Thinking Past a Problem: Essays on the History of Ideas

ISBN-13: 9780714649801 / Angielski / Twarda / 2000 / 352 str.

Preston King

Opis

This is a collection of Professor Preston King's essays on the history of ideas. The title invokes the embeddedness of the past in, and the sly complexity of, what we call altogether too summarily the present. These essays are united by a persistent concern with the philosophy of history, especially the history of ideas. They all emerge from an early view by King of the interpretation of past and present. This was a view in turn complemented and contradicted by those from whom King learnt most, located in or around the London School of Economics: Michael Oakeshott, Karl Popper and Isaiah Berlin. The author's concern, above all else, is to demonstrate the incoherence, even absurdity of the notion that the past can have nothing to teach us - whether mounted by those who argue that history is unique or that it is merely contextual.

Recenzje

'King argues his thesis, both in general and in relation to individual thinkers, with considerable subtlety and insight, and no serious historian of ideas can afford to ignore its implications.' - Times Literary Supplement

'King provides a most substantive and enlightening introduction, guiding the reader through the various essays and reconstructing what is a most original version of the complex link between past and present ... the relevance of the collection in the present climate can hardly be exaggerated.' - History of Political Thought