A History of Western Philosophy

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  by osho...
  I am reminded again and again, I don’t know why, that I have to include Bertrand Russell. I have loved him always, also knowing perfectly well that we are poles apart – in fact diametrically opposite to each other. Perhaps that’s the reason. Opposite poles attract each other. Do you see again tears in my eyes? They are for Bertrand Russell – Bertie as he was known to his friends. His is the ninth book, The History of Western Philosophy.

  Nobody had previously done such a work as... (show more)

  by osho...
  I am reminded again and again, I don’t know why, that I have to include Bertrand Russell. I have loved him always, also knowing perfectly well that we are poles apart – in fact diametrically opposite to each other. Perhaps that’s the reason. Opposite poles attract each other. Do you see again tears in my eyes? They are for Bertrand Russell – Bertie as he was known to his friends. His is the ninth book, The History of Western Philosophy.

  Nobody had previously done such a work as far as Western philosophy is concerned. Only a philosopher could do it. Historians have tried, and there are many histories of philosophy, but none of the historians was a philosopher. This is the first time a philosopher of the category of Bertrand Russell has also written a history – The History of Western Philosophy. And he is so sincere that he does not call it The History of Philosophy, because he knows perfectly well that he knows nothing of Eastern philosophy. He simply, humbly states what he knows, also stating that it is not the whole history of philosophy but only the Western part, from Aristotle to Bertrand Russell.

  I don’t love philosophy, but Russell’s book is not only a history but a work of art. It is so systematic, so aesthetic, such a beautiful creation, perhaps because basically Russell was a mathematician.

  India still needs a Bertrand Russell to write of Indian philosophy and its history. There are many histories, but they are written by historians, not philosophers, and obviously a historian is only a historian; he cannot understand the profundity and the inner rhythm of the moving thought. Radhakrishna has written a History of Indian Philosophy, perhaps hoping it will become something like Bertrand Russell’s book, but it is a theft. The book was not written by Radhakrishna, it was the thesis of a poor student of whom he, Radhakrishna, was the examiner, and he stole the whole thesis. There was a case against him in the court, but the student was so poor that he could not fight the case. He was given enough money by Radhakrishna to be hushed up.

  Now, such people cannot do justice to Indian philosophy. A Bertrand Russell is needed by India, by China...particularly these two countries. The West is fortunate to have a revolutionary thinker like Bertrand Russell, who could and did write the most beautiful narrative describing the whole progression of Western thought from Aristotle to himself. (show less)

   

  by Vks Osho Meerabharathy on Sep 04, 2009 at 05:59PM

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  As contradictory as this sounds, this book is absolutely the hardest thing I have ever read, and yet the most worthwhile. For a long time I have felt somewhat intellectually inadequate when I come across mentions of philosophers or their theories (what the heck does it mean to be "Hegelian" for instance), and then I found this book. Parts are definitely difficult, for instance I struggled through Berkeley, who says that matter does not exist, but flew through Locke and the Romanti... (show more)

  As contradictory as this sounds, this book is absolutely the hardest thing I have ever read, and yet the most worthwhile. For a long time I have felt somewhat intellectually inadequate when I come across mentions of philosophers or their theories (what the heck does it mean to be "Hegelian" for instance), and then I found this book. Parts are definitely difficult, for instance I struggled through Berkeley, who says that matter does not exist, but flew through Locke and the Romantics. It only suffers in the modern philosophy section since the book was published in 1945, thus missing over 60 years of modern philosophy since then, but at 836 pages it absolutely encyclopedic and the only one I have seen yet to give one a good knowledge of all philosophers all the way back to the Greek. One of the very few books I will actually keep on my bookshelf rather than recycle. (show less)

   

   

  by Siobhan OLaoghaire Sannes on Jul 04, 2009 at 07:53PM

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