Ancient Wisdom in the Age of the New Science

Histories of Philosophy in England, c. 1640-1700

AvDmitri Levitin

Inbunden, Engelska, 2015

Del 113 i serien Ideas in Context

1 192 kr

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Häftad

481 kr

Beskrivning

Seventeenth-century England has long been heralded as the birthplace of a so-called 'new' philosophy. Yet what contemporaries might have understood by 'old' philosophy has been little appreciated. In this book Dmitri Levitin examines English attitudes to ancient philosophy in unprecedented depth, demonstrating the centrality of engagement with the history of philosophy to almost all educated persons, whether scholars, clerics, or philosophers themselves, and aligning English intellectual culture closely to that of continental Europe. Drawing on a vast array of sources, Levitin challenges the assumption that interest in ancient ideas was limited to out-of-date 'ancients' or was in some sense 'pre-enlightened'; indeed, much of the intellectual justification for the new philosophy came from re-writing its history. At the same time, the deep investment of English scholars in pioneering forms of late humanist erudition led them to develop some of the most innovative narratives of ancient philosophy in early modern Europe.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2015-09-15
Mått:156 x 236 x 42 mm
Vikt:1 120 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Ideas in Context
Antal sidor:696
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9781107105881

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Mer om författaren

Dmitri Levitin is a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Previously, he was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and of the Centre for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, also in Cambridge. He has also held positions at the Folger Library and at the University of Edinburgh. His research is on the intellectual, religious and cultural history of early modern Europe. Within these fields, he has published work on the history of science, philosophy, scholarship, medicine, theology, church-state relations, and political and legal thought.

Recensioner i media

'Dmitri Levitin's [book] has prodigious virtuosity. It argues that historians of ideas are often too remote from institutional history, and provides a vivid, enriching celebration of the continuing vitality in seventeenth-century England of a trans-European culture of scholarly humanism that radiated beyond scholarly communities. There is a far-reaching discussion of dogmatism, learned authority and experimentalism. Levitin identifies the recession of the ideal of the philosopher-theologian as the greatest transformation of seventeenth-century English intellectual culture. He has an exultant joy in his sources, but never loses mastery of them. His avid glee in reading manuscripts and rare treatises, the insatiability of his learning, are enthralling. I recommend the witty mischief hidden in his index. Ancient Wisdom makes most books I have read this year look like bankrupt stock.' Richard Davenport-Hines, 'Books of the Year 2016,' The Times Literary Supplement

Innehållsförteckning

1. Introduction: histories of philosophy between 'Renaissance' and 'Enlightenment'; 2. Ancient wisdom I: the wisdom of the East: Zoroaster, astronomy and the Chaldaeans, from Thomas Stanley to Thomas Hyde; 3. Ancient wisdom II: Moses the Egyptian?; 4. Histories of natural philosophy I. Histories of method; 5. Histories of natural philosophy II. Histories of doctrine: matter theory and animating principles; 6. Philosophy in the early church; 7. Conclusion.