A C Grayling The History of Philosophy

Jul 6, 2026

103

This volume provides a structured, chronological survey of Western philosophy from early Greek thinkers through medieval, Renaissance, modern, and twentieth-century movements, organizing major figures and schools into clearly defined parts. It traces core themes such as pre-Socratic inquiry, Socratic and Platonic thought, Aristotelian developments, ethical and skeptical traditions, the evolution of political and religious influences, and the rise of modern reasoning from Bacon to Kant and beyond. Later sections cover analytic, ordinary language, philosophy of language, and mind, alongside continental approaches, concluding with non-Western traditions and reference tools.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages803

Reading Time20 h 37 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I Ancient Philosophy

Philosophy before Plato

The Presocratic Philosophers

The Sophists

Socrates

Plato

Aristotle

Greek and Roman Philosophy after Aristotle

PART II Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy

Philosophy in Medieval Times

Philosophy in the Renaissance

PART III Modern Philosophy

The Rise of Modern Thought

Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century

PART IV Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

Analytic Philosophy

Philosophy of Language

Philosophy of Mind Ethics

Virtue Ethics Political Philosophy

Continental Philosophy

PART V Indian, Chinese, Arabic–Persian and African Philosophy

Indian Philosophy

Chinese Philosophy

Arabic–Persian Philosophy

African Philosophy

Concluding Remarks

Appendix: A Sketch of Logic

Bibliography

Index

A. C. Grayling THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Contents Preface Acknowledgements Introduction PART I Ancient Philosophy Philosophy before Plato The Presocratic Philosophers Thales Anaximander Anaximenes Pythagoras Xenophanes Heraclitus Parmenides Zeno of Elea Empedocles Anaxagoras Leucippus and Democritus The Sophists Socrates Plato Aristotle Greek and Roman Philosophy after Aristotle Cynicism Epicureanism Stoicism Scepticism Neoplatonism PART II Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Philosophy in Medieval Times Augustine Boethius Anselm Abelard Aquinas Roger Bacon Duns Scotus William of Ockham Philosophy in the Renaissance Renaissance Platonism Renaissance Humanism Renaissance Political Thought PART III Modern Philosophy The Rise of Modern Thought Francis Bacon Descartes Hobbes Spinoza Locke Berkeley Leibniz Hume Rousseau Kant The Eighteenth-Century Enlightenment Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century Bentham Hegel Schopenhauer Positivism Mill Marx Nietzsche Idealism Pragmatism PART IV Philosophy in the Twentieth Century Analytic Philosophy Russell Frege Moore Wittgenstein: The Early Philosophy Logical Positivism Carnap Quine Popper Wittgenstein: The Later Philosophy Ordinary Language Philosophy Ryle Austin Strawson Philosophy of Language Davidson Dummett Kripke Philosophy of Mind Ethics Stevenson Hare Mackie Virtue Ethics Political Philosophy Rawls Nozick Feminist Philosophy Continental Philosophy Husserl Heidegger Merleau-Ponty Sartre Gadamer Ricoeur Deleuze Derrida Continental Thought: Un Salon des Refusés PART V Indian, Chinese, Arabic–Persian and African Philosophy Indian Philosophy Vedas and Upanishads Samkhya Nyaya–Vaisheshika Buddhism Jainism Carvaka–Lokayata Chinese Philosophy Confucianism Confucius Mencius Xunzi Mohism Daoism Daodejing Zhuangzi Legalism Han Feizi Yijing Arabic–Persian Philosophy Falsafa and Kalam Al-Kindi Al-Farabi Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Al-Ghazali Ibn Rushd (Averroes) African Philosophy Concluding Remarks Appendix: A Sketch of Logic Fallacies of Informal Logic Timeline of Philosophers Bibliography Index

FAQs

How is the book organized across different historical periods?

The contents divide the work into five parts: ancient, medieval and Renaissance, modern, twentieth-century, and Indian/Chinese/Arabic–Persian and African philosophy.

Which major schools and thinkers are covered in the ancient section?

It includes the Presocratics (e.g., Thales, Heraclitus, Parmenides), major figures such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and later schools like Cynicism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, Scepticism, and Neoplatonism.

What topics are emphasized in the twentieth-century philosophy part?

It surveys analytic philosophy (including Wittgenstein’s early and later work), ordinary language philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, ethics, political philosophy, and also continental philosophy from Husserl onward.

Jul 6, 2026

103

Upload by Genevieve