The Western Intellectual Tradition: From Leonardo to Hegel

by Jacob Bronowski, Bruce Mazlish

Traces the development of thought through historical movements and periods from 1500 to 1830.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Science, Politics, European History

534 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Jacob Bronowski was a British mathematician and biologist of Polish-Jewish origin. He is best remembered as the presenter and writer of the 1973 BBC television documentary series, The Ascent of Man.

In 1950, Bronowski was given the Taung child's fossilized skull and asked to try, using his statistical skills, to combine a measure of the size of the skull's teeth with their shape in order to discriminate them from the teeth of apes. Work on this turned his interests towards the human biology of humanity's intellectual products.

In 1967 Bronowski delivered the six Silliman Memorial Lectures at Yale University and chose as his subject the role of imagination and symbolic language in the progress of scientific knowledge. Transcripts of the lectures were published posthumously in 1978 as The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination and remain in print.

He first became familiar to the British public through appearances on the BBC television version of The Brains Trust in the late 1950s. His ability to answer questions on many varied subjects led to an offhand reference in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus where one character states that "He knows everything." However Bronowski is best remembered for his thirteen part series The Ascent of Man (1973), a documentary about the history of human beings through scientific endeavour. This project was intended to parallel art historian Kenneth Clark's earlier "personal view" series Civilisation (1969) which had covered cultural history.

During the making of The Ascent of Man, Bronowski was interviewed by the popular British chat show host Michael Parkinson. Parkinson later recounted that Bronowski's description of a visit to Auschwitz—Bronowski had lost many family members during the Nazi era—was one of Parkinson's most memorable interviews.

Jacob Bronowski married Rita Coblentz in 1941. The couple had four children, all daughters, the eldest being the British academic Lisa Jardine and another being the filmmaker Judith Bronowski. He died in 1974 of a heart attack in East Hampton, New York a year after The Ascent of Man was completed, and was buried in the western side of London's Highgate Cemetery, near the entrance.

Reviews

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I speak to the book directly I must make comment on the copy itself. I read the paperback edition. The font size is approximately what you would expect for a book this size I found the printing quality to be very uneven in the footnotes to be blotchy. If nothing else my mistake was in not buying this as an electronic book. At this time there is no Kindle edition you may have be able to find e copy through another source.

Bronowski and Mazlish conceived of the Western Intellectual Tradition as a joint effort not only in terms of dual authorship but in terms of bringing together several different fields areas of academic expertise-ranging from history to mathematics to philosophy. It is probably not an accident that the project was originally developed at MIT through a department that deliberately seeks to fuse the humanities with the sciences. The book very much reads like it was intended to be a series of lectures presented in a course. There is a very evident professorial style but the result is not so formal and academic is to make this unreadable for a more general audience.

Going directly to what I like most about this book was the deliberate effort to show how arts and sciences fed off each other and in turn the sciences fed philosophy which in turn produced the subspecialty of political philosophy or as we know it now political science. The approach the authors use for crossing 500 years of Western thought is to tie each development to a number of individuals. Some get their own chapters others are more briefly mentioned as part of a sequence of writers who helped lead from one major thinker to the next.

While it is made it very clear that a number of these key thinkers were influenced or motivated by their religious beliefs overall this is not a religious history of European thinking. The emphasis is on humanism and Rationalism with the principal modes of thought being the emergence of analytical thinking, backed by experimentation. One of the earliest themes is the emergence of what we now call science or more particularly the scientific method. Indeed the authors pick out a quotation by Galileo as the exact moment when science and religion would become two alternative ways of thinking. Fundamentally the idea would be that however God of works his/her mysteries the actions of nature follow particular laws and by using a rational and systematic approach these laws can be determined and decoded. "Methinks that in the discussion of natural problems we ought not to begin at the authority of places of Scripture but at sensible experiments and necessary demonstrations."

