A History of Western Philosophy

I like the idea of a concise book going through the history of thought in a certain discipline without being too complex, like the aforementioned books above. But I'm not too keen on philosophy as of right now, so are there any reputable books like that but with the topic being either economics, sociology, psychology or ethics (ethics is under philosophy but a book focused on ethics) for example?

I know this Russell book gets a lot of hate, and a lot of people say it is full of inaccuracies. I am currently reading Spinoza’s Ethics for the first time, and I thought I might just read the Spinoza chapter of Russell’s history to see if it might help me. Turns out, it helped me a lot, but maybe I should not trust it.

Is there anyone here that knows Spinoza well who can tell me any specific inaccuracies from Russell’s summary?

Any recommendations? Thanks

The book appears to be a good summary, and its availability on the internet is rather high, so it seems to be a good start to get more acquainted with philosophy.

But its age alone probably means that there is a lot wrong with it. Add to this that any one viewpoint will have its flaws, and you necessarily get problems when trying to get a complete view of western philosophy.

I often read that "A History of Western Philosophy" was indeed rather lacking in many aspects, but I never saw a complete answer going into detail what exactly the problems were. For example stuff like "His summary of Kant is lacking", but not what exactly it is lacking.

As it seems to be an entry level book for a lot of people, and I actually enjoyed its style, I'd love to see if there already is an in-depth, up-to-date criticism of its main flaws - and if there is none, if someone could perhaps provide it.

(I did a quick search of 'Bertrand Russell', but it seemed like this questioned hadn't popped up. If it did and I simply missed it, sorry)

Knowledge of external things must be by the mind, not by the senses - Rene Descartes

This was one of the most difficult books I've ever read and it was a relief to turn the final page of this book. Bertrand Russell is a renowned philosopher, polymath and a Nobel laureate in literature. This book is a treatise on the history of Western Philosophy. I'd be doing this book a disservice if I called it boring. To be more accurate, it was a dry read about the history of Western Philosophy, along with Mr Russell's take on some of those theories. It's a very heavy read and has detailed theses (sometimes even verbatim) of some of the important work of certain philosophers.

The reason I started this book was to understand the mindset of thinkers across history and effected massive and sometimes long-lasting social changes (Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Hegel come to mind in these categories). And whoever wants to read how philosophers and their philosophy had a cause and effect relationship to social life should read this book. I feel the best part about this book is distilling the thoughts of various philosophers across generations and ensuring that there's a certain flow and order to these thoughts.

The book is divided into three books: Ancient Philosophy, Catholic Philosophy and Modern Philosophy (until early 1940s when this was written). But be ready for repetition since a lot of these philosophers built upon and repeated the work of their predecessors. And philosophers either love Plato or hate him, but can't seem to ignore him (similarly for the Greeks and the Romans). A lot of them have a grandiose sense of their importance (and philosophers in general). It also talks in depth about philosophy and papacy, which were almost inseparable before Reformation and how philosophy changed its course during and after the industrial revolution.

Talking about the author, Russell tries to take an impartial view of all theories, but I can't help but notice that he talks about England as if the nation and its philosophers are the epitome of rationality, unfazed by emotions. As someone who is overly critical of Prussia and Nazi Germany (with great reason), he never seems to have an issue with the British Empire. In a paragraph about Nietzsche, he says that it never occurs to Nietzsche that those who do not fear their neighbours see no necessity to tyrannize over them. I wonder if he never felt that about his England terrorizing the world for over 300 years.

Most probably, I won't be reading this a second time, but if you're taking this book up and go beyond the halfway mark, you're a braveheart. But don't take this up unless you really have a hankering to read the history of Western philosophy in depth.

“Philosophy is something intermediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of “Philosophy is something intermediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculations on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been unascertainable; but like science, it appeals to human reason rather than to authority, whether that of tradition or that of revelation. All definite knowledge—so I should contend—belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to theology. But between theology and science there is a No Man’s Land, exposed to attack from both sides; this No Man’s Land is philosophy.”

– Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (1945), Introductory, p. xiii.

Saw this today and thought that it was a very nice debate by Fr. Copleston a Catholic Jesuit priest, and Bertrand Russell (of Russell's Teapot fame) from 1948. Notice the amount of civility even though they hold vastly different positions and are both as assured of the correctness of their positions.

Really, this isn't a debate, so I don't know if it belongs here, but I felt that those who are subscribed here would be interested in reading it, and that it may help others improve their own quality of posting in this subreddit.

I'm looking for a book by Bertrand Russell to read with my sister. We're doing a sort of book club scenario. She's a mathematics professional, but also interested in philosophy. However, she's not as well versed in philosophy as I am, and I am quite inept at any math that is not presented in abstract terms. I read a comic book called Logicomix about Russell which piqued my curiosity and am about to read "Why I am not a Christian" by Russell. Any recommendations to bridge the gap between my sister and I would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The Problems of Philosophy, published in 1912, is an introductory book for a beginner in philosophical studies. In this book, the author attempts to provoke a discussion by posing different problems.

The book covers a wide variety of theories proposed by philosophers like Plato, Descartes, Hume, Aristotle, etc. In view of these theories, Russell poses questions about the nature of reality and our perception of it.

While the book refrains from providing absolute solutions to the problems it describes, it excels in guiding the readers towards developing their own way of thinking.

The Ebook is 154 pages.

URL for the Ebook(available in epub, azw3, kepub and epub3 formats) :

I'm aware that in order to read Nietzsche one needs a decent amount of knowledge of philosophy to be able to grasp his ideas and concepts. Having read very few works of philosophy in my life am I gonna be well equipped to handle his books after reading Bertrand Russels' History of Western Philosophy? Also is there any recommended starter book of Nietzsche?