A History of Philosophy: The Condensed Copleston

by Anthony Carroll, Frederick Copleston

Overview

A history of philosophy from the origins of reason in Ancient Greece to the most influential philosophers working today, this long-awaited single volume companion to Frederick Copleston's historic 11-volume series is a must-have for any aspiring philosopher.

Frederick Copleston's 11-volume A History of Philosophy has been the go-to reference for philosophers and students for decades. It is universally recognized as a classic and sits on the shelf of countless leading thinkers today. This companion to Copleston's landmark work contains clear and succinct analyses of the major events and texts in philosophy, exploring the foundational principles and ideals that drove the development of Western thought. It grapples with the sometimes complex views and teachings of the greatest minds in philosophy, explaining their work with clarity and elegance.

An accessible journey through this epic and deeply human history, Carroll succinctly condenses Copleston's thought while expanding on contemporary and world philosophy. From the early teachings of Socrates to the medieval philosophies of Christian Europe, the Enlightenment and the radical arguments of the Existentialists, Carroll adeptly explores the common threads and themes that have united all rational enquiries into the fundamental nature of reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472950765
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	04/29/2025
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Anthony J. Carroll is a philosopher, theologian and parish priest in Andalusia, Spain. His previous books include Protestant Modernity: Weber, Secularisation, and Protestantism; Il Giardiniere Invisibile: Credere, Non Credere, Cercare; Religion and Atheism: Beyond the Divide; and Modernity and Transcendence: A Dialogue with Charles Taylor.

He was Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Theology at Heythrop College, University of London. In 2016 he was Robert Bellah Fellow at the Max Weber Centre, University of Erfurt, Germany.

Frederick Copleston was born in Somerset in 1907. After studying at Oxford, he held a number of academic posts, including Professor of the History of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at London University. He died in 1994.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

Why Study the History of Philosophy?

Why Study Copleston's A History of Philosophy?

Copleston's A History of Philosophy as Ignatian Humanism

How Should One Organize the History of Philosophy?

Postscript: A Short Biography of Frederick Charles Copleston

Bibliography

CHAPTER 2: GREECE AND ROME

Introduction

The Birth of Greek Philosophy

The Pioneers: The Philosophical Cosmologists of Ionia

The Socratic Period

Plato

Plato's Doctrine of the Forms

Aristotle's Metaphysics and Ethics

Post-Aristotelian Philosophy

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 3: MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

Early Christian Thought in the Patristic Period

St Augustine and the City of God

The Pseudo-Dionysius

Boethius and the Consolation of Philosophy

The Carolingian Renaissance

John Scottus Eriugena

From the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries

The Thirteenth Century Syntheses of Reason and Revelation

St Thomas Aquinas and the Great Synthesis of Faith and Reason

Scotus and the Franciscans

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 4: LATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

William of Ockham and the end of the Great Synthesis of Faith and Reason

Marsilius of Padua on the Church and the State

Meister Eckhart and the Speculative Mysticism of the Fourteenth Century

The Philosophy of the Renaissance

Suárez and the Scholasticism of the Renaissance

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 5: THE RATIONALISTS: DESCARTES TO LEIBNIZ

Introduction

Descartes on the Mind and the Body

Pascal, Cartesianism and Malebranche

Spinoza and the Philosophy of God or Nature

Leibniz and the Substance of Reality

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 6: BRITISH PHILOSOPHY: HOBBES TO HUME

Introduction

Thomas Hobbes on Materialism, Mechanism and Power

John Locke and the Empirical Foundations of British Philosophy

Berkeley and the Lockean Legacy

David Hume and the Experience of Scepticism

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 7: THE ENLIGHTENMENT: VOLTAIRE TO KANT

Introduction

Rousseau and the Origins of Society

The German Enlightenment and the Rise of the Philosophy of History

Kant and the Modern Vision of Reason

Kant on Morality and Religion

Aesthetics, Teleology and the Opus Postumum

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 8: EIGHTEENTH- AND NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN PHILOSOPHY: FICHTE TO NIETZSCHE

Introduction

Fichte and the Fundamental Principles of Philosophy

Schelling and the Idea of Nature, Schleiermacher and the Feeling of Dependence

Hegel and the Adventure of Spirit

Schopenhauer's Reaction Against the Transformations of Metaphysical Idealism

Feuerbach's Turn to Anthropology

Marx and Engels and the Critique of Capitalism

Kierkegaard and the Search for Authenticity

Nietzsche and the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity

Conclusion: Retrospect and Prospect

Bibliography

CHAPTER 9: UTILITARIANISM AND EARLY ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

The Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

The Legacy of British Empiricism and the Philosophy of Herbert Spencer

The Idealist Movement in Great Britain

Idealism in America

The Pragmatist Movement

The Revolt Against Idealism

Bertrand Russell and the Pursuit of a Logical and Scientific Philosophy

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 10: NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY FRENCH PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

From the Revolution to Auguste Comte

From Auguste Comte to Henri Bergson

From Bergson to Sartre

Phenomenology and Structuralism

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 11: RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