Depending on the century and the personalities involved they would be, initially direct even violent confrontations with the church. Later there would be better appreciation of the spiritual value of religion versus the more mechanical value of the scientific process. For these two authors one of the great victories of the Western tradition would be the emergence of the English analytic and empirical traditions with a nod to French Cartesian dualism back to England the for Newtonian influences and with a few more stops peeking as it were with the Germans: Kant and Hegel.

Part of what makes this 500 page book readable is the time taken to give not only a brief biography of each of the major characters but to firmly place each philosophy in a context and in a sequence that makes clear and logical why the preceding thinker was a necessary contributor before the next thinker could take up the next line of logic. The result is that the various great thinkers chosen for this text emphasize the sequential, iterative and logical progression from contributor to contributor. Implicit in this approach is that no matter how greatly Newton, for example, may have lit the way before him one of his effects on the thinking of his day was to move away from experimentation. That is, following Newton created new ways of thinking but also created an opportunity to seek out the weaknesses in his proposals and ultimately go beyond limits he may not have understood.

Recommending this book to a general audience is not the same as saying this is a casual read. Initially I found this book to be frustrating. The total absence of illustrations is a mistake. There are certain words that were not well explained. For example "Condottiere" was used by the authors to describe the kinds of leadership that some (Machiavelli) with regard as necessary and desirable but would later to become more generally disrespected. A strict definition of this term would be a captain of mercenary forces. The term would be in common use in the Renaissance however in this text it is used more broadly but never very well defined. Elsewhere there is a contrast between Cartesian thinking in non-Cartesian thinking but the discussion of this in my mind was incomplete. I raise these points not in an effort to devalue this book but to emphasize the need for the reader to be willing to focus more attention than might be typically applied to lite fiction.

The Western Intellectual Tradition is not likely to impress the professional student of European history or the history of European philosophy. This is more than an introductory text but neither especially demanding nor demonstrably original in its interpretation. Most of the footnotes represent the bibliography for the text and many readers will choose to skip them. There are more than a few that contain some useful additional content. I intend to keep my copy and refer to it in future. I recommend it to a reader desiring to have a better understanding of what is meant when we refer to the Western intellectual canon.

[Mohammad Ali Shamekhi · Rating 2 out of 5]

کتاب مشکلاتی دارد که نیت از خواندن چنین کتابی را درست برآورده نمی کند:
1 - کتاب - حداقل این ترجمه ای که من خواندم - فهرست تفصیلی ندارد. در فصل هم پدیده ای به اسم عناوین فرعی مطلقا یافت نمی شود.
2 - این کتاب گسترده ی زیادی دارد، از همین رو طبیعی است که وقتی در فصلی به امری در فصول پیش ارجاع داده می شود، محل مورد بحث به طور دقیق مورد ارجاع قرار بگیرد. اتفاقی که در این کتاب تنها یک یا دوبار در یکی از فصول پایانی شاهدش بودم. آن یک بار هم ارجاع نادرست بود - که احتمال قریب به یقین این اشتباه مشکل از مترجم است. نویسنده صرفا به گفتن اینکه قبلا بحث شد یا گفته شد اکتفا می کند.
3 - در موارد نه چندان کمی به مطلبی اشاره می شود که نه توضیح داده می شود و نه توضیح داده شده است. مثلا در یک مورد به مطلبی از فصول پیش ارجاع داده می شود که در آن فصل بررسی نشده بلکه صرفا در یکی از پینوشت ها به کتاب دیگری در این موضوع ارجاع داده شده است ( به طور مصداقی مثال من من مسأله ی تربیت نزد مونتسکیو است ).
4 - در موارد نه چندان کمی من خواننده از توضیح آن امر مورد نظر سردرنمی آورم. و موارد دیگری - مثلا در حوزه ی فلسفه - سر در می آورم چون از قبل اطلاعاتی دارم.
5 - اشکالاتی هم به نظر می آید که بیشتر از اشکال نگاه دید نویسندگان را نشان می دهد مثلا اینکه جوی انگلیسی محور در کتاب به چشم می خورد ( منظور کشور انگلستان است ) - البته من نمی دانم شاید در تاریخ اهمیت انگلیسی ها در این پانصد سال انقدر زیاد بوده است. دیگر اینکه نویسنده در مبحثی ذیل کانت به کتابی از خود ارجاع می دهد بدون اینکه در آن مبحث هیچ ارجاع دیگری به کانت شناسان سرشناس کرده باشد ( این آخرین مشکل چندان ایرادی نیست و صرفا برای یادآوری و انتقال حس خودم ذکرش کردم )
6 - در جاهایی هم استدلالات نه چندان محکم یا حرف های سرسری دیده می شد مثلا ربط دادن سریع کانت به هندسه ی اقلیدسی و زمانش به زمان نیوتنی و بعد هم سریع گفتن چیزی شبیه اینکه " امروزه آشکار شده است که کانت اشتباه می کرده" و ... . در جای دیگر کتاب حس بدتری هم داشتم نسبت به کج فهمی مولف اما چون بحثش یادم نیست صرفا یادآور احساس بدم می شوم.

