Frederick Copleston

History of Philosophy Volume 6

In the sixth volume of his A History of Philosophy, Copleston examines the Enlightenment in France and Germany. Frederick Copleston was Professor of the History of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Theology at London University. This eleven-volume work is one of the most remarkable single-handed scholarly enterprises of modern times. Volume 6 covers Johann Gottfried von Herder, Immanuel Kant, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Giambattista Vico, Voltaire and Christian Wolff. The influence of the Enlightenment has been long argued over to the point where some have rejected its claims for rational thought. Copleston discusses the work of major figures such as Rousseau, Lessing, Herder and Voltaire. He also looks in fascinating detail at the philosophy of Kant, so vital to an understanding of the development of nineteenth-, twentieth- and twenty-first-century philosophy. This volume is the ideal companion not only to the Enlightenment but also to the contemporary debates it has provoked. Brimming with detail and enthusiasm, A History of Philosophy gives an accessible account of philosophers from all eras and explains their works in relation to other philosophers. Each volume is an ideal guide for students studying specific eras and as a set offers a complete and unrivalled overview of the entire western philosophical tradition.