Product Description
Is our sense of freedom merely an illusion? This questio cannot be settled by philosophical argument. It is not simply granted to us. If we want to become free, we have to try through our own inner activity to overcome habits of thought and reach a point of view that recognizes no limits to knowledge, sees through all illusions, and opens the door to an experience of the reality of the spiritual world.

This is a special reprint of the acclaimed translation - by Michael Wilson - of Rudolf Steiner's classic work on thinking as a spiritual path. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Book from The Man
The quintessential book for every anthroposophist to read and re-read.Steiner laid more emphasis on this work than any of his other books - contains all essential anthroposophical concepts in seed form.

It is one of the great tragedies of the 20th century that the anthroposophical society does not lay more emphasis on this work.

If you consider yourself an anthropop - GET IT AND READ IT.

Michael Wilson is far better than Lipson translation (is more faithful to the original german)
... Read more

Product Description
One hundred years after his death, Friedrich Nietzsche remains the most influential philosopher of the modern era. Basic Writings of Nietzsche gathers the complete texts of five of Nietzsche's most important works, from his first book to his last: The Birth of Tragedy; Beyond Good and Evil; On the Genealogy of Morals; The Case of Wagner; and Ecce Homo. Edited and translated by the great Nietzsche scholar Walter Kaufmann, this volume provides a definitive guide to the full range of Nietzsche's thought.

Included also are seventy-five aphorisms, selections from Nietzsche's correspondence, and variants from drafts for Ecce Homo.Amazon.com Review
A better title for this book might be The Indispensable Writings of Nietzsche. Indeed, the six selections contained in Walter Kaufmann's volume are not only critical elements of Nietzsche's oeuvre, they are must-reads for any aspiring student of philosophy. Those coming to Nietzsche for the first time will be pleased to find three of his best-known works--The Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, and On the Genealogy of Morals--as well as a collection of 75 aphorisms drawn from Nietzsche's celebrated aphoristic work. In addition, there are two lesser known, but important, pieces in The Case of Wagner and Ecce Homo. Kaufmann's lucid and accurate translations have been the gold standard of Nietzsche scholarship since the 1950s, and this volume does not disappoint.

Anyone who has slogged their way through the swamps of German philosophical writing---in Kant or Hegel or Heidegger--will find Nietzsche a refreshing and exhilarating change. The selections are well chosen, and a cover-to-cover read will aptly depict Nietzsche's philosophy. In this volume the reader will find many of Nietzsche's polemical (and frequently misunderstood) ratiocinations on Christianity, Socrates, Germany, and art. Here, too, are his seminal and unforgettable critiques of Western morality ("That lambs dislike great birds of prey does not seem strange: only it gives no ground for reproaching these birds of prey for bearing off little lambs"). For philosophical fireworks, Nietzsche can hardly be matched. His brazen defiance of intellectualism's conventions still rings in contemporary thought because he practiced philosophy with a hammer. --Eric de Place ... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

A fascinating human being of exceptional complexity and integrity (P. Gay)
Nietzsche was the greatest polemist ever. He played the role of Saint-Michael, the dragon slayer, in his Homeric battle with the existing dragons (the Christian moralists). He tried to revalue all generally accepted `good and evil' values and really felt that mankind was pregnant with a new super-species, the `Übermensch'.
His influence on philosophy, literature, psychology and politics is immense.
Of course, some aspects of his vision on mankind are unacceptable.

The all important influence on his Nietzsche's life and philosophy came from Schopenhauer: `I very earnestly denied my `will to life' at the time when I first read Schopenhauer.'

The life of a Nietzschean immoralist
Life is to express one's will to and lust for power. The cardinal instinct of man is not self-preservation, but the discharge of strength. Everything evil, terrible, tyrannical in man, everything that is kin to beasts of prey and serpents serves the enhancement of the species `man'. This enhancement has always been the work of an aristocratic society. The noble man creates his own morality, his good and bad, with egoism and exploitation as his real nature. He despises the slaves, the unfree, the doglike people who allow themselves to be maltreated.

Christian morals, democracy
When the aristocratic value judgments declined, the plebeians imposed their own morality of unegoism, pity, self-sacrifice, self-abnegation and ascetic ideals on mankind. The egoistic `good' of the masters became the `evil' of the Christian faith.
This faith constitutes not less than a sacrifice of all freedom, enslavement and self-mutilation. By preserving all that is sick, it breads `a mediocre herd animal'.
Democracy, `the nonsense of the greatest numbers', with its `equality of rights', is the heir of Christianity.
It is a gruesome fact that an anti-life morality received the highest honors and was fixed as a law and a categorical imperative.

Art
Art is a saving sorceress. She alone knows how to turn the nauseous thoughts about the horrors of life into the sublime and life's absurdity into the comic.
Musically speaking, Nietzsche himself was a composer.
`The Case against Wagner' compares the Dionysian opera `Carmen' by Bizet, with the Christian opera `Parsifal' by Wagner, the redeemer.

Evaluation
Besides his unacceptable profound misogyny (`woman's great art is the lie, her highest concern is mere appearance'), Friedrich Nietzsche's brutal evangel is not less than a call for war, not peace. But in an age of nuclear, bio- and chemo-weapons, of veiled State terrorism and of demographic explosions, his call for an uninhibited exploitation of man's basic instincts to fight for the spoils should be categorically rejected.
His romantic anti-rational and anti-scientific stances became pipedreams.
On the other hand, his attacks on the power of the moralists, his sincere call to live in `Dionysian' freedom and not for `eternal bliss', as well as his vision that art is the only truly metaphysical activity of man, will continue to appeal strongly to many and remain the bright parts of his virulent diatribes.

His work is a must read for all philosophers and lovers of truly essential polemics.

Nietzsche is brilliant!
Much of Nietzsche's brilliance can be found within this one book. His influnce on philosophy is unmistakeable. His genius is nearly unmatch and is displayed with class throughout this book. This book is a must-have for anyone studying, or a fan of Nietzsche

A fine compilation of a wholly inaccessible writer
Going by the majority of these reviews, one might acquire the illusion that Nietzsche is a writer who is difficult enough that you must be told where to start, but after that his entire spectrum will align into intelligibility. This is false, and I'd be surprised if there were one hundred people in America today that commune with Nietzsche on his terms.

