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New History of Western Philosophy #3
The Rise of Modern Philosophy: A New History of Western Philosophy, Volume 3
Sir Anthony Kenny's engaging new multi-volume history of Western philosophy now advances into the modern era. The Rise of Modern Philosophy captures the fascinating story of the emergence, from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, of the great ideas and intellectual systems that shaped modern thought.
Kenny introduces us to some of the world's most original and influential thinkers and helps us gain an understanding of their famous works. The great minds we meet include René Descartes, traditionally seen as the founder of modern philosophy; the great British philosophers Hobbes, Locke, and Hume; continental thinkers such as Spinoza, Liebniz, and Hegel; and the towering figure of Immanuel Kant, who perhaps more than any other made philosophy what it is today. Kenny first tells the story of modern philosophy chronologically: his lively, accessible narrative brings the philosophers to life and fills in the historical and intellectual background to their work. It is ideal as the first thing to read for someone new to this wonderfully creative period. Kenny then backtracks to look closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration in this period: knowledge and understanding; the nature of the physical universe; metaphysics (the most fundamental questions there are about
existence); mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God.
The book also features many intriguing and beautiful illustrations which evoke the human and social side of philosophy. Anyone who is interested in the evolution of modern thought will find this a book a treasure.
Kenny introduces us to some of the world's most original and influential thinkers and helps us gain an understanding of their famous works. The great minds we meet include René Descartes, traditionally seen as the founder of modern philosophy; the great British philosophers Hobbes, Locke, and Hume; continental thinkers such as Spinoza, Liebniz, and Hegel; and the towering figure of Immanuel Kant, who perhaps more than any other made philosophy what it is today. Kenny first tells the story of modern philosophy chronologically: his lively, accessible narrative brings the philosophers to life and fills in the historical and intellectual background to their work. It is ideal as the first thing to read for someone new to this wonderfully creative period. Kenny then backtracks to look closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration in this period: knowledge and understanding; the nature of the physical universe; metaphysics (the most fundamental questions there are about
existence); mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God.
The book also features many intriguing and beautiful illustrations which evoke the human and social side of philosophy. Anyone who is interested in the evolution of modern thought will find this a book a treasure.
356 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
63 people are currently reading
651 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Kenny
177 books115 followersSir Anthony Kenny is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein, and the philosophy of religion.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 31, 2023
کتاب شامل هردو رویکرد intellectual history و history of thought هست.
در بخش intellectual history ابتدا با بررسی رنسانس اروپایی شروع میکنه، تا درنهایت به هگل میرسه.
در بخش history of thought هم به فلسفه سیاسی، نفس و ذهن، معرفتشناسی، هستیشناسی، و الهیات هریک بهصورت جداگانه میپردازه.
ترجمه کتاب توسط آقای رضا یعقوبی انجام شده که خیلی روانِ. صفحهآرایی فوقالعاده خوبی داشت و کاغد سبکی برای چاپ انتخاب شده است.
در بخش intellectual history ابتدا با بررسی رنسانس اروپایی شروع میکنه، تا درنهایت به هگل میرسه.
در بخش history of thought هم به فلسفه سیاسی، نفس و ذهن، معرفتشناسی، هستیشناسی، و الهیات هریک بهصورت جداگانه میپردازه.
ترجمه کتاب توسط آقای رضا یعقوبی انجام شده که خیلی روانِ. صفحهآرایی فوقالعاده خوبی داشت و کاغد سبکی برای چاپ انتخاب شده است.
March 10, 2022
(Jim Cook’s review) The third volume in Kenny’s History of Western Philosophy covers the period from the beginning of the 16th century to the start of the 19th century, i.e., from the writing of Machiavelli’s Prince to the death of Hegel. The cover is illustrated with a picture of Rene Descartes sitting at his desk. Descartes was one of the key philosophers who lived during this era.
As in the preceding two volumes, volume 3 is copiously illustrated, and is divided into two sections. The first three chapters provide information about the life and times of the major philosophers discussed in volume 3 and the rest of the book consists of thematic chapters discussing their central ideas in greater detail. Unlike the first two books, however, volume 3 (and 4) includes a chapter on “political philosophy.”
Kenny’s rationale for not including chapters on this topic in the first two volumes of his history is rather peculiar. Kenny didn’t include a discussion of this topic in the earlier volumes, he says, because prior to the writings of Machiavelli no previous philosopher has anything to say that is “relevant to current discussions” in the field of political philosophy. He repeats this controversial claim in voume 4.
