Customer Reviews

Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Leibnitz (A History of Philosophy, Vol. 4)

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Copleston's series, "The History of Philosophy", is quite possibly the best introduction to the history of philosophical thought that has ever been published and certainly the best currently in print.

You will be hard pressed to find a better collection of solid philosophical surveys in one place. The beauty of the series is that Copleston has clearly done his research on each period and each thinker of Western philosophy.

I cannot recommend this series any more highly. It is a must-have collection for anyone who is a scholar (professional or casual) of philosophy, theology or any of the arts.

If this isn't on your bookshelf, it should be!

I read the whole series nine volumes twice. Being a business major in school I didnot have any true understanding of philosophy, but this book really got me interested and I started reading on philosophy. I definitely recommand it for anyone interested in serious reading.

Volume I of this series covers the pre-Christian philosophies of Greece and Rome, while Volumes II and III are devoted to Medieval and Scholastic philosophers. (I have, for the moment, jumped over those last two).

Volumes IV, V, and VI cover "modern" philosophy from Descartes through Kant, and this volume (Volume IV) has a special treat at the beginning. There is a fascinating, well-written introduction which is actually an introduction to Volumes IV, V, and VI --- and is therefore a brilliant 62-page essay on everything from Descartes to Kant. Naturally, it's a bird's-eye overview, but it is the first thing I have ever read which actually made me feel I understood Kant! (When in college, I made a serious blunder and just went and bought "The Critique of Pure Reason" and sat down and tried to read it! :-) 30 pages later, I abandoned my foolish task with a bad headache!)

Volume IV covers Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, and Leibniz. As usual, the discussion and illustrations are excellent.

Fr. Copleston is a treasure. Initially, he wrote these books of history to better a seminarian's understanding of philosophy, but his influence now goes beyond the classroom. Thank God!

After the modern philosophers shed Aristotlianism and Platonism at least to a large extent, things got a lot more interesting when they started espousing their theories. The first principles of their arguments became more divierse, and many times lead to some very different metaphysics. How much you enjoy a philosopher probably says a lot about what your own mentality is.

I personally liked Descartes, that, though still more or less a dualist, he came from the existential principles of experience. Some of his thought was flawed, like being able to espouse metaphysics without sufficient empirical study to back it up, but he most certainly was on the right track.

Spinoza, on the other hand, I could not stand. He just replaces Nature with the word God and hopes nobody notices he's not saying anything at all. I hate people who deny any sort of freedom then espouse how one can live a virtuous life. Hey Spinoza, it's all either matter in motion or it's not.

Liebniz was downright headache inducing at points, and his theory of monads was wonderfully goofy. That being said, his theory of knowledge was excellent. Can't say I ever thought of the universe the way he did.

As always, Copleston is even handed, probably too even handed for some of the sillier things they said. Then again, as a layperson with no formal training, maybe I missed something too that he saw. Still, I'd prefer Copleston's fairness to the in your face bashing of Russell anyday.