The History of Philosophy


Book Description

AUTHORITATIVE AND ACCESSIBLE, THIS LANDMARK WORK IS THE FIRST SINGLE-VOLUME HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY SHARED FOR DECADES 'A cerebrally enjoyable survey, written with great clarity and touches of wit' Sunday Times The story of philosophy is an epic tale: an exploration of the ideas, views and teachings of some of the most creative minds known to humanity. But there has been no comprehensive history of this great intellectual journey since 1945. Intelligible for students and eye-opening for philosophy readers, A. C. Grayling covers with characteristic clarity and elegance subjects like epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, logic, and the philosophy of mind, as well as the history of debates in these areas, through the ideas of celebrated philosophers as well as less well-known influential thinkers. The History of Philosophy takes the reader on a journey from the age of the Buddha, Confucius and Socrates. Through Christianity's dominance of the European mind to the Renaissance and Enlightenment. On to Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre, then the philosophical traditions of India, China and the Persian-Arabic world. And finally, into philosophy today.




The Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos


Book Description

Preliminary material -- THE MAIN PROBLEMS -- THE GREEK TEXT -- BIOGRAPHICAL DATA -- PORPHYRY'S ACCOUNT OF SANCHUNIATHON -- PHILO'S ACCOUNT OF SANCHUNIATHON -- THE COSMOGONY -- THE DISCOVERERS -- THE LIFE OF KRONOS -- KRONOS' VICTORY and PHILO'S CONCLUSION -- CHILD SACRIFICE and SNAKES -- CONCLUSIONS -- INDEX OF NAMES -- INDEX OF PASSAGES -- ÉTUDES PRÉLIMINAIRES AUX RELIGIONS ORIENTALES DANS L'EMPIRE ROMAIN.




A Short History of Philosophy


Book Description

Provides a brief history of Western philosophy and philosophers, and provides information on Eastern philosophy and philosophers in such areas as Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and Jainism.




Philo of Alexandria


Book Description

This first biography of Philo of Alexandria, one of antiquity's most prolific yet enigmatic authors, traces his intellectual development from Bible interpreter to diplomat in Rome




History of Philosophy


Book Description




Philosophy and Its History


Book Description

This book is a systematic and comprehensive treatment of issues involved in philosophical historiography. It deals with such topics as the relation of philosophy to its history, the role of value judgments in historical accounts, the value of the history of philosophy for philosophy, the nature and role of texts and their interpretation in the history of philosophy, historiographical method, and the stages of development of philosophical progress. The book defends two main theses. The first is that the history of philosophy must be done philosophically, that is, it must include philosophical judgments. The second is that one way to bring a rapprochement between Anglo-American and Continental philosophy is through the study of the history of philosophy and its historiography. An extensive bibliography of pertinent materials and detailed indexes close the book.




Studies in the History of Philosophy and Religion


Book Description

Readers familiar with the luminous scholarly contributions of Harry Austryn Wolfson will welcome this rich collection of essays that have been previously published in widely dispersed journals and books, The articles range over Aristotle and Plato; Philo; the Church Fathers; and Arabic, Jewish, and Christian philosophers of the Middle Ages: Averroes and Avicenna, Maimonides, and Thomas Aquinas. The twenty-eight pieces are arranged in such a manner that ideas develop and are pursued from one article to the next, forming a coherent whole. According to the editors, "This volume reflects the most basic biographical fact about Wolfson: his life has been one of unflagging commitment, uninterrupted creativity, and truly remarkable achievement...Wolfson's scholarship will be viewed with awe and admiration and his impact will be durable. He has added new dimensions to philosophical scholarship and illuminated wide areas of religious thought, plotting the terrain, blazing trails, and erecting guideposts for scores of younger scholars."







Hegel's Concept of Life


Book Description

Karen Ng sheds new light on Hegel's famously impenetrable philosophy. She does so by offering a new interpretation of Hegel's idealism and by foregrounding Hegel's Science of Logic, revealing that Hegel's theory of reason revolves around the concept of organic life. Beginning with the influence of Kant's Critique of Judgment on Hegel, Ng argues that Hegel's key philosophical contributions concerning self-consciousness, freedom, and logic all develop around the idea of internal purposiveness, which appealed to Hegel deeply. She charts the development of the purposiveness theme in Kant's third Critique, and argues that the most important innovation from that text is the claim that the purposiveness of nature opens up and enables the operation of the power of judgment. This innovation is essential for understanding Hegel's philosophical method in the Differenzschrift (1801) and Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), where Hegel, developing lines of thought from Fichte and Schelling, argues against Kant that internal purposiveness constitutes cognition's activity, shaping its essential relation to both self and world. From there, Ng defends a new and detailed interpretation of Hegel's Science of Logic, arguing that Hegel's Subjective Logic can be understood as Hegel's version of a critique of judgment, in which life comes to be understood as opening up the possibility of intelligibility. She makes the case that Hegel's theory of judgment is modelled on reflective and teleological judgments, in which something's species or kind provides the objective context for predication. The Subjective Logic culminates in the argument that life is a primitive or original activity of judgment, one that is the necessary presupposition for the actualization of self-conscious cognition. Through bold and ambitious new arguments, Ng demonstrates the ongoing dialectic between life and self-conscious cognition, providing ground-breaking ways of understanding Hegel's philosophical system.




On the Embassy to Gaius


Book Description

An ancient Roman history text, translated by Charles Yonge, and written by the Greek philosopher Philo of Alexandria. The Embassy to Gaius was a meeting between Gaius Caligula, the then Roman Emperor, and a large contingent of Jews. They wished to overturn Gaius' plans to have a huge statue of Zeus installed in the temple. Gaius' hatred of the Jews is legendary. This book is important because it helps to understand the relations between Jews and Romans in the first century A.D.