A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Book Review

A full book breakdown and discussion of Bertrand Russell's "A History of Western Philosophy." I love this book because Russel is not scared to be biased! I'm not here to zombie out on a Routledge or Cambridge objective history of western philosophy (now very biased with the invasion of identity politics in academia.) Instead, Russell provides a beautiful overview of the progression of western thought and adds his own opinions of these philosophers discussed. However, until the modern philosophers, Russel stays away from polemic or elitist attacks on ancient philosophers' ideas. A lot of the Greek ideas seem silly, but they were instrumental for human thought to progress to the next level. Russell has nothing but praise for these philosophers and stays level head in his analysis of them.
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Dope Intro 0:00 - 1:46
Greeks 1:47 - 13:00
Christian Philosophers 13:01 - 16:00
Modern Philosophers 16:05 - 19:41

[@CommonSwense]

Maybe this girl had only read about Socrates before the class and never heard his name pronounced? “I’m sorry if I’m pronouncing these names wrong.” -video poster 🤨😉😂 Sorry to rip you. Great video, great book. Thanks for your hard work.

[@arongil]

Hey, thanks for this video. I'm reading History of Western Philosophy right now, loving it I should mention. I hope your channel continues to grow! You're a captivating speaker. With practice will come polish, and you have a great base to build on. Best wishes from Maryland

[@WriteConscious]

Hey! Thanks for the supportive comment! I know, it's such a great book. Rereading it for this video was so fun. Russell was a legit genius and champion for education even if I disagree with a ton of his philosophy. Also, want to thank you for your contribution to the internet with your educational videos. Most people do nothing with their knowledge, and just you teaching math has separated you from the pack. Keep going and sharing! Hope this channel continues to grow too lol! Best wishes from Las Vegas! PEACE

[@mr.retrohale6673]

I'm new to Philosophy and I've only read Plato so far. Do you guys recommend I read this book first to get a good general overview of philosophy or should I continue reading books individually?

[@WriteConscious]

Get "The Story of Philosophy" by Will Durant. That's the best place to start IMO. I know PHD's in philosophy who learned a bunch from it. The relation between philosophers is more important at the start than what each one thought.

[@abhishekchoudhary3751]

So i am starting my B.A Honours degree from this August in Philosophy it would be helpful if you can give some suggestions from where I should start

[@WriteConscious]

The story of philosophy by Will Durant! Learn to write essays really well. An element of that is a small mastery over a certain part of philosophy. I would pick a couple Nietzsche books and academic criticism books on Nietzsche. That unlocks Heidegger, post-modernism (Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, Ponty) German Idealism (Hegel and Schelling), Schopenhauer, Heraclitus, Spinoza, psycho-analytic thought (Freud, Jung, Rank, and Reich and a bunch of other fun thinkers who built off Nietzsche. That's a good first frame that will make your degree more fun. You'll have to read some Plato, Aristotle, and a few others along the way to understand the thinkers above too. Look at the lineage chart in "The Story of Philosophy" by Will Durant and pick what philosophical lineage you want to focus on first! You may want to base this on your professors. You need to learn them all eventually!

[@christianf5131]

Aristophanes has Socrates as a character in one of his plays, and Xenophon also mentions Socrates.

[@WriteConscious]

I agree that he exists lol. This is just the first time I've heard otherwise.

[@christianf5131]

@@WriteConscious ah okay good deal

[@aspirant7713]

great reviews... But this book doesn’t have a trade paperback edition... All other editions' fonts are really tiny and hurt my eyes.

[@WriteConscious]

Dang! I'm sorry! I was blessed with good eyes but don't look forward to the day in a couple decades where I can't read small print books 😭

[@vinnarasielango7799]

I'm wondering how you completely read this! Actually I had philosophy as a core course I'm my post graduation. It took long time to understand one philosophy but you have read whole book. That's great. Thanks for the review. Better I try to read the book which is sleeping in bookshelf after my semester exam 😂. Thanks man.

