A History of Philosophy: The Condensed Copleston

A history of philosophy from the origins of reason in Ancient Greece to the most influential philosophers working today, this long-awaited single volume companion to Frederick Copleston's historic 11-volume series is a must-have for any aspiring philosopher. Frederick Copleston's 11-volume A History of Philosophy has been the go-to reference for philosophers and students for decades. It is universally recognized as a classic and sits on the shelf of countless leading thinkers today. This companion to Copleston's landmark work contains clear and succinct analyses of the major events and texts in philosophy, exploring the foundational principles and ideals that drove the development of Western thought. It grapples with the sometimes complex views and teachings of the greatest minds in philosophy, explaining their work with clarity and elegance. An accessible journey through this epic and deeply human history, Carroll succinctly condenses Copleston's thought while expanding on contemporary and world philosophy. From the early teachings of Socrates to the medieval philosophies of Christian Europe, the Enlightenment and the radical arguments of the Existentialists, Carroll adeptly explores the common threads and themes that have united all rational enquiries into the fundamental nature of reality.

Table of Contents:
CHAPTER 1: THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Why Study the History of Philosophy? Why Study Copleston's A History of Philosophy? Copleston's A History of Philosophy as Ignatian Humanism How Should One Organize the History of Philosophy? Postscript: A Short Biography of Frederick Charles Copleston Bibliography CHAPTER 2: GREECE AND ROME Introduction The Birth of Greek Philosophy The Pioneers: The Philosophical Cosmologists of Ionia The Socratic Period Plato Plato's Doctrine of the Forms Aristotle's Metaphysics and Ethics Post-Aristotelian Philosophy Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 3: MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY Introduction Early Christian Thought in the Patristic Period St Augustine and the City of God The Pseudo-Dionysius Boethius and the Consolation of Philosophy The Carolingian Renaissance John Scottus Eriugena From the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries The Thirteenth Century Syntheses of Reason and Revelation St Thomas Aquinas and the Great Synthesis of Faith and Reason Scotus and the Franciscans Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 4: LATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE PHILOSOPHY Introduction William of Ockham and the end of the Great Synthesis of Faith and Reason Marsilius of Padua on the Church and the State Meister Eckhart and the Speculative Mysticism of the Fourteenth Century The Philosophy of the Renaissance Suárez and the Scholasticism of the Renaissance Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 5: THE RATIONALISTS: DESCARTES TO LEIBNIZ Introduction Descartes on the Mind and the Body Pascal, Cartesianism and Malebranche Spinoza and the Philosophy of God or Nature Leibniz and the Substance of Reality Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 6: BRITISH PHILOSOPHY: HOBBES TO HUME Introduction Thomas Hobbes on Materialism, Mechanism and Power John Locke and the Empirical Foundations of British Philosophy Berkeley and the Lockean Legacy David Hume and the Experience of Scepticism Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 7: THE ENLIGHTENMENT: VOLTAIRE TO KANT Introduction Rousseau and the Origins of Society The German Enlightenment and the Rise of the Philosophy of History Kant and the Modern Vision of Reason Kant on Morality and Religion Aesthetics, Teleology and the Opus Postumum Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 8: EIGHTEENTH- AND NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN PHILOSOPHY: FICHTE TO NIETZSCHE Introduction Fichte and the Fundamental Principles of Philosophy Schelling and the Idea of Nature, Schleiermacher and the Feeling of Dependence Hegel and the Adventure of Spirit Schopenhauer's Reaction Against the Transformations of Metaphysical Idealism Feuerbach's Turn to Anthropology Marx and Engels and the Critique of Capitalism Kierkegaard and the Search for Authenticity Nietzsche and the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity Conclusion: Retrospect and Prospect Bibliography CHAPTER 9: UTILITARIANISM AND EARLY ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY Introduction The Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill The Legacy of British Empiricism and the Philosophy of Herbert Spencer The Idealist Movement in Great Britain Idealism in America The Pragmatist Movement The Revolt Against Idealism Bertrand Russell and the Pursuit of a Logical and Scientific Philosophy Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 10: NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY FRENCH PHILOSOPHY Introduction From the Revolution to Auguste Comte From Auguste Comte to Henri Bergson From Bergson to Sartre Phenomenology and Structuralism Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 11: RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHY Introduction Historical and philosophical themes Peter Chaadaev: Philosophy and the Problem of Russia Slavophile and Westernizing Developments Literature, Religion and Philosophy: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Solovyov Russian Marxism: Plekhanov, Lenin and the Soviet Union Russian Philosophers in Exile and the Westernizer-Slavophile Legacy Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 12: LOGICAL POSITIVISM AND EXISTENTIALISM Introduction Contemporary British Philosophy Logical Positivism and Verification Existentialism Conclusion Bibliography CHAPTER 13: CONCLUSIONS, OMISSIONS AND PROSPECTS Introduction Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity MacIntyre on Virtue, Character and Community Charles Taylor on the Self and Transcendence Towards a Philosophy of the Future Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Anthony J. Carroll is a philosopher, theologian and parish priest in Andalusia, Spain. His previous books include Protestant Modernity; Religion and Atheism: Beyond the Divide; and Modernity and Transcendence: A Dialogue with Charles Taylor. Frederick Copleston (died 1994) was Professor of the History of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Theology at London University. His work A History of Philosophy is one of the most remarkable single-handed scholarly enterprises of modern times.

