Science and Culture Series Makers of the Modern Mind
Type
Book
Authors
Category
Philosophy
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Publication Year
1949
Publisher
The Bruce Publishing Company, United States
Pages
391
Tags
Series Name
Description
Eleven men, claims the author, have had the most critical influence in shaping the minds of men as we find them today, and it is these influences which he here explains and analyzes. Included are Luther, Calvin, Descartes, Locke, Newton, Rousseau, Kant, Bentham, Darwin, Marx, and Freud.
Indeed is he correct in his observation that never before in history have men known so much about so many things, yet have become so confused on such basic questions as whether the world is what it seems, or even whether they have minds.
To help the average intelligent and interested reader to understand how the modern mind has been affected and developed, as well as comprehend more readily how it works in this our day, Thomas P. Neill presents a study of the eleven men in terms of their personality, their influencing doctrines, and the historical background of their times.
Chosen not for the intrinsic worth of their thought - for there were other more profound, more original thinkers - but for their importance in forming the western mind into what it is today, the author demonstrates that they said what the world wanted to hear at the particular time they spoke and were influential precisely because they were able to strike a sympathetic chord with their own or succeeding generations.
It is the author's hope that if we are able to see how the modern mind grew, we shall be able, also, to help save its accomplishments and shed its defective qualities.
Mr. Neill, though he does not forsake scholarliness for the sake of "popularizing" philosophy, nevertheless writes with a simplicity and freshness that arouses interest, with a sweep and depth that holds attention and accurately informs the reader.
At present he is associate professor of history at St. Louis University and one of the five members of the Honor Council at the university, in charge of the Honors Program and the Great Books course. His A.B. and Ph.D. degrees were obtained at St. Louis University and his M.A. at Notre Dame.
His first book, Weapons for Peace, was published in 1945, but he has been a magazine contributor since college days and continues to write because, as he observes, "It's a natural thing for a professor to do." Mr. Neill's articles have appeared in Commonweal, America, Modern Schoolman, Historical Bulletin, Columbia, Journal of the History of Ideas, and other periodicals.
Taken from the inside flaps.
Indeed is he correct in his observation that never before in history have men known so much about so many things, yet have become so confused on such basic questions as whether the world is what it seems, or even whether they have minds.
To help the average intelligent and interested reader to understand how the modern mind has been affected and developed, as well as comprehend more readily how it works in this our day, Thomas P. Neill presents a study of the eleven men in terms of their personality, their influencing doctrines, and the historical background of their times.
Chosen not for the intrinsic worth of their thought - for there were other more profound, more original thinkers - but for their importance in forming the western mind into what it is today, the author demonstrates that they said what the world wanted to hear at the particular time they spoke and were influential precisely because they were able to strike a sympathetic chord with their own or succeeding generations.
It is the author's hope that if we are able to see how the modern mind grew, we shall be able, also, to help save its accomplishments and shed its defective qualities.
Mr. Neill, though he does not forsake scholarliness for the sake of "popularizing" philosophy, nevertheless writes with a simplicity and freshness that arouses interest, with a sweep and depth that holds attention and accurately informs the reader.
At present he is associate professor of history at St. Louis University and one of the five members of the Honor Council at the university, in charge of the Honors Program and the Great Books course. His A.B. and Ph.D. degrees were obtained at St. Louis University and his M.A. at Notre Dame.
His first book, Weapons for Peace, was published in 1945, but he has been a magazine contributor since college days and continues to write because, as he observes, "It's a natural thing for a professor to do." Mr. Neill's articles have appeared in Commonweal, America, Modern Schoolman, Historical Bulletin, Columbia, Journal of the History of Ideas, and other periodicals.
Taken from the inside flaps.
Number of Copies
1
