List Price: $28.99 Details

Save: $5.50 (19%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Sunday, February 12 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Wednesday, February 8. Order within 5 hrs 20 mins

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

[{"displayPrice":"$23.49","priceAmount":23.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"23","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"k9JHsKGFTl39RJjfyIK9FFeaoVQhDiLqESmkwXPuUa0bWPO3eQgyY9wt0EQofn8epdeJmQDF5kdfL12nUdfffERIvM7LFnBF78pAdh1FAbPBJsOSH8%2FMKxu1aVEt21%2BzGktUS5OIQZ8%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$14.25","priceAmount":14.25,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"25","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"8hgoiXuXZKsZ%2BoRfEfbofD1sivn4xtyWjjptH2PaWvMNO5uF8vKYpFFJS3QfqCBAO0zPiJ6BxYMHPdguhUFsiMKSCZj5x4s3vbL40tbga4Z%2BDLZydOL4M6MERb6MEN28hIocmDIGSTvgrU3o8O3EluZG%2BvwLwwCO%2BupkXJWn%2BwDSA4FdM7PExoh2N%2F5dU6hn","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$23.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Monday, February 13 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Select delivery location

Used: Acceptable | Details

Sold by Old Cary Books

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$21.62
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: allnewbooks

Added

Not added

$26.33
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: GrandEagleRetail

Added

Not added

$29.40
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: betterdeals2019

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 5 images

Follow the Author

Bertrand Russell

A History of Western Philosophy Paperback – October 30, 1967

by Bertrand Russell (Author)

1,478 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$3.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$65.15

$47.99

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$23.49

$18.58

$10.03

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$60.47

—

Kindle
$3.99 Read with Our Free App
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial
Hardcover
$65.15

19 New from $47.99
Paperback
$23.49

56 Used from $10.03 29 New from $18.58 1 Collectible from $63.13
Audio CD
$60.47

2 New from $60.47

Enhance your purchase

Print length

895 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster/Touchstone
Publication date

October 30, 1967
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.6 x 8.44 inches
ISBN-10

0671201581
ISBN-13

978-0671201586
See all details

Frequently bought together

+
+

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Choose items to buy together.

by Bertrand Russell Paperback
$23.49
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Sunday, Feb 12
by Bertrand Russell Paperback
$13.79
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Sunday, Feb 12
by Bertrand Russell Paperback
$5.85
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Sunday, Feb 12

Will Durant
1,799
Mass Market Paperback
58 offers from $2.22
Anthony Kenny
289
Paperback
47 offers from $13.70
Bertrand Russell
386
Paperback
16 offers from $3.99
Bertrand Russell
699
Paperback
60 offers from $6.78
Bertrand Russell
701
Paperback
152 offers from $1.38
A. C. Grayling
581
Paperback
34 offers from $10.25

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (October 30, 1967)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 895 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671201581
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671201586
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.96 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.6 x 8.44 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #23,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16 in Philosophy History & Survey
- #16 in Modern Philosophy (Books)
- #57 in Greek & Roman Philosophy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
1,478 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Bertrand Russell

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970). Philosopher, mathematician, educational and sexual reformer, pacifist, prolific letter writer, author and columnist, Bertrand Russell was one of the most influential and widely known intellectual figures of the twentieth century. In 1950 he was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 1950 for his extensive contributions to world literature and for his "rationality and humanity, as a fearless champion of free speech and free thought in the West."

Photo by Photographer not identified (Bertrand Russell (1916). Justice in War-Time.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

1,478 global ratings

5 star		82%
4 star		11%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Manny Glover

For the price, it’s worth it, but there are formatting issues

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 5, 2022

Verified Purchase

Whatever software was used to convert the book from pdf/images to ebook format is not robust. Result: some words are spelled incorrectly and paragraphs are not separated as in the original book.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bogdan Stancescu

My first successful attempt at reading a philosophy-related book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2013

Verified Purchase

I'm almost 40 and I've been mildly curious about philosophy throughout my adult life. Unfortunately, I had yet to read anything meaningful about it, because all the previous attempts to educate myself were thwarted by the pretentiousness of all the authors I had tried to read on the topic; I suspect one can't be accepted in this field if they speak like human beings.

