Abstract
THE author offers this work as a substitute for G. H. Lewes's well-known “Biographical History of Philosophy,” which, if for no other reason than that it was written expressly to discredit philosophy, has too long enjoyed its position as the one British attempt to exhibit the entire course of European speculation. Mr. Alexander does not emulate Lewes's literary brilliance, but he writes for a generation of readers who are willing to take the philosophic view even of philosophy, and to regard it not as a noxious counterfeit of knowledge, but as a necessary complement of positive thought at each epoch of man's history—an indispensable and highly significant part of the form and pressure of the time; such readers will welcome him as a competent and trustworthy guide to the salient features in the evolution of speculative thought.
A Short History of Philosophy.
By A. B. D. Alexander. Pp. xxii + 601. (Glasgow: MacLehose and Sons, 1907.) Price 8s. 6d. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
A Short History of Philosophy . Nature 78, 443 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/078443a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/078443a0