A Brief History of Western Philosophy: Textbook for the 21st Century Curriculum

Author: Zhao Dunhua
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-01-01
Features: The philosophical problems we have chosen are the eternal questions of human thought. Throughout history and in the present, philosophers have proposed answers one after another, only to have them overturned, revised, or rewritten one after another. The history of philosophy reveals the succession of noble minds and the confrontation of intellectual heroes. Although no conclusion of Western philosophers has withstood the test of history, and no philosophical truth universally accepted until now exists, the arguments and proofs that philosophers have proposed to solve philosophical problems continue to inspire and remain a precious treasure of the human spirit. To maintain consistency in the writing style of this textbook, I have made some modifications in wording when citing reference materials and other translated works, without affecting the original meaning. I have not listed all the modified parts. If readers need to cite materials from this book, please check the original text. In addition to extensively quoting existing translated Chinese materials, I have also cited foreign-language materials directly. These foreign-language materials can be roughly divided into three categories: first, philosophical historical materials frequently used in foreign textbooks but not yet translated into Chinese; second, newly discovered materials by foreign scholars; and third, materials from my personal reading experiences, where I found some passages in the original works particularly helpful for understanding certain viewpoints. The content of this book includes: the spirit and problems of Greek philosophy, early natural philosophy, the Sophists movement and Socrates, Platonic philosophy, Aristotelian philosophy, and more.