The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View (Paperback)

~ (Author) "To approach what was distinctive in a vision as complex and protean as that of the Greeks, let us begin by examining one of its..." (more)
Key Phrases: aetheric spheres, archetypal dialectic, perinatal sequence, Catholic Church, Holy Spirit, Middle Ages (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tarnas charts the development of Western thought from the ancient Greeks, throwing a sharp light on ideas central to the modern outlook.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The most lucid and concise presentation I have read of the grand lines of what every student should know about the history of Western thought." -- Joseph Campbell

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 16, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345368096
• ISBN-13: 978-0345368096
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,189 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Passionate Mind - Note the Passion!, December 9, 2005

By	Marcus Anthony (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

The title of the book says it all, and not to be overlooked. This is a book that seeks to ascertain the passion that underpins the development of the western mind. Tarnas does a tremendous job of what is the Herculean task of tracing the roots of that development from the Ancient Greeks, through the birth of Christianity, the middle ages, the enlightenment and the birth of the modern world.

Make no mistake. This is NOT a text defining the means by which modernist science came to be the one and only defining truth of the cosmos. Those with a modern western mindset or scientific predilection might be lulled into this impression in the early chapters. But such an initial misunderstanding, to be fair to Tarnas, would be more due to the bias of the modern mind, rather than a function of the text. For throughout the development of his narrative, Tarnas is painstaking in his description of the interplay of the spiritual, the philosophical, and the empirical/scientific. I noted that a prior viewer fell into this trap, no doubt expecting Tarnas to conclude with a denunciation of the spiritual and philosophical vestiges of prehistory, depositing these schools into the waste bin of History, whilst announcing the triumph of the modernist worldview. Far from it. Tarnas' penultimate analysis examines what he calls "the crisis in modern science" and the emergence of postmodern thought, both of which undermined the roots of certainty. Yet the postmodernist too may be dismayed when Tarnas concludes in his epilogue with a broad sweep of the hand, finally positing an essentially spiritual teleological thrust to the very human development he has traced. It may be anathema to those within the dominant modernist science and postmodernist schools, where spirituality and grand narrative are respectively derided - but it is nonetheless a brave attempt to make sense of it all beyond the respective materialist and relativist stranglehold of the modern and postmodern discourses.

But it is not necessary to agree with Tarnas' worldview to benefit from this fine text. The 95% of the book that traces the history of the interplay between the often opposing spiritual/metaphysical and skeptical/empirical/scientific forces within western history is well worth the journey. I highly recommend the text for anybody wanting a broad overview of some of the most influential minds of the western world in the last three millennia.

It may be a little light on the twentieth century history of science. So, if you want a History of Science from the modernist perspective read John Gribbin's "Science: a History" or Andrew Gregory's "Eureka!" If you want a summative account of the modernist perspective on History/Evolution, read Bill Bryson's "A Brief History of Everything." But if you want something that broadens the horizons, Tarnas may be the man for you.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No Value Judgments, July 5, 2000

By	Bruce Ware (Woodbridge, VA USA) - See all my reviews

I found this book to be an enjoyable introduction to the huge expanse of Western philosophy. It is obviously intended as a "jumping-off" point for individuals (non-professional philosophers) to go further on their own. I particularly enjoyed the Greek Enlightenment and Socrates sections.

The negative reviews on this list seem to be centered on Dr. Tarnas's equally enthusiastic presentation of the major philosophical movements throughout history. That is, he assiduously avoids assigning a value judgment to certain ideas simply because they turned out horribly. I think the reviewers would prefer to see him assign a value, rather than present these ideas uncritically, writing about all the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Patently, the interested student will go on and conduct his own research, creating for himself the principles upon which to assign a value judgment. I have discounted postmodernism and Marxism based on my further readings, readings that I would not have done if not for the enthusiasm of Tarnas's work.

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History and Philosophy Overview, August 1, 2001

By	disco75 "disco75" (State College, PA United States) - See all my reviews

Tarnas has produced in this book an accessible review of Western cultural developments. By condensing, sensing patterns, and editing as an author inevitably must, he omits some of what more specialized readers might want. However, his intention is less encyclopedic completeness than a hypothesis about the trajectory of Western cultural change. To this end he writes engagingly and informatively. His synthetic, pattern-sensing thought about history is interesting. He appears overly influenced by newer trends in theories about gender roles, psychology, and spirituality. Here he resembles Leonard Schlain of the "Goddess and the Alphabet" ramblings. By the last chapter he is fully immersed in speculation that many, myself included, find unjustified by the preceding survey and assembly of evidence. However, speculation is the stuff of philosophers and theoreticians, and I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the body of the book because of disagreements with Tarnas' prognostications. Alongside other surveys like Daniel Robinson's "Intellectual History of Psychology" and Robert Kegan's "In Over Our Heads," readers can derive fascinating insights about cultural development.