A New History of Western Philosophy: In Four Parts

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Anthony Kenny's Philosophy in the Modern World is the fourth and final volume of his series collectively titled, "A New History of Western Philosophy.

For a truly in depth history of philosophy would not only include important philosophies and their influences, but also every minor, true or false and good or bad, philosophy espoused by whomever and whenever. His logic chapters are, for example, very difficult to understand for a general reader who has never undertaken any formal logic course. A work like this would not serve these readers' needs especially well if its exposition depended heavily on the volumes preceding it. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience.I am surprised that there are so many negative reviews of this excellent book; it seems most unfair and dishonest. This illustrated edition of Sir Anthony Kenny’s acclaimed survey of Western philosophy offers the most concise and compelling story of the complete development of philosophy available. But then I found that, when reading Kant and Hume and Berkeley for example, that there are better lecture series and books on any particular time period or topic than what I find in here. During the period 1989–99, he was both Warden of Rhodes House (manager of the Rhodes Scholarship program) and Professorial Fellow of St John's College and thereafter Fellow Emeritus. Tell us why you liked or disliked the book; using examples and comparisons is a great way to do this.

He starts with a brief history of the people of a period in the first couple chapters of each volume and then, discusses their ideas in greater depth in successive chapters by discipline. He was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1984 to 2001 (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Development, 1999–2001).

You can go back to it whenever you need a cliffnotes version of a thinkers life and works, and I’ve found it works well as a primer for a specific text you’re beginning to study. Physics is no longer a stand-alone philosophical subject after Newton and accordingly Kenny was silent on it in Modern Philosophy. The text is also structured around only including certain philosophers and doesn't create loose ends by mentioning anyone only once or twice.

From 1964 until 1978, he was a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford and Senior Tutor during the periods 1971–72 and 1976–78.As Kenny notes at the outset, the third volume ended with the death of Hegel, and the present volume continues onward from there to close to the end of the 20 th century. Newly revised and expanded for a special 20 th anniversary publication, the latest edition of An Illustrated Brief History of Western Philosophy contains all of Kenny's original writings on the history of Western philosophy from ancient to modern, along with new writings on the philosophy of the mid-20 th century, covering important contributions from continental philosophers and philosophers of the post-Wittgenstein anglophone tradition, including the work of many women who have too often been neglected by the historical record. He presents the complex net of ideas through the lenses of all relevant philosophers since ancient times.