A History of Western Philosophy: From the Pre-Socratics to Postmodernism Hardcover – October 9, 2018

Very succinct yet comprehensive survey with a fair distance between expressing the ideas being discussed and his honest but serious subsequent evaluations. Definitely a more objective treatment than other histories of philosophy I have read.

After spending 6 months reading Anthony Kenny's A New History of Western Philosophy (which was wonderful), C. Stephen Evan's history was smooth and delightful reading. It covers all necessary territory in the history of philosophy in language that would be intelligible to someone who has never studied philosophy before, defining and explaining clearly all technical terms and concepts. Anyone who wants to learn about philosophy and the history of philosophy for the first time would do well to read this book.

Review A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY (From the Pre-Socratics to Postmodernism) By C. Stephen Evans; InterVarsity Press; 2018; 585 ppC. Stephen Evans has served the Church and the World well in his academic career. Since graduating fromYale University with his Ph.D. in philosophy he has taught the Church through teaching at Calvin College inMichigan, St. Olaf College in Minnesota and Wheaton College in Illinois. He now teaches at Baylor University in Texas. Thousands of students have attended his classes on the history of philosophy and its variousstratums and leading lights. He has written over 40 books for a wide audience: believers and unbelievers, skeptics and searchers (e.g. DESPAIR: A MOMENT OR A WAY OF LIFE), and those just curious about how the people have looked at life for the past 2000 years in the West. A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY is hismost ambitious project yet.Let’s begin with an overview of the book by chapters:1. Introduction to the Project2. The Beginnings of Western Philosophy: The Pre-Socratics3. Socrates and the Sophists4. Plato5. Aristotle6. Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods: Epicureanism, Stoicism, Skepticismand Neo-Platonism7. Early Christian Thought Through Augustine8. Early Medieval Philosophers9. The High Middle Ages (1) Thomas Aquinas10. The High Middle Ages (2) Bonaventure, Scotus, Ockham11. Philosophy Between the Medieval and Modern Periods12. Descartes and the Beginning of Modern Philosophy13. Continental Rationalism: Spinoza and Leibnitz14. British Empiricism: Locke and Berkeley15. The Scottish Enlightenment (1) David Hume16. The Scottish Enlightenment (2) Thomas Reid17. Enlightenment Deism: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Mary Wallstonecraft18. Immanuel Kant19. German Idealism and Hegel20. Karl Marx21. Soren Kierkegaard22. John Stuart Mill and Nineteenth Century Positivism23. Friedrich Nietzche24. Conclusions: Some Lessons From the History of Western PhilosophyProfessor Evans has mastered clear and lucid prose—he does not intimidate the reader with how he writes.He seeks to be fair to each philosopher he covers and is not averse to using others’ thoughts to amplifywhat he understands each philosopher to teach. He is gentle in his corrections and shows the reader thatno man has “hung the moon” when it comes to ultimate truth or reality. In his conclusions he reminds thereader that if God exists and has visited this planet in the person of Jesus Christ, then He above all othershas ultimate truth to speak into our lives. Only God in Christ sees the whole tapestry and alone has theultimate answers.This is a very helpful introductory volume in philosophy which is what it professes to be. I heartilyrecommend it.Steve Martin31 years a pastor in AtlantaRetired Dean of Students; IRBS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY in Texas

This is a good book canvassing the basic ideas of thought ranging over the history of western philosophy. Though Dr. Evans adds some interesting insights, this book reads a bit like a Samuel Stumpf's classic "Socrates to Sartre." For a general overview of the history of philosophy, though, this is a good introduction,

Philosophy books tend to be difficult to read since they are often obscure, long-winded and dull. On the other hand, C Stephen Evans’ A History of Western Philosophy is clear, lively, fun-to-read and filled with memorable insights that will cause you to stop and reread sections. This is a 585-page history of Western philosophy told from a Christian perspective, and that is a big plus, since there are not many histories of Western philosophy told from a Christian viewpoint. And Evans is fair in his assessments. He knows his material, since he teaches philosophy at Baylor University.This history of Western philosophy contains many nuggets of wisdom. For example, Evans writes: “It is bad to place more value on the material and visible than on the nonphysical and invisible. God is more important than God’s creation.” This is one reason why happiness does not consist of material things like wealth or health. Wisdom is putting first things first.Here are some other memorable passages:Augustine noted that sin consists of disordered loves, of giving priority to something of lesser value. For example, a man who commits adultery is giving a higher priority to adultery than to marital fidelity. The sinner is putting his own desires above God’s moral laws.Boethius defined a person as “an individual substance of a rational nature”. Using that definition, a fetus is a person.Anselm of Canterbury defined right action in a teleological way; for Anselm, something is right when it does what it was designed to do. Thus, the good is not what men desire, but rather the good is what men should desire based on the purpose God had for men when He created men.Evans also gives clear descriptions of theories for Universals. Universals are abstract concepts that apply to many particular objects in the real world. Moderate realism states that universals exist as patterns in every particular object in the real world, and human minds sense universals in particulars and place a copy in the human mind.Conceptualism states that human minds create universals in the human mind, but those universals don’t exist in particular objects in the real world. Nominalism states that universals are simply labels and have no real existence in either the human mind or in particulars.In describing Berkeley’s idealism, Evan notes that: “In order for us humans to be rational and responsible agents, we must be able to anticipate the consequences of our actions. That requires an orderly system of nature, and God is responsible for that system by giving us regular patterns and structures in the ideas we receive.” Those are good insights. A good part of wisdom consists of anticipating the consequences of what we say and do.This is an excellent book worth buying, reading and then re-reading.

Although perhaps not as comprehensive as some histories, the strength of this history lies in its ability to clearly and generously explain the thoughts of different philosophers in ways that can be understood by non-experts without any unnecessary impositions of judgement and without losing his voice. Highly recommended!