The Story of Philosophy is a brand new and highly ambitious survey of the thinkers and ideas that have perplexed humanity from time immemorial. Accessible writing, brilliant scholarship and over 150 colour illustrations combine to form a richly informative and highly entertaining work of narrative history. Starting with the most important figures in the Greek era, including Thales of Miletus – often referred to as the first philosopher – Pythagoras and Plato, the story continues with the great religious thinkers of medieval Europe such as Augustine, Aquinas and Maimonides, key players of the Enlightenment such as Descartes, Hobbes and Voltaire, their successors in the Romantic era such as Marx and Nietzsche, and concluding with a survey of 20th and 21st century philosophy.
Lively and readable, it is the ideal introduction to philosophy for anyone interested in the history of ideas.
1. Ancient Philosophy (c. 600 BC to AD 500) Thales to Plotinus
2. Medieval Philosophy (c. AD 500 to c. 1350) Aquinas to Ockham
3. The Renaissance (c. 1350 to 1600) Petrarch to Bacon
4. Enlightenment Philosophy (c. 1600 to c. 1800) Descartes to Kant
5. The Romantic Age (c. 1800 to c. 1900) Fichte to Marx
6. Contemporary Philosophy (c. 1900 to the present) Sartre to Rorty
