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Title: Twentieth Century Wittgenstein and Satre (History of Western Philosophy Series, Vol 5) by W. T. Jones ISBN: 0-15-538317-5 Publisher: International Thomson Publishing Pub. Date: November, 1975 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Philosophy for the modern age...
Comment: This book, 'The Twentieth Century to Wittgenstein and Sartre', is the fifth volume of a five-volume series on the history of Western Philosophy by W.T. Jones, professor of philosophy in California. This series is a very strong, thorough introduction to the course of Western Philosophy, beginning at the dawn of the philosophical enterprise with the pre-Socratics in ancient Greece to the modern thinkers such as Wittgenstein and Sartre. It has grown, over the three decades or so of its publication, from one to four then to five volumes. It has remained a popular text, and could serve as the basis of a one-year survey of philosophy for undergraduates or a one-semester survey for graduate students. Even advanced students in philosophy will find this valuable, all major topics and most minor topics in the course of philosophy are covered in these volumes.

Jones states that there are two possible ways for a writer to organise a history of philosophy -- either by addressing everyone who ever participated in philosophy (which could become rather cumbersome if one accepts the premise that anyone could be a philosopher), or to address the major topics and currents of thought, drawing in the key figures who address them, but leaving out the lesser thinkers for students to pursue on their own. Jones has chosen the latter tactic, making sure to provide bibliographic information for this task.

This volume, 'The Twentieth Century to Wittgenstein and Sartre', starts where the last volume leaves off, as philosophy enters the turbulent twentieth century. The first major philosophical school Jones looks at is the idea of Process philosophy, which tends to take a nod from science and modern ideas of how we know things, and a realistic idea of what we do not, and perhaps cannot, know. Process philosophy often tends to get ignored now, save in theological circles, where the work of Whitehead have been taken on board.

Other philosophers covered in this volume on the twentieth century include Dewey, Bergson, Moore, Frege, Russell, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Wittgenstein. One of the primary fields of philosophy is epistemology -- how we know what we know, and do we know anything? All major philosophers have dealt with this, as metaphysics tended to take a back seat, and fields such as politics, ethics, and religion retreated to the background, at least as far as philosophy is concerned (the fields of political theory, etc., gained much ground in the twentieth century as separate from philosophy).

Wittgenstein is the point at which Jones opted to end the series, as it becomes difficult, from an historical standpoint, to decide what of the past few decades should be incorporated. Philosophy is a slow-moving enterprise, and the 'hot' publications and thinkers today may fade quickly tomorrow, so predicting who will stand the test of time is difficult. Wittgenstein is also an appropriate philosopher to end with, given that when he wrote his magnum opus, the Tractatus, he thought he had finally resolved all major philosophical problems; reflecting later in life, he realised he was not correct, and this in and of itself may represent the embodiment of the philosophical project.

However, Jones later thought better of this ending, given the decades that passed since the original publication. There is a difficulty with recommending this text, in that there is yet another revision to the series, and that lies in this volume. There is another version that goes beyond Jones' earlier decision to end with Wittgenstein, including the works of Derrida and more recent modern thinkers. Either volume, from the standpoing of history, will serve the reader well, and while this volume gets five stars for its quality, perhaps the reader collecting the volumes today should opt for the yet-again-revised volume of philosophy to Quine and Derrida.

Each volume ends with a glossary of terms, and a worthwhile index. The glossary warns against short, dictionary-style definitions and answers to broad terms and questions, and thus indicates the pages index-style to the discussion within the text for further context. The one wish I would have would be a comprehesive glossary and index that covers the several volumes; as it is, each volume has only its own referents.

This is minor criticism in a generally exceptional series. It is not easy text, but it is not needlessly difficult. The print size on the direct quotes, which are sometimes lengthy, can be a strain at times, but the reading is worthwhile.

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