。4。 Гол нь гэхдээ энэ бүгдийг ‘базаж’ хооронд нь авцалдуулсан харьцангуй хялбар (гэхдээ дэндүү хялбар биш) ганц хоёр ном。 Тэр нь энэ Anthony Kenny-гийн A New History of Western Philosophy байж болох юм шиг санагдлаа。 Философичдыг бүгдийг нь уншина гэж байхгүй (философийн доктор хамгаалдаггүй л юм бол)。 Тэгэхээр дутуугаа нөхөхөд нэг ийм ном хэрэгтэй байх。 Зүйрлэвэл байшингийн хундамент зуурч байхад хайрга чулуу [анхдагч эх сурвалж], тэдгээрийг хооронд нь авцалдуулах шавар [багшийн хичээл лекц, иймэрхүү ном, подкаст] хэрэгтэй。 Mиний хувьд Аристотелийг уншиж байгаагүй, энэ тал дээрх хэрэгцээг бага зэрэг нөхөөд, Early Modern үерүү ороход нэмэр болж байна。 A New History of Western Philosophy-ийн сайн талууд гэвэл:—Дотор нь 4 ном багтаж байгаа гэж ойлгож болно: ancient, scholastic, early modern & modern philosophy。—Kenny өөрөө дээрх (барууны) философийн 4 үе тус бүр дээр судалгаа хийж байсан философич хүн。 (Гэхдээ мэдээж нэг л хүний үзэл бодлыг уншиж байгаагаа анхаарах хэрэгтэй байх。 Ерөнхийдөө найдаж болохоор үзэл бодлууд байж таараа (судалгаан дээр тулгуурласан г。м。)。 Гэхдээ жишээ нь Аристотель талруугаа, Платоныг арай доогуур үзсэн нтр гээд өөр нэг review-гээс уншиж байсан юм байна。 Nietzsche, Marx нтр гээд anglophone-биш философичдыг Кенни яаж бичиж дүгнэснийг мэдэхгүй。 Russell-аас гэхдээ хамаагүй дээр байх。)—Дээр хэлсэнчлэн, хэт хялбарчлаагүй, зарим талаараа анхан шатны сурах бичиг маягаар ашиглаж болох юм шиг。 ‘Ном’ болгон нь хоёр хэсгээс ерөнхийдөө бүрдэнэ: эхлээд тухайн цаг үеийн (жишээ нь эртний үе) философчдыг ерөнхийд нь танилцуулна。 Дараа нь судалгааны сэдвүүдийг тус бүрд нь авч үзнэ。 “Modern Philosophy” дотор жишээ нь: философичдын танилцуулга (нийт 3 бүлэг), Logic, Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Ethics, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, God гэсэн бүлгүүд байна。—Mэдээж ганц энэ номыг уншаад философи сурна гэж байхгүй。 Гэхдээ зөв ашиглавал их хэрэгтэй ном шиг санагдлаа。 Mиний бодлоор эхнээс дуустал нь уншихаас илүүтэйгээр хажуугаар нь өөр юм хараад, гол эх сурвалжуудаас нь уншаад явах хэрэгтэй байх。Анхааруулга: шрифт нтр нь гоё царайлаг ном гэхдээ эхэндээ жаахан сонин үнэртэй байж байгаад гадаа уншаад байсан чинь аяндаа арилчихсан。 ebook ээрээ надад байгаа олдохгүй бол надаас аваарай。 。。。more

Steen Ledet

Remarkably readable, an astonishing achievement of breadth and clarity。 The modern section does leave out too many philosophers, though。

Professor_lgd

It's too dense for me to read in one go, so I thought I will use it as a reference for particular philosophers I am engaging with at the time。 But then I found that, when reading Kant and Hume and Berkeley for example, that there are better lecture series and books on any particular time period or topic than what I find in here。In the end I never came back to this book。 I can see the value it has for what it tries to do, and maybe someone finds it worth their time to read this thing in one go/ o It's too dense for me to read in one go, so I thought I will use it as a reference for particular philosophers I am engaging with at the time。 But then I found that, when reading Kant and Hume and Berkeley for example, that there are better lecture series and books on any particular time period or topic than what I find in here。In the end I never came back to this book。 I can see the value it has for what it tries to do, and maybe someone finds it worth their time to read this thing in one go/ or as an addition to their readings of a particular period/ philosopher。 Furthermore, I can not judge whether his depictions are actually accurate。 I gave up on the book after reading the first of the four chapters/ books。 。。。more

Whaff

great

Marb

A bit hard and sometimes a little too academic as an introduction to Western Philosophy。 Also, Kenny splits the intellectual history and the philosophical themes。 This is sometimes really nice, and sometimes makes the book unnecessarily hard and dry。However, these are small complaints。 A great book!

Marco

3。5/5 stars: a very "traditional" approach to the history of philosophy that loses steam as it gets closer to the present。 The structure — some initial chapters that present an outline of the period covered by that volume, followed by thematic chapters dedicated to each core topic — was very useful。 3。5/5 stars: a very "traditional" approach to the history of philosophy that loses steam as it gets closer to the present。 The structure — some initial chapters that present an outline of the period covered by that volume, followed by thematic chapters dedicated to each core topic — was very useful。 。。。more

Pastor Matt

Oddly structured and long but worth the time。 Kenny often lapses into unnecessary tangents and largely runs through the lives of philosophers to get to sections grouping their metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, etc。 takes getting used to but I still am indebted to the author for a the wealth of information。

Cioran

Comprehensive。 Highly readable。 Up-to-date。 High academic standards。 Right author for the right job。 What more do you need?

Kallia Papadopoulou

ok

Alex

This book is a good introduction of philosophy。 I especially enjoyed the history of thought half of the book。 However before buying this book one ought to be aware that it does focus more on topics such as metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of god at the expense of ethics and political philosophy- which were my focuses。

Biblio Curious

What a great read!! I'll be unpacking these ideas and newly formed list of books to read for a long, long time! I feel like I just went through a very broad and relatively detailed overview of Western Philosophy。 Kenny's writing is informative, sometimes witty, concise and extremely organized。 The Greek philosopher section was pretty dense as he was condensing a lot of information into those pages。 I'll review this book in more fun detail and link it here in a day or 2。 I'm off to polish of the What a great read!! I'll be unpacking these ideas and newly formed list of books to read for a long, long time! I feel like I just went through a very broad and relatively detailed overview of Western Philosophy。 Kenny's writing is informative, sometimes witty, concise and extremely organized。 The Greek philosopher section was pretty dense as he was condensing a lot of information into those pages。 I'll review this book in more fun detail and link it here in a day or 2。 I'm off to polish of the World's Writing Systems now ^。^It took quite a bit longer than a few days, but here's the video review I finally put together:https://youtu。be/9xmBdLvZszE 。。。more

John Conquest

I should have Started with the Greeks™ tbh

Ben Holloway

The only problem with this book is that it ends。 And at 996 pages that's saying something。 Kenny divided the book into four parts correlating to four epochs of philosophical history。 Within each part are two sections, one devoted to the historical narrative and flow of ideas, the other devoted to an analysis of the key ideas within the period as they fall under the various sub-disciplines of philosophy。 Kenny's exposition of the key works of the western philosophical tradition is clear and fair。 The only problem with this book is that it ends。 And at 996 pages that's saying something。 Kenny divided the book into four parts correlating to four epochs of philosophical history。 Within each part are two sections, one devoted to the historical narrative and flow of ideas, the other devoted to an analysis of the key ideas within the period as they fall under the various sub-disciplines of philosophy。 Kenny's exposition of the key works of the western philosophical tradition is clear and fair。 Kenny also pays attention to medieval philosophers who provided key developments in philosophy often skimmed over or relegated to later era by other accounts。 Kenny's fairness extends to the importance of Christianity in the development of western philosophy with sections on Martin Luther and John Calvin。 Many contemporary philosophers consider such developments as out of bounds to philosophers。 Kenny shows how understanding theological developments enhances an understanding of the development of philosophical ideas。 On the whole, this book is the one to beat。 I highly recommend it。 。。。more

Swarup Mondal

Far better than Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy。This book doesn't only provide information but also provides the reader the feeling, mainly because of the impersonal writing style。 Far better than Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy。This book doesn't only provide information but also provides the reader the feeling, mainly because of the impersonal writing style。 。。。more

Christopher Lancaster

Quite comprehensive。 Engaging when you are familiar with the Philosophers treated and/or the particular focus and even when you aren't it is explained lucidly。 Quite comprehensive。 Engaging when you are familiar with the Philosophers treated and/or the particular focus and even when you aren't it is explained lucidly。 。。。more

Alex Obrigewitsch

This book is so biased in its accounts and delivery。 Be very aware of his while reading。Devoting multiple sections to Wittgenstein (albeit his importance), while giving a pittance to Heidegger and a terrible view of Derrida which exudes its misunderstanding, for example, make its author's firm positioning in the analytic camp blatantly obvious This book is so biased in its accounts and delivery。 Be very aware of his while reading。Devoting multiple sections to Wittgenstein (albeit his importance), while giving a pittance to Heidegger and a terrible view of Derrida which exudes its misunderstanding, for example, make its author's firm positioning in the analytic camp blatantly obvious 。。。more