But surely this is wrong-headed? If you look at many twentieth century philosophers engaged in political philosophy, for example, you will find quite of few of them who would have been rendered mute were it not for the work of their predecessors in Classical Greece. Popper, Strauss, Nussbaum, to mention only three such philosophers are examples. Another somewhat dubious claim by Kenny is an idea he floats of a “constitutional Papacy” which, he says would have prevented the split in Christianity that occured during the years of the Reformation. (See p. 11)
An even more hare-brained notion is advanced by Kenny in the later chapters of his book where he discusses the philosophy of Rousseau and Hegel. He argues that their “flawed metaphysics” directly led to, in the first named writer’s case, the French Revolution (and other, subsequent violent conflicts); and, in the case of Hegel, to the “two World Wars that disfigured the twentieth century” (p. 302). Although he can blame secular philosophers like Rousseau and Hegel for violence occuring after they had died, Kenny nowhere in his History makes similar allegations regarding the horrors visited upon innocent people by Christian fanatics. He fails in his duty both as a philosopher and a historian when he takes ‘cheap shots” like this. As we will see in my review of volume 4, some of his commentary there is even more amaturish. Or, to use one of Kenny’s favorite expressions, jejune.
That said, I still enjoyed reading Kenny’s third volume. It contains, for example, some of the clearest commentary about the key concepts advanced by Kant that I have read. It also includes insightful and no-nonsense criticism of some of the ideas of influential thinkers such as Hume, Rousseau, and Berkeley. Kenny rightly notes that Rousseau’s concept of the “general will” is “theortically incoherent and practically vacuous”; that Hume’s epistemology “is nothing less than absurd”; and, that both Hume and Berkeley’s philosophy of mind and their philosophical psychology are “remarkably jejune.” Kenny supports these assertions with appropriate textual references in each case.
Overall, while volume 3 has some weaknesses (more than the first two volumes), I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the great philosophers of this era.
As in the preceding two volumes, volume 3 is copiously illustrated, and is divided into two sections. The first three chapters provide information about the life and times of the major philosophers discussed in volume 3 and the rest of the book consists of thematic chapters discussing their central ideas in greater detail. Unlike the first two books, however, volume 3 (and 4) includes a chapter on “political philosophy.”
Kenny’s rationale for not including chapters on this topic in the first two volumes of his history is rather peculiar. Kenny didn’t include a discussion of this topic in the earlier volumes, he says, because prior to the writings of Machiavelli no previous philosopher has anything to say that is “relevant to current discussions” in the field of political philosophy. He repeats this controversial claim in voume 4.
But surely this is wrong-headed? If you look at many twentieth century philosophers engaged in political philosophy, for example, you will find quite of few of them who would have been rendered mute were it not for the work of their predecessors in Classical Greece. Popper, Strauss, Nussbaum, to mention only three such philosophers are examples. Another somewhat dubious claim by Kenny is an idea he floats of a “constitutional Papacy” which, he says would have prevented the split in Christianity that occured during the years of the Reformation. (See p. 11)
An even more hare-brained notion is advanced by Kenny in the later chapters of his book where he discusses the philosophy of Rousseau and Hegel. He argues that their “flawed metaphysics” directly led to, in the first named writer’s case, the French Revolution (and other, subsequent violent conflicts); and, in the case of Hegel, to the “two World Wars that disfigured the twentieth century” (p. 302). Although he can blame secular philosophers like Rousseau and Hegel for violence occuring after they had died, Kenny nowhere in his History makes similar allegations regarding the horrors visited upon innocent people by Christian fanatics. He fails in his duty both as a philosopher and a historian when he takes ‘cheap shots” like this. As we will see in my review of volume 4, some of his commentary there is even more amaturish. Or, to use one of Kenny’s favorite expressions, jejune.
That said, I still enjoyed reading Kenny’s third volume. It contains, for example, some of the clearest commentary about the key concepts advanced by Kant that I have read. It also includes insightful and no-nonsense criticism of some of the ideas of influential thinkers such as Hume, Rousseau, and Berkeley. Kenny rightly notes that Rousseau’s concept of the “general will” is “theortically incoherent and practically vacuous”; that Hume’s epistemology “is nothing less than absurd”; and, that both Hume and Berkeley’s philosophy of mind and their philosophical psychology are “remarkably jejune.” Kenny supports these assertions with appropriate textual references in each case.
Overall, while volume 3 has some weaknesses (more than the first two volumes), I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the great philosophers of this era.
May 12, 2013
An attempt to adopt Anglo-Saxon usage to logic led to this 16th Century construction:
Gaynsaying shewsayes are two shewsayes, the one a yeasaye and the other a naysaye, changing neither foreset, backset nor verbe.
