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History Of Western Philosophy was published in 1946. A dazzlingly ambitious project, it remains unchallenged to this day as the ultimate introduction to Western philosophy. 作者简介
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, Viscount Amberley, born in Wales, May 18, 1872. Educated at home and at Trinity College, Cambridge. During World War I, served four months in prison as a pacifist, where he wrote Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy. In 1910, published first volume of Principia Mathematica with Alfred Whitehead. Visited Russia and lectured on philosophy at the University of Peking in 1920. Returned to England and, with his wife, ran a progressive school for young children in Sussex from 1927-1932. Came to the United States, where he taught philosophy successively at the University of Chicago, University of California at Los Angeles, Harvard, and City College of New York. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Has been active in disarmament and anti-nuclear-testing movements while continuing to add to his large number of published books which include Philosophical Essays (1910); The ABC of Relativity (1925) Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits (1948); Why I Am Not a Christian (1957); and The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (1967). For a chronological list of Russell's principal works see The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell (Simon and Schuster). --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. 精彩书评
'Remains unchallenged as the perfect introduction to its subject ... exactly the kind of philosophy that most people would like to read, but which only Russell could possibly have written.' - Ray Monk, University of Southampton, UK'Beautiful and luminous prose, not merely classically clear but scrupulously honest.' - Isaiah Berlin 'It is a witty bird's-eye view of the main figures in Western thought enlivened by references to the personalities and quirks of the thinkers themselves.' - The Week 'A great philosopher's lucid and magisterial look at the history of his own subject, wonderfully readable and enlightening.' - The Observer 精彩书摘
CHAPTER I The Rise of Greek Civilization In all history, nothing is so surprising or so difficult to account for as the sudden rise of civilization in Greece. Much of what makes civilization had already existed for thousands of years in Egypt and in Mesopotamia, and had spread thence to neighbouring countries. But certain elements had been lacking until the Greeks supplied them. What they achieved in art and literature is familiar to everybody, but what they did in the purely intellectual realm is even more exceptional. They invented mathematics and science and philosophy; they first wrote history as opposed to mere annals; they speculated freely about the nature of the world and the ends of life, without being bound in the fetters of any inherited orthodoxy. What occurred was so astonishing that, until very recent times, men were content to gape and talk mystically about the Greek genius. It is possible, however, to understand the development of Greece in scientific terms, and it is well worth while to do so. Philosophy begins with Thales, who, fortunately, can be dated by the fact that he predicted an eclipse which, according to the astronomers, occurred in the year 585 B.C. Philosophy and science -- which were not originally separate -- were therefore born together at the beginning of the sixth century. What had been happening in Greece and neighbouring countries before this time? Any answer must be in part conjectural, but archeology, during the present century, has