There is also the problem of left-margin distortions, particularly from the post-68 Parisian-French position, whose dominion in our universities is reminiscent of the Gestapo. There are also others from this margin who over emphasize the literality of Nietzsche's writings, thus alienating themselves from Nietzsche's capacity for the anti-thetical, of which he was a master. The situation for a case like this is perfectly comprehended by the setting of a university class, or an Amazon webpage; one "reviewer", or academic apparatchik, pushes the words "morality" and "Christian" to the point where Nietzsche looks like a proto-democrat who just didn't understand himself well enough, or was a "victim" of the oppressive, discriminating customs of his day; a little leftist appropriation of his value-philosophy "creators/new values" and our thoroughly leveled, egalitarian world will be saved. In fact, I've had a professor declare that Nietzsche's comments on women were really just his way of satirizing the gender norms of the day, as if Nietzsche really was the direct ancestor of Judith Halberstam. This is despicable, but, of course, it could only happen now, at the very end.

The reality of this issue is that Nietzsche was from the far-Right, as far as "far" can possibly go. He derided self-professed liberals because they desired the Last-man, which is the only man of our world. He was more sympathetic to conservatives:

Whispered to the conservatives. -- What was not known formerly, what is known, or might be known, today: a reversion, a return in any sense or degree is simply not possible. We physiologists know that. Yet all priests and moralists have believed the opposite -- they wanted to take mankind back, to screw it back, to a former measure of virtue. Morality was always a bed of Procrustes. Even the politicians have aped the preachers of virtue at this point: today too there are still parties whose dream it is that all things might walk backwards like crabs. But no one is free to be a crab. Nothing avails: one must go forward -- step by step further into decadence (that is my definition of modern "progress"). One can check this development and thus dam up degeneration, gather it and make it more vehement and sudden: one can do no more. (Section no. 43 from The Twilight of the Idols)

However, "life", for Nietzsche, bears none of our connotations. For Nietzsche, life is pain, and pain is the origin of meaning. His philosophy is, to quote Harold Bloom, a "poetics of pain". Pain here is not just the sense of injustice or any of its current pussyfooted interpretations that may at any time be deemed an antipode of our universities's shibboleths. Disease, vice, racism, "sexism", slavery, war, death, and especially death--all of these harbingers of pain [of meaning!!!] are necessary and constitute the order of the species, which is to say, the order of life. For Nietzsche, the species of mankind was only at its greatest, which is to say, was only tolerable, where its existence was most threatened. Hence all the prattle about "over population", as if those people have any idea of what they are talking about.

Nietzsche would agree that there is an inclination to alleviate suffering, since he rightly observes that for the most part of the history of mankind suffering, which is to say pain, was taken not only as a separate thing, but as something to be abolished. This is after the species took the-Nothing as meaning under the name of "God". Hence, the creation of the "afterlife", or quite simply, "Art" in general. Thus at the end of the 19th century, as the world was being primed for its current absurd existence, Nietzsche proclaims that God is dead. This is a deeply complex proclamation that I won't go into here, but I think the best chronicler of this, and of Nietzsche in general, is his direct philosophical heir, Martin Heidegger, who is equally inaccessible.

Walter Kaufmann was a respectable scholar, and aside from his efforts in Zarathustra, his translations were solid, though I rather Hollingdale. However, Kaufmann's scholastic commentary in his translations really shows that he was a Jew living in the direct wake of the Holocaust. I do not mean this disparagingly, much less "racist"-ly. Kaufmann deserves praise for re-establishing a coherent image of Nietzsche, devoid of crud Nazi appropriations, but I think that his duel with Nazism led him to exaggerate what I think he perceived to be a pseudo-humanistic trait in Nietzsche. Nietzsche had absorbed the great canonized, Humanist tradition going back to wherever its origins may be in Greece, whether its Homer, Plato or both, but if Humanism means autonomy, reason, ethics or rights, then Kaufmann must be met with a resounding no. The entire span of his productive period is, in a way, a rational argument for abandoning reason, which means our regime is doomed.

Just fine for college
It came a bit torn and used, but for the price, and the highlightings, and for college? Just what I needed! Thanks! Besides.. Neitzsche is always a good read!

Awesome collection
The Modern Library Hardcover is the best choice for a student of Nietzsche. Include the Viking Portable and you have most of his writing in two books- by a good translater. I also recommend Thus Spoke Zarathustra in The Modern Library Hardcover edition. But you can also find it included in the Portable Nietzsche- though it's nice to have a single, beautifully bound, hardcover to hold and read and carry around.

The Portable Nietzsche (Viking Portable Library)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (Modern Library) ... Read more

Product Description

In his magnum opus, the Historical and Critical Dictionary, Pierre Bayle offered a series of brilliant criticisms of the major philosophical and theological systems of the 17^th Century. Although officially skeptical concerning the attempt to provide a definitive account of the truths of metaphysics, there is reason to see Bayle as a reluctant skeptic. In particular, Todd Ryan contends that Bayle harbored deep sympathy for the attempt by Descartes and his most innovative successor, Nicolas Malebranche, to establish a metaphysical system that would provide a foundation for the new mechanistic natural philosophy while helping to secure the fundamental tenets of rational theology. Through a careful analysis of Bayle’s critical engagement with such philosophers as Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke and Newton, it is argued that, despite his reputation as a skeptic, Bayle was not without philosophical commitments of his own. Drawing on the full range of Bayle’s writings, from his early philosophical lectures to his final controversial writings, Ryan offers detailed studies of Bayle’s treatment of such pivotal issues as mind-body dualism, causation and God’s relation to the world.