متاسفانه این اتفاقات در این کتاب فراوان رخ می دهند و به همین دلیل صرفا تا نبود ترجمه ی کتاب دیگری در این سبک می تواند محل مراجعه باشد.

اما در مورد ترجمه هم باید اذعان کرد که طبق ظاهر فارسی ترجمه متوسط است - من گشتم اما نسخه ای الکترونیکی از اصل انگلیسی نیافتم. به صورت خاص یک مورد بسیار عجیب بود و آن هم ترجمه ی تئودیسه به الهیات خاص ( یا چیزی شبیه این )، حال آنکه آشکار است که منظور از تئودیسه عدالت الهی و در کل معضل شر و ... است ( البته ظاهرا خود مترجم مطمئن نبوده زیرا معادل انگلیسی را آورده است). مشکل دیگر ترجمه نبودن پانویس در مورد عناوین کتاب ها و ... است و اگر نبود ارجاعات پینوشت ها مطلقا نمی شد فهمید که اسم اصلی کتاب یا نویسنده به چه طریق نگاشته می شود.

[r0b · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent entry level stuff if somewhat naive and blinkered in its concluding statements...

‘...the fulfillment of man has been one of the two most formative grand ideas throughout the period of this book, and it has remained so to our day...The second of the two grand formative ideas which this history displays is the idea of freedom....There could be no development of the personality of individuals, no fulfillment of those gifts in which one man differs from another, without the freedom for each man to grow in his own direction.’

[Maa jed · Rating 4 out of 5]

برای آشنا شدن با استارت روشنفکری در غرب و شناختن و فهمیدن آدمها و طرز فکر و کارشون و محیط جغرافیایی و درگیری ها و مشکلات خاص هرکدوم، کتابیه که تاحد قابل قبولی اطلاعات مفید و باارزشی ارائه میکنه . واقعن از این منظر کتاب خوبیه . قطعن برای شناختن دقیق هر کدوم از این آدمها دست کم باید یه کتاب به همین حجم خواند ولی این کتاب همونجوری که نامگذاری کرده سنت روشنفکری براش مهم بوده و برای همین از روی خیلی آدمها با عجله و سرعت میگذره و بعضی هارو هم که اصلن نام نمیبره . تقریبن دو سوم کتاب یعنی تا حدود بررسی روسو و انقلاب صنعتی ، روایت کتاب خیلی جذاب و شیرینه و هم با سرعت مناسب و هم با شیفتگی میشه خوند ولی از اون به بعدش ، کتاب افت محسوسی داره یعنی هم سخت خوان میشه و هم کند و تنبل کسالت آور یا شاید بشه گفت خیلی تخصصی تر میشه و این میتونه عوامل متفاوتی داشته باشه . یکی از اون عوامل که برای همه کس قابل فهمه اینه که دیدگاههای لئوناردو و ماکیاوللی رو تقریبن هر آدمی میفهمه ولی نظرات کانت و هگل به قدری ظرافت و دقت فنی پیدا میکنه که باید علاقمند باشی تا بتونی ادامه بدی .
یا مثلن شاید علتش این باشه که تعداد دانشمندان ناگهان افزایش پیدا میکنه وکتاب براش ممکن نیست وقت کافی برای شناختنشون در اختیار خواننده بذاره و همین باز باعث گنگی بیشتر مطالب و ملالت بار شدن بیشتر کتاب میشه

