From Publishers Weekly
The "great awakeners," according to German existentialist philospher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), are those thinkers who anticipated the crises of their age, exposing conventions as defunct in order to recall us to ourselves. The awakeners he probes in these challenging, highly personal essays-Blaise Pascal, Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gotthold Lessing-all grew from the soil of Christianity (Nietzsche's negation of Christianity betrays his ties to Christian standards, Jaspers argues). In this fourth and final volume of his ambitious survey of philosophy, Jaspers attacks the scientific dogmatism of Descartes and the political dogmatism of Marx. He views Einstein as a revolutionary scientist but severely limited in his insights into social and political complexities. German sociologist Max Weber (who died in 1920), prescient analyst of bureaucracy and mass movements, emerges here as an exemplar of his age but, paradoxically, an ineffectual figure who hardly touched his time.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
When Jaspers died in 1969, he left the materials for the third and fourth volumes of his history of human thought. This fourth and final volume (following publication of the third, LJ 9/15/93) brings the history up to the mid-20th century. For each writer he discusses, Jaspers provides a biography, a discussion of major works and themes, and a critical assessment. Since the text is compiled from notes left by Jaspers, the depth of analysis is varied, but the editors have done a commendable job in trying to provide the reader with a feel for what Jaspers proposed to accomplish. It is unfortunate that Jaspers was unable to finish this work before his death; had he done so, it would have earned a well-deserved place among other histories of thought, e.g., Frederick Copleston and Emile Brehier. This work's importance today is founded as much on the eminence of its author as it is on its contents. Recommended for academic libraries supporting broad programs in philosophy and the history of ideas.
Terry Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Terry Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