Priceless.
September 17, 2018
My concerns from the end of the second volume, that Kenney might struggle with the growing cast of notable historic philosophers, turn out to be unfounded. His history has here zoomed out to some degree, talking at times of general critical reception, but on the whole the story still hangs together. The change in material from the scholastics is extremely welcome, too, and makes the reading a lot more interesting. The arrival of modern political philosophy is particularly appreciated, as it is one of my favourite areas.
My favourite subject appears to be Hobbes, somewhat unexpectedly. I know of him almost entirely for _Leviathan_, and had never previously realised that he was the originator of the compatabilist solution to the free will debate, which has always seemed so clear a solution since I first heard it explained. Kenney covers his attitude on a few other topics, where he sounds shockingly modern. In fact, I found myself quite impressed by all the British philosophers of this period -- Hobbes, Locke and Hume -- in a way that a lot of the continentals left me cold. Possibly the best of the latter was Spinoza, whose metaphysics seems to be wrong, but in an appealingly consistent manner. Hume is also tortured, but Kenney makes the case that he was working in an impoverished background. I would much rather salute Hume than Kant, who so relied on him.
The early modern period seems to be the exciting bit of philosophy's history, with God no longer being threaded into every consideration, and some genuinely novel thoughts being developed. On this grounding, I am cautiously optimistic about the final volume.
My favourite subject appears to be Hobbes, somewhat unexpectedly. I know of him almost entirely for _Leviathan_, and had never previously realised that he was the originator of the compatabilist solution to the free will debate, which has always seemed so clear a solution since I first heard it explained. Kenney covers his attitude on a few other topics, where he sounds shockingly modern. In fact, I found myself quite impressed by all the British philosophers of this period -- Hobbes, Locke and Hume -- in a way that a lot of the continentals left me cold. Possibly the best of the latter was Spinoza, whose metaphysics seems to be wrong, but in an appealingly consistent manner. Hume is also tortured, but Kenney makes the case that he was working in an impoverished background. I would much rather salute Hume than Kant, who so relied on him.
The early modern period seems to be the exciting bit of philosophy's history, with God no longer being threaded into every consideration, and some genuinely novel thoughts being developed. On this grounding, I am cautiously optimistic about the final volume.
September 26, 2022
This is overall a decent book. It's remarkably clearly written, and if I were to teach an honours-level course on Early Modern Philosophy, I think it'd be on the extended syllabus, and I'd probably steal the chapter plan. With that said, there is a lot that also drags it down. There are a lot of typos, which was irritating but hardly decisive. The greatest issue is the fissure that separates the quality of Kenny's commentaries on philosophers he's studied in depth and those he hasn't. His sections on Descartes, Leibniz, Hume and Kant are all very good. But his sections on Spinoza, Hobbes, Rousseau and Hegel are deeply objectionable. In Kenny's defence though, this difference in quality is an inevitable feature of all attempts at writing a definitive history of philosophy - Russell's own attempt is marred by his passages on Rousseau, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Bergson, to name but a few.
April 24, 2015
Kenny's four volume series is a wonderful "middle-ground" text between Copleston's multi-volume work on the one hand, and Bertrand Russell's single-volume text on the other. He is able to distill the essential concepts of each philosopher without over-simplifying or trivializing their contribution. Each volume begins with a history of the period in the first few chapters followed by a thematic treatment of the major categories of philosophy: epistemology, axiology, political theory, metaphysics and so on. I like the approach. Kenny has given us a wonderfully approachable text for understanding what the major philosophers have taught, and he is able to tie the history of one philosopher to the next. A great introduction for undergraduates. You will do well to work through it.
August 2, 2019
La trama si infittisce
Terzo volume di questa opera divulgativa sulla filosofia: lo schema rimane quello dei primi tomi - primi tre capitoli con un excursus storico-biografico sui pensatori del periodo e poi capitoli monografici dedicati a tematiche filosofiche.
Sembra quasi che Kenny abbia voluto mantenere lo stesso numero di pagine per i 4 volumi, quindi qui, a volte, la trattazione risulta un pò compressa e eccessivamente sintetizzata: per dire, qualche pagina in più per Kant o Hegel si poteva anche concedere.
In ogni caso, ottime e molto chiare le trattazioni monotematiche dove il rigore dell'esposizione si accompagna ad una buona capacità divulgativa anche sui temi più ostici per i non esperti: ho anche apprezzato la capacità di Kenny di discutere le idee dei vari filosofi, contestando alcuni errori logici - l'unico modo per rendere vivo il pensiero è dibatterlo e discuterlo.