Review :
A consummate success… Carroll has done sterling work in bringing Copleston's comprehensive work to a new generation. [The] book is excellently documented from the scholarship on these books, so that as a resource for introductory issues in each case it performs brilliantly. If you're looking for wisdom, you need a sense of history. And a deeper sense of the history of the Western philosophical mind and its inbuilt patterned challenges is what you get from Tony Carroll's informative and insightful book on F.C. Copleston's legacy. Anthony Carroll's reconstruction of the famous 11 volumes of A History of Philosophy is both a compelling introduction into Copleston's comprehensive studies of Philosophy in the West and the East as well as a convincing invitation into the search for truth through discursive reason in the humanist tradition of the Jesuit order. The strong systematic approach to the broad material allows Anthony Carroll to build an intellectual bridge from Copleston's work to modern philosophers like Jürgen Habermas, Alasdair MacIntrye and Charles Taylor. It is an extraordinary and excellent piece of philosophical work! A bold new version of Frederick Copleston's magnificent history of philosophy condensed to a single volume. Carroll dedicates a chapter to each of the original 11 volumes and offers an introduction and conclusion which puts the original work in perspective and makes explicit its philosophical significance for our time. A wonderful opportunity for the general reader and the student of philosophy to become acquainted with this important work. It will be of interest to all those working and studying in the fields of history of philosophy and theology. By engaging with Frederick Copleston's groundbreaking multi-volume A History of Philosophy, this book offers a stimulating overview of a philosophical conversation that spans several centuries and is still ongoing. It demonstrates how humanity has explored fundamental questions from various perspectives and how our present thinking and self-understanding depend on foundations laid down by previous generations. The book thus helps overcome the tendency to teach philosophy with little reference to its rich history. It will fit in wonderfully within the standard philosophical curriculum. Anthony Carroll has produced a thrilling account of the entire journey of human intellectual achievement, written in unusually clear and accessible language. Readers approaching Anthony Carroll's A History of Philosophy: The Condensed Copleston in the expectation of an authoritative, lucid, single-volume account of Copleston's multi-volume classic history will not be disappointed. The Condensed Copleston is, however, much more than this. Carroll deftly weaves into his exposition of Copleston's text much illuminating commentary that, among other things, encompasses developments in philosophy since the original was completed. The result is an incomparable backward glance through 2,500 years of Western philosophy. I cannot recommend it too highly. In the middle of the last (20th) Century, Father Copleston wrote a multi-volume history of Western philosophy which a wide range of students and researchers, well beyond the range of those who shared his Catholic faith and admiration for Aquinas, found extremely helpful. Anthony Carroll has written a condensed single-volume version which shares the same quality of clarity and comprehensiveness. A truly striking achievement. By offering a condensed reconstruction of Copleston's eleven-volume masterpiece within the confines of a single handy volume, Carroll has produced a useful and stimulating resource for a range of courses in the history of philosophy. Why study a history of philosophy? Why condense eleven volumes into one? Anthony Carroll's work answers, in a brilliant way, both questions. His reconstruction of the eleven volumes of Copleston's History of Philosophy offers the reader a clear and deep understanding of the history of philosophy from the Greeks until today (Habermas, McIntyre, Taylor…). Anthony Carroll not only has the ability to systematize and condense Copleston's work without losing its depth, but he is also capable of providing keys to understanding Copleston's work and the history of philosophy. Lastly, the Ignatian humanism underlying Copleston's thought and perspective is taken up as a key to fundamental understanding in the search for truth and the deeper meaning of philosophy in Carroll's work. In an age of increasing cultural and political polarisation philosophy could be of great help - but only if it does not reproduce the deficiencies of many public debates. This condensed history of philosophy is a model of what reasonable, open-minded and fair argumentation can achieve.