given us much more knowledge than was possessed by our grandfathers. The art of writing was invented in Egypt about the year 4000 B.C., and in Babylonia not much later. In each country writing began with pictures of the objects intended. These pictures quickly became conventionalized, so that words were represented by ideograms, as they still are in China. In the course of thousands of years, this cumbrous system developed into alphabetic writing. The early development of civilization in Egypt and Mesopotamia was due to the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates, which made agriculture very easy and very productive. The civilization was in many ways similar to that which the Spaniards found in Mexico and Peru. There was a divine king, with despotic powers; in Egypt, he owned all the land. There was a polytheistic religion, with a supreme god to whom the king had a specially intimate relation. There was a military aristocracy, and also a priestly aristocracy. The latter was often able to encroach on the royal power, if the king was weak or if he was engaged in a difficult war. The cultivators of the soil were serfs, belonging to the king, the aristocracy, or the priesthood. There was a considerable difference between Egyptian and Babylonian theology. The Egyptians were preoccupied with death, and believed that the souls of the dead descend into the underworld, where they are judged by Osiris according to the manner of their life on earth. They thought that the soul would ultimately return to the body; this led to mummification and to the construction of splendid tombs. The pyramids were built by various kings at the end of the fourth millennium B.C. and the beginning of the third. After this time, Egyptian civilization became more and more stereotyped, and religious conservatism made progress impossible. About 1800 B.C. Egypt was conquered by Semites named Hyksos, who ruled the country for about two centuries. They left no permanent mark on Egypt, but their presence there must have helped to spread Egyptian civilization in Syria and Palestine. Babylonia had a more warlike development than Egypt. At first, the ruling race were not Semites, but "Sumerians," whose origin is unknown. They invented cuneiform writing, which the conquering Semites took over from them. There was a period when there were various independent cities which fought with each other, but in the end Babylon became supreme and established an empire. The gods of other cities became subordinate, and Marduk, the god of Babylon, acquired a position like that later held by Zeus in the Greek pantheon. The same sort of thing had happened in Egypt, but at a much earlier time. The religions of Egypt and Babylonia, like other ancient religions, were originally fertility cults. The earth was female, the sun male. The bull was usually regarded as an embodiment of male fertility, and bull-gods were common. In Babylon, Ishtar, the earth-goddess, was supreme among female divinities. Throughout western Asia, the Great Mother was worshipped under various names. When Greek colonists in Asia Minor found temples to her, they named her Artemis and took over the existing cult. This is the origin of "Diana of the Ephesians." Christianity transformed her into the Virgin Mary, and it was a Council at Ephesus that legitimated the title "Mother of God" as applied to Our Lady. Where a religion was bound up with the government of an empire, political motives did much to transform its primitive features. A god or goddess became associated with the State, and had to give, not only an abundant harvest, but victory in war. A rich priestly caste elaborated the ritual and the theology, and fitted