Learning from Six Philosophers, Volume 2: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume

Oxford University Press
Learning from Six Philosophers, Volume 2: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume
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Jonathan Bennett engages with the thought of six great thinkers of the early modern period: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume. While not neglecting the historical setting of each, his chief focus is on the words they wrote. What problem is being tackled? How exactly is the solution meant to work? Does it succeed? If not, why not? What can we learn from its success or its failure? These questions reflect Bennett's dedication to engaging with philosophy as philosophy, not as museum exhibit, and they require a close and demanding attention to textual details; these being two features that characterize all Bennett's work on early modern philosophy. For newcomers to the early modern scene, this clearly written work is an excellent introduction to it. Those already in the know can learn how to argue with the great philosophers of the past, treating them as colleagues, antagonists, students, teachers. Volume 2: In this volume Jonathan Bennett examines the views of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume on thought and sensation, meaning, language, classification, innate ideas and knowledge, our knowledge of necessary truths (bringing in Descartes and Leibniz as well), the basis for our belief that we live in a world of material things, causation, the fundamental difference between colours and shapes, the passage of time and our ability to live through it. While finding much to criticize, Bennett shows that we can learn much about these and other topics under the guidance and inspiration of the energy, courage, and insight of these three great British philosophers.

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: United Kingdom, 2 October 2003

Format: Paperback, 400 pages

Other Information: bibliography, indexes

Dimensions: 21.8 x 17.2 x 2.1 centimeters (0.60 kg)

Writer: Jonathan Bennett

Table of Contents

Volume 2 21: Lockean Ideas: Overview and Foundations 22: Lockean Ideas: Some Details 23: Knowledge of Necessity 24: Descartes's Theory of Modality 25: Secondary Qualities 26: Locke on Essences 27: Substance in Locke 28: Berkeley against Materialism 29: Berkeley's Use of Locke's Work 30: Berkeley on Spirits 31: Berkeleian Sensible Things 32: Hume's 'Ideas' 33: Hume and Belief 34: Some Humean Doctrine about Relations 35: Hume on Causation: Negative 36: Hume on Causation: Positive 37: Hume on the Existence of Bodies 38: Reason 39: Locke on Diachronic Identity-Judgements 40: Hume and Leibniz on Personal Identity Bibliography, Index of Persons, Index of Topics

About the Author

Jonathan Bennett, who now lives on an island near Vancouver, BC, was formerly Lecturer in Moral Science at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and then at Syracuse University. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Princeton, and has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and a visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the British Academy.

Reviews

The Clarendon Press has issued in paperback format Jonathan Bennett's two-volume survey of philosophers who helped to shape Western thought and continue to do so today ... Whilst never ignoring the philosopher's individual backgrounds [Bennett] concentrates on what they actually wrote and how they argued. The two volumes remain a masterful survey. Contemporary Review