The Dream of Reason

by Gottlieb, Anthony

• ISBN13: 9780393049510
• ISBN10: 0393049515
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-02-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc

Summary

A stunning successor to Bertrand Russell's classic, A History of Western Philosophy. In this landmark new study of Western thought, Anthony Gottlieb approaches philosophy through its primary sources, questions many pieces of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers, Plato, and Aristotle to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus, "philosophy" emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline. Indeed, as Gottlieb explains, its most revolutionary breakthroughs in the natural and social sciences were quickly co-opted by other branches of knowledge, leading to the illusion that philosophers never make any progress. From the physics of angels to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Gottlieb builds through example and anecdote a vivid portrait of the human drive to understanding. After closing The Dream of Reason, readers will be graced with a fresh appreciation of the philosophical quest and its influence on every aspect of life.

Author Biography

Anthony Gottlieb has been a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Acknowledgements	x
PART ONE
The Archetypes: the Milesians	3	(18)
The Harmony of the World: the Pythagoreans	21	(20)
The Man Who Searched for Himself: Heraclitus	41	(11)
The Truth about Nothing: Parmenides	52	(13)
The Ways of Paradox: Zeno	65	(8)
Love and Strife: Empedocles	73	(11)
Mind and Matter: Anaxagoras	84	(10)
He Who Laughs Last: Democritus	94	(15)
Opening Pandora's Box: the Sophists	109	(22)
PART TWO
Philosophy's Martyr: Socrates and the Socratics	131	(38)
The Republic of Reason: Plato	169	(51)
The Master of Those Who Know: Aristotle	220	(63)
PART THREE
Three Roads to Tranquillity: Epicureans, Stoics and Sceptics	283	(63)
The Haven of Piety: From Late Antiquity to the Renaissance	346	(86)
Notes	432	(25)
Index	457