A History of Western Philosophy

Published in 1945, Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy is still one of the most widely-read texts on philosophical history. Russell himself was one of the 20th century’s most noted philosophers and was at the height of his fame and notoriety when the History was published. The book evolved from lectures Russell had given at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. The History is organized into three Books corresponding to what Russell sees as the three main periods of Western philosophy: Ancient, Catholic, and Modern. Each of the Books is further divided into Parts and Chapters, with each chapter generally dealing with a single philosopher, a particular area of a philosopher’s work, or a historical period or movement. Although critical reaction was mixed, the book was a great popular and commercial success, becoming one of the factors in Russell’s attainment of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.

As Russell acknowledges in the Preface to the book, his wife Patricia Russell assisted in research, and she may have edited or even written portions of the book.

This guide refers to the Touchstone edition of A History of Western Philosophy.

Summary

In Book 1: “Ancient Philosophy,” Russell traces the origins of philosophy in ancient Greek civilization, starting with the Mediterranean peoples that preceded the rise of Greece. Greek philosophy began with the Pre-Socratics, who were mainly concerned with explaining the physical universe. Pythagoras was the main thinker in this school, and his thought influenced Socrates and Plato.

In his teaching, Socrates combined mystical insights with an endless curiosity about the world as expressed in the Socratic method. Although Socrates was executed for his beliefs, his thought lived on in the writings of his student Plato, whose dialogue-style works dealt with topics ranging from the theory of knowledge and cosmogony to political philosophy. Plato’s student Aristotle continued his teacher’s thought in some respects and departed from it in others. His treatise-style writings on ethics, metaphysics, and physical science emphasize the empirical observation of the world more than Plato had done.

Both Plato and Aristotle exerted a profound influence on later Western thought. After Aristotle and Plato, philosophy took on a more otherworldly and mystical emphasis, influenced in part by religion. Stoicism was the most enduring new philosophy developed during this period, which preceded the rise of Christianity.

Book 2: “Catholic Philosophy” covers the thousand-year period from the Christian church fathers through the Schoolmen, or Scholastic philosophers. Christianity and the Catholic Church were the main influences upon thinkers during this period, who often concentrated on creating a harmonious synthesis of secular and Christian teaching. The Dark Ages, one of the most difficult periods in Europe’s history, gradually gave way to a period of revival of learning and culture which counted St. Thomas Aquinas as its major philosopher and theologian.

Book 3: “Modern Philosophy” traces the evolution of thought from the Renaissance to the early 20th century, in which science became an increasingly prominent influence in Western thinking. Russell divides this period into two sections, with Part 1 covering the Renaissance to Hume and Part 2 covering Rousseau to the present day (1945).

In Part 1, religious turmoil caused by the Reformation led to skepticism about older religious systems and spawned a new secular emphasis on using philosophy as a tool to gain power, as seen in the thought of Hobbes and Machiavelli. At the same time, traditional religious and political questions were examined in a new light by Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Locke, with special emphasis on empirical observation. In the 18th century, David Hume’s empirical skepticism questioned a number of traditional beliefs.

In Part 2, Romanticism and the sociopolitical theories of Rousseau ushered in a new age in which the rational tradition of the Enlightenment was often questioned. Kant steered rationalism in the direction of Idealism, a development then continued by Hegel, who analyzed history as a predetermined scheme leading to a final synthesis. Hegel’s ideas about history influenced the sociopolitical thought of Marx, who advocated for social and economic revolution.

The Romantic emphasis on the heroic rebel informed the philosophy of Nietzsche, which put into question the entire Western moral tradition, while the Utilitarians and Marx continued the tradition of empirical thought. The Americans William James and John Dewey transformed empiricism into pragmatism and brought philosophy into the 20th century. Russell ends the book with a look at one of the most recent (for 1945) schools of thought: logical positivism, the philosophical school to which Russell himself belonged. Russell favors this school because of its rational, scientific, and problem-solving emphasis, which he believes will resolve the chaos of modern intellectual and political anarchy.