Pode-se dizer que se aprende imenso, que no final da leitura se vê a produção de conhecimento, e os seus principais responsáveis, a uma luz totalmente distinta.

Now, I know that people who follow either Marx, Kant, Hegel, Dewey, Nietzsche or even Aristotle might find quite a few things to say in disagreement with Mr Russell, but that in no way takes away from the value of this book. The book was written during the Second World War, having its origins in a series of lectures on the history of philosophy that Russell gave at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia during 1941 and 1942. A permanent just settlement of the refugees in their homeland is an essential ingredient of any genuine settlement in the Middle East.When you read it, you won't feel you are reading a textbook, because you can know what the author is thinking and that he is sharing his thoughts with you. Re-reading it with the perspective of a lifetime's experience of political, ethical and religious developments has proved fascinating. In general, important civilizations start with a rigid and superstitious system, gradually relaxed, and leading at a certain stage, to a period of brilliant genius, while the good of the old tradition remains and the evil inherent in its dissolution has not yet developed. As part of a broader reading project, I will read and review some individual Chapters in My Writings.

The problem with which much of the history of philosophy is littered, is that philosophers seek to find truth in accordance with their own favourite principles - usually ethical precepts. At the time, one had to be able to reason both for and against any position, all the way - of course - adhering to Church doctrines. This mentality - which really more suits a lawyer than a seeker of truth - smothers intellectual growth, and it was only in the Renaissance - when Stoic and Platonic texts entered Europe again (via Arabic translations) - that new insights started to develop.Russell's discussion of Socrates and his relationship to Plato is worth reading the book on its own. On top of this, he has a delightfully dry sense of humor, which he employs to great effect in breaking up turgid analysis. Aristotle, whose philosophy was a reaction to Plato, putting more emphasis on this world (as opposed to Plato's world of perfect Ideas as only Truth), wasn't very helpful as a medicine against dogmatism.

That history helps to explain what an ever-changing language has obscured and reveals criticisms that remain to be addressed. Every community is exposed to two opposite dangers, ossification through too much discipline and reverence for tradition, on the one hand; on the other hand, dissolution, or subjection to foreign conquest, through the growth of an individualism and personal independence that makes co-operation impossible. First, Aristotle gradually disappeared from the scene, until he was re-discovered in the late Middle Ages. Definitely recommended to anyone with enough interest in the subject to persevere for over 800 pages. This has been a struggle between people seeking the oppression of society and consequently the flourishing of 'heroes' and/or 'nobility' and people seeking to liberate society and let individual human beings flourish.

The early Church Fathers based their theology on elements of (Neo)Platonism, and is was only with Thomas Aquinas in the twelfth century that the Platonic elements were traded in for Aristotle's philosophy. All in all a very fascinating read which flows along nicely, spiced with Russell's wit and opinions. I also found the care he takes in placing these individuals, and their thought, into the flow of the historical timeline, and the current events of their day, to be quite helpful. Many of the refugees are now well into the third decade of their precarious existence in temporary settlements. In the second volume, Russell describes how Catholic philosophy developed throughout the Middle Ages.

Written late in life by one of the great contributors to philosophy and logic, who was also a man of deep and abiding liberal principles, it is a unique book. A survey of Western philosophy from the pre-Socratic philosophers to the early 20th century, each major division of the book is prefaced by an account of the historical background necessary to understand the currents of thought it describes. This is also true in one's approach to this book because much has happened since it was written, particularly in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and evolutionary theory, that casts new light on many of the most fundamental philosophical issues.Even as a first-time read this is an outstanding overview of the way great thinkers have influenced the way we think today and the still unresolved issues that, if we are serious thinkers ourselves, we still seek to resolve. Hitler caused him to later renounce his pacifism, to the point that he wished he were younger so that he might don a uniform himself. What Israel is doing today cannot be condoned, and to invoke the horrors of the past to justify those of the present is gross hypocrisy. He himself described the text as a work of social history, asking that it be treated in such a manner.