The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle [Hardcover]

Richard H. Popkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2003

This is the third edition of a classic book first published in 1960, which has sold thousands of copies in two paperback edition and has been translated into several foreign languages. Popkin's work has generated innumerable citations, and remains a valuable stimulus to current historical research. In this updated version, he has revised and expanded throughout, and has added three new chapters, one on Savonarola, one on Henry More and Ralph Cudworth, and one on Pascal. This authoritative treatment of the theme of scepticism and its historical impact will appeal to scholars and students of early modern history now as much as ever.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The present volume will take its place as a masterpiece that will continue to provoke controversy and further research in the foreseeable future. Journal of the History of Philosophy Popkin taught us to look for the big picture, sweeping across the centuries. This book raises the bar again. Journal of the History of Philosophy As in the previous editions, there is much to think about in this new edition in terms of provocations for further research. Journal of the History of Philosophy

About the Author

Richard H. Popkin, Professor of Philosophy, Washington University, St. Louis (Emeritus).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 440 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Rev Exp edition (March 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195107675
• ISBN-13: 978-0195107678
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,406,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Superb, May 24, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle (Hardcover)

This little book tells the story of the most important turning point in the history of Western thinking. That it is full of surprises, shows how widely misunderstood is the subject it treats. One of the most important things it demonstrates, without necessarily meaning to, is how radical skepticism has historically been an ally, rather than an enemy, of religion, and an enemy, rather than an ally, of science.

Popkin is the undisputed master of this subject, and this book is filled with summaries and precious exerpts of works no longer accessible to most of us, and is worth buying for that reason alone.

5.0 out of 5 stars Popkin redux, March 21, 2011

By 

Robert Goodell "Rob Goode" (Baltimore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle (Paperback)

Mr. Hennessey finds fault in Popkin's candor. Better that we read him under illusion? There can be no certain neutral position in these matters, given their very nature. That said, and as a sceptic, I find myself returning to Popkin whom I first read (without much comprehension) in 1968. I was 14, in a boarding school run by Dominican fathers, and found the original Popkin text (Erasmus to Descarte) in a public library. Those were different times. My copy of the hardcover, long out of print, still bears my marginalia- perhaps juvenalia. I do know that Popkin's exposition of Descarte's Devil Hypothesis changed my life. I came to find the following volumes Popkin promised in his preface of 1963. I believe the Savanrola to Bayle is the successor volume?

I agree with earlier reviewers that it is difficult to understand the last 500 years of Western tradition without at least a cursory understanding of the challenge and crises posed by scepticism. We live in an age of false faith; emotional declarations, tearful epiphanies in the oews- or rolling on the floors. If this is faith.....

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars treasure trove, but slightly biased, April 21, 2009

By 

Joseph M. Hennessey (Weston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle (Paperback)

Richard Popkin's book is obviously the definitive word on the subject in the English language. It is massively researched and well written. For me, it provides a gold mine of information in trying to trace the beginning of the enlightenment, which led to the french revolution, and has undermined Western culture ever since.

However, I am concerned about Popkin's bias, which he freely admits to in the Introduction, on page xxiii. He says: "Like the sceptics who will considered here, i believe that doubts can be cast on any such dogmatic claims and that such claims ultimately rest on some element of faith rather than evidence." This, too, is a dogmatic statement; therefore, doubt can be cast on it, and it ultimately rests on an act of faith.

Popkin goes on: "My sympathies are on the side of the sceptics i have been studying." Professor Popkin is to be congratulated for his candor, but these "sympathies" color the whole book, whether consciously or subconsciously.