Wisdom of the West [antikvár]

'A big book,' said Callimachus the Alexandrian poet, 'is a big evil!' On the whole I feel inclined to share this view. If, therefore, I venture to put the present volume before the reader, it is because, as evils go, this book is a minor one. Nevertheless, it calls for a special explanation; for I have some time ago written a book on the same subject. 'Wisdom of the West' is an entirely new work; though, of course, it would never have appeared had not my 'History of Western Philosophy' preceded it. What is here attempted is a conspectus of Western Philosophy from Thales to Wittgenstein, together with some reminders of the historical circumstances in which this story unfolds itself. To support the account, there is a collection of pictures of men, places and documents, which have been chosen as nearly as possible from sources belonging to the period to which they refer. Above all, an attempt has been made, wherever this seemed feasible, to translate philosophic ideas, normally expressed only in words, into diagrams that convey the same information by way of geometrical metaphor. There is little to fall back on here, and the results are therefore not always entirely successful. However, it seems that such methods of presentation are worth exploring. Diagrammatic exposition, so far as it can be achieved, has the further advantage of not being tied to any particular tongue. As to the appearance of yet another history of philosophy, two things may be said in extenuation. In the first place, there are few accounts that are compact and reasonably comprehensive at the same time. There are, indeed, many histories of greater compass that deai with each item at much greater length. With these works the present volume obviously does not set out to compete. Those who develop a deeper interest in the subject will no doubt consult them in due course, and will perhaps even go to the original texts. Secondly, the current trend towards more and fiercer specialisms is making men forget their intellectual debts to their forbears. This study aims to counter such forgetfulness. In some serious sense, all Western philosophy is Greek philosophy; and it is idle to indulge in philosophic thought while cutting the ties that link us with the great thinkers of the past. It used once to be held, perhaps wrongly, that it was meet for a philosopher to know something about everything. Philosophy claimed all knowledge for its province. However this may be, the prevailing view that philosophers need know nothing about anything is quite certainly wrong. Those who think that philosophy 'really' began in 1921, or at any rate not long before, fail to see that current philosophic problems have not arisen all of a sudden and out of nothing. No apology is therefore offered for the comparatively generous treatment of Greek philosophy. An account of the history of philosophy may proceed in one of two ways. Either the story is purely expository, showing what this man said and how that man was influenced. Alternatively, the exposition may be combined with a certain measure of critical discourse, in order to show how philosophic discussion proceeds. This second course has been adopted here. It may be added that this should not mislead the reader into believing that a thinker may be dismissed out of hand merely because his ^iews have been found wanting. Kant once said that he was not so much afraid of being refuted as of being misunderstood. We should try to understand what philosophers are attempting to say before we set them aside. It must be confessed, all the same, that the effort sometimes seems out of proportion to the insight achieved. In the end, this is a matter of judgment which everyone has to resolve for himself. The scope and treatment of the subject in this volume differ from those in my earlier book. The new material owes much to my editor Dr. Paul Foulkes, who has helped me in the writing of the text and has also chosen many of the illustrations and devised most of the diagrams. The aim has been to provide a survey of some of the leading questions that philosophers have discussed. If, on perusing these pages, the reader is tempted to pursue the subject further than he might otherwise have done, the chief purpose of the book will have been attained.