Historical and philosophical themes

Peter Chaadaev: Philosophy and the Problem of Russia

Slavophile and Westernizing Developments

Literature, Religion and Philosophy: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Solovyov

Russian Marxism: Plekhanov, Lenin and the Soviet Union

Russian Philosophers in Exile and the Westernizer-Slavophile Legacy

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 12: LOGICAL POSITIVISM AND EXISTENTIALISM

Introduction

Contemporary British Philosophy

Logical Positivism and Verification

Existentialism

Conclusion

Bibliography

CHAPTER 13: CONCLUSIONS, OMISSIONS AND PROSPECTS

Introduction

Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity

MacIntyre on Virtue, Character and Community

Charles Taylor on the Self and Transcendence

Towards a Philosophy of the Future

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

[The] book is excellently documented from the scholarship on these books, so that as a resource for introductory issues in each case it performs brilliantly.” —Theological Studies

“If you're looking for wisdom, you need a sense of history. And a deeper sense of the history of the Western philosophical mind and its inbuilt patterned challenges is what you get from Tony Carroll's informative and insightful book on F.C. Copleston's legacy.” —Paolo Costa, author of The Post-Secular City

“Anthony Carroll's reconstruction of the famous 11 volumes of A History of Philosophy is both a compelling introduction into Copleston's comprehensive studies of Philosophy in the West and the East as well as a convincing invitation into the search for truth through discursive reason in the humanist tradition of the Jesuit order. The strong systematic approach to the broad material allows Anthony Carroll to build an intellectual bridge from Copleston's work to modern philosophers like Jürgen Habermas, Alasdair MacIntrye and Charles Taylor. It is an extraordinary and excellent piece of philosophical work!” —Professor Dr Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, Professor for Philosophy at Goethe University, Frankfurt

“A bold new version of Frederick Copleston's magnificent history of philosophy condensed to a single volume. Carroll dedicates a chapter to each of the original 11 volumes and offers an introduction and conclusion which puts the original work in perspective and makes explicit its philosophical significance for our time. A wonderful opportunity for the general reader and the student of philosophy to become acquainted with this important work. It will be of interest to all those working and studying in the fields of history of philosophy and theology.” —Professor Fiona Ellis, University of Nottingham.

“By engaging with Frederick Copleston's groundbreaking multi-volume A History of Philosophy, this book offers a stimulating overview of a philosophical conversation that spans several centuries and is still ongoing. It demonstrates how humanity has explored fundamental questions from various perspectives and how our present thinking and self-understanding depend on foundations laid down by previous generations. The book thus helps overcome the tendency to teach philosophy with little reference to its rich history. It will fit in wonderfully within the standard philosophical curriculum. Anthony Carroll has produced a thrilling account of the entire journey of human intellectual achievement, written in unusually clear and accessible language.” —Louis Caruana SJ, Professor of Philosophy, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

“Readers approaching Anthony Carroll's A History of Philosophy: The Condensed Copleston in the expectation of an authoritative, lucid, single-volume account of Copleston's multi-volume classic history will not be disappointed. The Condensed Copleston is, however, much more than this. Carroll deftly weaves into his exposition of Copleston's text much illuminating commentary that, among other things, encompasses developments in philosophy since the original was completed. The result is an incomparable backward glance through 2,500 years of Western philosophy. I cannot recommend it too highly.” —Professor Raymond Tallis, author of The Kingdom of Infinite Space and Aping Mankind

“In the middle of the last (20th) Century, Father Copleston wrote a multi-volume history of Western philosophy which a wide range of students and researchers, well beyond the range of those who shared his Catholic faith and admiration for Aquinas, found extremely helpful. Anthony Carroll has written a condensed single-volume version which shares the same quality of clarity and comprehensiveness. A truly striking achievement.” —Charles Taylor, author of The Secular Age and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University

“By offering a condensed reconstruction of Copleston's eleven-volume masterpiece within the confines of a single handy volume, Carroll has produced a useful and stimulating resource for a range of courses in the history of philosophy.” —John Cottingham, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Reading.

“Why study a history of philosophy? Why condense eleven volumes into one? Anthony Carroll's work answers, in a brilliant way, both questions. His reconstruction of the eleven volumes of Copleston's History of Philosophy offers the reader a clear and deep understanding of the history of philosophy from the Greeks until today (Habermas, McIntyre, Taylor…).

Anthony Carroll not only has the ability to systematize and condense Copleston's work without losing its depth, but he is also capable of providing keys to understanding Copleston's work and the history of philosophy. Lastly, the Ignatian humanism underlying Copleston's thought and perspective is taken up as a key to fundamental understanding in the search for truth and the deeper meaning of philosophy in Carroll's work.” —Prof. Dr. Ignacio Sepúlveda del Río, Professor of Philosophy and Head of the Humanities Department, Loyola (Jesuit) University in Andalucía, Spain

“In an age of increasing cultural and political polarisation philosophy could be of great help - but only if it does not reproduce the deficiencies of many public debates. This condensed history of philosophy is a model of what reasonable, open-minded and fair argumentation can achieve.” —Hans Joas, Humboldt University, Berlin

From the Publisher