Frederick Copleston

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.

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 Nietsche, Schopenhauer, and 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.

Selected writings of Frederick Copleston

• Nietzsche (1942)
• Schopenhauer (1946)
• History of Philosophy (1946-1975)
• Aquinas (1955)
• A History of Medieval Philosophy (1972)
• Religion and Philosophy (1974)

Web links

• Trasncript of the 1948 BBC debate with Bertrand Russell