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Introduction to Hegel's thought for the student and general reader, emphasizing in particular his social and political thought and his continuing relevance to contemporary problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

N.B.: Dupicative of certain chapters of Taylor's "Hegel."
The book does deserve five stars--but there is a need to call attention to the preface of "Hegel and Modern Society," which is absent from the free, searchable content available here.Professor Taylor candidly puts it, in the preface, that this book is substantially the same as the various chapters in his excellent "Hegel" dealing with Hegel's relation to contemporary society.In short, if you own a volume of Taylor's "Hegel" you already have the content of this book--you needn't buy both.

Accessibility without simplification
Hegel is notoriously difficult to understand.When an exposition of his philosophy, entitled "The Secret of Hegel", was published in the 19th century, a critic accused its author of "keeping thesecret."Charles Taylor, by contrast, without academic arrogance--infact, with characteristic humility--makes brilliantly accessible thisabstruse philosopher.Taylor eloquently extracts the essence and logic ofHegel's arguments; and shows the relationships between Hegel's metaphysicsand social philosophy; thereby revealing to the reader the whole system ofHegel's philosophy, rather than its isolated components.Along the way, hedispels many of the false myths that surround Hegel's often quoted butrarely read philosophies.And not only does Taylor make sense of Hegel inthe philosopher's own historical and intellectual contexts, but, as thetitle of the book implies, Taylor shows the relevance that Hegel's ideasstill hold today.This is a gem of a book for people studying Hegel, forpeople studying philosophy, political science, or history.Highlyrecommended. ... Read more

Product Description
J.B. Schneewind's remarkable book is the most comprehensive study ever written of the history of moral philosophy. Its aim is to set Kant's still influential ethics in its historical context by showing in detail what the central questions in moral philosophy were for him and how he arrived at his own distinctive ethical views. In its range, analyses, and discussion of the subtle interweaving of religious and political thought with moral philosophy, this is an unprecedented account of the evolution of Kant's ethics.Amazon.com Review
At the beginning of The Invention of Autonomy, J.B.Schneewind modestly explains that he began work on the book"because there were many aspects of Kant's moral philosophy Icould not understand," and he therefore sought to understandKant's remarkable contribution to moral theory by considering it inits historical context. By the time one finishes reading the book,over 500 pages later, it's reasonable to question if there's anythingabout modern moral philosophy that Schneewind fails to understand.

The Invention of Autonomy is divided into four main parts. Inthe first part, Schneewind discusses the natural-law theory ofmorality, as classically expounded by St. Thomas Aquinas, and tracesits rise and fall by considering the works of Luther, Calvin,Machiavelli, Montaigne, Charron, Suarez, Grotius, Hobbes, Cumberland,Pufendorf, Locke, and Thomasius. The second part deals withperfectionist approaches, as exemplified by Herbert of Cherbury,Descartes, the Cambridge Platonists, Spinoza, Malebranche, andLeibniz. The third part looks at moral philosophers who, by and large,are inclined to regard morality as independent of God's ongoingcooperation. Most of the canonical British moralists, fromShaftesbury, Clarke, and Mandeville to Hume, Reid, and Bentham, areincluded. Finally, in the fourth part, Schneewind examinesanticipations of Kant's invention (or, perhaps, discovery) of autonomyin the works of Wolff, Crusius, the French philosophes, andRousseau.He then skillfully relates Kant's moral thought to the richtradition preceding it.

In comprehensiveness, authoritativeness, insightfulness, andaccessibility, there is simply no work in English on the history ofmodern ethics that rivals The Invention of Autonomy. Nobodyinterested in moral philosophy or its history can afford to ignoreit. --Glenn Branch ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

"the best book of that kinde"
The Invention of Autonomy was first published in 1998 and has since been reissued a number of times. It deals with moral history in the 17th and 18th centuries, culminating in a discussion on Kant. (There is also a companion reader with primary texts and commentaries; Moral Philosophy from Montaigne to Kant.) A background is given with short accounts of the views of St. Thomas, Luther, Calvin, and others. In his preface, Schneewind says that he embarked on the whole enterprise because he felt he lacked a proper understanding of many aspects of Kant's moral philosophy. Unusually, and to his credit, he states on a number of further occasions that he has difficulties in understanding, or is uncertain about how to interpret, a specific text. This gives the layperson some hope.
Rating this book five stars doesn't necessarily entail an agreement with everything in it or that it's an especially smooth read. The book does require some basic knowledge of the terminology and recurring themes. For someone steeped in the canon this shouldn't be a problem, but to the average reader even some of the protagonists may be unfamiliar.Equally, not every subject seems to be urgent to a modern reader. On discussing Pufendorf he dryly states that his theory is dead. Why then delve into it? Because, Schneewind says, it was very influential at the time and has to be considered to get a full picture of later developments. At times it can be a bit taxing to plough through all the ins and outs of such a system. It may seem to be only so much hairsplitting, but of course you could get your papers burnt for it, or worse. At the same time it obviously lays the foundation for things to come. Locke recommended Pufendorf's works for the education of any gentleman's son. It is "the best book of that kinde."
The occasional easing-off can be found, not infrequently in the footnotes (which are at the bottom of the pages). In note 32 on page 303 we encounter the story of a naturally docile mule. By way of illuminating Shaftesbury's anti-voluntarist stance, the splendid conclusion is reached:"We may be glad to own one, but we do not praise its virtue." Back in the 1960's a lawsuit was brought against famous Dutch author Gerard Reve for comparing God to an ass (and something else which I'll leave to the reader's imagination). He was acquitted...
Talking about the Netherlands, a point of contention could be Schneewind's repeated characterization of Spinoza as being "deeply religious." This in stark contrast to Ian Buruma's almost casual comment that Spinoza was "not a religious man" (Taming the Gods, p. 10). For Steven Nadler it is absolutely clear that Spinoza was an atheist (Interpreting Spinoza - Critical Essays, p. 70). Of course, the debate on the "true" nature of the beliefs of Spinoza is as notorious as it is perennial.
The epilogue might perhaps as well have served as an introduction. Here Schneewind discusses the roots of moral history and whether it in fact has one single aim. Socrates broke with tradition and "was the first to call philosophy down from the heavens" (Cicero). He turned his attention to human affairs and how to live a good life, whereas Pythagoras stressed a morality of revelation and virtue. These two traditions can be recognized in different guises up to Bentham's utilitarianism, Kant's categorical imperative, and further. Schneewind stresses the importance of a variable-aim approach for a fuller historical understanding of why some theories have survived and others not. Consequently, all the main philosophers are treated side by side with "lesser figures." From Machiavelli and Hugo de Groot via Hobbes and Thomasius to La Mettrie and Kant, The Invention of Autonomy is a comprehensive survey of moral philosophy before and during the Enlightenment. It is also the story of a gradual development towards a fully secular morality.

