Summary
The gospel of philosophy according to Bertrand Russell begins at the dawn of historical records. In the beginning were the Pre-Socratics, who said many things. Then came the Platonists, who said fewer things, only to be surpassed by the Aristotelians, who said even less. When we arrive at the Middle Ages, folks were saying very little indeed. In the Dark Ages, a silence had broken out; it continued for quite some time, but alas, this state of affairs could not continue. Sooner or later, someone would start talking again. Literally crawling out of an oven, René Descartes presented a freshly baked philosophy to the world, which started the conversation again, and people haven’t stopped talking since.
Thoughts
This book was much more entertaining than it should have been, thanks to Russell’s wit and commentary. Written during World War II, this book helped earn him the Nobel Prize in Literature. Covering such a vast history, mistakes or mischaracterizations were bound to happen. Even so, this book is a great help to start to put some ideas to names. He functions as an opinionated tour guide who helps tie the whole thing together. You may come to a section of the tour where you have enough familiarity with a topic to disagree with his analysis, but in lieu of having your own opinions on things, you could do worse than adopting a few of Russell’s.
#book #bertrand_russell #history_of_philosophy #pre_socratics #platonists #aristotelians #middle_ages #rene_descartes #philosophical_history #nobel_prize_literature #wit_and_commentary
People/Bertrand Russell