WE MUST OURSELVES BE in SOME DEGREE PHILOSOPHERS

Author: Bertrand Russell
Genre: Philosophy/History
Title: A History of Western Philosophy (And Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day)
Pages: xxiii + 895
Original release year: 1946, by Simon & Schuster
Copyright 1945 by Bertrand Russell
My edition: © 1995 by Book of the Month Club, Inc. This edition was especially created in 1995 for Book-of-the-Month Club by arrangement with Simon & Schuster, Inc. Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN: No information available

1. Bertrand Russell at Glance

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was one of the most eminent philosophers, mathematicians, and social reformers of his time. While a fellow and lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge, he published his most important philosophical and mathematical works, The Principle of Mathematics (1903), and, with Alfred North Whitehead, Principia Mathematica (3 volumes). In 1938 he began teaching in the United States, at the University of Chicago and the later at UCLA. In 1950 he received the Nobel Prize of Literature.

2. A History of Western Philosophy: Contents

BOOK I ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Part I. The Pre-Socratics
Part II Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
Part III Ancient Philosophy after Aristotle

BOOK II CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHY
Part I. The Fathers
Part II. The Schoolmen

BOOK III MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Part I. From the Renaissance to Hume
Part II. From Rousseau to the Present Day

3. A History of Western Philosophy: Summary

BOOK I ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY (pages: 1-299).

Part I. The Pre-Socratics

In this part, Bertrand Russell brings the readers along with him to take a look to the rise of Greek civilization. He examines the fundamental aspects of the Milesian School and the Atomists. He also initializes the influence of Athens to Greek culture at the time. In this part the readers will meet the most important pre-Socratics philosophers, i.e.: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and Protagoras.

We will be introduced as well by Bertrand Russell to the mystical element in Greek philosophy, especially on Orphism. According to Russell (p. 16) Orpheus was a dim but interesting figure. Some hold that he was an actual man; others believe that he was a god or imaginary hero. Orphic doctrines contain much that seem to have its first source in Egypt, and it was chiefly through Crete that Egypt influenced Greece. Russell said that whatever may have been teaching of Orpheus (if he existed); the teaching of the Orphics is well known. They believed in the transmigration of souls; they taught that the soul hereafter might achieve eternal bliss or suffer eternal or temporary torment according to its way of life here on earth.

Russell examines Pythagoras who was a reformer of Orphism. From Pythagoras Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into later philosophy that was in any degree religious.

Note: The readers' basic knowledge in Greek mythology is required for make this part more readable. There're many references included by Russell that were correlated to figures, concepts, and terms, in Greek mythology.

Part II. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

In this part, Bertrand Russell brings the readers along with him to take a look to the cosmology and the epistemology of the three most important philosophers in ancient history: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

We will be introduced by Bertrand Russell to the sources of Plato's opinions, Plato's Utopia, Plato's theory of immortality, Plato's cosmogony, and the knowledge and perception in Plato's thoughts.

We will be introduced as well by Bertrand Russell to Aristotle's metaphysics, ethics, politics, logic, and physics.

Of course, the readers will get in touch again with Socrates. Russell said (p. 82) that Socrates is a very difficult subject for the historian. There are many men concerning whom it is certain that very little is known, and other men concerning whom it is certain that a great deal is known; but in the case of Socrates the uncertainty is as to whether we know very little or a great deal. He was undoubtedly an Athenian citizen of moderate means, who spent his time in disputation, and taught philosophy to the young, but not for money, like the Sophists. He was certainly tried, condemned to death, and executed in 399 B.C., at about the age of seventy. Two of his pupils, Xenophon and Plato, wrote voluminously about him.

Note: The readers' basic knowledge in Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, is not relatively required for make this part more readable. Bertrand Russell has provided a comprehensive study on the three philosophers, including their short life history.

Part III. Ancient Philosophy after Aristotle

In this part, Bertrand Russell brings the readers along with him to take a look to the Hellenistic world and the influence of the Roman Empire to the western culture at that time. We will be introduced as well by Bertrand Russell to Plotinus, the Cynics and Skeptics, the Epicureans, and to the Stoicism.

Russell said (p. 218), that the history of the Greek-speaking world in antiquity may be divided into three periods: that of the free City States, which was brought to an end by Philip and Alexander; that of the Macedonian domination, of which the last remnant was extinguished by the Roman annexation of Egypt after the death of Cleopatra; and finally that of the Roman Empire. Of these periods, the first is characterized by freedom and disorder, the second by subjection and disorder, the third by subjection and order.

Further, Russell said that the second of these periods is known as the Hellenistic age. In science and mathematics, the best ever of the work done during this period is achieved by the Greeks. In philosophy, it includes the foundation of the Epicurean and Stoic schools, and also of skepticism as a definitely formulated doctrine; it is therefore still important philosophically, though less so than the period of Plato and Aristotle. After the third century B.C., there is nothing really new in Greek philosophy until the Neo-Platonist in the third century A.D. But meanwhile the Roman world was being prepared for the victory of Christianity.

Note: The readers' basic knowledge in roman history is required for make this part more readable.

BOOK II CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHY (pages: 300-489).

Part I. The Fathers

In this part, Bertrand Russell brings the readers along with him to take a look to the religious development of the Jews. Further more, we will be introduced by Russell to the Christianity during the first four centuries, and the fifth and sixth centuries. We will be introduced as well by Russell to the four doctors of western church (Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, and Pope Gregory of the Great) and to the thought of Saint Benedict.

According to Russell (p. 308), the Christian religion, as it was handed over by the late Roman Empire to the barbarians, consisted of three elements: first, certain philosophical beliefs, derived mainly from Plato and the Neo-Platonist, but also in part from the Stoics; second, a conception of morals and history derived from the Jews; and thirdly, certain theories, more especially as to salvation, which were on the whole new in Christianity, though in part traceable to Orphism, and to kindred cult of the Near East.

The most important Jewish elements in Christianity appear to Bertrand Russell to be the following: (1) a sacred history, beginning with the Creation, leading to a consummation in the future, and justifying the ways of God to man; (2) the existence of a small section mankind whom God specially loves. For Jews, this section was the chosen people; for the Christian, the elect; and (3) a new conception of "righteousness".

Note: The readers' basic knowledge in Jews and Christianity history and in catholic theology is required for make this part more readable.

Part II. The Schoolmen

In this part, Bertrand Russell brings the readers along with him to take a look to the rise and fall of Papacy. Russell also brings the readers to trace the Ecclesiastical reform in the eleventh century and the development of the catholic philosophy in the twentieth and thirteenth century. Especially, Russell investigates the Franciscan Schoolmen and the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

This part also includes the interesting topic about how Islamic culture and philosophy (that founded on Islam as a religion) have influenced the western culture and civilization. Russell mentioned Islamic culture as "Mohammedan culture". According to Russell (p. 420), the religion of the Prophet (Muhammad) was a simple monotheism, uncomplicated by the elaborate theology of Trinity and the Incarnation. The Prophet (Muhammad) made no claim to be divine, nor did his followers make such as claim on his behalf.

Note: The readers' basic knowledge in catholic theology and early Islamic history are required for make this part more readable.

BOOK III MODERN PHILOSOPHY (pages: 490-836).

Part I. From the Renaissance to Hume

In this part, Bertrand Russell brings the readers along with him to take a look to the history and characteristics of the renaissance, the reformation and counter-reformation movements, the rise of science, and the rise of philosophical liberalism.

Russell also brings the readers to trace the influence of Machiavelli, Erasmus, Sir Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume, in the modern philosophy era.

According to Russell (p. 491), the period of history which is commonly called "modern" has a mental outlook which differs from that of the medieval period in many ways. Of these, two are the most important: the diminishing authority of the Church, and the increasing authority of science. With these two, others are connected. The culture of modern times is more lay than clerical. States increasingly replace the Church as the governmental authority that controls culture. The government of nations is, at first, mainly in the hand of kings; then, as in ancient Greece, the kings are gradually replaced by democracies or tyrants. The power of the national State, and the functions that it performs, grow steadily throughout the whole period (apart from some minor fluctuations); but at most times the State has less influence on the opinions of philosophers than the Church had in the Middle Ages.

Note: The readers' basic knowledge in renaissance age and early modern history is required for make this part more readable.

Part II. From Rousseau to the Present Day

In this part, Bertrand Russell brings the readers along with him to take a look to the thoughts of the modern prominent philosophers and their influence in the modern era, i.e.: Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Byron, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Bergson, William James, and John Dewey. We will be introduced as well by Bertrand Russell to the Romantic Movement, the movement of thought in nineteenth century, the movement of the Utilitarians, and the movement of the philosophy of logical analysis.

Note: The readers' basic knowledge in Romantic Movement and modern philosophy history are required for make this part more readable.

4. Conclusion and Recommendation

A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is the most comprehensive book on western philosophy I've ever read. It's very valuable for our reference in the study of the western philosophy and its history as well.

Certainly, a basic knowledge in history and philosophy is required for the readability of this book, but it isn't a problem.

This book will help us increasing our understanding upon many things, including how to comprehend our age and/or our nation. I believe in what Russell said in his introduction of this book (p. xiv), "to understand an age or a nation, we must understand its philosophy, and to understand its philosophy we must ourselves be in some degree philosophers."

Note: Therefore, joyfully I recommend this book to anyone. This book is not only for philosophers or historians. *

Review © Cecep Syamsul Hari