ABSTRACT

First published in 1950, The Western Philosophers presents the life of philosophical thought in the Western world. From Socrates to Spinoza, from John Locke to Nietzsche, the author gives a good introduction for anyone who is wondering what philosophy is about and provides an initiation into the subject. The author argues that philosophy is not simply the collective works of great philosophers. Philosophy is an attitude of mind; at bottom it is nothing but that irrepressible impulse towards enquiry, that itch to probe at the meaning of things, which is the spur behind science itself. This book is an essential read for students of Philosophy.

chapter |4 pages

Prelude

chapter |23 pages

Socrates

chapter |25 pages

Plato

chapter |27 pages

Aristotle

chapter |4 pages

Interlude

chapter |10 pages

St. Augustine

chapter |14 pages

Peter Abelard

chapter |3 pages

Interlude

chapter |12 pages

St. Thomas Aquinas

chapter |3 pages

Interlude

chapter |7 pages

René Descartes

chapter |8 pages

Benedict Spinoza

chapter |9 pages

Gottfried Leibniz

chapter |2 pages

Interlude

chapter |8 pages

John Locke

chapter |10 pages

George Berkeley

chapter |2 pages

Interlude

chapter |12 pages

David Hume

chapter |3 pages

Interlude

chapter |18 pages

Immanuel Kant

chapter |4 pages

Interlude

chapter |15 pages

Georg Wilhelm Hegel

chapter |13 pages

Interlude

chapter |10 pages

Friedrich Nietzsche

chapter |5 pages

Interlude

chapter |11 pages

Henri Bergson

chapter |10 pages

Postlude