[@WriteConscious]

"The Story of Philosophy" by Will Durant is shorter and way better!

[@vinnarasielango7799]

@@WriteConscious tq will read that too...

[@abysswahid3410]

keep it up man, you'll get big

[@WriteConscious]

Haha, thanks Abyss. That's the goal! Spread books to the world and not be another fake booktuber!

[@christianf5131]

So, I have History of Western Philosophy, but haven’t gotten to reading it yet, but regarding the Christian philosophers taking it to the next level, does Russell mention the Islamic and Jewish Philosophers? Aquinas and Augustine are more well known to us in the west as Christianity has dominated culture for centuries, but Avicenna, Ibn Rushd, Al-Kindi, Maimonides, Philo all come to mind as those who were pushing philosophy forward at that time too, and influencing the likes of Aquinas, or Scotus, though Augustine would’ve been prior to all the above besides Philo. I’m glad Russell treats the Christian philosophers well though, as Russell maybe isn’t my favorite philosopher

[@WriteConscious]

Here is all that Russel says about Jewish and Islamic philosophers at that time in this book. "Arabic philosophy is not important as original thought. Men like Avicenna and Averroes are essentially commentators. Speaking generally, the views of the more scientific philosophers come from Aristotle and the Neoplatonists in logic and metaphysics, from Galen in medicine, from Greek and Indian sources in mathematics and astronomy, and among mystics religious philosophy has also an admixture of old Persian beliefs. Writers in Arabic showed some originality in mathematics and in chemistry - in the latter case, as an incidental result of alchemical researches. Mohammedan civilization in its great days was admirable in the arts and in many technical ways, but it showed no capacity for independent speculation in theoretical matters. Its importance, which must not be underrated, is as a transmitter. Between ancient and modern European civilization, the dark ages intervened. The Mohammedans and the Byzantines, while lacking the intellectual energy required for innovation, preserved the apparatus of civilization - education, books, and learned leisure. Both stimulated the West when it emerged from barbarism - the Mohammedans chiefly in the thirteenth century, the Byzantines chiefly in the fifteenth. In each case the stimulus produced new thought better than any produced by the transmitters - in the one case scholasticism, in the other the Renaissance (which however had other causes also). "

[@christianf5131]

@@WriteConscious don’t love that

[@puertoricanboy100]

@Christian F He's very much a product of his time lol Understanding this helps reading some of the crazy stuff inside. It's funny how he talks about Modern Day Germany lol But I'm very curious in regards to Islamic culture and history, specially that of the area in Bagdad or Sumer

[@folksurvival]

Nailed by David Fitzgerald is a great book about the historicity of Jesus.

[@WriteConscious]

Boom! Thank you!

[@anilraghu8687]

Book is interesting like a novel. If has no spinoza and only 4 paragraphs about Kant

[@mousiki4706]

Sorry, Russell was British philosopher.

[@WriteConscious]

Yep! Big mistake by me. Thanks for pointing that out. Forget a lot of things while under the lights 🤣

[@safrudinilhami4720]

Why would you want biases history? I don't get it

[@WriteConscious]

All history is biased

[@hocuspocus6681]

Thanks man, convinced me to buy. Wanna know what happened with that girl lol. Small note - Russell was English and you're saying Bertrand wrong. It's pronounced BERTrund. Keep grinding bro!

[@WriteConscious]

Things that Bertrand and Foucault could never dream about happened... But, it ended with her ghosting me and an ounce of my pot missing 😂 Thanks for the support and corrections. This video is one reason I don't record after 9PM anymore. A lot of mistakes happen at 1AM when you try talking about philosophy 😂

[@hocuspocus6681]

@@WriteConscious LOL nice one. Can't have it all haha. All good re: small mistakes! Actually ended up getting Durant's instead in the end but heard about it here first.

[@WriteConscious]

Durant's is way better anyway!

[@archie6945]

American philosopher!?

[@WriteConscious]

sorry!