The Passion Of The Western Mind

Oct 6, 2024 8:27 PM

Author:Richard Tarnas

The Passion of the Western Mind is a complete guide to Western civilisation and the philosophical ideas that have shaped our world view. From Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud, Richard Tarnas described profound philosophical concepts simply, but without simplifying them.

Ten years in the making, The Passion of the Western Mind was hailed as an instant classic on publication. In it, Tarnas provides a compelling account of the evolution of the Western mind and its changing conception of reality. Advances on several fronts - in philosophy, psychology, religous studies and the history of science - have shed new light on this remarkable evolution and Tarnas draws together these advances to set forth a new perspective for understanding out culture's intellectual and spiritual history. The result is a complete liberal education in a single volume.

Reviews

I have never read a book about the ways in which we think that was clearer or more exciting

—— John Cleese

Quite brilliant

—— Guardian

[This] magnificent critical survey, with its inherent respect for both the 'West's mainstream high culture' and the 'radically changing world' of the 1990s, offers a new breakthrough for lay and scholarly readers alike... Allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture as if for the first time

—— San Francisco Chronicle

30,000 years of Western thought distilled into a powerful, enthralling narrative

—— Sydney Morning Herald

An extraordinary work of scholarship. It not only places the history of Western thought in perspective, but offers new insights concerning the evolution of our thinking and the future of the whole human enterprise

—— John E. Mack, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

The best intellectual history of the West in one volume I have ever seen. No other such overview provides, in equal compass, as clear and cogent a survey, Its scholarship is impeccable

—— Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions

The most thrilling narrative of the West's 3000-year odyssey in pursuit of truth accessible to a broad public... A work of genius

—— Hellenic Journal

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