Chalky

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but after a few pages I gave up。 Other reviewers thought this brilliant, so it probably is, but after reading the Coppleston series years ago and Betrand Russell's histories, I got lazy。 Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but after a few pages I gave up。 Other reviewers thought this brilliant, so it probably is, but after reading the Coppleston series years ago and Betrand Russell's histories, I got lazy。 。。。more

Adnan

This book has been a great adventure。 I recommend this book to all lovers of philosophy。 I have finished slightly less than half the book in Febraury and March of 2020。 This is an indispensable companion to philosophic thought and ideas; from the start of the book Anthony Kenny proves that both The History of Philosophy, and The Philosophy of History are disciplines that are appropriately within the realm of philosophy; that they both exists as branches of philosophy。 The book ends majestically, This book has been a great adventure。 I recommend this book to all lovers of philosophy。 I have finished slightly less than half the book in Febraury and March of 2020。 This is an indispensable companion to philosophic thought and ideas; from the start of the book Anthony Kenny proves that both The History of Philosophy, and The Philosophy of History are disciplines that are appropriately within the realm of philosophy; that they both exists as branches of philosophy。 The book ends majestically, by stating a failure of a much esteemed history of Western Philosophy; that, written by Bertrand Russel。 The book re-presents The Ontological Argument, once thought concluded, done, and dispensed with, in new light。 Philosophy never ends, and I will most certainly return to this book again and again and again。I highly recommend this masterpiece of both history and philosophy。 。。。more

Tso William

While intellectual history is a bird’s eye view of the intellectual landscape, a history of philosophy is a x-ray version of that landscape。 A Gothic church has her beautiful stained glass windows, paintings and all other exquisite adornments but they merely suggest or altogether fail to tell us the underlying structure that supports the church itself。 The relation between ideas and philosophy is similar。 Philosophy reveals what is the underlying flows behind the intellectual ideas。 It is, there While intellectual history is a bird’s eye view of the intellectual landscape, a history of philosophy is a x-ray version of that landscape。 A Gothic church has her beautiful stained glass windows, paintings and all other exquisite adornments but they merely suggest or altogether fail to tell us the underlying structure that supports the church itself。 The relation between ideas and philosophy is similar。 Philosophy reveals what is the underlying flows behind the intellectual ideas。 It is, therefore, an x-ray version of the intellectual history。Books on the history of philosophy are not in short supply。 Bertrand Russell‘s History of Western Philosophy is a classic but it is biased and too outdated to include any philosophical views after 1945。 A History of Philosophy by Frederick Copleston is more objective and much more exhaustive but it runs more than several thousand pages。 There are numerous other philosophy books in the market, with titles like ‘Philosophy for Dummies’ or ‘100 Philosophical Ideas You Must Know’。 As their very titles suggest, one cannot hope to get much from them。 Anthony Kenny‘s A New History of Western Philosophy provides a viable option。From Thales in the fifth century BC to Quine in the twentieth century, Kenny introduced us the ideas of all the major philosophers in the Western civilization。 He combined his narrative with his earlier four volumes: Ancient Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Rise of Modern Philosophy and Modern Philosophy。 In each volume, he divided the narrative into two sections。 The first section concerns with the intellectual history that gave some brief summaries of and historical background behind the philosophical views。 The second section is divided into a number of thematic chapters。 Depending on the different periods, some topics were treated extensively, while others disappeared totally。 Logic, for example, was briefly absent in Rise of Modern Philosophy but reappear in the later volume。 Physics is no longer a stand-alone philosophical subject after Newton and accordingly Kenny was silent on it in Modern Philosophy。Whether this two-sections approach is appropriate is open to question。 Kenny explained that a reader who is concerned with intellectual history can look at the chronological survey in the first section。 The second sections are for readers who are interested in specific philosophical issues。 However firstly, his account of intellectual history is less than satisfactory。 Secondly, his thematic treatments have torn coherent philosophical ideas into pieces。 Thirdly, general readers might find it difficult to read specific philosophical issues。 Let me explain each in turn。Kenny’s intellectual history is a little better than ‘who’s who’ in philosophy。 He briefly described the lives of the philosophers, and then outlined their ideas。 Historical, cultural, social, scientific and a host of other factors are absent from the discussions。 This section merely serves to provide a very short summary of the ideas that will be elaborated in the later thematic chapters。 Kenny should learn from other masterpieces to learn how to write intellectual history better。Philosophers’ views may not be so tight-knit as to form a system of thought, but certainly their takes on different issues should form a coherent view that are distinctive to that particular philosopher。 For example, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is one closely-argued thesis and is then followed by his two other critiques on practical reason and judgment。 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。A related problem is that general readers are perhaps less interested in such careful comparisons of philosophers’ view on one topic。 General readers are one of Kenny’s target audiences since he hoped to write for people’s ‘own information and entertainment’。 In this respect, Bertrand Russell’s treatment of presenting philosophers’ views may be more suitable。Beside the shortcomings of the two-sections approach, I am also puzzled by Kenny’s selections。 He gave equal attention to medieval philosophy as to philosophy from 1500s onward but the former’s impact on the modern world is much less significant。 This might be due to Kenny’s own specialities in medieval philosophy。 I am also disappointed that after mentioning Heidegger and Sartre in the so-called intellectual history, they received no attention in the subsequent chapters。 It would have been recommended to cut down parts of the medieval philosophy to make room for the existentialism of Heidegger and Sartre。Nevertheless, I would stress that these are relative minor criticisms in comparison to the task that Kenny has set for himself and has, to certain extent, succeeded。 Kenny can write in lucid prose and supplied his own examples to concretise the abstract ideas。 He did not attempt to ‘dumb down’ his materials to suit the tastes of some casual readers。 Very substantively, he outlined the philosophical concepts that one might encounter in a philosophy course, albeit in a much more interesting and readable prose。More importantly, he presented the materials under very critical scrutiny, so that the narrative is filled with shrewd observations。 He criticized Descartes to have made himself handicapped by radically abandoning Aristotelean notions。 He was also not afraid to present Derrida as a pseudo-philosopher。 Opinions and observations of such kind are littered in many places in his narrative and are a particular boon for a general reader。It should be reminded, however, that one should be prepared to read this work with patience and diligence。 As said, Kenny introduced substantial philosophical concepts and so it can be very academic at times。 His logic chapters are, for example, very difficult to understand for a general reader who has never undertaken any formal logic course。 I myself relied extensively on other secondary materials (e。g。 Very Short Introduction series and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) to make sense some of the ideas。As a result, the work can be in an embarrassed position。 An academic scholar will find the work too simplistic while a casual reader will find it much too difficult to handle。 A general reader well-versed in philosophy or a senior philosophy student already specialized in one branch of the philosophy will find the work welcoming for presenting philosophy in a panoramic picture。The issue remains: whether Kenny’s A New History of Western Philosophy provides a x-ray version of intellectual history。 The verdict will be a qualified yes。 Although his two-sections treatment may not be the most desirable approach, his concrete introduction surely gives readers a very solid understanding on the Western philosophy。 His learnt opinions in many instances are special gems。 Anyone who read it from cover to cover will find it deeply rewarding。From: http://1989nineteeneightynine。wordpre。。。More reviews from: http://1989nineteeneightynine。wordpre。。。 。。。more

