The History of Western Philosophy

If you've ever wanted to understand the greatest thinkers in the history of Western Philosophy, here's some simple advice: read all of them and all of their books. No problem, right? Start with the Pre-Socratic fragments, then onto Plato, Aristotle, up through the Philosophy of the Church, then into the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, British Empiricism, Romanticism, German Idealism, Pragmatism, Logical Positivism, and the list goes on. Oh, by the way, if you really want to understand this stuff, you'll have to know a bit about the historical context in which these thinkers thought, too. The reality is that, if you're reading speed doesn't reach 2,000 words-per-minute, and if you don't have the desire to go to college for that doctorate in Philosophy, you're probably not going to be able to cover all of the greatest Western thinkers in their deserved depth.This is where Bertrand Russell comes in. Bertrand, an early twentieth century thinker, educated at Cambridge, does the incredible: he provides a comprehensive history of Western thought, that is not only easy to understand, but amazingly hard to put down. Even if you're not usually interested in philosophy, Russell's lively account will pull you in. It's filled with history, humor, ancedotes and fascinating lives, but, most of all, it's filled with great ideas that will cringe your brow and make you ponder.The History is easy to get through. It's written in quick, easy-to-digest chapters, usually about 10-15 pages in length. Want to know about Aristotle's Ethics? Read the chapter. Want to know about Christianity During the First Four Centuries? About Mohammedan Culture and Philosophy? About the Italian Renaissance? About Machiavelli, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, or Marx? Read the chapters. If you're eager for knowledge, your excitement will lead you quickly through this book, and Russell's intelligence and humor will not let you down. He's a great teacher.A few criticisms. Because Russell is not afraid to give his opinion of all the philosophers, sometimes you wonder if you're getting the real picture. For example, he paints Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the arch-villain of history; this is certainly an intriguing perspective, but I can't help but question the author's implicit conclusion that Rousseau is almost singularly responsible for the ills of the world. Also, while the content is generally well-balanced, Russell gives an undue amount of attention to Locke (40+ pages), and two modern philosophers, Bergson (20 pages), and Dewey. As John Dewey is Russell's contemporary, Russell seems to have a keen desire to ingratiate himself to the man, and such toadying doesn't play well in a History of Western Philosophy. On the whole, though, the book sings.You may think you're going to use this as a reference, but, like a good bag of potato chips, once you taste a bit of it, you'll want to finish the whole thing and your hand

This is an essential starting place for an examination of western thought and history. Russell captures the major thrusts of most of the influential philosophical thinkers shaping western thought. His style is, architypically, Russell through and through, which makes the book fun and easy to read. His logical background tempers his comments and, in my opinion, keeps the treatment of the material unbiased (with the exceptions of Russell's almost tongue and cheek comments on what he considers outlandish thought processes). The sheer scope of the information presented, gives one pause to reflect on Russell's knowledge of the subject. It's no wonder his life demonstrated a lack of fundamental philosophical grounding, but rather celebrated a love of the discovery of life. The subject matter is laid out chronologically and is good night stand reading for the casual reader. A good read for the serious student as well as the general reader.

This is a fantastic reference book. I bought the "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition," a series of high quality lectures produced by TeachCo.com, and I used Russell's book as a supplement. It turned out to be a great way to learn about philosophy. I really enjoyed the fact that Russell gives his opinion rather than trying to be artificially objective. My favorite part, that actually had me laughing (laughing at a philosophy book!), was the bit about what Buddha and Nietzsche would each say to the Almighty when asked to give advice about what sort of world He should create. Buddha would go first, then Nietzsche would respond to the Buddha's arguments. Russell writes, "Nietzsche, whom only Omnipotence could restrain from interrupting, would burst out when his turn came: 'Good heavens, man, you must learn to be of tougher fibre. Why go about snivelling because trivial people suffer? Or, for that matter, because great men suffer? Trivial people suffer trivially, great men suffer greatly...'" The book is very readable. Unfortunately, it was published in 1945, so it does not cover important modern figures such as Foucault, Heidegger, Derrida, etc., but it still absolutely worth owning.

Russell's "History of Western Philosophy" is not the best introduction to western philosophy that I have read. That place goes to Antony Flew's "Introduction to Western Philosophy." But for many readers, Russell's is still the better book. Flew's book is purely about philosophy. Russell, on the other hand, strives to place thought in its social context, and he is so successful that the book doubles as an outline history of the western world, and a very interesting one. Also, Russell's deep understanding of the relationship between philosophy and science adds interest. Finally, Russell's clear explanations of difficult concepts should make those concepts clear even to the novice or near-novice; Flew's book, although it assumes no knowledge of philosophy, is more technical, and so is not suitable for all novices.Despite this book's well-deserved status as a classic work, it has some major flaws that a reader should keep in mind, all stemming from Russell's intolerance of viewpoints different from his own. Russell, like other logical positivists, saw no place for metaphysics in philosophy. In his "History of Western Philosophy," he makes no effort to curb that bias, resulting in what might be considered unfair treatments of all thinkers who did not stick purely to science. Also, Russell has no tolerance for systems of thought that do not conform to his preferences for democracy, atheism, pacifism, and social liberalism. So Plato is described as just another proponent of totalitarianism, Rousseau is portrayed as a crackpot and Nietzsche is depicted as a warmonger, but the much less significant thinkers John Dewey and William James get personal kudos for being nice progressive guys full of human kindness. Russell's book is a great place to start, but to get a fair treatment of thinkers such as Rousseau and Nietzsche, it should be supplemented with material such as the chapters on those thinkers in Strauss and Cropsey's "History of Political Philosophy." And, of course, read Copleston's "History of Philosophy" if you have time.