Well-wrttien and fascinating
An academic philosopher writing well, both for the general audience and for the specialist. Absolutely fascinating.I'm still enjoying reading the book, dipping into bits of it at a time and absorbing it. A good deal to think about, and superbly-communicated.

Magisterial
This outstanding and remarkably learned book is a history of moral philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries.Schneewind's primary theme is that thought about morality evolved from an emphasis on obedience to God and was dominated by theologians to an emphasis on autonomy and thought dominated by philosophers.In a broad sense, this book is a description of the transition in moral thinking from Aquinas to Kant.While most of this book is careful description and analysis of the writing of the many contributors to the evolution of modern moral thought, Schneewind in careful to identify the birth of modern moral philosophy in the intellectual crisis that accompanied the Reformation and the great religious conflicts of the early modern period.Schneewind makes the further point that developments in moral philosophy can only be understood properly as being at least partial responses to problems of each writer's time.
Schneewind begins with the historic natural law formulations of Aquinas and some criticisms of him by later Medieval theologians.This sets the stage for the emergence of modern natural law thinkers in the early modern period. These thinkers would tend to emphasize a considerable amount of human capacity to develop moral systems.Schneewind points out that this emphasis on human capacities was to some extent prefigured and led by Machiavelli and Montaigne, both of whom, though in very different ways, pointed to independent human powers of judgement.The section on natural law theorists is followed by the rationalists and perfectionists of the 17th century, many of whom, and again in different ways, would emphasize the human capacity for reason and the possibility of human self-improvement.By the 18th century, the role of human capacity has increased and by the mid-18th century, entirely naturalistic moral formulations, such as those of Hume, various French atheists, and later Bentham emerge.Schneewind concludes with a brilliant section on Kant's German antecedents and how Kant chose from and extended prior work to develop his concept of morality as the action of a universal human autonomous will.
Running through Schneewind's narrative are a number of important subsidiary themes, such as the debates over the moral relationship between man and God, the recurrent role of the collision of Classical and Christian thought, the role of the Republican tradition that starts with Machivelli, and the emergence of philosophy as an autonomous tradition.
Written very well, this book exhibits remarkable depth of knowledge and judicious understanding of formidably difficult topics. Beyond Schneewind's description of the basic theme, it is an excellent reference source on many of the thinkers discussed in the text.

The philosophy of self-governance
Jerome Schneewind has tackled a big job in this massively erudite volume and done it remarkably well.

This book is a thorough history of modern moral philosophy, from roughly Thomas Aquinas to Immanuel Kant. What it traces is the development of the ideal of self-governance (the "autonomy" of the title).

And wow, is it good. It's well-written, it's scholarly without being inaccessible, and it treats the thought of every major ethical theorist (and some minor ones) of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

It's divided into four blocks. The first treats the subject of natural law, which was in philosophical fashion at the time our story opens. The second covers the "perfectionist" ethics that followed the movement away from natural law. The third treats philosophers who began to sever ethics from theology altogether and develop a "naturalized" morality. The fourth covers the last steps up to the philosophy of Kant, including his immediate forebears and the development of Kant's own concept of "autonomy".

The five-hundred-odd-page text never bogs down, either. Schneewind is a crisp and clear writer who keeps things both interesting and moving. (I especially like his half-chapter on Spinoza.)

This is somewhere between history of philosophy and philosophy of history. On the one hand, Schneewind is just reporting the historical development of ethical philosophy; on the other hand, he's also describing the philosophical arc from natural law to Kant in a way that sheds Kant's light backward onto two centuries' worth of his predecessors.

If you're interested in ethics and its history, you'll want to read this. It's hard to understand where we are and where we're going without knowing where we've been.

Indubitably good
I would encourage anyone who is interested in modern morality, and moral philosophy specifically, to read this judicious and profound history.Many contemporary moral problems simply aren't understandable withoutunderstanding the historical context from which they arise.A principalvirtue of this book is that it is the first text - to my knowledge - whichdeals with the history of modern moral philosphy using the texts of moralphilosophers themselves, and thereby staying away from unphilosophicalforms of historicism.Also, the text makes understandable some of theproblems to which "autonomy" as a current moral value is intendedto address, and so helps one understand why that value has become soimportant in contemporary culture discourse.Deceptively readably, theproundness of this book is a tesitmony to the importance of an intellectualmovement its author help to establish - that ideas themselves are importantto explaining human progress, but that they need to be placed within theintellectual context from which they come.Simply put, it is that rarebook - difficult to find in the current academic world - that representsthe achievement of a life time of thought and teaching about modern moralphilosophy, by someone who is himself a philosopher, and who those of usthat know him admire. ... Read more

Product Description
Debates over the 'end of art' have tended to obscure Hegel's work on the arts themselves. Benjamin Rutter opens this study with a defence of art's indispensability to Hegel's conception of modernity; he then seeks to reorient discussion toward the distinctive values of painting, poetry, and the novel. Working carefully through Hegel's four lecture series on aesthetics, he identifies the expressive possibilities particular to each medium. Thus, Dutch genre scenes animate the everyday with an appearance of vitality; metaphor frees language from prose; and Goethe's lyrics revive the banal routines of love with imagination and wit. Rutter's important study reconstructs Hegel's view not only of modern art but of modern life and will appeal to philosophers, literary theorists, and art historians alike. ... Read more

