One of the best introductions to ancient Greek philosophy out there. My only two complaints about it are: 1. Like many texts published a half century or longer ago Coplestone consistently leaves Greek and Latin phrases that he quotes (even at some considerable length) untranslated. For modern readers like myself, this only serves as a reminder of how far downhill our educational standards have gone -- we don't know ancient Greek and/or Latin anymore! 2. Coplestone's choice of verbiage is often far more dense and complicated than it has to be. I've never seen such a difficult explanation of Plato's theory of the Forms. Those two criticisms aside, the book is a great over all and well laid out in its presentation. I read this alongside the opening chapters of Bertrand Russell's much lengthier "History of Western Philosophy" and the combination of the two, I think, served me well as I was able to receive the same information from two very different perspectives. Great learning experience! ( )

Excellent! and yet...
The Catholic bias seems obvious even to a lay philosopher like myself.
Published more than 80 years after "On the Origin of Species", the author apparently does not realise that evolution obliterates Plato's Forms. Or did man have to discover DNA for that obliteration? ( )

Copleston, a Jesuit, wrote a series of books on the history of philosophy so that his students could have a deeper understanding of philosophy to complement their theological knowledge. This first volume covers Greece (from the pre-Socratics forward) and Rome. The text shows its age (written in the late 1940's) in its tone, and it reflects an understandable bias. Clearly, much of the thought is seen in light of its impact to or conflict with Catholic views of the universe. The text is detailed and well-referenced to original works. The index is, however, a bit slight for the amount of material covered. Also, as with many works which are images of earlier-printed texts, the type is not as crisp as with modern printing and fatigues the eyes a bit quickly. I would not recommend this as the sole source of information on this subject/period, but its detail would serve the reader well in conjunction with a less biased book as supplement.

philosophy, greek philosophy