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not entirely certain the Catholic Church is the right institution to do it, but someone really should have Jacob Bronowski sainted—one of the great Renaissance minds of the 20th century, the particular combination of his intelligence, passion, compassion, rigor, clearsightedness, are, I feel, so absent in the present and so model for the future. Specialists will bristle a bit at the short chapters (I’m no specialist, but bristled a little at the too-quick treatment of Kant and Hegel towards the end) -- and the title is itself a bit misleading (though not as catchy, perhaps “Political Philosophy as Inflected by Scientific Perspectives in the West”?) -- but the organizing principle here is fabulously useful for placing and relating these figures and the bibliography, now 60 years old, is still a treasure-trove. Maybe it’s because I’m personally particularly weak on the 18th Century, but in my experience those chapters particularly shine and are really well-served by they way the book characterizes their relation to the 16th and 17th (to the 19th and 20th, maybe feeling a bit dated, but it's fun to do the catch-up one's self).

[Kazi1212 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most history books I have read are rather dry, this book is far from it. Bronowski gives the feel of a story book. He explains the historical figures' background so we get a feel for their personality and outlook, he also goes into detail about the time so that we get a good feel of the age and actually see it from their perspective. The writing is superb, you will fly through the 500 page book in no time.

[Ibrahim halil Demirel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book. It is a must-have in every library. I learned two things in this book. The first is to be human and the second is freedom.

[Holly Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the reason I first became interested in the history of ideas. Still as brilliant and nuanced as I remember it a half of my life ago. I enjoyed the chapter structure - Choosing and cherry picking thinkers most representative of their times. I found certain chapters particularly of interest as they are outside of traditional school curriculums: The Puritan, American and French Revolutions were new knowledge, complex and compelling chapters. To look at the structures of oppression then and now and the emigres created by this is telling of cycles of history. The earnestness of limiting individual freedoms as part of the Civil War as an act of earnestness not necessarily revolution in the English example. I read about Cromwell as part of his context, which is unusual in itself as he's usually tied to the events of Tudors not his direct impact on the Reformation. I also didn't realise how many salient voices at this time were essentially still pro-ariostocracy not revolutionary or socialist for example Voltaire, Montesquieu. Rosseau as leaving a door open to totalitarianism was also a stimulating idea. Loved reading about the common land law 1760-1850, how the state stole land from the people which is still felt in property inequality today. My criticism would be that there is no mention of slavery driving the Industrial Revolution or exploration of how the value of labour was also a representation of the surplus slave-wages taken with the move into the Amercias. It is also a book of its time, bereft of the nuance that modern players or an examination of Marxism in the history of ideas would have improved. Most of all, while the core arguments illustrated in the conclusion speak of the handicaps and limitations of prejudices in rational empiricism, yet it fails in itself in acknowledging only a history of men and omitting women. This is a huge gap in understanding all hitherto thought and society, surely as part of the Elizabethan Age they could have mentioned the impact of the queen herself instead of her lackeys let alone a mention of any of the contributing forces of women in science. None the less, loved it for what it was and when it was printed.

[Albert Gomperts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introductory overview of the dominant intellectual currents in Western thought. It will probably seem somewhat outdated nowadays, but if you are a student with a little time available and you are looking for a guide, this book may well be just the ticket.

[Saeed · Rating 5 out of 5]

یک کتاب عالی.

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant exposition of the intellectual history of the West from Leonardo to Hegel. Bronowski later did "The Ascent of Man" on PBS. Bronowski and Mazlish do a masterful job tracing the development of Western thought. Their conclusions on individualism and freedom are spot on. The book was published in 1962. They praise dissent as the highest form of freedom. How disgusted they must have been during the course of the 60's and 70's when dissent turned into repudiation of all that had been purchased with so much blood and treasure. This kind of volume is now reviled as the story of "dead white men". We now face an enemy in the Moslem world who would destroy all of that work. If our survival is achieved it will be because of the ideas of these "dead white men" and the civilization they and others like them created.

[нєνєℓ ¢ανα · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Mmiller400m · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say this is my new favorite book; taking the top spot from Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. I came upon this book in quite a roundabout way. I wanted to read more about the Russian Revolution, which lead me to wanting to read the Communist Manifesto, which pointed me to Hegel. A quick search later and the subtitle of this book came up and I quickly borrowed it from our library system. After seeing that I would need a little more time with this book, I decided to buy my own copy.

The book goes from Leonardo Da Vinci during the Renaissance up through Hegel in the 19th century. Each section of the book acts as a mini-biography of an individual thinker, group, or time period as it traces the development of human thought in the western world. There are certainly slow parts to the book and it is almost 60 years old, but these short chapters and biographical sketches help the reader to develop a reading list personalized to what they most take from a sweeping take on history such as this.

The final paragraph of the Hegel chapter is an example of some of the very best this book offers:

“Whatever hopes for the future we hold, progressive or traditionalist, we derive them from our sense of history. Our sense of history, therefore, gives us our personal sense of mission. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, this sense of mission has been formed by the images of progress and of evolution; we search for the movement of history—the play of ideas and the tempo of events. This is the search that should inspire our interest in history today; for history is not so much a book as a movement, not a story but a direction, and not a reverie in the past but a sense of the future.”

[Sean Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is introductory material and is best used as a starting point for further research. Because this book covers so many years of history and even more individuals, it can be hard to keep track of all the information coming your way, but that’s par for the course for this kind of material.

This was (to my knowledge) written in the 1960’s, and it definitely feels like it. The authors cover no women in any extensive detail, and they also appear flippant toward leftist ideology (if that’s your thing). Naturally, a book on Western intellectualism doesn’t say much about the East, so I won’t comment on that.

Overall, this is okay. This book is outdated in many ways, but there’s some value here if you’re looking for a summer read before starting an entry-level philosophy course.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Western Intellectual Tradition: From Leonardo to Hegel is an excellent overview of the subject. It is very readable and avoids jargon. While the primary emphasis is not on science, it does examine some of the (often ignored) effects on historical intellectual progress furnished by the evolving sciences. The analysis is well-balanced and to the point. It identifies the important issues and addresses them directly.

Solid five stars, recommended for every reader, whether or not particularly interested in the western intellectual tradition. Academic authorities in this rather broad subject may yet find interest in this. I suspect that most already have read it.

[Arianne X · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Book is a Presentation, Not a Critical Analysis

A very nice summary of the Western Intellectual Tradition by the Ascent of Man author. The text is highly readable and informative. My only criticism is the space spent on the treatment of less essential thinkers in the Western Tradition such as Robert Owen given the space limitation of a single volume work.

Also, this book is more of a presentation, and less of a critical review, of the Western Intellectual Tradition. A hypothetical sequel could be titled '300 years of Philosophical Errors'

[ruby vozza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outdated (duh though), but pretty interesting for people who are interested in history of philosophy! I read this as background for a political and moral philosophy research paper I was writing and found it mostly enjoyable to read, but unhelpful for the task at hand. I ended up using segments of Bertrand Russell’s and Leo Strauss’ (chapters on philosophers are written by different scholars) equivalent work on history of philosophy, and prefer both 🤓for research (and more personal) purposes🤓

[Amritansh Tripathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The authors have done a commendable job by covering the various important epochs in the development of the western thought. Covering various thinkers and events from Da Vinci, Hobbes, Locke, Smith, Industrial revolution, French Revolution, Hegel etc. ; the authors have quite successfully given a brief yet very informative introduction to these monumental men and events of the western world.

