A History of Western Philosophy: The Medieval Mind, Volume II (v. 2) [Paperback]

W. T. Jones (Author), Robert J. Fogelin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1969 | ISBN-10: 0155383132 | ISBN-13: 978-0155383135 | Edition: 2

A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY examines the nature of philosophical enterprise and philosophy's role in Western culture. Jones and Fogelin weave key passages from classic philosophy works into their comments and criticisms, giving A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY the combined advantages of a source book and textbook. The text concentrates on major figures in each historical period, combining exposition with direct quotations from the philosophers themselves. The text places philosophers in appropriate cultural context and shows how their theories reflect the concerns of their times.

Product Details

• Paperback: 355 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 2 edition (March 1, 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0155383132
• ISBN-13: 978-0155383135
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clue Into How We Got Into This Mess, April 15, 2000

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Texscot (Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of Western Philosophy: The Medieval Mind, Volume II (v. 2) (Paperback)

Recent knotty questions regarding knowledge and certainty prompted me to dust off my copy of Jones' book and revisit pages not looked at since university days in Hawaii. It was a pleasure to find again the important issues and questions seriously considered: is there a God? Does evil exist? What are the limits of free will? What is "salvation?" Who is supreme, the individual or the state? What constitutes a valid ethical system and from what authority might it be derived? What is the proper balance between faith and reason? What is the preferred political system? What is the nature and future of man?

Once again I was amazed at the Professor's ability to sift through a sea of historical and technical detail, identify core concepts, follow them as they thread their way through the interval under consideration and relate them to the present time. His objectivity is consistent and his writing is not intrusive--it's as if the reader is engaged in direct personal research. His language is concise and not pedantic--this layman had no difficulty following his presentation of the various controversies characterizing medieval philosophical discourse.

The book ranges from the first century A.D. through the end of the period sometime in the 14th century. It addresses, among other things, the interplay of Jewish tradition and classical thought during the formative years of Christianity. An overview of the development of society, culture and a coherent worldview prepares the reader for a bracing survey of Thomism, including his metaphysics, psychology, ethics and politics. In closing the book, Jones details the subsequent critiques of Thomism developed by Bacon, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, et al.

For those desiring greater detail the author presents numerous footnotes to each chapter and a wide-ranging "Suggestions for Further Reading" section. Not a professional philosopher? No problem: an excellent glossary is also included. In short, anyone interested in more than a superficial, pop-culture view of the ideas that underly our "post-modern" age must consider this book. It fits neatly in the bookshelf of the academic as well as the layman--an excellent book, most excellent.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought and faith interwined or intangled..., December 29, 2003

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FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A History of Western Philosophy: The Medieval Mind, Volume II (v. 2) (Paperback)

This book, 'The Medieval Mind', is the second volume of a five-volume series on the history of Western Philosophy by W.T. Jones, professor of philosophy in California. This series is a very strong, thorough introduction to the course of Western Philosophy, beginning at the dawn of the philosophical enterprise with the pre-Socratics in ancient Greece to the modern thinkers such as Wittgenstein and Sartre. It has grown, over the three decades or so of its publication, from one to four then to five volumes. It has remained a popular text, and could serve as the basis of a one-year survey of philosophy for undergraduates or a one-semester survey for graduate students. Even advanced students in philosophy will find this valuable, all major topics and most minor topics in the course of philosophy are covered in these volumes.

Jones states that there are two possible ways for a writer to organise a history of philosophy -- either by addressing everyone who ever participated in philosophy (which could become rather cumbersome if one accepts the premise that anyone could be a philosopher), or to address the major topics and currents of thought, drawing in the key figures who address them, but leaving out the lesser thinkers for students to pursue on their own. Jones has chosen the latter tactic, making sure to provide bibliographic information for this task.

This volume, 'The Medieval Mind', starts where the last volume leaves off, as the classical world, in the form of the Greek and then Roman Empire, the organising principles for the Western world for nearly a thousand years, were beginning to crumble. Into the strenth of the Roman Empire the originating events of the Christian faith came about, but it wasn't for a few centuries that Roman rule was waning and the rise of Christendom, politically and intellectually, was taking its place.

Much of medieval philosophy is directly the result of people in the church (at that time adminstratively and ideally an undivided church, despite the fact that the already-sown-seeds of the East/West split and the many heretical factions argue against that interpretation). If the two primary figures in classical philosophical thought were Plato and Aristotle, the two primary figures in medieval philosophy parallel them in Augustine and Aquinas, and in an interesting historical progression, Augustine grew largely out of Plato, and Aquinas developed his thought through the reintroduction of Aristotle into Western thought centuries later.

