Russell's Idealist Apprenticeship
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:17th Jan '91
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
* Two important new books on Russell Modern analytic philosophy was born around the turn of the century, largely through Bertrand Russell's and G. E. Moore's reaction against the neo-Hegelianism which dominated British philosophy in the last decades of the nineteenth century. It is well known that Russell had himself been a neo-Hegelian, but hitherto little has been known about his work during that period. Yet this work was important, not only for Russell's development as a philosopher, but also for the development of analytic philosophy. Based mainly on unpublished papers held in the Bertrand Russell Archives at McMaster University, this book is the first detailed study of this early period of Russell's philosophical career. The first three chapters are concerned with Russell's philosophical education at Cambridge in the early 1890s and his conversion to neo-Hegelianism. The remaining chapters outline his ambitious plans for a neo-Hegelian dialectic of the sciences, and the problems which ultimately led him to reject it.
`Whatever the merits of Russell's early idealist philosophy, Griffin's book is first rate. The author carefully lays bare the source of Russell's mistakes and confusions and at no point attempts to conceal the difficulties. ... This book is an important landmark in Russell scholarship, and hence in the history of twentieth-century philosophy Alasdair Urquhart, University of Toronto
`It is one of the finest works of philosophical scholarship I have ever read ... `Few philosohers,' he concludes, `have such a good eye for fundamental unifying principles while conducting detailed investigations over such a wide range.' It is a tribute that applies equally to Professor Griffin's fine work.' Ray Monk, London Review of Books
'A detailed and extremely valuable contribution to the study of the history of British idealism, it is also a study of the intellectual development of one of the best minds of the 20th century. Highly recommended for all 20th-century philosophy and cognitive development collections. Undergraduates and up.' M. Kohl, SUNY College at Fredonia, Choice, Nov '91
ISBN: 9780198244530
Dimensions: 236mm x 164mm x 30mm
Weight: 784g
424 pages