Of all the topics in the history of philosophy, the history of different forms of thinking and contemplation is one of the most important, and yet is also relatively overlooked. What is it to think philosophically? How did different forms of thinking-reflection, contemplation, critique and analysis-emerge in different epochs?

This collection offers a rich and diverse philosophical exploration of the history of contemplation, from the classical period to the twenty-first century. It covers canonical figures including Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Kant, as well as debates in less well-known areas such as classical Indian and Islamic thought and the role of speculation in twentieth-century Russian philosophy.

Comprising twenty-two chapters by an international team of contributors, the volume is divided into five parts:

* Flourishing and Thinking from Homer to Hume
* The Thinking of Thinking from Augustine to Goedel
* Images and Thinking from Plotinus to Unger
* Bodies of Thought and Habits of Thinking from Plato to Irigaray
* The Efficacy of Thinking from Sextus to Bataille

Thought: A Philosophical History is the first comprehensive investigation of the history of philosophical thought and contemplation. As such, it is a landmark publication for anyone researching and teaching the history of philosophy, and a valuable resource for those studying the subject in related fields such as literature, religion, sociology and the history of ideas.

About the Author

Panayiota Vassilopoulou is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK. Her work connects history-of-philosophy research with contemporary philosophical practice, particularly social and reflective practices in the cultural industries and the health sector. With Stephen R. L. Clark she is editor of Late Antique Epistemology: Other Ways to Truth (2009).

Daniel Whistler is Reader in Modern European Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. He is co-author of The Schelling-Eschenmayer Controversy, 1801: Nature and Identity, author of Schelling's Theory of Symbolic Language: Forming the System of Identity and has edited numerous volumes including the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Modern French Philosophy.

Book Information
ISBN 9780367770945
Author Panayiota Vassilopoulou
Format Paperback
Page Count 326
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 620g