Changes

'''Frederick Copleston, S.J.''' (April 10, 1907 - February 3, 1994) was a [[Jesuit]] scholar who wrote the highly respected 9 volume ''History of Philosophy''. Born and raised in [[England]] as an [[Anglican]], Copleston converted to [[Catholicism]] shortly after he turned 18 years of age.  

'''Frederick Copleston, S.J.''' (April 10, 1907 - February 3, 1994) was a [[Jesuit]] scholar who wrote the highly respected 9 volume ''History of Philosophy''. Born and raised in [[England]] as an [[Anglican]], Copleston converted to [[Catholicism]] shortly after he turned 18 years of age.  

In 1930, Copleston became a Jesuit and was ordained a Jesuit priest while at Heythrop College in 1937. After a brief stay in Europe, Fr. Copleston returned just prior to the outbreak of war to teach the history of [[philosophy]] at [[Heytrhop]].

In 1930, Copleston became a Jesuit and was ordained a Jesuit priest while at Heythrop College in 1937. After a brief stay in Europe, Fr. Copleston returned just prior to the outbreak of war to teach the history of [[philosophy]] at Heythrop.

It was while at Heythrop that Fr. Copleston began work on his massive ''History of Philosophy'', intended as a textbook for Jesuit students and only completed in 1975. Along the way, he also wrote works on [[Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche|Nietzsche]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], and St. [[Thomas Aquinas|Aquinas]], but it is for his ''History'' that Copleston is mostly remembered and esteemed, not only among Catholic students and scholars, but students adhering to other religions as well as secular students of philosophy.

It was while at Heythrop that Fr. Copleston began work on his massive ''History of Philosophy'', intended as a textbook for Jesuit students and only completed in 1975. Along the way, he also wrote works on [[Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche|Nietzsche]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], and St. [[Thomas Aquinas|Aquinas]], but it is for his ''History'' that Copleston is mostly remembered and esteemed, not only among Catholic students and scholars, but students adhering to other religions as well as secular students of philosophy.

==''History of Philosophy''==

==''History of Philosophy''==

Written unashamedly from the Thomist (the reference is to St. Thomas Aquinas) point of view, Copletston remarks in the Preface to Volume I: "To mention a 'point of view' at all, when treating of the history of philosophy, may occasion a certain lifting of the eyebrows; but no true historian can write without some point of view, some standpoint, if for no other reason than he must have a principle of selection, guiding his intelligent choice and arrangement of fact."

Written unashamedly from the Thomist (the reference is to St. Thomas Aquinas) point of view, Copletston remarks in the Preface to Volume I: "To mention a 'point of view' at all, when treating of the history of philosophy, may occasion a certain lifting of the eyebrows; but no true historian can write without some point of view, some standpoint, if for no other reason than he must have a principle of selection, guiding his intelligent choice and arrangement of fact."

The work has gained critical acclaim not from Catholic and religious readers but also from secular critics for its scholarly and objective presentation of the views of all the important philosophers and philosophical viewpoints throughout history. Here follows a summary of the contents:

The work has gained critical acclaim not only from Catholic and religious readers but also from secular critics for its scholarly and objective presentation of the views of all the important philosophers and philosophical viewpoints throughout history. Here follows a summary of the contents:

* '''Volume I''' Greece and Rome (Pre-Socratic philosophy, the Socratic period, [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], post-Aristotelian philosophy)

* '''Volume I''' Greece and Rome (Pre-Socratic philosophy, the Socratic period, [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], post-Aristotelian philosophy)

* '''Volume II''' Medieval Philosophy (Patristic period, [[Augustine]], [[John Scotus Eriugena]] (Duns Scotus), [[Anselm]], [[Bonaventure]], Aquinas, )

* '''Volume II''' Medieval Philosophy (Patristic period, [[Augustine]], [[John Scotus Eriugena]] (Duns Scotus), [[Anselm]], [[Bonaventure]], Aquinas, )

* '''Volume III''' Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy ([[Ockham]], speculative mystics, revival of Platonism, Scholasticism of the Renaissance)

* '''Volume III''' Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy ([[Ockham]], speculative mystics, revival of Platonism, Scholasticism of the Renaissance)

* '''Volume IV''' Modern Philosophy ([[Descartes]], [[Spinoza]], [[Liebniz]])

* '''Volume IV''' Modern Philosophy ([[Descartes]], [[Spinoza]], [[Leibniz]])

* '''Volume V''' Modern Philosophy: the British Philosophers ([[Hobbes]], [[Locke]], [[Berkeley]], [[Hume]])

* '''Volume V''' Modern Philosophy: the British Philosophers ([[Hobbes]], [[Locke]], [[Berkeley]], [[Hume]])

* '''Volume VI''' Modern Philosophy ([[French Enlightenment]] to [[Kant]])

* '''Volume VI''' Modern Philosophy (French [[Enlightenment]] to [[Kant]])

* '''Volume VII''' Modern Philosophy (Post-Kantian idealists, [[Fichte]], [[Hegel]], [[Schopenhauer]], [[Marx]], [[Kierkegaard]], [[Nietzsche]])

* '''Volume VII''' Modern Philosophy (Post-Kantian idealists, [[Johann Fichte]], [[Hegel]], [[Schopenhauer]], [[Marx]], [[Kierkegaard]], [[Nietzsche]])

* '''Volume VIII''' Modern Philosophy ([[Empiricism]], [[Idealism]], and [[Pragmatism]] in [[Britain]] and [[America]])

* '''Volume VIII''' Modern Philosophy ([[Empiricism]], [[Idealism]], and [[Pragmatism]] in [[Britain]] and [[America]])

* '''Volume IX''' Modern Philosophy (From the [[French Revolution]] to [[Sartre]], [[Camus]], and [[Levi-Strauss]])

* '''Volume IX''' Modern Philosophy (From the [[French Revolution]] to [[Sartre]], [[Camus]], and [[Levi-Strauss]])

* ''Philosophy in Russia'' (1986)

* ''Philosophy in Russia'' (1986)

==Web links==

==External links==

* [http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p20.htm Trasncript of the 1948 BBC debate with Bertrand Russell]

* [http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p20.htm Trasncript of the 1948 BBC debate with Bertrand Russell]

[[Category:Philosophers|Copleston, Frederick]]

[[Category:Philosophers|Copleston, Frederick]]