{"id":3139,"date":"2014-03-06T11:41:48","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T16:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=3139"},"modified":"2014-03-10T17:46:43","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T21:46:43","slug":"book-review-a-history-of-western-philosophy-by-bertrand-russell-audio-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/book-review-a-history-of-western-philosophy-by-bertrand-russell-audio-version\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell (audio version)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“You mock, dude!”<\/p>\n

Bertrand Russell<\/a> (1872-1970) was a lively philosopher and prodigious writer known for his biting wit. Russell was deeply involved with the social issues of his day and spent time in prison for his efforts–for his pacifists views during World War I, and again for his anti-nuke protests in his 80’s(!). He was stripped of his professorship at my alma mater CCNY for being unfit, thus becoming a cause celeb for Einstein and others during the ’40’s. Today he is remembered for his popular books on philosophy, and his mathematical philosophy, most especially  Principia Mathematica<\/a>, <\/i>which influenced men like Kurt Godel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Bertrand<\/a>
Bertrand Russell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Russell is a transitional figure. He came of age before WW I and is steeped in the Western tradition. During his long life the authority of the Western Canon–thanks to two world wars–came unmoored. In many respects Russell became a typical 20th century liberal intellectual, but in several important respects he remained outside that current. First, he was a staunch anti-communist. He came to his views after visiting the Soviet Union in the early ’20’s as part of a British delegation. He, alone among the two-dozen delegates, left the Soviet Union convinced it was a tragic and failed regime propped up by terror and violence. Second, although he was an atheist (he wrote several books outlining his views), he had deep respect for Christianity and was intimately familiar with both its history and its leading thinkers, such as SS. Augustine and Aquinas. Knowledge of and respect for those with whom one disagrees is rare these days–among intellectuals at any rate.<\/p>\n

OK, now to the matter at hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey<\/span><\/a><\/div>

“There has never been a philosophy that was both complete and credible.” “Marx was the last of the school men.” These sweeping statements, both found in the chapter on Locke’s philosophy, capture the flavor of A History of Western Philosophy<\/em>. Russell’s style is pithy and erudite, filled with dazzling vistas and sweeping judgments. His knowledge and grasp of history is astonishing, surpassed by only Gibbon<\/a> and few others. And although the amount of material covered by the book is huge, the pace rarely flags.<\/p>\n

The book begins with the pre-socratic Greeks and ends with the current day–current, that is, when Russell finished the book in 1945. He is extremely good at summarizing the views of others, and glides easily (Hegel being the one exception) among the details. He is generally fair at recounting the views of those with whom he disagrees. He provides context whenever possible by placing philosophers in their milieu, although this is sometimes tedious and overdone.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Staff Exhibition<\/span><\/a><\/div>

And this brings me to the book’s major flaw: too much general history, especially British political history. If one is unfamiliar with western history in general, this book provides a pithy and generally reliable outline of the subject. If, on the other hand, you are, like me, already familiar with the topic, you will grow impatient at the amount of ink Russell spills on general European history. Do we need one more retelling of Galileo’s troubles with the Catholic Church, or Spinoza’s with the synagogue?<\/p>\n

Not surprising for a Brit, Russell spends a lot of time on Locke.  Although Locke remains an important philosopher, Russell tarries too long with him. Of course, that is my subjective view. He also spends too much time with Rousseau, whom he despises.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio—10\/28\/12<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Russell, as might be expected from a philosopher of mathematics, is in the camp (with many caveats) represented by James, Dewey, and other empiricists\/pragmatists. Russell holds a very dim view on the subjective currents in philosophy, represented by people like Rousseau, Hegel, and Nietzsche. He reserves his harshest judgments–and most ferocious take downs–for them. His unfortunate take down of Henri Bergson<\/a> (one of my favorites) shows Russell at his bullying worst–building and demolishing straw men with abandon. Luckily, these passages are few and Russell most often seems a man of almost inhuman patience and fairness.<\/p>\n

I read and reread Russell’s volume when I was young. I loved the book and became a Russell enthusiast for several years. Many of his books remain in my library even now, including this one. For all its flaws, the <\/span>History<\/em> is still an unbeatable introduction to philosophy. <\/span>Reading–listening–to it now, I am bemused to discover how much of the furniture of my early intellectual life was furnished by Russell’s writings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Hurricane Sandy<\/span><\/a><\/div>

For this review I listened to the 38-hour audio version from Audible, narrated by Jonathan Keeble<\/a>, which I gave 5 stars<\/strong>. Kebble, by the way, is absolutely a first-rate narrator, and is pitch perfect for this book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Thumbs-up: van Ruisdael; Thumbs-down: Renoir<\/span><\/a><\/div>

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“You mock, dude!” Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was a lively philosopher and prodigious writer known for his biting wit. Russell was deeply involved with the social issues of his day and spent time in prison for his efforts–for his pacifists views during World War I, and again for his anti-nuke protests in his 80’s(!). He was stripped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":3141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[108,46,1],"tags":[178,177],"class_list":["post-3139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-book-review","tag-books-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/b-russell.jpg?fit=201%2C251&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10844,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2022\/08\/book-review-lord-fouls-bane\/","url_meta":{"origin":3139,"position":0},"title":"Book review: Lord Foul’s Bane","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"August 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I am in the midst of another fiction-consuming binge. When I tire of listening to podcasts I fire up an audio book. Between listening to books and reading them with my Kobo e-Reader, I go through a lot of books. The fantasy novel Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/lfb.jpg?fit=778%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/lfb.jpg?fit=778%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/lfb.jpg?fit=778%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/lfb.jpg?fit=778%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5773,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/book-review-heorot-series-vol-1-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3139,"position":1},"title":"Book review: Heorot Series vol. 1 & 2","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I listened to the two books in the Heorot series, The Legacy of Heorot, and Beowulf's Children on my Audible app. The books were written by the team of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steve Barnes. \u00a0The first book was written in 1987, the second in 1995. Although I go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"51VHVMntd9L._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/51VHVMntd9L._SX326_BO1204203200_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5087,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/book-review-the-war-of-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":3139,"position":2},"title":"Book review: the War of Art","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"May 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Steven Pressfield's the War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles \u00a0offers pop psychology advice to struggling writers and artists.\u00a0Pressfield is most known for his novel and film \u00a0The Legend of Bagger Vance.\u00a0Before reading this book on my Kindle, I'd read nothing by the author.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9548,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2021\/05\/grumpy-review-kindles\/","url_meta":{"origin":3139,"position":3},"title":"Grumpy review: Kindles","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"May 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I've used my Kindle Oasis for several years and thought I'd share my impressions with you. Let's start with the negatives. Cons Goodreads. Amazon embeds Goodreads in the Kindle. You cannot turn it off, even if you do not have or want a Goodreads account. I almost returned my Kindle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kindle2.jpg?fit=474%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11281,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2022\/09\/book-review-ink-black-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":3139,"position":4},"title":"Book review: Ink Black Heart","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"September 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently listened to the audio version of the detective novel The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith. Galbraith is the pen name used by J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. This novel is the 6th and latest in this series for adults. In these novels, Galbraith chronicles the adventures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jkr.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jkr.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jkr.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jkr.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9085,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2020\/11\/review-of-human-bondage\/","url_meta":{"origin":3139,"position":5},"title":"Review: Of Human Bondage","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"November 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had this experience a lot lately. Maybe you have too. You reread a book that you once admired only to discover that it doesn't resemble in the least what you remember about it. When I originally read Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, I thrilled at Maugham's description of Bohemian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Maugham","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/s.maugham.jpg?fit=474%2C639&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-OD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}