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New edition of the best single-volume survey of early modernphilosophy available! The philosophers of the Modern period grappled with and shaped philosophical problems that are still very much alive today. Now revised and expanded, this clear and authoritative guide to primary texts in modern philosophy offers students an excellent introduction to the most-studied Rationalist (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz) and Empiricist (Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant) philosophers. As with the original edition, the Second Edition provides summaries and explanations that arepitched at a level that makes the thoughts and ideas of nine great philosophers accessible to students in an untrivialized manner. For readers struggling to come to grips with the epistemological and metaphysical views of the modern period, Bacon to Kant, 2/E, is an invaluable resource and serves as an ideal companion volume for studying original works. Thomson explains and analyzes central arguments in a readable and engaging style. Criticalassessments of evolving views and arguments, contrasting interpretations of original texts, and thought-provoking questions designed to promote lively discussion will help students connect the material to wider contemporaryphilosophical issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Text Book
If you're like me you're probably reading this for class so you don't get to choose your text book. That said it is a great book, well written and easy to follow.

Academic, bu not so entertaining
I purchased this book thinking it would shed some light on philosophy, but it ended up being more of a text book, and not as enlightening as I had hoped. Still, it does provide a good history, and much of it was a worthwhile read.

Excellent Secondary text
I've been teaching Modern Philosophy to undergraduates for a number of years. As anyone who has taught this period knows, trying to make the issues and arguments clear to beginning students of philosophy using only the primary texts is extremely difficult (and if we can remember back far enough to when we were in the students' seats in Modern Philosophy, we probably recall not making much sense of the primary texts either!).Thomson's book is an excellent secondary (supplemental) text to the primary texts.The chapters and subheadings are divided well, and his explanations are exceedingly clear and accessible to beginners.Another text well suited for this purpose is Richard Francks' MODERN PHILOSOPHY: THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES (McGill-Queen's UP).But unlike Francks, Thomson includes philosophers not typically taught in a Modern Philosophy course (namely Bacon, Hobbes, and Kant) which is helpful.Also, I have found that Thomson's book more easily coordinates with primary readings than does Francks'. In any case, Thomson's book is a superb companion for reading along with the primary philosophical texts of the Modern period, and I highly recommend it to students and to teachers.

I Couldn't Survive Without It!
This is by far the best supplemental reading material I have ever come across.If it wasn't for this book, I would have never survived my modern philosophy class.
The information that Thomson provides in this book is simplistic, easy to read, and easy to understand.He writes in layman's terms, so the material is more enjoyable and interesting to read than primary texts.He focuses on several great philosophers and divides their work into short chapters, providing a great overview of all of the material.This book especially helped me on exams and term papers.
In addition to "Bacon to Kant", I also highly recommend Garrett Thomson's "On Modern Philosophy" in the Wadsworth Philosophical series.

Unimprovable
I read Bacon to Kant (BK) in conjunction with the primary philosophical texts that it elucidates. With minimal jargon it explains the main metaphysical and epistemological arguments that each of the great Modern Philosophers make. It very clearly delineates two purposes: (1) to condense the philosophers' arguments while remaining true to them and (2) to explain, on occasion, where the philosophers go wrong.

Mission, as they say, accomplished.

The book's format adumbrates its clarity. It is divided into sections on each of the great philosophers -- Spinoza, Leibniz, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, Bacon and Kant. Each section is comprised of a short biography and then, generally, three chapters each of which considers one "big topic" with which the relevant philosopher was concerned. For example, the chapters on Descartes consider his Method of Doubt, his Cogito and his two arguments for the existence of God.

BK's clarity is exemplified in its analysis of Hume's (related) treatment of induction. BK begins with an explanation of Hume's assault on induction. It starts by providing its own interpretation of Hume's argument, which it articulates in premise/conclusion form. This is its interpretation of Hume's argument.

1. Induction is usually "proved" by an appeal to the Uniformity Principle.
2. The Uniformity Principle can only be determined by induction.
3. Therefore the conclusion that "one can induce conclusions" is invalid. The argument "begs the question."

The Uniformity Principle, BK goes on to explain, is the principle that the laws of nature will never change. However, according to Hume this is only true if one accepts that the fact that the laws of nature has not changed in the past implies that they will not change in the future. One can only accept this fact if one accepts Induction as a valid method of deriving sound conclusions. However, because the Uniformity Principle is supposed to PROVE that induction is a valid method of deriving sound conclusions, it is clear that one must accept Induction as valid in order to prove that it is valid. Thus one ought not to accept Induction as valid.

In short, BK provides accurate summaries of (and relevant objections to) many of the great Modern Philosophers most important metaphysical and epistemological arguments.

To end on a cautionary note, the book neither summarizes nor assesses the Modern Philosophers' systems of ethics, so if you are exclusively interested in ethics and meta-ethical theory then this book is not for you. Otherwise, it's a great read. ... Read more

Product Description
This book concerns itself with an issue that is not sufficiently addressed in the literature: Heidegger's philosophy of science. Although a great deal of attention is paid to Heidegger's later critique of technology, no one has systematically studied how he understood "science." Many readers will be surprised to learn, through this book, that Heidegger developed the essentials of a fairly sophisticated philosophy of science, one that in many ways invites comparison with that of Thomas Kuhn. Glazebrook demonstrates that Heidegger's philosophy of science is not neatly divided into "early" and "late" (or "Heidegger I" and "Heidegger II") but is, rather, an ongoing development over at least three periods, bound together as an analysis of modern science and an uncovering of other possibilities for understanding nature. Glazebrook states in her introduction, "This reading of Heidegger is radical. It cuts to the root of his thinking, for I argue that what are taken to be Heidegger's many and significant contributions to philosophy--that is, his overcoming of metaphysics, his rereading of the ancients, his critique of technology and representational thinking, his vision and revision of language, truth, and thinking--have at their core an inquiry into science that drove his thinking for sixty years. I am not arguing for a new reading of a few texts, or for adjustments and refinements of existing readings of Heideggger. Rather, I am bringing to light a new basis on which to interpret his work as a whole." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Centrality of the meaning of science for Heidegger
An excellent clarification of a murky and easily misunderstood topic in Heidegger's oeuvre. Glazebrook traces the many changes in Heidegger's attitude toward science from his early excitement to his later diagnosis of its nihilism. She makes a convincing argument that, far from being on the fringe of his philosophy, Heidegger spent six decades with science in the forefront of his thoughts, seeing it as the final stage of Greek metaphysics and the domniant influence on modernity. But, most importantly, Glazebrook makes it clear that Heidegger defines ontology at every stage of his rethinking in relation to his evolving understanding of the meaning and nature of science. She makes a strong case that since Heidegger's attitude toward science is determinitive for his ontology, they must be understood together. I see this as a must read for anyone seriously interested in Heidegger.