History of Western Philosophy, however, is different: even non-experts can read this introductory book! How amazing is that? On top of that, Russell has a delicious whimsical side to him, which transpires in this book just enough for the occasional comic relief. Although an atheist himself, he does show the necessary formal reverence to religious matters as avoid offending anyone (in fact, he even uses the appropriate jargon regarding heathens, heretics and the such, although I believe most of it is tongue in cheek).

Apart from all that (which was the critical part for me), the book is obviously well respected, and it's remarkably thorough (which means you shouldn't be concerned with the content's verity or its coverage of the topic). Speaking of thoroughness, I'm quite happy that I happened upon it in digital format, because I later realized how thick the paper version must be, and that I would most likely have been intimidated by it to the point of not buying the book in the first place.

The Kindle version does have a few OCR problems (typically spaces missing between words), but they're few and far apart enough not to become any meaningful hindrance to fluid reading.

UPDATE: I finally finished reading the book, and I wanted to add a few things specifically for novices like myself. If you're a newcomer to philosophy AND you're just a casual reader, expect that you won't be able to understand everything, and that you will remember much less than what you understand. This is important in two ways. On one hand, knowing this, you shouldn't get discouraged when you don't understand something as well as you'd want to: you'd probably forget it anyway, so just keep on reading -- the important thing is to get an overall idea, not to remember every little detail (which is anyway impossible). On the other hand, the fact that you'll unavoidably forget a lot of stuff is quite unfortunate, because after you finish with the Antics, the cross-references become increasingly more important and relevant. So I suggest that, if your reading habits allow it, you might want to jot down a few words about each philosopher IMMEDIATELY after finishing each chapter; you probably wouldn't need more that two or three phrases with what you found most distinctive about that person, so you can later remember more about each of them at a glance.

Having said all that, expect that in the end you'll leave with maybe 10% of what you've been reading -- and that's if you're lucky. But that's ok: what matters is that you leave with an understanding of what philosophy is really all about, and that you will definitely get. Plus, you'll certainly be able to place almost any Western philosopher in roughly the right period, you'll develop likes and dislikes, and you'll end up with a much better understanding of what and why it is that Western philosophers have been doing what they've been doing for the past few thousand years. And let's be honest: what more can you hope for?

47 people found this helpful

Helpful

LOVE DAVE

Warm, Beguiling, Biased, and Brilliant. Just like Russell.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2013

Verified Purchase

Bertrand Russell. The man was a giant. Philosopher, historian, nobel laureate, activist unto his death, and now posthumous comic-book hero[1]. He was an Earl. He rewrote most of mathematics, but considered that a failure, as he aimed at reworking the basis of all thought. Even there, he was only foiled by some Austrian proving it to be impossible. By all accounts, a warm and charming man. Very tall, as well. A giant.

This is his book about those giants whose shoulders he stood on. The book covers about two thousand five hundred years of smart people saying reasonably smart things (most the time). This is done in a dry and British fashion. It was the first work of academic philosophy I had read. I was 16. I was on my friend's couch. It was summer. I killed it in a week or so -- that's not a brag, it goes quickly because it's clear and clever. Russell clearly enjoyed writing it. I loved reading it. I was hooked. A bit later, I ended up with a highly marketable bachelor's degree in philosophy, and a set of cognitive tools that better prepared me for the myriad of random things I've had to do to eat (such as: children's parties, graphic design for a porn site, wearing a Cash4Gold sign while jumping, and software engineering) than any *real* coursework could have done. And I thank Bertie for his part in that.

Since I've walked that road on the cover, too, I can say I agree with the other learned reviewers that Russell makes no effort to be balanced. I had a VERY Catholic upbringing, and I was a bit surprised at his outright hostility to the great doctors of the church. Like, Augustine, he was a pretty okay bloke, you know? He was the only one I liked! (Still, I have to admit I was both honestly surprised *and* vindictively pleased -- as you might expect of a 16-year-old boy. Yeah Bertie! Stick it too 'em! I wanna go drink Zima and catch crabs like St. A, but they won't let me!) I also agree it gets a bit ponderous as it creeps toward modernity. Gone are the days of our public intellectuals jumping into volcanos to prove their godhood. In exchange we get John Dewey, mostly famous for inventing a slightly better system for cataloging libraries. Alas and alack!

