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Learning from Six Philosophers, Volume 2

Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume

Jonathan Bennett author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:2nd Oct '03

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Learning from Six Philosophers, Volume 2 cover

Jonathan Bennett engages with the thought of six great thinkers of the early modern period: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume. While not neglecting the historical setting of each, his chief focus is on the words they wrote. What problem is being tackled? How exactly is the solution meant to work? Does it succeed? If not, why not? What can we learn from its success or its failure? These questions reflect Bennett's dedication to engaging with philosophy as philosophy, not as museum exhibit, and they require a close and demanding attention to textual details; these being two features that characterize all Bennett's work on early modern philosophy. For newcomers to the early modern scene, this clearly written work is an excellent introduction to it. Those already in the know can learn how to argue with the great philosophers of the past, treating them as colleagues, antagonists, students, teachers. Volume 2: In this volume Jonathan Bennett examines the views of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume on thought and sensation, meaning, language, classification, innate ideas and knowledge, our knowledge of necessary truths (bringing in Descartes and Leibniz as well), the basis for our belief that we live in a world of material things, causation, the fundamental difference between colours and shapes, the passage of time and our ability to live through it. While finding much to criticize, Bennett shows that we can learn much about these and other topics under the guidance and inspiration of the energy, courage, and insight of these three great British philosophers.

The Clarendon Press has issued in paperback format Jonathan Bennett's two-volume survey of philosophers who helped to shape Western thought and continue to do so today ... Whilst never ignoring the philosopher's individual backgrounds [Bennett] concentrates on what they actually wrote and how they argued. The two volumes remain a masterful survey. * Contemporary Review *

ISBN: 9780199266296

Dimensions: 234mm x 155mm x 21mm

Weight: 602g

396 pages