Ogni tanto salta fuori la formazione cattolica-tomista (i capitoli su Dio sono tra i più chiari e ben esposti) anche con qualche puntura di spillo un pò fuori luogo (tipo una randellata al gruppo di Bloomsbury totalmente fuori contesto).
Terzo volume di questa opera divulgativa sulla filosofia: lo schema rimane quello dei primi tomi - primi tre capitoli con un excursus storico-biografico sui pensatori del periodo e poi capitoli monografici dedicati a tematiche filosofiche.
Sembra quasi che Kenny abbia voluto mantenere lo stesso numero di pagine per i 4 volumi, quindi qui, a volte, la trattazione risulta un pò compressa e eccessivamente sintetizzata: per dire, qualche pagina in più per Kant o Hegel si poteva anche concedere.
In ogni caso, ottime e molto chiare le trattazioni monotematiche dove il rigore dell'esposizione si accompagna ad una buona capacità divulgativa anche sui temi più ostici per i non esperti: ho anche apprezzato la capacità di Kenny di discutere le idee dei vari filosofi, contestando alcuni errori logici - l'unico modo per rendere vivo il pensiero è dibatterlo e discuterlo.
Ogni tanto salta fuori la formazione cattolica-tomista (i capitoli su Dio sono tra i più chiari e ben esposti) anche con qualche puntura di spillo un pò fuori luogo (tipo una randellata al gruppo di Bloomsbury totalmente fuori contesto).
October 28, 2020
Nesse terceiro volume de sua obra, Kenny abrange o período da filosofia humanista do século XVI à filosofia de Kant e Hegel nos séculos XVIII e XIX. Os capítulos um e dois dispõem de uma apresentação cronológica dos autores, e do três ao dez são apresentados vários temas (conhecimento, física, metafísica, mente e alma, ética, filosofia política e Deus), articulando-se as respectivas interpretações dos autores do período para tais temas.
Nesse volume, Kenny apresenta a filosofia de Erasmo, More e Lutero (mas não se debruça sobre Calvino, infelizmente), a filosofia jesuíta, o pensamento de Giordano Bruno, Galileu, Bacon. Em seguida, trata do pensamento de Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Pascal, Spinoza, Leibniz, e chega a Hume, Smith, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, dentre outros. É uma obra de fôlego e de cuidadosa análise do pensamento dos autores referidos.
Nesse volume, Kenny apresenta a filosofia de Erasmo, More e Lutero (mas não se debruça sobre Calvino, infelizmente), a filosofia jesuíta, o pensamento de Giordano Bruno, Galileu, Bacon. Em seguida, trata do pensamento de Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Pascal, Spinoza, Leibniz, e chega a Hume, Smith, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, dentre outros. É uma obra de fôlego e de cuidadosa análise do pensamento dos autores referidos.
February 9, 2021
This book is the one I spent the most time reading in the series so far. It wasn't particularly due to its in-depth analysis(even though some parts are quite deep), but rather due to the amount of tedium Kand and Hegel synopsis throws at me. Well, that's certainly not the book's fault and in other segments like casuists history or Descartes philosophy, the book really shines for me. The Rise of Modern Philosophy has the same structure as the first two books from the series, so that brings the same upsides and downsides as could be seen in them. Although the material is overall solid, it feels more like a patched blanket compared to Medieval or Ancient Philosophy books due to the vastness of the material too varying for one book.
November 17, 2017
The dates are consistently inconsistent. 1 moment it will say the person died in 1804 and then a sentence and a half later will say they physically visited another great person in 1860. This just screams no proof reading to the point where I don’t know if I can trust the other information.
May 1, 2021
A very useful overview of Modern Philosophy. If you want to be acquainted with Renaissance and Enlightenment ideas, but don't want to invest significant time in the original works, then this is perfect for you.
August 19, 2018
Gutes Überblickswerk über die Philosophie Geschichte, auch wenn man sich über die Kategorien und ihre Einteilung streiten kann.
February 20, 2022
Read this for a course. Did not disappoint.
Read
February 13, 2023To say that unicorns exist is to make a statement of a quite diVerent logical form from the statement that unicorns are diYcult to tame.
January 11, 2010
A solid, well-written discussion. I would appreciate more depth on some of the more obscure thinkers, but that can be had elsewhere in the specialist literature. This is intended to be an intelligent, lucid overview and it succeeds. I'd suggest this particularly to anyone investigating seventeenth- or eighteenth-century Europe as the perfect background text on the philosophical climate.
September 4, 2016
Third volume in the four volume set: the rise of the enlightenment.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews