Frederick (Freddie) Charles Copleston was raised an Anglican and educated at Marlborough College from 1920 to 1925. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday he converted to Catholicism, and his father subsequently almost disowned him. After the initial shock, however, his father saw fit to help Copleston through his education and he attended St. John’s in Oxford in 1925, only managing a disappointing third in classical moderations. He redeemed himself somewhat with a good second at Greats in 1929.
In 1930 Copleston became a Jesuit, and, after two years at the Jesuit novitiate in Roehampton, he moved to Heythrop. He was ordained a Jesuit priest at Heythrop College in 1937 and soon after went to Germany (1938) to complete his training. Fortunately he made it back to Britain before the outbreak of war in 1939. The war made it impossible for him to study for his doctorate, as once intended, at the Gregorian University in Rome, and instead Copleston was invited to return to Heythrop to teach the history of philosophy to the few remaining Jesuits there.
While in Heythrop Copleston had time and interest to begin the work he is most famous for, his "A History of Philosophy" - a textbook that originally set out to deliver a clear account of ancient, medieval and modern philosophy in three volumes, which was instead completed in nine volumes (1975). To this day Copleston’s history remains a monumental achievement and stays true to the authors it discusses, being very much a work in exposition.
Copleston adopted a number of honorary roles throughout the remainder of his career. He was appointed Visiting Professor at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, spending half of each year lecturing there from 1952 to 1968. He was made Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1970, given a personal professorship from his own university (Heythrop, now re-established in the University of London) in 1972 and made an Honorary Fellow of St. John’s College, Oxford, in 1975. He was Visiting Professor at the University of Santa Clara between 1974 and 1982, and he delivered the Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen between 1979 and 1981. His lectures were published under the title Religion and the One, and were largely a metaphysical tract attempting to express themes perennial in his thinking and more personal than in his history. Gerard J. Hughes notes Copleston as remarking "large doses of metaphysics like that certainly don’t boost one’s sales".
He received honorary doctorates from a number of institutions, notably, Santa Clara University, California, University of Uppsala and the University of St. Andrews (D.Litt) in later years. He was selected for membership in the Royal Institute of Philosophy and in the Aristotelian Society, and in 1993 he was made CBE.
Copleston’s personality saw him engage in the many responsibilities bestowed upon him with generous commitment and good humour.
جلد دوم و سوم تاریخ فلسفه کاپلستون سرگرم فلسفه قرون وسطاست. کاپلستون همون اول می خواد این تصور غالب رو از ذهنا پاک کنه که قرون وسطا آورده ای برای فلسفه نداشته. اما برداشت من غیرمتخصص از اون چیزی که تا نصف جلد دوم خوندم چیز دیگه ایه؛ این جلدها مشحون از مباحث کلامی و غیرفلسفیه و تلاش کاپلستون برای پررنگ کردن وجوه فلسفی آرای آبای کلیسا و اخلافش چندان موفق نیست. در نتیجه اونچه که به اسم فلسفه قرون وسطا می خوندم بسیار حوصله سر بر بود؛ از جلدهای دو و سه عبور کردم و رفتم سراغ جلد چهار. یعنی از دکارت به بعد . ترجمه هم با این که نسبتا متعادل بود اما قطعا به پای ترجمه ی جلد یک نمی رسید . زیاده عرضی نیست تا بخونیم و بریم جلو ببینیم چه خبره پ.ن: تو این جلد بعدها به فرانسین بیکن سر خواهم زد .
If there is to be any one aspect of Father Copleston's work for which I am grateful (and there is, in a sweeping yet quite comprehensive survey as he graced the world with), it would be his work on Ockham, and consequently the nominalism which resulted from his work. Now that I have stated that I am quite enthralled with William of Ockham, let me know state some aspects about the book.
I should confess, first of all, that I was rather apprehensive about picking up this volume of his History of Philosophy. The reason is rather childish, but it is because, well, it is on late medieval philosophy. And, granted, I struggled to make it through the final chapters on Francis Suarez. But the history of modern philosophy, beginning particularly with Descartes, is often misrepresented by a failure to appreciate the philosophic works of this time (which, in this work, is approximately the late 13th to the mid-15th centuries). (For example, I read Cajetan's Commentary on Being and Essence in conjunction with Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy, and discovered some terms employed by Cajetan which were repeated, not coincidentally, I believe, by Descartes. Keep in mind that Descartes was educated, for eight or nine years, at Le Fleche, a Jesuit boarding school, and would have been well-educated not only in Thomism, but also commentators on Thomas Aquinas and, naturally at the time, but in traditional Roman Catholic thought to guard against the encroachments of Protestantism.)
This said, the volume is divided into three main parts: Ockham and the Ockhamist movement, Renaissance philosophy, and the Scholasticism of the Renaissance. The former is, of course, occupied mostly by Ockham, with some considerations to nominalists after him; the latter is mostly on Francis Suarez. The second part, however, will, for many readers, be the most rewarding. It discusses the new-found interest in Plato (who had lost influence following the Aristotelianism of Aquinas), and the scientific movement with a discussion of Francis Bacon.
