History of Western Philosophy (Routledge Classics)

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Science, technology and economics corrupt human morality, in setting humans up to fight eachother for possession of property. He himself described the text as a work of social history, asking that it be treated in such a manner. The only reason why I haven't given it the full 5 stars is the fact that the book is written for a general public, yet someone who doesn't know the ins and outs of the philosophers and their philosophies will have trouble to understand Russell's points throughout the book.

I'd be quite interested to hear Bertrand Russell's thoughts on the past 65 years; I did stumble upon his remarkable final statement, written two days before his death at age 97, which shows him putting his formidable powers of rationality to work in succinctly and accurately assessing the nature of the Middle East conflict. Each Chapter contains a summary of one major philosopher's key arguments interlaced with criticism that reflects Russell's own priorities and perspectives.To see Russell dismantle Nietzsche as a pathetic, neurotic failure who dreamt of being a military genius but in reality was a sickly and empty person is a real pleasure. Por outro lado, a História termina em 1945, o que deixa de fora muito do que se germinava nesses anos e viria a ganhar relevo, para além de toda a segunda metade do século XX. Although he was usually regarded as English, as he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died. This book, like the others, also inspired me to dig a little further and I've acquired Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature, Spinoza's Ethics, and finally Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.

I felt it contained rather too much history than was necessary to establish the relationship between social and political situation and philosophical theory. This is why a book made up of essays by various authors is apt to be less interesting as an entity than a book by one man. In 1945 Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher and logician, published an amazing and impressive (if not in quality, at least in size) tome: A History of Western Philosophy. In each of these periods, Russell is careful to provide a meaningful amount of historical context, as he describes the major life events, the ideas, and the influence of the philosophers he covers.The last chapter in this section, The Philosophy of Logical Analysis, is concerned with Russell's own philosophical views at the time. Russell's discussion of Socrates and his relationship to Plato is worth reading the book on its own.