The question of science
This book attempts to bring a discussion of Heidegger's philosophy to bear on current discussions in analytic philosophy. Heidegger's thoughts are contrasted with Lakatos, Kuhn and others showing many of the similarities (and differences) there are between them. Many of the issues found in a basic philosophy of science text are also found here, such as: Underdetermination (basically the idea that the truth of no one theory can be determined by the data or by experiment), realism and antirealism, the nature of theories etc. -- what is emphasized most is the metaphysical and epistemological issues present in modern science. Of course, not all problems in the philosophy of science are found in Heidegger, but enough, apparently, to consider him a philosopher of science.

The book also has a lot to say about our current modern age of scientific-technological ways of 'revealing' -- the discussion revolves around the modern ages concern with beings; making void all internal significance. The book is very interesting and has a lot more to it than the bits I've mentioned. The potential reader of this book might want to know that Greek expressions are used fairly frequently. ... Read more

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This ambitious and important book provides the first truly general account of Francis Bacon as a philosopher.It explores in detail how and why Bacon attempted to transform the largely esoteric discipline of natural philosophy into a public practice through a program in which practical science provided a model that inspired many from the 17th to the 20th centuries. This book will be recognized as a major contribution to Baconian scholarship of special interest to historians of early modern philosophy, science, and ideas. ... Read more

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Friedrich Nietzsche haunts the modern world. His elusive writings with their characteristic combination of trenchant analysis of the modern predicament and suggestive but ambiguous proposals for dealing with it have fascinated generations of artists, scholars, critics, philosophers, and ordinary readers. Maudemarie Clark's highly original study gives a lucid and penetrating analytical account of all the central topics of Nietzsche's epistemology and metaphysics, including his views on truth and language, his perspectivism, and his doctrines of the will-to-power and the eternal recurrence. The Nietzsche who emerges from these pages is a subtle and sophisticated philosopher, whose highly articulated views are of continuing interest as contributions to a whole range of philosphical issues. This remarkable reading of Nietzsche will interest not only philosophers, but also readers in neighboring disciplines such as literature and intellectual history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Provocative, thought-provoking, but poorly argued
I really admire the ambitiousness and courageousness of Clark's highly controversial readings of Nietzsche.It takes guts--and hard work--to defend her more outlandish claims, and I even admire the undercurrent of unmitigated contrariness that seems to motivate this aspect of her work ("Well, if everybody's going to say Nietzsche's anti-democratic, I'll say he's pro-democracy!Yes, that's the ticket!)

Unfortunately, she just doesn't make a very good case for her more interesting views.Even when I agree with the conclusions, I find her arguments far-fetched or just silly.Take, e.g., her treatment of the puzzling and well-known section 36 of Beyond Good and Evil, where Nietzsche appears to seriously entertain the view that the world is the will to power.Clark's solution to this admittedly problematic passage is to argue that Nietzsche inserts an argument and conclusion into his text that he disagrees with in order to show that he disagrees with it.You'd think the best way to show that would be to actually say so--or better yet, never to bring it up in the first place.

In any case, Clark does make a brave attempt to back up this reading, but ultimately it requires far too much cherry picking, twisting, and torturing of the text.By way of comparison, did you know that Nietzsche believes in God?It's true, he says so! "I" (p.20) "believe" (p.430) "in" (p.27) "God" (p.388)

Ultimately, Clark's book suffers from the same problem as so many interpretations (particularly the po-mo ones) do: her interpretation begins with what she wants Nietzsche to be, then forces him to be it.

Too analytical/scholarly and misses the point
My main problem with this book is that Clark is too analytical. The book reads like a thesis. She often "intellectulizes" her way too a point that is either obvious or that she could have gotten to in a lot less time and with more straight forward language. Don't get me wrong - she does have some insights into Nietzsche but they are few and far between. I actually thought that her chapter on the Eternal Recurrence was the best in the whole book. Overall, not that great a read.

A book whose failings are as provocative as it's successes
I began this book with no small trepidation.I am not generally fond of Nietzsche, but have recently felt that he at least deserved to be engaged with systematically.I have been reading his works and I picked up this book on an off chance, knowing little about it except that Clark sought to systematically present Nietzsche as an anti-metaphysical author.And in doing this, she highlights his strengths and weaknesses.

I appreciate her sophisticated rebuttal of much current and past Nietzsche scholarship, especially the mis-reading of him by the so-called 'post-structuralists'/'deconstructionists'.Her critique of their absolute relativism, and Nietzsche's eventual rejection of that in favor of a radical perspectivism, which at bottom is founded on a kind of neo-Kantianism, won me over to the value of the book.And that kind of thing is necessary when you slog through the first two chapters, which may be necessary, but which are also ponderous.

The failure I find most interesting, however, ultimately undermines her own argument and releases Nietzsche from any kind of coherence in relation to truth.She basically premises her reading of Nietzsche at a key point contra Magnus on the question of whether Nietzsche is arguing against 'truth as the whole'.She argues that he is not and that Nietzsche was familiar with no philosopher who would have argued as such.It is here that I must reject her argument, for Hegel very much championed this notion of 'truth is the whole' and Nietzsche seems, contrary to Clark's otherwise well-thought out scholarship, not only familiar with Hegel, but also in debate with Hegel throughout much of his work.Hegel is the hidden text to Nietzsche as Aristotle is the hidden text to Hegel's Philosophy of Right.

