Western Philosophy Spirit: Illustrated Edition

Author: He Zhaowu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: This small book was originally prepared from three lectures given to undergraduate students of the Chinese Department at Tsinghua University last year. It is almost impossible to provide a concise and comprehensive introduction to Western philosophy for non-professional students in just three classroom sessions. Considering this, I intentionally minimized the discussion of philosophical issues themselves, making it very limited, while conversely giving more, perhaps too much, emphasis on the general historical background. According to the arrangements, the lecture content was to be published as a book by Tsinghua University Press for reference by the students. However, the publisher required each book to reach a certain length, otherwise it would be difficult to cover costs. But the course only consisted of three lectures, and the written text was about 70,000 words, so several additional relevant articles were included to supplement the content. Based on the analysis and evaluation of the theories and viewpoints of famous figures and schools of thought in the history of ancient to modern Western philosophy, the author elaborates on certain characteristics of Western philosophy and culture from a comparative perspective of China and the West. Additionally, the book includes selected excerpts from representative works of Western philosophy. The book is both accessible and profound, compiling the author's years of research insights and experiences, making it suitable for undergraduate and graduate students of all disciplines, as well as the general public interested in Western philosophy.