Specify Books Supposing The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
Original Title: | The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View |
ISBN: | 0345368096 (ISBN13: 9780345368096) |
Edition Language: | English |
Richard Tarnas
Paperback | Pages: 560 pages Rating: 4.24 | 1518 Users | 130 Reviews
Ilustration In Pursuance Of Books The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
"[This] magnificent critical survey, with its inherent respect for both the 'Westt's mainstream high culture' & the 'radically changing world' of the 1990s, offers a new breakthrough for lay & scholarly readers alike...Allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture for the first time".--SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Here are the great minds of Western civilization & their pivotal ideas, from Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud. Richard Tarnas performs the near-miracle of describing profound philosophical concepts simply but without simplifying them. Ten years in the making & already hailed as a classic, THE PASSION OF THE WESERN MIND is truly a complete liberal education in a single volume.
Be Specific About About Books The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
Title | : | The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View |
Author | : | Richard Tarnas |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | First Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 560 pages |
Published | : | March 16th 1993 by Ballantine Books (NY) (first published 1991) |
Categories | : | Philosophy. History. Nonfiction. Psychology |
Rating About Books The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
Ratings: 4.24 From 1518 Users | 130 ReviewsCriticize About Books The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
Written with energy - a constant rhythm of amazement. To bad this book is (very) uncritical, it just tells and tells without much arguments. What's worse is are lines like:"A spontaneous and irreducible revolution of consciousness was taking place, affecting virtually every aspect of Western culture. Amidst high drama and painful convulsions, modern man was born in the Renaissance, "trailing clouds of glory."" A few paragraphs earlier Tarnas states that this revolution of consciousness cannot beI really cant remember how this book ended up on my to-read shelf. As I recently wanted to read a book on the history of thought like that of Bertrand Russells History of Western Philosophy, I picked this up since it is relatively recent and thus it would give an idea of some modern schools of thought like those of Postmodernism and Deconstructionism, something Russells book lacked since it is written in 1945. As a history of western thought, this book is excellent. I would highly recommend it
The subject matter is fascinating. I can't say the same thing for Tarnas' writing style, however. Tarnas seems to think his book is a game of Scrabble. But you don't win points with readers when you employ unnecessary extended metaphors every other page, write the same thing over and over in different ways, and use complicated words when simpler ones would suffice. With a good editor, this book could be condensed into a more readable form- one that allows the average person to engage the
The author had the ability to write the story of the development of understanding our place in the universe and how we fit in it as if he were writing a novel. The narrative flows that well. He's a very good writer. The author steps the reader through the development of how we think about knowledge. The heavens above, the home of the Gods, are first thought of as perfect: universal, necessary, and certain. Overtime, through rational thought and coupling with experience we start to understand the
Nine-tenths or so of this book is a very conventional, albeit prolix, survey of the history of philosophical thinking in the West from the pre-Socratics to the present. As a brief introduction to the history of ideas it is to be recommended. Even the wordy repetitiveness of Tarnas' exposition may function as an aid to retention and understanding for beginners.Having devoted decades to such studies myself, I found most of the book to be a rehash of familiar ideas and would never have gone through
This is an amazing overview of the entire history and legacy of Western thought from the Ancient Greeks to contemporary times, covering along the way the Medieval and Renaissance mind as well as the development of the modern worldview. Though it necessarily glosses over more detailed explorations of specific philosophers and movements, the author includes the ideas that are most fundamentally important to how we think today and puts them in a historical context. I now feel like I have a much
I really cant remember how this book ended up on my to-read shelf. As I recently wanted to read a book on the history of thought like that of Bertrand Russells History of Western Philosophy, I picked this up since it is relatively recent and thus it would give an idea of some modern schools of thought like those of Postmodernism and Deconstructionism, something Russells book lacked since it is written in 1945. As a history of western thought, this book is excellent. I would highly recommend it
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