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For Western philosophy, you should read Copleston's History of Philosophy. It's probably the most comprehensive treatment of western philosophy out there.
by bartonfink 14y ago
For Western philosophy, you should read Copleston's History of Philosophy. It's probably the most comprehensive treatment of western philosophy out there.
- brudgers 14y agoCopleston is a good reference, but it's not a substitute for reading the original works, particularly given his (understandable) bias toward reconciling the history of Western philosophy with Roman Catholic theology; e.g. "his [Giordano Bruno's] condemnation for heresy was perfectly understandable, whatever one may think of the physical treatment meted out to him. His ultimate fate has, of course, led some writers to attribute to him a greater philosophic importance than he possesses." Furthermore, Copleston ignores non-western philosophical thought entirely.
- bartonfink 14y agoNo, it's not a substitute - it's an aggregation, or survey if you will. At 11 volumes, it's still quite lengthy. Telling someone to read everything ever written by an author mentioned in Copleston is on the order of casually suggesting they get a Ph. D - it's an insane amount of work. And of course it ignores non-western philosophical thought: it's right in the title. You wouldn't get up in arms over a jQuery book completely ignoring C++ calling conventions.