Review: A.C. Grayling's "History of Philosophy"
A.C. Grayling’s “History of Philosophy” is a recent entry
into the genre of “History of Philosophy” books. There are already several well-made
accounts in this genre, such as Russel’s “History of Western Philosophy” and Will
Durant’s “History of Philosophy”. Grayling’s book is different from those other
accounts, however.
First and most obviously, this book is far newer than either
Russel’s or Durant’s account. Grayling’s account was released last year in
2019, while Russel and Durant wrote in the early 20th century.
Philosophy has expanded quite a bit since those times.
Secondly, Grayling is more comprehensive than Durant or
Russel. Grayling’s account covers the usual figures like Aristotle and Kant,
but he also covers traditions other than those in Western Philosophy. Grayling
discusses Chinese, Arabic, and African philosophy as well. These sections are
at the back of the book, as the focus is still on the rich traditions of
Western Philosophy, but their inclusion is certainly welcomed, especially in a
book that claims to detail the history of philosophy.
Grayling also clearly states what he considers to be “philosophy”.
He excludes theological concerns, providing that they do not relate to
questions of metaphysics, ethics, etc. Grayling recognizes the line between the
two, but also recognizes that the boundaries are occasionally blurred as well.
He does cover Aquinas in his more philosophical thought, but does not his more theological
writings.
As an introduction to the field of philosophy as a whole,
this book does well. Grayling is a lucid writer, and can clearly summarize
complex ideas. There are occasional sections where I found myself wishing that
a particular concept is explained more thoroughly, especially when it is part
of a series of ideas that build on each other, but these occurrences are sparse.
Even for readers that are knowledgeable in the field of
philosophy, this book is still worth a read. Grayling covers such a vast array
of thinkers that anyone who is not an expert will have their knowledge
increased. This is especially true in the chapters on Chinese and Arabic
philosophy, as these sections are generally not well known to most.
Grayling is also very adapt at giving small tidbits of
interesting information about different philosophers all throughout the book
that help give some flavor to the accounts. An example of this is a fact from
the life of Thales of Miletus. Grayling states that one year, Thales predicted
that there would be a large crop of olives, so he rented out all the local
olive presses in anticipation of this crop. Sure enough, the crop was
abnormally large, and Thales turned a large profit by renting these presses
back out to farmers. Grayling tells us that Aristotle pointed to this as an
example of Philosophers being able to be rich if they wished, but decide not
to. The book has many of these intriguing historical facts.
There is very little criticism that I can give. The main
issue I encountered while reading is that the book is very dense. It can be
difficult to get through several chapters in one sitting, especially if you are
taking notes. This is not a strike against Grayling necessarily, but rather, a
result of condensing thousands of years’ worth of thought into several hundred pages.
A.C. Grayling’s “History of Philosophy” is, in a word,
excellent. I believe this to be the new gold standard when it comes to books of
this kind and philosophy textbooks. To anyone looking to start learning more
about the field of philosophy, I can think of no better place to start.
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