[Derek Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tries to cover too much ground in a less than scintillating style. Suffers greatly in comparison to Will Durant's "The Story of Civilization" in which all the same figures appear but in much more lively fashion. In most cases I wanted to read Durant's take on these intellectuals rather than this plodding view.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good companion read to Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence", especially as Bronowski ends in praise of human progress and "self-fulfillment", while Barzun ends in uncertainty and anxiety. Forty years separate the two books - Bronowski's published in 1960, Barzun's in 2000. What happened?

[Michael Newman]

A brilliant exploration of history and our species attempts at understanding the world, our relationship to it and our sense of humanity. Thought provoking in its commentary and the connections it makes. A must read for Humanists.

[Garrettw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute 5 stars. Wonderful journey through the western canon. Almost 70 years old but has aged very well.

[Colin Flanigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This overview walks where others tread slowly. It is a true overview that hits the highlights of when history meets philosophy, especially those times where it resulted in war. War that resulted in the American Revolution, war that resulted in the English Civil War and War that resulted in Napoleon's march across Europe.

Now Bronowski and Mazlich do not sit on the sidelines. They believe in freedom of speech and right to dissent. They, more than most modern historical writers, gives a perspective and does not apologize for it. They critique by asserting certain philosophies lead to tyranny. Hegel's love of Napoleaon leads to an intellectual movement that act as apologists for tyranny , Rousseau's beliefs in a rule by the "general will" with no constitutional rights leads to the French Revolution's "reign of terror" and Cromwell's "cruel necessity" causes a fight for freedom to become a military dictatorship.

Brownowski was born in Poland, moved to Germany and then ended up in the UK. Many of his relatives were killed in Nazi concentration camps. He worked developing bombing mathematics in the UK during WW II and was part of a group of scientists who studied the effects of the Atomic bomb in Japan. He did not sit on the sidelines of history but was an engaged intellectual.

This is a book for the ruled as much as the rulers. It will certainly make you think when the next news report of war or controversy crosses your vision.

[mahatmanto]

saya adalah penggemar buku-buku Jacob Bronowski. ini ketularan dosen saya dulu pak yuswadi.
buku yang ini merupakan usaha komprehensif untuk melihat warisan yang diterima dan membentuk masyarakat modern di barat. ia beranggapan bahwa sejarah intelektual modern harus dilihat sebagai suatu kesatuan pertumbuhan.
ia mengawalinya dari renesans dan mengakhirinya dengan hegel.
aktor dan faktor yang bekerja bisa seorang individu, kelompok individu, atau peristiwa-peristiwa yang melahirkan inovasi gagasan di bidang sains, sastra dan seni.
[laporan dari baca prefacenya doang hehe..]

[Lauren Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good overview meant for a general readership. It is indeed very readable. The authors' main focus is on political philosophy and the scientific revolution rather than with abstract philosophy (although some is in there). The book is very much of its time, with its conclusion about the importance of dissent--published in 1960, I wonder how the authors would revise it now. Don't expect anything new if you've read a lot of philosophy and intellectual history but if you haven't read any philosophy since college or you just want a refresher, this is a good one.

[Srobona Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent broad and deep scholarly but readable introduction to western intellectual history. I learned more (much much more) from this book than my freshman western philosophy 1 and 2 put together. And it's only $10.

[William T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is nothing wrong with this book except that it is really an introduction to Western Intellectual History. As such it is superficial and has no particularly unique insights.

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago and really enjoyed it.
It discusses a wide range of ideas from the Renaissance to the early 19th century.
K.

[Connie Wiermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite from college. Good enough to re-read.

[Craig Munier]

Robert Gamez from K-State recommended at RTF 12/14/2012