In recognizing this, not only does Clark's reading of Nietzsche unravel, but, IMO since Clark is largely right in her reading of Nietzsche as a neo-Kantian, Nietzsche unravels.

Now, Nietzsche was infamously hostile to 'the craving for consistency' as a mark of the weak person, so the Nietzscheans out there will have a back door through which to escape.But that is their problem.

Secondarily, I think that this unraveling causes problems for Clark's argument that Will to Power and Eternal Recurrence are non-metaphysical, or at least consistently so.However, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the argument, even when she is obliged to engage in gymanastics to sustain it.

Finally, this work really convinced me that the appropriation of Nietzsche by Deleuze, Guattari, Foucault, etc. is not based upon Nietzsche's philosophical heritage, since they stop at his earliest work and effectively gloss over the rest of what Nietzsche writes.Rather, Nietzsche provides a radical re-affirmation of the role of intellectuals as privileged specialists.But Guy Debord knew the value of such people better than most, and the obnoxious politics which follow from such self-glamorization of the would-be revaluers of values.

does Clark speak for Nietzsche on truth and philosophy?
While Nietzsche is certainly more known as a moral philosopher, or as some are certain to remark, an immoral philosopher, one finds a certain necessary connection between his moral philosophy and his epistemology (and naturally aesthetic, scientific, political thought too, its all very much connected).Thus it was with open eyes that I began this work, as I knew Clark to be so very critical of much that Kaufmann, Wilcox, Derrida, Nehamas, and Schacht had written on Nietzsche.The majority of the work was overtly analytic, which I shall neither condemn nor praise at the moment.Clark did her best to demonstrate the faults of the aforementioned Nietzsche scholars insofar as Nietzsche himself would allow.

Although there is much I could say regarding the opening chapters of the book, I shall refrain from such things, as I found them generally to be on target, insofar as Clark's exegetical work found what was necessary to support her claims.Whether or not I agree with them all is still under debate, for I question how much Nietzsche felt consistency was absolutely necessary for his early writings and ideas (look at The Birth of Tragedy or a later work like The Antichrist for examples of this, while each is brilliant in its own way they still lack scholarship all too often in exchange for Nietzsche's polemics).As Danto (I believe it was him) commented somewhere in his work though, one thing is certain with Nietzsche, you have truly not read him until you have found a contradiction to every statement he made.While this is not true in every case, there is a sense in which Nietzsche's maturing philosophy demonstrates this claim, which Clark seems to have dismissed at times.Granted, Clark does demonstrate that Nietzsche underwent such changes in his thought, as would be expected of a philosopher set on such an experimental way.

In taking Nietzsche to completely dismiss metaphysics Clark does herself a great injustice, for it forces her to radically reinterpret the will to power and the eternal recurrence.And in doing so she becomes guilty of a certain intellectual uncleanliness (as someone or another once called it).I wholeheartedly agree that the eternal recurrence is best understood not as a cosmological doctrine, but rather as something of an existential imperative (if such a thing exists). Nonetheless, as Nietzsche's Nachlass testifies, he may still have believed it to be demonstrable as a cosmological claim though he had yet to demonstrate it as such.But the will to power as anything but a metaphysical claim?As a theology professor of mine often said to me, thats just not happening.And it is within these two chapters, the last two of the book, that Clark gets sloppy in her work.At one point she simply dismisses the text of Zarathustra as too metaphorical (the second to last chapter) to cite in evidence, yet, come the last chapter of the work, lo and behold, the metaphorical problems Zarathustra posed in the previous chapter disappear - citations abound.Naturally one asks, why should she do this?To help reinforce her point perhaps?Or to help her point by not introducing certain textual problems with her reading?

As it is, do read the last two chapters, on the will to power and the eternal recurrence respectively, with a careful eye and such inconsistent readings will become apparent.It was here then that I found fault with the book, which makes me want to reread it and see how often this problem occurs.But that will have to wait until the semester ends.So, overall, a mostly consistent reading, with obvious faults, which, as Nietzsche himself would have said, reflects Clark's desires to make Nietzsche consistent.Is such consistency in Nietzsche possible though?Probably not, as his writings seem to attest, if not his experimental nature of going about his work.But then again, how much do I really know?To best understand Nietzsche, sit down with The Birth of Tragedy and read chronologically until you get to Ecce Homo, and then start all over again.

Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy by Maudemarie Clark
This is possibly the best overall book ever written about Nietzsche. Several others have brilliant insights such as Martin Heidegger's Nietzsche which gives a powerful interpretation of art as the only purpose andmeaning of life, and debunks the pseudo-concept of the 'superman' as themodern CEO of world technology, but completely misses Nietzsche's joke,which Clark does not, about the 'will to power' especially as acosmological doctrine (something he toyed with seriously ONLY in thenotebooks for years). Maudemarie Clark shows he made it into a trick uponthe reader (amongst many!) in BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL (pp.218-227, esp.221-2,of her book). She starts her book by destroying the Frenchdeconstructionist 'irrationalist' version of Nietzsche by demonstratingthat he dropped this irrationalism early starting with HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN(originally dedicated to Voltaire), and coming to a completely rationalstance in THE GENEOLOGY OF MORALS. She makes the brilliantly obvious point(so obvious it makes you feel stupid, but definitely goes against the majortrend of Nietzsche interpretation)that THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA was a novel,not a philosophical treatise or religious tract. Walter Kaufman implicitelymade this same point by comparing it to ULYSSES and FINNEGAN'S WAKE. Thisessentially puts a logical question mark on 'eternal recurrence', 'will topower', and the 'superman' as distinct philosophical ideas and actuallymakes them literary concepts, a distinction postmodernists may entirelymiss. She also, after having undermined most American commentators -- NOTWalter Kaufman --on Nietzsche by destroying the basic tenant of the Frenchthrough applying the unimpeacheable arguments against scepticism andcynicism (essentially, as the Cretan philosopher said, "All Cretansare liars", one must step somehow into a higher order of reality forthat to be judged true or false)against Nehamas'perspectivism and Danto's,Schacht's, and Rorty's ultimately meaningless relativism. Nietzsche was inno way a relativist. But one must apprize from that something verydifferent Hegel's systematic absolutism. He knew the validity of reason andreality as an absolutely alone individual (singulare tantum)very much likeHeidegger. Maudemarie Clark has essentially brought Nietzsche back into thequestion mark he deliberately placed himself. But it is a meaningfulquestion that is rational. Maudemarie Clark makes part of this pointexplicitely clear when she states that on the one hand Neitszche says he isan immoralist and 'means' it, but on the other hand quotes him as saying,"Honesty is the only virtue". Honesty presupposes consistency.Consistency presupposes rationality. To end on an interesting sidenote AynRand also went through a similar evolution to Nietzsche's. In her firstedition of WE THE LIVING she preaches a populist version of Nietzsche's'immoralism', then renounces him later on as an irrationalist when shetakes up the primacy of reason herself. She never realized she stillfollowed his path to some extent even in ATLAS SHRUGGED. ... Read more