together into a pantheon the several divinities of the component parts of the empire. Through association with government, the gods also became associated with morality. Lawgivers received their codes from a god; thus a breach of the law became an impiety. The oldest legal code still known is that of Hammurabi, king of Babylon, about 2100 B.C.; this code was asserted by the king to have been delivered to him by Marduk. The connection between religion and morality became continually closer throughout ancient times. Babylonian religion, unlike that of Egypt, was more concerned with prosperity in this world than with happiness in the next. Magic, divination, and astrology, though not peculiar to Babylonia, were more developed there than elsewhere, and it was chiefly through Babylon that they acquired their hold on later antiquity. From Babylon come some things that belong to science: the division of the day into twenty-four hours, and of the circle into 360 degrees; also the discovery of a cycle in eclipses, which enabled lunar eclipses to be predicted with certainty, and solar eclipses with some probability. This Babylonian knowledge, as we shall see, was acquired by Thales. The civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia were agricultural, and those of surrounding nations, at first, were pastoral. A new element came with the development of commerce, which was at first almost entirely maritime. Weapons, until about 1000 B.C., were made of bronze, and nations which did not have the necessary metals on their own territory were obliged to obtain them by trade or piracy. Piracy was a temporary expedient, and where social and political conditions were fairly stable, commerce was found to be more profitable. In commerce, the island of Crete seems to have been the pioneer. For about eleven centuries, say from 2500 B.C. to 1400 B.C., an artistically advanced culture, called the Minoan, existed in Crete. What survives of Cretan art gives an impression of cheerfulness and almost decadent luxury, very different from the terrifying gloom of Egyptian temples. Of this important civilization almost nothing was known until the excavations of Sir Arthur Evans and others. It was a maritime civilization, in close touch with Egypt (except during the time of the Hyksos). From Egyptian pictures it is evident that the very considerable commerce between Egypt and Crete was carried on by Cretan sailors; this commerce reached its maximum about 1500 B.C. The Cretan religion appears to have had many affinities with the religions of Syria and Asia Minor, but in art there was more affinity with Egypt, though Cretan art was very original and amazingly full of life. The centre of the Cretan civilization was the so-called "palace of Minos" at Knossos, of which memories lingered in the traditions of classical Greece. The palaces of Crete were very magnificent, but were destroyed about the end of the fourteenth century B.C., probably by invaders from Greece. The chronology of Cretan history is derived from Egyptian objects found in Crete, and Cretan objects found in Egypt; throughout, our knowledge is dependent on archeological evidence. The Cretans worshipped a goddess, or perhaps several goddesses. The most indubitable goddess was the "Mistress of Animals," who was a huntress, and probably the source of the classical Artemis. She or another was also a mother; the only male deity, apart from the "Master of Animals," is her young son. There is some evidence of belief in an after life, in which, as in Egyptian belief, deeds on earth receive reward or retribution. But on the whole the Cretans appear, from their art, to have been cheerful people, not much oppressed by gloomy