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Frederick C. Copleston

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A History of Philosophy, Vol. 1: Greece and Rome From the Pre-Socratics to Plotinus Paperback – March 1, 1993

by Frederick Copleston (Author)

4.5 121 ratings

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Conceived originally as a serious presentation of the development of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, Frederick Copleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy has journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to universal acclaim as the best history of philosophy in English.

Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit of immense erudition who once tangled with A. J. Ayer in a fabled debate about the existence of God and the possibility of metaphysics, knew that seminary students were fed a woefully inadequate diet of theses and proofs, and that their familiarity with most of history's great thinkers was reduced to simplistic caricatures. Copleston set out to redress the wrong by writing a complete history of Western philosophy, one crackling with incident and intellectual excitement -- and one that gives full place to each thinker, presenting his thought in a beautifully rounded manner and showing his links to those who went before and to those who came after him.

The result of Copleston's prodigious labors is a history of philosophy that is unlikely ever to be surpassed. Thought magazine summed up the general agreement among scholars and students alike when it reviewed Copleston's A History of Philosophy as "broad-minded and objective, comprehensive and scholarly, unified and well proportioned... We cannot recommend [it] too highly."

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From the Publisher

Conceived originally as a serious presentation of the development of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, Frederick Copleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy has journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to universal acclaim as the best history of philosophy in English.

Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit of immense erudition who once tangled with A. J. Ayer in a fabled debate about the existence of God and the possibility of metaphysics, knew that seminary students were fed a woefully inadequate diet of theses and proofs, and that their familiarity with most of history's great thinkers was reduced to simplistic caricatures. Copleston set out to redress the wrong by writing a complete history of Western philosophy, one crackling with incident and intellectual excitement -- and one that gives full place to each thinker, presenting his thought in a beautifully rounded manner and showing his links to those who went before and to those who came after him.

From the Inside Flap

Conceived originally as a serious presentation of the development of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, Frederick Copleston's nine-volume "A History Of Philosophy has journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to universal acclaim as the best history of philosophy in English.
Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit of immense erudition who once tangled with A. J. Ayer in a fabled debate about the existence of God and the possibility of metaphysics, knew that seminary students were fed a woefully inadequate diet of theses and proofs, and that their familiarity with most of history's great thinkers was reduced to simplistic caricatures. Copleston set out to redress the wrong by writing a complete history of Western philosophy, one crackling with incident and intellectual excitement -- and one that gives full place to each thinker, presenting his thought in a beautifully rounded manner and showing his links to those who went before and to those who came after him.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Image; Reprint edition (March 1, 1993)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385468431
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385468435
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.36 x 1.16 x 8.23 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #631,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #355 in Individual Philosophers (Books)
- #1,427 in Religious Philosophy (Books)
- #5,356 in Catholicism (Books)

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4.5 121 ratings

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EK

Detailed, Informative & A Pleasure to Read!

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2015

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This is a great book! It covers most of the early Greek and Roman philosophers in considerably more detail in one volume than other books do. The author provides an informed, honest and unbiased (in my opinion) summary of each philosopher that includes fragments of the philosopher's own works as well as constructive arguments for and against the theories. There is A LOT of detail in this volume! Plato and Aristotle do get much larger sections than other philosophers, but arguably that is right as their contribution to western philosophy was proportionally much more extensive (though not necessarily more significant) than their predecessors. I don't think you could find a better summary of philosophical viewpoints during this time period combined with concise (but detailed) analysis of the respective theories in light of the views of the philosopher's contemporaries as well as more contemporary viewpoints.

The author's goal was to create an objective study guide for Catholic seminary students whose philosophical lessons and history were sparse and very surface level. He succeeded at much more than that! This book is wonderful, the writing style is engaging and the philosophies are presented in a relevant and understandable manner. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their knowledge of western philosophy and their own lives.

I have a Degree in Philosophy (sp. Ancient Phl. & Epistemology), I read this book every few years and am always amazed at the immensity of what I missed the last few times I read it. A couple other supplementary texts that you can look into are: "A Presocratics Reader" ed. by Patricia Curd and "The Presocratic Philosophers" by Kirk/Raven/Schofield. These have translations of many of the fragments available from the original philosophers that Copeland writes about. Another book is the two volumes by Diogenes Laertius, who considered himself the biographer of the early philosophers and helped preserve much biographical information about them. The last mentioned is less philosophical on the whole.

Also check out all the other volumes in Copeland's History of Philosophy series, they are all equally well composed and exceptionally detailed. I wish I had known about them while I was getting my degrees!

5 people found this helpful

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Peter Reeve

Elegant, comprehensive, authoratitive

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2016

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The first thing to say about this book is that it is beautifully written. It stands as a model of elegant English prose, a rarity in a philosophical work. How much that matters to you depends upon your tastes, of course.

Copleston's A History of Philosophy is as thorough and as authoritative a survey of Western thought as you will find. The Doubleday edition contains the original nine volumes. Copleston added two other volumes later and these are included in the Continuum edition. Copleston brings an extraordinary erudition to the subject. He was a Jesuit priest and is here writing for Catholic seminary students, so he necessarily writes from a Christian perspective. He explicitly states that and does not attempt to disguise or apologize for it. This proves not to be a problem for non-Christian readers like me, thanks to Copleston's fair and balanced presentation.

This first volume covers the origin of Western philosophy in the Greek world (Copleston's account of why those beginnings occurred when and where they did is particularly compelling) and continues through to Plotinus and Neoplatonism. Saint Augustine is left for the next volume.

The liberal use of untranslated Greek and Latin quotes in the footnotes and in the body of the text will trouble some readers, but they should not be a bar to your overall understanding. Here's a suggestion: if you have no knowledge of Greek, at least learn the Greek script and alphabet. It will not take long and is useful knowledge in a variety of disciplines. You will then at least be able to pronounce the words written in Greek in this book. Often, the similarity to English, together with the context, will enable you to understand the word. Failing that, it will make it easier to look up online. And if you pursue serious philosophical study, you will want to learn a few Greek words and phrases, and learning to read and pronounce the letters is your starting point.
[PeterReeve]

23 people found this helpful

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Alia Erickson

The Best History of Philosophy in English, in a Subpar Edition

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2014

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Fr. Copleston set out, with this series, to provide Catholic seminarians with a solid understanding of the history of philosophy, and of those philosophies which have been or are important. He succeeds in this spectacularly, but it must be noted that Fr. Copleston's intended audience is an educated one who already has a firm grasp of basic philosophical concepts. This book is not for people completely new to the study of philosophy. It is written densely and throws a lot of information and terminology at you. That said, if you do have a command of the basics and a high reading level, there is no better source for a general history of philosophy (certainly favor this over Bertrand Russel's far inferior A History of Western Philosophy).

I am withholding the final star, though, not due to any deficit in Fr. Copleston's work, but because this edition (New York: Doubleday, 1993) is rather poor. First of all the covers of Doubleday's series are silly (though at least consistent). Worse though, the text itself is poorly set and fuzzy, letters tend to melt into each other, and especially in Volume I, which makes such heavy use of Greek, the Greek letters are often difficult to parse, if not altogether indecipherable. However the book is still largely readable, and though unfortunate, the poor quality of the typesetting should not prevent anyone from picking this up who would otherwise be interested. Just be warned, hopefully a new edition will be published sometime in the near future, and this great series will be given the run of print it deserves.

8 people found this helpful

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AngelaB

La più completa storia della filosofia in inglese

Reviewed in Italy on April 7, 2019

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Testo un po’ datato, ma sicuramente completo e approfondito. Forse anche un po’ troppo per gli studenti di oggi, ma certamente un valido strumento per studiare la filosofia in inglese seguendo un ordine logico e cronologico degli autori.

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Jhonathan Banczek

Melhor obra sobre a história da filosofia

Reviewed in Brazil on March 18, 2017

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Excelente livro, acredito ser a melhor obra sobre a história da filosofia.

Um detalhe que não sabia antes de comprar é a qualidade do papel, pelo baixo preço (versão normal, não capa dura) o papel tem uma qualidade inferior, porém, não atrapalha a leitura.

2 people found this helpful

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Victor

Succinct and Apposite

Reviewed in Canada on October 24, 2009

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An excellent overview of Greek philosophy. Copleston avoids tendentiousness and is consistently fair and balanced. He presents a wonderful blend of academic erudition and readability. As other reviewers have pointed out, however, there are many untranslated Greek and Latin terms and fragments; if one is unfamiliar with the Classical languages, sections of this book will remain frustratingly incomprehensible.

For a more in depth treatment, see Guthrie's six-volume history of Greek philosophy (ISBN: 0521294207, et al).

In response to Steven R. Murrell's review below, it is inaccurate and misleading to assert that "the vast majority of statements attributed to ancient philosophers are interpreted with a Christian slant." Copleston has been universally praised for just the opposite - that is, for his unbiased and frank approach. As Mr. Murrell pointed out in his review, Copleston's nine-volume history was written with Catholic seminary students in mind. Copleston may, therefore, occasionally juxtapose a given philosophical tenet with Christian thought. However, he never commits the gross anachronisms Mr. Murrell accuses him of. As for the pseudo-quote of the aforementioned reviewer - " . . . although this is what he said, he could only have meant (insert some statement supporting Christian doctrine here) . . . " - Copleston never says anything even remotely similar.

Bertrand Russell's account of Greek and Roman philosophy, for instance, is far more tendentious. Although Russell's history certainly has its merits, his likes and dislikes, biases and predilections, are brought to the fore. Copleston's treatment is comparatively removed and encyclopedic.

3 people found this helpful

Brian Cowan

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on April 5, 2018

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Very pleased with this book.

Luciano leandro da Silva

Excelente livro ...

Reviewed in Brazil on May 21, 2016

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