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Modern philosophers generally assume that music is a problem to which philosophy ought to offer an answer. Andrew Bowie's Music, Philosophy, and Modernity suggests, in contrast, that music might offer ways of responding to some central questions in modern philosophy. Bowie looks at key philosophical approaches to music ranging from Kant, through the German Romantics and Wagner, to Wittgenstein, Heidegger and Adorno. He uses music to re-examine many ideas about language, subjectivity, metaphysics, truth and ethics, and he suggests that music can show how the predominant images of language, communication, and meaning in contemporary philosophy may be lacking in essential ways. His book will be of interest to philosophers, musicologists, and all who are interested in the relation between music and philosophy. ... Read more

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The essays in this volume gather together Gellner's thinking on the connection between philosophy and life and they approach the topic from a number of directions: philosophy of morals, history of ideas, a discussion of individuals including R. G. Collingwood, Noam Chomsky, Piaget and Eysenck and discussions on the setting of philosophy in the general culture of England and America. ... Read more

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Part of the Blackwell Readings in the History of Philosophy series, this survey of early modern philosophy focuses on the key texts and philosophers of the period whose beliefs changed the course of western thought.

• Assembles the key texts from the most significant and influential philosophers of the early modern era to provide a thorough introduction to the period.
  
• Features the writings of the major philosophical, scientific, and political thinkers of the time, including Descartes, Hobbes, Leibniz and Spinoza.
  
• Focuses on the development and growth of Rationalism which stressed reason, logic, and experimentation in the pursuit of truth.
  
• Readings are accompanied by expert commentary from the editors, who are leading scholars in the field.

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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One of the most successful volumes in its field over the last 20 years, Philosophy and Contemporary Issues introduces today's readers to philosophy with timely, approachable readings of philosophical significance. The authors strive to demonstrate how philosophy illuminates and helps solve some of the important problems facing contemporary man, and they encourage readers to engage in philosophizing themselves. This book successfully makes the subject interesting and intelligible for readers encountering philosophy for the first time.Essays address freedom and determinism, morality and society, state and society, and knowledge and science.For individuals interested in an accessible introduction to philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

textbook!
was a good product, cheaper than the bookstore, had some underlined stuff, which every college student loves!

Amazing condition!
arrived in fantastic condition. the description said "like new" but the book was in AMAZING condition. like it was never opened.

Interesting
This book is a bit confusing for a beginner philosopher. i suggest reading ultimate questions by rauhut first because it helps to understand this novel.

Philosophy Textbook
Item was in specified condition. Seller lacks communication. The shipment arrived on the last day it was allotted. Mediocre transaction.

Review of Text Received
I was pleasantly surprised with the condition of the text I bought. It was in great condition, and it looked brand new off the shelf. The price was also a plus, if I had bought the book at the school bookstore in the same condition it would have cost me almost $100. Instead, I got the book for $24 with shipping. ... Read more

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Environmental philosophy is one of the exciting new fields of philosophy to emerge in the last forty years. "Understanding Environmental Philosophy" presents a comprehensive, critical analysis of contemporary philosophical approaches to current ecological concerns. Key ideas are explained, placed in their broader cultural, religious, historical, political and philosophical context, and their environmental policy implications are outlined. Central ideas and concepts about environmental value, individual wellbeing, ecological holism and the metaphysics of nature set the stage for a discussion of how to establish moral rules and priorities, and whether it is possible to transcend human-centred views of the world. The reader is also helped with an annotated guide to further reading, questions for discussion and revision as well as boxed studies highlighting key concepts and theoretical material. A clear and accessible introduction to this most dynamic of subjects, "Understanding Environmental Philosophy" will be invaluable for a wide range of readers. ... Read more

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The topic of certitude is much debated today. On one side, commentators such as Charles Krauthammer urge us to achieve "moral clarity." On the other, those like George Will contend that the greatest present threat to civilization is an excess of certitude. To address this uncomfortable debate, Susan Schreiner turns to the intellectuals of early modern Europe, a period when thought was still fluid and had not yet been reified into the form of rationality demanded by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Schreiner argues that Europe in the sixteenth century was preoccupied with concerns similar to ours; both the desire for certainty -- especially religious certainty -- and warnings against certainty permeated the earlier era. Digging beneath overt theological and philosophical problems, she tackles the underlying fears of the period as she addresses questions of salvation, authority, the rise of skepticism, the outbreak of religious violence, the discernment of spirits, and the ambiguous relationship between appearance and reality.

In her examination of the history of theological polemics and debates (as well as other genres), Schreiner sheds light on the repeated evaluation of certainty and therecurring fear of deception. Among the texts she draws on are Montaigne's Essays, the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila, the works of Reformation fathers William of Occam, Luther, Thomas Muntzer, and Thomas More; and the dramas of Shakespeare. The result is not a book about theology, but rather about the way in which the concern with certitude determined the theology, polemics and literature of an age. ... Read more