kirby677

A textbook detailing the history of western philosophy by breaking it apart into digestible and accessible parts。 The structure of the book was initially confusing but the patterned layout of the text makes a lot of sense when you're reading this as an introduction to the subject, because people who do philosophy don't tend to do all philosophy; the text is the history of philosophy but has in mind people with no interest in the history of philosophy who just want to see what philosophy is。 The A textbook detailing the history of western philosophy by breaking it apart into digestible and accessible parts。 The structure of the book was initially confusing but the patterned layout of the text makes a lot of sense when you're reading this as an introduction to the subject, because people who do philosophy don't tend to do all philosophy; the text is the history of philosophy but has in mind people with no interest in the history of philosophy who just want to see what philosophy is。 The text is also structured around only including certain philosophers and doesn't create loose ends by mentioning anyone only once or twice。 Anyone mentioned in the text is very thoroughly explored in the various fields they may have been involved in, which makes the text seem organized and serves to make learning from the text easier as well because of the repeated appearance of the philosophers that are mentioned。 。。。more

Richard Larsen

An excellent introduction and very readable。 The topic,of course, is very difficult and thankfully, it is not dumbed down。 If anyone understands Frege's symbolic logic or Wittgenstein in general, you are doing better than me。 An excellent introduction and very readable。 The topic,of course, is very difficult and thankfully, it is not dumbed down。 If anyone understands Frege's symbolic logic or Wittgenstein in general, you are doing better than me。 。。。more

WarpDrive

A must read for all individuals seriously interested in the history of Western Philosophy。 Reading this full book can be a significant but very rewarding undertaking。 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 co A must read for all individuals seriously interested in the history of Western Philosophy。 Reading this full book can be a significant but very rewarding undertaking。 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。 。。。more