Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers

by S.E. Frost

Overview

A complete summary of the views of the most important philosophers since the beginning of Western civilization. Each major field of philosophic inquiry is treated in a separate chapter, so that each chapter can be read as a complete unit, without reference to the others. Includes Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Dewey, Sartre, and many others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385030076
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/01/1962
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	633,413
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

S. E. Frost, Jr. taught in the Department of Education, Brooklyn College, City University of New York. He received a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale University. He spent many years in the study and teaching of the history and philosophy of education and is the author of a number of books on philosophy, religion, and education. He died in 1978.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
I	The Nature of the Universe	5
	The Views of the Early Greek Philosophers	6
	Plato's Theory of the Universe	10
	Aristotle's Conception of the Universe	12
	The Views of the Epicureans, Stoics, and Skeptics	16
	The Universe According to the Greco-Religious Thinkers	18
	The Position of the Early Christian Thinkers	19
	The Positions of the Medieval Christian Thinkers	20
	The Views of the Forerunners of the Renaissance	27
	The Universe According to the Philosophers of the Renaissance	29
	Descartes' Conception of the Universe	31
	Spinoza's Theory of the Universe	33
	The Positions of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume	35
	Leibnitz' Theory of the Universe	39
	Kant's Conception of the Universe	40
	Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel	41
	The Views of the Later German Philosophers	44
	The Positions of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer	47
	Josiah Royce, William James, and John Dewey	49
	The Views of Henri Bergson and George Santayana	51
II	Man's Place in the Universe	53
	Man's Importance According to the Early Greek Philosophers	54
	The Positions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle	56
	The Views of the Later Greek Thinkers	58
	Man's Importance According to the Early Christian Thinkers	58
	The Views of the Medieval Christian Thinkers	59
	As Seen by the Forerunners of the Renaissance	62
	The Positions of Bacon and Hobbes	63
	The Views of Descartes and Spinoza	64
	Man's Place as Seen by Locke, Berkeley, and Hume	65
	The Views of Leibnitz	67
	The Position of Rousseau	68
	Kant's View of Man's Importance	68
	Fichte, Schelling, Schleiermacher, and Hegel	69
	The Views of Later German Thinkers	72
	Man's Place According to Comte	74
	The Positions of Mill and Spencer	75
	The Views of James, Dewey, and Russell	77
III	What Is Good and What Is Evil?	80
	Good and Evil According to the Early Greek Philosophers	81
	The Ethical Views of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle	83
	Good and Evil According to the Epicureans and Stoics	86
	The Position of the Greco-Religious Thinkers	87
	The Ethical Views of the Early Christian Thinkers	88
	The Views of the Medieval Christian Thinkers	89
	Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, and Leibnitz	91
	The Ethical Philosophy of Kant	94
	The Views of Fichte and Schopenhauer	95
	According to Mill, Bentham, and Spencer	97
	The Ethical Views of James and Dewey	98
IV	The Nature of God	100
	The Views of the Early Greek Philosophers	102
	The Concept of God in the Thought of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle	104
	The Position of the Later Greek Thinkers	106
	The Greco-Religious Ideas About God	107
	The Early and Medieval Christian Conception of God	108
	Bruno, Boehme, and Other Forerunners of the Renaissance	113
	The Position of Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, and Pascal	114
	The Nature of God According to Spinoza	116
	The Views of Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Leibnitz	117
	The Concept of God in the Thought of Kant	120
	Fichte, Schelling, Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Later German Thinkers	121
	The Position of Comte, Spencer, and Bradley	124
	The Views of James and Dewey	124
V	Fate versus Free Will	127
	The Idea of Fate Among the Early Greek Thinkers	129
	According to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle	130
	The Views of the Later Greek Philosophers	132
	The Position of the Greco-Religious Thinkers	134
	Early and Medieval Christian Thinkers	135
	The Views of Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, and Spinoza	139
	The Position of Locke, of Hume, and of Leibnitz	142
	Fate and Free Will According to Voltaire and to Rousseau	145
	Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Schopenhauer, and Other German Thinkers	146
	The Position of Mill and of Green	150
	The Views of James and Dewey	151
VI	The Soul and Immortality	153
	The Soul as Viewed by the Early Greek Philosophers	155
	The Soul and Immortality According to Plato and Aristotle	157
	The Position of the Later Greek Thinkers	159
	The Views of Plotinus	160
	The Early and Medieval Christian Conception of the Soul	160
	The Soul According to the Forerunners of the Renaissance	162
	The Views of Bacon and Hobbes	163
	The Views of Descartes and Spinoza	163
	Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Leibnitz	165
	The Soul and Immortality According to Kant	167
	Fichte, Schleiermacher, Herbart, and Schopenhauer	168
	Recent and Present-Day Conceptions of the Soul and Immortality	170
VII	Man and the State	175
	The State as Viewed by the Early Greek Philosophers	178
	The State According to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle	181
	The Positions of the Later Greek Thinkers	184
	The Views of the Early Christian Thinkers	186
	The Views of the Medieval Christian Thinkers	188
	The State as Viewed by the Forerunners of the Renaissance	192
	Machiavelli's Conception of the State	193
	Grotius, Hobbes, and Other Thinkers of the Renaissance	194
	The Views of Spinoza, Locke, and Adam Smith	196
	The Position of Voltaire and of Rousseau	198
	The State According to Hegel, Marx, and Lassalle	199
	De Maistre, Saint-Simon, and Comte	200
	The Views of Mill and Spencer	202
	Nietzsche's Conception of the State	204
	The Views of Dewey and Recent Thinkers	205
VIII	Man and Education	207
	Education as Viewed by the Early Greek Philosophers	209
	According to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle	210
	The Roman Conception of Education	212
	Early Christian Conception of Education	213
	St. Benedict and the Monastic Way of Life	214
	Education in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance	215
	Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation	217
	The Views of Bacon and Hobbes	218
	Comenius' Philosophy of Education	218
	Locke and Rousseau	219
	Pestalozzi's Conception of Education	221
	Herbart's View of Education	222
	Froebel's Conception of Education	223
IX	Mind and Matter	226
	Mind and Matter as Contrasted by the Early Greek Thinkers	228
	Plato, Aristotle, and the Later Greek Philosophers	230
	The Positions of Philo and St. Augustine	233
	According to the Medieval Christian Thinkers	234
	Roger Bacon and Paracelsus	235
	Francis Bacon and Hobbes	236
	Descartes and Spinoza	238
	Locke, Berkeley, and Hume	240
	The Views of Leibnitz	241
	Kant and Later German Philosophers	241
	Bradley, Royce, and Bergson	244
	Comte, James, Dewey, Santayana	244
X	Ideas and Thinking	246
	What Thinking Meant to the Early Greek Philosophers	247
	According to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle	249
	The Views of the Later Greek Philosophers	250
	The Medieval Christian View	251
	Galileo and the Beginning of the Scientific Attitude	253
	Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza	254
	Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Leibnitz	256
	Kant, Fichte, Hegel	257
	Comte, Mill, Spencer	260
	James and Dewey	260
XI	Some Recent Approaches to Philosophy	263
	Kierkegaard and the Beginnings of Existentialism	264
	The Views of Heidegger, Jaspers, and Sartre	265
	Three Philosophers of Science: Whitehead, Russell, and Moore	266
	Logical Positivism	268
	Two Philosophers of the Spirit	269
	Some Current Philosophers in the Religious Tradition	270
	Conclusion	272
	Biographical Notes	275
	Index	297