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"For an (opinionated) overview of philosophy up until the first part of the 20th century you can try Russell's History of Western Philosophy" Opinionated is on
by pmoriarty 6y ago
"For an (opinionated) overview of philosophy up until the first part of the 20th century you can try Russell's History of Western Philosophy"
Opinionated is one way of describing it. Myopic, ill-informed, and narrow-minded on subjects that Russell wasn't an expert on is another way to put it.
As someone who used to be a huge fan of Russell when I was young, I'd say a beginner would do themselves a huge disservice by letting their views of philosophy be colored by Russell's bias and mischaracterization of philosophers he doesn't appreciate or understand.
- leto_ii 6y agoThinking about it now, I'm not even sure you can have such a thing as an 'objective' overview of philosophy. Clearly nobody will be equally knowledgeable about let's say, the pre-socratics, the Cambridge Platonists and contemporary moral philosophers. On top of that, everybody has their own opinions, their likes and dislikes. With this in mind, it's probably good to treat anything you read as something that has to be filtered through your own mind; always questioned and re-questioned, compared with the original sources and with competing interpretations and views. At the end of the day we have to make our own mind, nothing should be taken as holy writ. This is the case for people with some philosophical experience, as well as for beginners.