kenny a new history of western philosophy

As Kenny notes at the outset, the third volume ended with the death of Hegel, and the present volume continues onward from there to close to the end of the 20 th century. Consideration of that era in philosophy was included in the third volume ( The Rise of Modern Philosophy). In considering the scope of Kenny's exposition, it is important to note that 'modern' modifies 'world' rather than 'philosophy.' The book thus does not cover what is typically covered in a college course on modern philosophy, which usually ranges from Descartes to Kant. Fortunately, this is not the case: though Kenny is careful to direct the reader to specific discussions in previous volumes, this is done via unobtrusive footnotes that do not interrupt the flow of the narrative, and so the reader may comfortably read just this one volume. A work like this would not serve these readers' needs especially well if its exposition depended heavily on the volumes preceding it.

Without wishing to make a virtue of my ignorance of Kenny's broader efforts, judging the work in this way does serve a purpose, as many readers, owing to their interests or their coursework (Kenny advertises the book as written for 'an audience at the level of second- or third-year undergraduate study' ), are likely to want or need to read one volume to the exclusion of the others. Instead, I will treat it as a freestanding work, concerned with a particular, fairly well circumscribed era of philosophy. Anthony Kenny's Philosophy in the Modern World is the fourth and final volume of his series collectively titled, 'A New History of Western Philosophy.' I should note at the outset that I have not read the preceding three volumes and so I cannot comment on the extent to which the present volume dovetails with the previous ones, nor can I judge its success at bringing the series to a conclusion.

Kenny a new history of western philosophy