So I clearly love the book. It's like an extremely eccentric uncle: acerbic, vastly opinionated, but even when you're 16 and think old people are merely repositories for funny smells, you still realize he says really, *actually* profound things between the rants about the Capitalists and the Imperialists.

At the end of the day, this is an imperfect work of *philosophy* we're talking about. The whole point is to self-referentially explore our own knowledge, ruthlessly hunting for fallacies, failings, and pedantic technicalities, all whilst sipping slowly upon a snifter of brandy near the fireplace in your study. As an introduction, I think perhaps we're all the better off for Bertie's flaws. They give the novice something to chew on. They did a good job getting a 16-year-old to think.

[1] Search up "Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth" for another fun traversal of western history involving The Right Honourable The Earl Russell, OM, FRS.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Davide Ferrara

THE classic read on Western philosophy. Enough said.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Nothing compares to it. The definitive book for anyone wishing to have a comprehensive overview of Western philosophy. While not a difficult read (try Geertz!) it is also not one for those that like to just skim through things. It is best read in 2 or 3 hour slots, each one covering a chapter (or two). Then rest and absorb. Repeat. Once done from end to end, it then becomes an excellent quick reference book, should you need to look something up. It is also (I believe) the most read philosophy book in the world, being a standard for many first year university courses.

34 people found this helpful

LasLondon

eyesore edition

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

The above star score is not for the contents, but for the production quality of this not too cheap "book".

This "book" looks more like a faded facsimile. It is in smaller than average fonts and printed in a faded grey (on white). Even with spectacles, your eyes will be strained, and reading 790 pages of this sight-straining print will certainly challenge even healthy eyes.

Not wanting to damage my sight, I have returned this book. The contents might be priceless, but this edition isn't worth £5.

2 people found this helpful

Chris

Awesome

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

One man wrote this book and everyone should read it. It's long and it's very hard going in places. You may have to skip some bits. But it gives you a wonderful overview of our thought and explains how we got to be the way we are.

11 people found this helpful

ItsCoolJazz

It is a classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

Not a philosophy student, but found it to be wealth of information and one that I keep returning to often. Don't let the size of the book intimidate you - it is the most comprehensive account of the history of the western philosophy. The gap I found was exploring their cross-over with eastern ideas but the book provides enough references to explore them on my own. Let this book enrich your life - highly recommend

5 people found this helpful

San Patch

Good Introduction to the Subject

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 18, 2007

Verified Purchase

Being an engineering student, the closest brush I had with the formal study of philosophy was a few university courses, which I barely passed. Therefore, I decided to buy Bertrand Russell's classic work in order to refresh my knowledge. I wish I had done it earlier.

Bertrand Russell, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, enlivens philosophy-from ancient Greece to today. His account is lengthy, as any account of such a subject should, but well worth it. How else does one condense 3000 years of Western intellectual history in one volume?

I liked the pace of the book. He begins with a definition of philosophy and its roots in the Ancient world. It is not so much a list of facts as it is a discussion of the ideas of the Ancients. Absurd though it seems to us today, the leap from religious explanations to material for nature was ground-breaking. He then follows philosophy as it slithers through the Middle Ages, into the Renaissance and into the Modern Period. I particularly like the way he treated the medieval philosophers, like Aquinas and Ockam. I wish my philosophy professor at Univerity could have explained nominalism that way.

The work is an introduction to the subject. By definition, it is superficial in a few areas. I would have liked to see more about how contemporary (to Russell) issues like the Worlds Wars were connected to eighteenth century European thinkers such as Hegel.

In conclusion, it is a great read. One I recommend for any reflective 16-year old, who is thinking about studying an applied science like engineering. Russell's work is a great introduction to the subject. It will enable one to see where our currently rational, scientific tradition springs from.

16 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Buy new: $23.49$23.49 FREE delivery: Sunday, Feb 12 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy Used: $14.25

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

A History of Western Philosophy Paperback – October 30, 1967

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product details

Videos

About the author

Bertrand Russell

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$23.49

FREE delivery: Sunday, Feb 12 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Ships from: Amazon.com

Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy Used:

$14.25