superstitions. They were fond of bull-fights, at which female as well as male toreadors performed amazing acrobatic feats. The bull-fights were religious celebrations, and Sir Arthur Evans thinks that the performers belonged to the highest nobility. The surviving pictures are full of movement and realism. The Cretans had a linear script, but it has not been deciphered. At home they were peaceful, and their cities were unwalled; no doubt they were defended by sea power. Before the destruction of the Minoan culture, it spread, about 1600 B.C., to the mainland of Greece, where it survived, through gradual stages of degeneration, until about 900 B.C. This mainland civilization is called the Mycenaean; it is known through the tombs of kings, and also through fortresses on hill- tops, which show more fear of war than had existed in Crete. Both tombs and fortresses remained to impress the imagination of classical Greece. The older art products in the palaces are either actually of Cretan workmanship, or closely akin to those of Crete. The Mycenaean civilization, seen through a haze of legend, is that which is depicted in Homer. There is much uncertainty concerning the Mycenaeans. Did they owe their civilization to being conquered by the ... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. 前言/序言
好的,这里为您提供一份关于一本名为《西方哲学史》的图书的详细简介,该简介完全不涉及您提到的具体那本英文原版平装书的内容,而是以一种独立、深入且富有学术性的方式来描述一部涵盖西方哲学宏大历史的著作。 --- 书籍简介:西方思想的恢弘史诗——西方哲学史(一部全新的考察) 导言:思想的边界与回响 人类对自身存在、知识的本质、以及宇宙秩序的探求,是文明演进中最深刻的驱动力。西方哲学,作为理性思辨的传统,自古希腊的城邦兴起到现代的数字时代,构成了一部波澜壮阔的思想史。本书并非对既有经典的简单罗列,而是一次雄心勃勃的尝试,旨在重塑我们对西方哲学演进路径的理解,深入剖析那些塑造了西方文明核心价值的根本性论辩与范式转换。 本书将带领读者穿越时空,从米利都的自然哲学家们对“本源”(Arche)的首次追问开始,抵达后现代主义对宏大叙事的解构浪潮。它聚焦于哲学思想在特定历史、社会和科学背景下的生成与互动,力求揭示那些看似抽象的形而上学、认识论和社会政治哲学,如何与人类的日常生活、艺术创造乃至技术发展紧密交织。 第一部分:奠基与黄金时代——从自然到伦理的觉醒(公元前 6 世纪 – 公元 3 世纪) 本卷聚焦于西方哲学的“创世纪”。我们首先考察古希腊前苏格拉底时期的自然哲学家的突破性思维,他们如何从神话转向对物质世界构成和变化的理性描述。毕达哥拉斯学派对数学的发现如何预示了理性的至高无上性;巴门尼德与赫拉克利特关于“存在”与“变化”的辩证冲突,确立了形而上学的基本张力。 随后,叙事转向雅典城邦的黄金时代。苏格拉底的“认识你自己”开启了伦理学的转向,他通过辩证法(Elenchus)对传统价值的质疑,为整个西方伦理思想奠定了不可逾越的基础。柏拉图的“理念论”不仅是关于实在的理论,更是一种关于知识、政治、美与善的完整图景。他构建的“洞穴寓言”至今仍是理解人与知识之间关系的经典隐喻。 亚里士多德,作为柏拉图最杰出的学生,以其更为系统、经验主义的风格,构建了逻辑学、形而上学、物理学、伦理学和政治学的宏大体系。他的“四因说”和“潜能与实现”的概念,为后世的科学与形而上学提供了工具箱。本部分还深入探讨了希腊化时期的哲学流派,如斯多葛主义(强调德性与自然法则)、伊壁鸠鲁主义(追求宁静的快乐)和怀疑主义(对确定性的质疑),展示了哲学如何应对城邦解体后个体对意义的追寻。 第二部分:信仰与理性交织——中世纪的哲学整合(公元 3 世纪 – 15 世纪) 当罗马帝国衰落,基督教成为西方世界的主导力量时,哲学并未消亡,而是进入了一个与神学深度融合的阶段。本部分细致梳理了教父哲学,特别是奥古斯丁如何将柏拉图主义(特别是新柏拉图主义)融入基督教神学框架,探讨了自由意志、罪恶和时间本质等深刻问题。 中世纪的哲学核心在于“信仰与理性”的关系调和。我们将考察经院哲学的兴起,特别是安塞姆关于上帝存在的本体论证明。随后,全书的焦点将转向托马斯·阿奎那。他集大成地将亚里士多德的哲学体系“基督教化”,构建了一个逻辑严密、结构宏大的经院哲学体系。阿奎那的“五路论”不仅是对上帝存在的证明,更是对整个宇宙等级秩序的精妙阐释。本部分还将涵盖奥卡姆的“如无必要,勿增实体”原则,探讨其对后世经验主义和名义主义的深远影响。 第三部分:革命的黎明——近代哲学的兴起与认识论的转向(17 世纪 – 18 世纪) 文艺复兴和科学革命彻底打破了中世纪的世界观。笛卡尔的“我思故我在”标志着哲学的焦点从“世界是什么”转向“我如何认识世界”,开启了近代认识论的时代。 我们将详细分析大陆理性主义的鼎盛时期:斯宾诺莎的泛神论体系和莱布尼茨的单子论,他们试图用纯粹的理性构建一个包罗万象的实在结构。与之相对,英国经验主义者如洛克、贝克莱和休谟,则坚持所有知识来源于感官经验。休谟对因果律和自我同一性的彻底怀疑,将哲学推向了危机。 最终,康德横空出世,他以“哥白尼式的革命”调和了理性主义与经验主义的对立。康德对人类认识能力的先验限制的考察,以及对道德律令的建构,重塑了形而上学和伦理学的图景。本部分也将涵盖启蒙运动中的政治哲学,如霍布斯、洛克和卢梭关于社会契约和自然权利的辩论,这些思想直接点燃了现代社会的革命火焰。 第四部分:宏大体系的黄昏与多元化的爆炸(19 世纪 – 20 世纪) 19 世纪是哲学体系的“巨人时代”。黑格尔的绝对精神辩证法,试图将历史、逻辑和实在统一在一个不断自我展开的动态体系之中,达到了古典哲学的顶峰。 然而,随后的哲学家们开始系统性地瓦解黑格尔的宏大叙事。叔本华以意志为本体,开创了深刻的悲观主义。克尔凯郭尔将关注点重新拉回个体存在的焦虑与抉择,成为存在主义的先驱。马克思则将辩证法转向物质生产和社会结构,哲学开始深刻干预社会实践。尼采宣告“上帝已死”,对西方传统道德和形而上学价值进行了彻底的“重估”,对人类意志力的颂扬成为一股强大的反潮流力量。 20 世纪的哲学呈现出惊人的多元化和专业化。分析哲学在英国和奥地利兴起,专注于语言的逻辑分析,试图通过精确的逻辑工具解决或消解传统哲学问题(如弗雷格、罗素、维特根斯坦早期)。与此同时,欧陆哲学则延续了现象学(胡塞尔)和存在主义(海德格尔、萨特)的路线,深入探讨“存在”、“在世”和“人道”的经验本质。 本书的收尾部分将探讨二战后哲学思潮的分化:从结构主义、后结构主义(福柯对知识权力关系的解构)到当代心灵哲学、科学哲学和伦理学的新发展,展示了哲学如何持续地适应和批判一个日益复杂的现代世界。 结论:永恒的追问 本书旨在展示,西方哲学史并非一条单向的线性进步,而是由一系列深刻的对话、激烈的冲突和范式断裂所构成的复杂织锦。理解这些思想的来龙去脉,不仅是回顾历史,更是装备我们批判性思维的工具,以便我们能更好地面对当下和未来的挑战。它是一部关于人类理性如何探索自身局限与无限可能性的永恒史诗。