Seeking to rediscover the connection between philosophy as studied in universities and those general views of man and reality which are 'philosophy' to the educated layman, Edward Craig here offers a view of philosophy and its history since the early seventeenth century. He presents this period as concerned primarily with just two visions of the essential nature of man. One portrays human beings as made in the image of God, required to resemble him as far as lies in our power; the other sees us as autonomous creators of our own environment and values. The author writes with a broad sweep not encouraged by recent fashion, yet shows (with particular reference to Hume and Hegel) how textual detail which previous commentators have found opaque becomes transparent when viewed against such a background. In the final chapter he treats passages from recent work in the same way. The general conceptions which philosophical thought embodies can equally well be embodied in other media, especially literary. The author illustrates this point with German and English examples and thereby draws together disciplines often felt to be far apart. He also reveals striking similarities between Anglo-American and certain twentieth-century continental European lines of thought.

About the Author
Edward Craig is Reader in Modern Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, where he has taught, and been a member of Churchill College, since 1966. He has held visiting professorships at Hamburg, Heidelberg, and Melbourne. He is the author of Knowledge and the State of Nature (Clarendon Press, 1990). He was the editor of the journal Ratio from 1988 to 1992, and is now Chief Editor of the ten-volume Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, to be published in 1998. In 1993 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews
rich and fascinating ... covering a host of topics from the seventeenth century to the present, with the discussion ranging from general overviews to detailed discussions of particular philosophers or issues ... comparable in its breadth and insight to Richard Rorty's Mirror of Nature, and it deserves as wide an audience. * Stephen Gaukroger, Journal of Philosophy *
enormously worthwhile * Catherine Wilson, Canadian Philosophical Review *
unusual and stimulating * John Cottingham, Philosophy *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198236825
Author Edward Craig
Format Paperback
Page Count 364
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 139mm * 21mm