This last discussion, on Bacon, is the most disappointing aspect of the work. I felt that more attention should have been devoted to Bacon, while chapters on, for instance, speculative mysticism and two rather lengthy and detailed chapters on Suarez were not necessary. I would certainly say that Suarez, and most definitely the mystics, did not have the influence upon philosophy that Bacon exerted. This is the greatest complaint which, I think, can be levelled upon this particular volume.
Yet, of course, one cannot complain too much of a mind so erudite and a hand that worked so long and hard to provide his students, and future generations of students, a comprehensive history of philosophy; and the individual who believes that this is a volume which can be skipped over must simply reconsider that (poor) decision.
It is always a joy to sit down and read Copleston, in whom resides no agenda of any sort. His is a work of true scholarly humility, a fount of pure and unalloyed knowledge of the history of philosophical thoughts. He gives time to both the significant figures and the trivial, and a platform is equally offered to his friends as well as to his foes. In a day and age when most scholars prostitute their intellects to zeitgeist and various ideologies therein, being tutored by this old-fashioned Jesuit sage who has not compromised his honour and integrity is genuinely refreshing.
Reading the Jesuit priest Frederick Copleston's history of philosophy out of order. This third volume covers the period from William of Ockham and the nominalist movement at the end of the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and the beginnings of the Scientific Revolution all the way to Francis Suarez in the wake of the Council of Trent. Even though this was written originally for Catholic seminary students (and hence is biased to cover trends in Catholic philosophy: seriously, I have never seen so much attention paid to Suarez in any history of philosophy I've ever flipped through), it is probably the best history of philosophy out there. Incredibly thorough and well-written.
"When one looks at mediaeval philosophy, one certainly sees variety; but it is a variety within a common pattern, or at least it is a variety set against a common and well-defined background. There was certainly original thought; but none the less one gets the impression of a common effort, of what one may call teamwork. The thirteenth-century philosophers criticized one another's opinions; but they accepted not only the same religious faith but also, for the most part, the same metaphysical principles. One thus obtains the impression of a philosophical development which was carried on by men of independent minds but which was at the same time a common development, to which the individual philosophers made their several contributions."
"Whereas certain forms of Oriental thought would scarcely favour the study of nature, owing to the notion that the phenomenal world is illusion or mere 'appearance', Christian philosophy favoured in a sense the investigation of nature, or at least set no theoretical bar to it, because it regarded the material world not only as real but also as the creation of God, and so as worthy of study."
"For Ockham there is on the one hand God, free and omnipotent, and on the other hand creatures, utterly contingent and dependent. True, all orthodox Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages held the same; but the point is that according to Ockham the metaphysic of essences was a non-Christian invention which had no place in Christian theology and philosophy."
"The choice of the end and the choice of the means are both utterly contingent. This does not mean, of course, that we have to picture God as a sort of capricious superman, liable to alter the world-order from day to day or from moment to moment. On the supposition that God has chosen a world-order, that order remains stable. But the choice of the order is in no way necessary: it is the effect of the divine choice and of the divine choice alone." "If the order of the world is entirely contingent on the divine choice, it is obviously impossible to deduce it a priori. If we want to know what it is, one must examine what it is in fact."
يتناول هذا المجلد إجملاً فلسفة العصر الوسيط من اوكام (احد أعلام المذهب الاسمي) إلى سوريز في ثلاثة أجزاء، وتشمل أربعة وعشرين فصلاً، يستعرض خلالها العديد من الأفكار والحركات والمذاهب الفلسفية مثل الحركة الاوكامية-المذهب الاسمي، طبيعة الدولة والقانون، التصوف النظري، إحياء الأفلاطونية، نقد المنطق الأرسطي، فلسفة الطبيعة، الحركة العلمية في عصر النهضة، أثر العلم على الفلسفة، إحياء الاسكولائية وغيرها.
ما يثير للإهتمام في هذه الفترة هو تحول الجو العام للفلسفة نحو التجربة والبحث في العالم المادي بعد أن ظلَّ لوقت طويل محصوراً بالجانب النظري، وهذا لا يعني أن المنهج الفلسفي قد تغيَّر أو أُستبدل بمنهج جديد، بل يعني خلق بيئة فكرية مناسبة وداعمة لإزدهار التجربة، لذا نشهد بعد وقت قصير أن التجربة قد أحتلت صدارة المشهد الفلسفي في ذلك الوقت وما بعده، وهذا الأمر يرجع إلى كون الفلسفة المسيحية قد اعتبرت العالم المادي ليس حقيقياً فحسب، بل ايضاً اعتباره خليقة الله، وبالتالي فهو يستحق الدراسة.
الرأي الشخصي :
1. يحاول المؤلف إبراز ان الكنيسة واللاهوت المسيحي في العصور الوسطى كانت ذات نِتاج وتقدم بالنسبة للفلسفة، بل اكثر من ذلك فهو يحاول في هذا المجلد تبرير أفعال الكنيسة في محاكم التفتيش.
2. بغض النظر عن كل شيء فإن هذا الجزء الذي يعرض لفلسفة العصر الوسيط هو كنزٌ من المعارف الفلسفية كما يصرح بذلك المترجم إمام عبد الفتاح إمام.
This is the least interesting and most disappointing volume in Copleston's history so far. With a few exceptions (e.g, Bacon, Machiavelli), it contains minute detail on relatively minor figures in between Aquinas and the Enlightenment. In recounting the Renaissance, it arguably downplays the rift between Aristotelianism and Platonism and the confusions of Renaissance figures regarding which system was most consonant with their work and thought (for instance, Galileo mistakenly identified with Plato for complicated reasons). Two of the best parts of the book are at the end. Chapters on Hugo Grotius and Francis Suarez are fascinating and invaluable (particularly the latter's anticipation of an objective epistemology based on Aristotle and purified of his Platonic influence, which Ayn Rand would eventually achieve). Also, an overview of the first three volumes at this volume's end is useful (if incomplete--e.g., Augustine is omitted).
مفصل ترین کتاب تاریخ فلسفه در زبان فارسی به احتمال زیاد تاریخ فلسفه نوشته فردریک کاپلستون است که مرجع درسی دانشجویان فلسفه، و هم مرجع تدریس بسیاری از اساتید آنها، از دوره لیسانس تا دکترا است. دوره نه جلدی تاریخ فلسفه، به قلم چارلز کاپلستون، که به همت عده ای از مترجمان زبده به فارسی ترجمه شده است. مجموعه ای در دسترس خوانندگان فارسی زبان قرار می دهد که تا حد زیادی می توانند آنان را از متن های دیگر بی نیاز سازد، زیرا هدف نگارنده این بوده است که سیر تحول فلسفه را از آغاز تا اواخر قرن بیستم با زبانی ساده و روان برای خواننده تحصیل کرده معمولی بیان کند.
Como materialista este periodo me resulta menos atractivo desde el punto de vista de la filosofía natural. Desde la filosofía política sin embargo es muy interesante, y el surgimiento o consolidación de la filosofía del lenguaje también. - Nada que fuera libre puede ser eterno- - La reciente practica de desacreditar las letras con injurias personales, vil producto de un espíritu falto de dominio de si.- - No se puede encontrar certeza en las cuestiones morales en el mismo grado que en la ciencia matemática-
فقط یک پیشنهاد. قبل از خوندن فلسفه یا تاریخ فلسفه قرون وسطی سعی کنید یک مطالعه مقدماتی در کلام و الهیات مسیحی داشته باشید، چون فلسفه این دوره از کلام مسیحی تأثیر زیادی گرفته. در این جلد و جلد قبلی همین کتاب هم خواسته یا ناخواسته این اتفاق افتاده و مسائل کلامی مسیحیت مطرح شده من خودم به همین دلیل برخی از مطالب رو کامل متوجه نشدم
Useful overview of Ockham and whetted my curiosity about Francis Suarez's impact on political philosophy. Metaphysics just doesn't seem to be my thing, though.
اسم الكتاب: تاريخ الفلسفة: المجلد الثالث: من أوكام إلى سوريز. (موسوعة فلسفية) الكاتب: فريدريك كوبلستون (فيلسوف ومؤرخ ولاهوتي إنجليزي). تاريخ صدور الكتاب: الموسوعة مكونة من تسع مجلدات صدرت من 1946 إلى 1975. التقييم: 4/5.
المجلد الثالث من تاريخ الفلسفة ل فريدريك كوبلستون يتابع تاريخ فلسفة العصور الوسطى في القرن الرابع عشر، ويتوقف وقفة مطولة عند فلسفة وليم أوكام؛ والتي كان أهم سماتها ظهور اتجاهات نقدية، خاصةً نحو الميتافيزيقا، واتساع الهوة التي تفصل بين اللاهوت والفلسفة، وترك إثبات الكثير مما جاء في الوحي للإيمان وحده، واتخاذ اتجاهات أكثر تجريبية. ويستعرض الكتاب اتجاهات فلسفة الطبيعة، ثم تطور الحركة العلمية في عصر النهضة، وأثر ذلك على توجيه الفلسفة لاتجاهات أكثر تجريبية. ويستعرض الكتاب بعد ذلك الاتجاهات الاسكولائية الباقية في القرن الرابع عشر والخامس عشر، انتهاءً ب فرانسيس سوريز وكتاباته القانونية القيمة.
الملفت للنظر حقاً هو أن الحدث الفارق في تطور فلسفة العصر الوسيط كان هو اكتشاف منهج أرسطو، وتوافر ترجمات كاملة لكتاباته. في حين أن النقطة الفارقة في مواصلة الفلسفة لتطورها في عصر النهضة كانت الخروج من عباءة أرسطو، وظهور مذاهب نقدية لفلسفته. وليس هناك أي تعارض في هاتين الحقيقتين، فتطور العلم والحضارة في حاجة دائماً لمذاهب نقدية جادة تنقد القديم، وتقيم الجديد على أرض أكثر صلابة.