# Copleston's History of Philosophy



## Casey (Oct 23, 2006)

Just got some old paperback copies off of eBay -- anyone read this? (When I find the time, I can't wait to start reading them!)


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## rmdmphilosopher (Oct 23, 2006)

I have them, and I've read them... A pretty grand series, in my opinion. They were my first introduction to the history of philosophy, and I struggled through them with much pain and sweat (being 12 at the time) due to his rather ponderous and dry writing style... But for information and a simple explanation of philosophical ideas, I still prefer them. Great stuff to counter, for instance, Bertrand Russell's History of Philosophy--while you're into Copleston you should check out his debate with Russell on the existence of God (they have a transcription of it out there on the WWW somewhere...), I hear it is to Catholics what the Bahnsen-Stein debate is to presuppositionalists... Anyway, treasure your Copleston!


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## RamistThomist (Oct 23, 2006)

I actually picked up Copleston from the library today. I am going through Bahnsen's lectures on history of western philosophy. I have read Russell. He is a lot of fun but I want something more indepth.


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## crhoades (Oct 23, 2006)

Don't forget Jones...These are the books that Bahnsen was using for his philosophy class.





History of Western Philosophy, Vol I: The Classical Mind, 2nd ed.
$63.95 *$60.75*
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History of Western Philosophy, Vol II: The Medieval Mind, 2nd ed.
$63.95 *$60.75*
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History of Western Philosophy, Vol III: Hobbes to Hume, 2nd ed.
$63.95 *$60.75*
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History of Western Philosophy, Vol IV: Kant and the Nineteenth Century, 2nd ed.
$66.95 *$63.60*

Image missing due to the uber strict 4 image rule...I would also put a banging head smiley but I can't do that either! lol


History of Western Philosophy, Vol V: 20th Century of Quine and Derrida, 3rd ed.
$66.95 *$63.60*


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## py3ak (Oct 23, 2006)

Here is the link for the Copleston/Russell debate:

http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p20.htm


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## rmdmphilosopher (Oct 24, 2006)

Hmm... I've never read Jones. I'll have to check that out. I'm getting so many awesome additions to my TO READ list since I've been here!


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## tewilder (Oct 24, 2006)

I have always thought Copleston was good to have and a good basic exercise to go through. 

But, none of my teachers liked him. They did not seem to like histories of philosophy in general, but certainly not this one. I think at least partly it was because they wanted to approach everything through primary sources and as isolated issues, as detached from the big picture as possible. Also they seem to think that he was out of date.


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 24, 2006)

crhoades said:


> Image missing due to the uber strict 4 image rule...I would also put a banging head smiley but I can't do that either! lol



uberstrict policy removed.


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## Theogenes (Oct 24, 2006)

Don't forget Clark's "Thales to Dewey"!
 
 
Jim


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## JohnV (Oct 24, 2006)

I read Copleston many, many years ago. I can't remember enough to tell you about it except that he liked to summarize things with short, pointed sentences. Some of them I put into my collection of quotes. Unfortunately, I lost that collection when my computer crashed about six years ago. He has a certain flair for saying things easily, as I recall. In other words, I liked his style. 

It was my fortune to have read Augustine's history first. From that study I followed his methodology up through history to the present. And then I read Schaeffer and Lewis. After that I read people like Copleston, Pope, E. Stanley Jones, and others, but stuck mostly to reading the Bible thoroughly and studying philosophy through using the Great Western Books series, since I owned the complete reference set. As much as I like Copleston's style, I like Adler (_et al_)'s breadth more.


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## rmdmphilosopher (Oct 24, 2006)

Clark's book is good... But certainly not a volume for someone ready to get a little deeper in the history of philosophy. It's a sort of Introduction to the History of Philosophy. I understand that in my Dad's time at college he went through this book, and a lot of other older people I know did the same: so I imagine it was a standard textbook at some point, dunno for sure though.



> I have always thought Copleston was good to have and a good basic exercise to go through.
> 
> But, none of my teachers liked him. They did not seem to like histories of philosophy in general, but certainly not this one. I think at least partly it was because they wanted to approach everything through primary sources and as isolated issues, as detached from the big picture as possible. Also they seem to think that he was out of date.



Copleston _was_ 'out of date' as historians of philosophy go, because he was a Thomistic Conservative Catholic philosopher with a mind for details. He didn't try to give his 'philosophy of the history of philosophy' through his book: he treated it like a real history book. So many 'historians of philosophy' have used their histories mainly to push their own agendas: witness Hegel, Russell, and I daresay even Clark. But remember that with philosophy 'out-of-date' is an absolutely meaningless term: historical snobbery looks so foolish nowhere else, because philosophers still work with some of the same ideas that excercised the minds of Thales, Anaximander, Anaximedes, and the rest of the early cosmologists, today...


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## RamistThomist (Oct 24, 2006)

Richard Tarnas writes well (Passion of the Western Mind) but from a non-Christian perspective. In fact, he is quite nutty at the end. If you have Copleston, Russell, or Jones don't bother with getting Tarnas.


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## Vytautas (Oct 24, 2006)

Gregg Singer has said that if you want to understand unbelieving thought, just read Plato because no one was ever as half as good as Plato.


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## ChristianTrader (Oct 24, 2006)

Vytautas said:


> Gregg Singer has said that if you want to understand unbelieving thought, just read Plato because no one was ever as half as good as Plato.



Have you read from Rationalism to Irrationality by Singer? I found it wonderful.

CT


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## Vytautas (Oct 24, 2006)

ChristianTrader said:


> Have you read from Rationalism to Irrationality by Singer? I found it wonderful.
> 
> CT



No, I heard it on his on-line lectures here: 

http://www.mountolivelibrary.org/SingerCGregg.php

I do not remember which one of the lectures contains that quote, but it is probably one of his philosophy lectures. I recommend these resources to anyone especially concerning his philosophy of history. However some of the lectures on apologetics are not on apologetics but he discusses things like World War II from a purely historical perspective.


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 24, 2006)

Jim Snyder said:


> Don't forget Clark's "Thales to Dewey"!
> 
> 
> Jim



If you've ever checked out R.C. Sprouls' list of books that have influenced him most that is in the top 10.


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## RamistThomist (Oct 24, 2006)

SemperFideles said:


> If you've ever checked out R.C. Sprouls' list of books that have influenced him most that is in the top 10.



Where can you find that list? I would be interested in seeing it.


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