
The Rise of Modern Philosophy
New History of Western Philosophy series
A New History of Western Philosophy(2007) →
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Sir Anthony Kenny's engaging new multi-volume history of Western philosophy now advances into the modern era. The Rise of Modern Philosophy captures the fascinating story of the emergence, from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, of the great ideas and intellectual systems that shaped modern thought.
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Kenny introduces us to some of the world's most original and influential thinkers and helps us gain an understanding of their famous works. The great minds we meet include Rene Descartes, traditionally seen as the founder of modern philosophy; the great British philosophers Hobbes, Locke, and Hume; continental thinkers such as Spinoza, Liebniz, and Hegel; and the towering figure of Immanuel Kant, who perhaps more than any other made philosophy what it is today. Kenny first tells the story of modern philosophy chronologically: his lively, accessible narrative brings the philosophers to life and fills in the historical and intellectual background to their work. It is ideal as the first thing to read for someone new to this wonderfully creative period. Kenny then backtracks to look closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration in this period: knowledge and understanding; the nature of the physical universe; metaphysics (the most fundamental questions there are about existence); mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God.
The book also features many intriguing and beautiful illustrations which evoke the human and social side of philosophy. Anyone who is interested in the evolution of modern thought will find this a book a treasure.
Liked The Rise of Modern Philosophy? Here’s where I’d start.
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A History of Philosophy, Vol. 3: Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, Okham, Francis Bacon, and the Beginning of the Modern World Shares philosophy, history of philosophy, nonfiction -
A History of Philosophy, Vol. 8: Modern Philosophy, Empiricism, Idealism, and Pragmatism in Britain and America Shares philosophy, history of philosophy, nonfiction -
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A History of Philosophy, Vol. 4: Modern Philosophy, from Descartes to Leibnitz
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A History of Philosophy, Vol. 5: Modern Philosophy, The British Philosophers from Hobbes to Hume
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A History of Philosophy, Vol. 6: Modern Philosophy, from the French Enlightenment to Kant
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A History of Philosophy, Vol. 7: Modern Philosophy, from the Post-Kantean Idealists to Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche