| Home |
| Why? |
| How? |
| What? |
| Who is JFB? |
| About PDF files |
| Rights |
| Original texts |
| Comments |
| What next? |
| Search the texts |
| Subscribe |
| Contact |
From Bacon's The New Organon to Spinoza's Treatise on Theology and Politics, EarlyModernTexts.com presents writings on topics of early modern philosophy, translated to make them easier to read while leaving intact the main arguments, doctrines, and lines of thought. Jonathan Bennett was formerly Lecturer in Moral Science at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and then at Syracuse University. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Princeton and Oxford and is Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the British Academy. My versions are faithful to the content of the original philosopher texts, but are plainer and more straightforward in manner. I could have made them even plainer, but that would have taken them further than I wanted to go from the stylistic feel of the originals. I love the original texts, and am glad to have spent years wrestling with them in their pristine form. I do wish, though, that through the years I could also have read them sometimes with all my energy going into the philosophy. An average student, when required to read a stylistically difficult text, will either (1) confess defeat, or (2) glide along the surface of the text, getting a vague sense of having understood it. The greater disaster is (2). When so much in our world and indeed in our educational practices seduces people away from close and precise attention to the written word, it would be a sorry thing if this seduction were furthered by philosophy, which ought to be its most implacable enemy.The increasing rate of change in the English language ensures that fewer and fewer of today's readers can cope with the writings of philosophers of the 16th to 18th centuries. EarlyModernTexts.com reduces the obstacles so that students of philosophy can more easily come to grips with the philosophical thoughts the texts express. EarlyModernTexts.com presents some classics of early modern philosophy, and a few from the 19th century, prepared with a view to making them easier to read while leaving intact the main arguments, doctrines, and lines of thought. Contact us today for more information about:
Jonathan Bennett, who now lives on an island near Vancouver, British Columbia, was formerly Lecturer in Moral Science at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and then at Syracuse University. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Princeton, and has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and a visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the British Academy. Review the philosophical discussions presented by David Hume (1711-1776), including Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and four additional essays. René Descartes (1596-1650) was an influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. Read his translated writings on Meditations on First Philosophy, Objections to the Meditations, and Descartes's Replies and Discourse on the Method. When students are introduced to the great philosophical works of the early modern period, it is usually in the hope that they will engage with the thoughts and arguments that the texts present. The teaching experience of many of us suggests that most students simply cannot understand these philosophy texts. The increasing rate of change in the English language ensures that fewer and fewer of today's readers can cope with the writings of the 16th-18th centuries. There are difficulties of syntax, length and complexity of sentences, words that are no longer current, still-familiar words used in meanings that they now do not have, arcane references to other philosophers which today's students will seldom understand or be required to follow up; these and other factors create forbidding obstacles to engaging with these early modern texts. I reduce the obstacles so that students can more easily come to grips with the philosophical thoughts the texts express. Once they do that, they still won't have an easy time, because the material itself is hard; but their efforts will go into getting philosophical understanding, not decoding old prose. Read the translated work of Francis Bacon (1561-1626): The New Organon. Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman, and essayist and was also one of the founders of the scientific revolution -- and The New Organon was the work that primarily achieve that founding. George Berkeley (1685-1753) wrote Principles of Human Knowledge, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous and Alciphron. Read these works, translated into modern day English at EarlyModernTexts.com.
|
| Francis Bacon |
| George Berkeley |
| Descartes |
| Jonathan Edwards |
| Thomas Hobbes |
| Hume |
| Kant |
| Leibniz |
| John Locke |
| Malebranche |
| John Stuart Mill |
| Isaac Newton |
| Thomas Reid |
| Spinoza |
Philosophy Topics by Modern Day Philosophers