Description
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.
About the Author
Jonathan Bennett, who now lives on an island near Vancouver, BC, was formerly Lecturer in Moral Science at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and then at Syracuse University. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, Michigan,Pittsburgh, and Princeton, and has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and a visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the British Academy.
Reviews
Its discussion of the various modern philosophers is fairly compact and orderly ... a clear and engaging discussion of central issues in early modern metaphysics and epistemology * Mind *
Very interesting and profitable to read * Michael Ayers, Times Literary Supplement *
A noteworthy feature of the book is the continuously powerful presence of an authorial self ... This book will be widely read and discussed both for its virtues and, I trust, like the works it discusses, for its faults * Michael Ayers, Times Literary Supplement *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198250920
Author Jonathan Bennett
Format Hardback
Page Count 396
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 724g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 164mm * 26mm
About the Author
Jonathan Bennett, who now lives on an island near Vancouver, BC, was formerly Lecturer in Moral Science at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and then at Syracuse University. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, Michigan,Pittsburgh, and Princeton, and has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and a visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the British Academy.
Reviews
Its discussion of the various modern philosophers is fairly compact and orderly ... a clear and engaging discussion of central issues in early modern metaphysics and epistemology * Mind *
Very interesting and profitable to read * Michael Ayers, Times Literary Supplement *
A noteworthy feature of the book is the continuously powerful presence of an authorial self ... This book will be widely read and discussed both for its virtues and, I trust, like the works it discusses, for its faults * Michael Ayers, Times Literary Supplement *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198250920
Author Jonathan Bennett
Format Hardback
Page Count 396
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 724g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 164mm * 26mm