Between these two major figures, philosophy and intellectual development was not dead, but there was a seeming hibernation in what tends to be termed the Dark Ages. However, it was during this period that the beginnings of the university as a scholarly place took place, and such intellects as John Scotus Erigena appeared occasionally.

This was a world in which the division between philosophy and theology was unthinkable. Our more modern sense of division of academic disciplines did not apply, so there is a great deal of theological thought here, which is many ways sets up conflicts and paradoxes that carry down to the current church and the current academic philosophical enterprise.

Each volume ends with a glossary of terms, and a worthwhile index. The glossary warns against short, dictionary-style definitions and answers to broad terms and questions, and thus indicates the pages index-style to the discussion within the text for further context. The one wish I would have would be a comprehesive glossary and index that covers the several volumes; as it is, each volume has only its own referents.

This is minor criticism in a generally exceptional series. It is not easy text, but it is not needlessly difficult. The print size on the direct quotes, which are sometimes lengthy, can be a strain at times, but the reading is worthwhile.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Flawed but Still Useful, May 17, 2009

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K. Connally - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A History of Western Philosophy: The Medieval Mind, Volume II (v. 2) (Paperback)

This, I think, is the weakest book in the series.

Mostly this is due to Jones' poor understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Having studied historical Jesus/early church scholarship pretty assiduously, I think he badly misunderstands both ancient Judaism and early Christianity, Jesus, and Paul. For instance, he wonders why YHWH would be especially interested with the Jewish people, and comes up with: "The Jews seem not to have asked themselves this question. A supreme national egoism made it easy for them to believe..." (p. 22). Dead wrong. The Jews' understanding of Israel's special calling to be the light of the world and its place in YHWH's larger plan for the world is present in e.g. Gen. 12.3, Isa. 56, etc., and is the backbone of Christian thought.

Again, with Jesus, Jones is seriously confused. The cornerstone, as he himself notes (p. 28), for his understanding of Jesus' moral and theological thought is his belief that Jesus expected the imminent end of the world. Again, dead wrong. He seems to be relying on Schweitzer's thesis from "The Quest for the Historical Jesus," which while trailblazing when it was written a hundred years ago, is not accepted by anybody in the field nowadays.

I could go on about Paul as well, but I think the point is clear. Jones is much better with straight philosophy than he is with reconstructing ancient religious worldviews, and in the Middle Ages all the philosophy is also theology built on those ancient worldviews he badly misunderstands. So it gets better as it goes, as the theology of the church gets closer to the theology he knows about and has retrojected onto the early church. The sections on Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, the heart of the book, are quite good.

For how much difficulty Jones has with medieval Christian thought, it's strange that the other major flaw with this text is that it ignores non-Christian traditions. We get a detailed (though misleading as I have said) history of the early church and its ideas, but no account of the rise of Islam or developments within Judaism. Apart from a brief mention in a footnote of the fact that Muslims (Jones calls them "Mohemmedans") translated Aristotle from the Greek, Muslim scholarship in the Middle Ages is systematically ignored. That's a shame, because some of the most important and interesting thinkers of the period (Avicenna, Averroes, al-Ghazali) were Muslims. Moses Maimonides, the major Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, likewise escapes mention.

Also, I have complaints that apply to the series as a whole. I guess the biggest thing is that Jones is uber-masculinist. Both linguistically (i.e., he always says "man" for "human" or "humanity" and "a man" for "a person"--unless he really means that only men can think about philosophy) and substantivally, he ignores women and women's issues with great tenacity throughout the series. So in Classical Mind, he is silent regarding Plato and Aristotle's views on women (depite their great inherent interest, since Plato argued in the "Republic" for the demolition of a separate feminine sphere of activity and Aristotle's misogyny was the justification for a millenium of sexist thought); in this volume, he fails to mention Hildegard of Bingen or Christine de Pizan; in Kant and the 19th century, the section on J. S. Mill doesn't even mention "The Subjection of Women;" etc., etc. You might argue that women's issues belong in a social science text instead, but there clearly are philosophical underpinnings for various stances on women's issues; and anyways he does discuss extensively the thinkers' political ideologies.

Overall, however, this series is an accessible introduction to the subject, probably better than Bertrand Russell. I just have a few more reservations about this volume I thought I'd share.