A History of Western Philosophy

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1945

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Book 3, Part 1, Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Book 3: “Modern Philosophy”, Part 1: “From the Renaissance to Hume”

Chapter 1 Summary: “General Characteristics”

The modern period in philosophy is characterized by “the diminishing authority of the Church” and “the increasing authority of science” (491). The first factor led to increasing subjectivism and individualism, “even to the point of anarchy” (493). The scientific mindset led to great physical progress and mastery over the environment. However, the weakness of science is that it does not provide a sense of values or final purposes; instead, it tends to lead to the worship of technique and power. Both these extremes are forms of “madness […] against which a sane philosophy should provide an antidote” (494).

Chapter 2 Summary: “The Italian Renaissance”

The Renaissance produced progress mainly in the artistic and literary realms. It was not a period of great achievement in philosophy, although there were some advances. Renaissance thinkers revived Plato, thus breaking the dominance of Scholasticism and Aristotle. They also promoted a return to original Greek and Latin texts free of intermediaries. Finally, they advocated intellectual adventure rather than merely supporting a predetermined orthodoxy. All these things were beneficial to the development of modern thought.

Chapter 3 Summary: “Machiavelli”

Niccoló Machiavelli (1467-1527) was an important political philosopher of the Italian Renaissance. Political thought in Italy was stimulated by the growth of city states, which some thinkers saw as parallel to the city states of ancient Greece. Along with the rise of city states came a new interest in the concepts of liberty and democracy which would influence subsequent political development. Machiavelli argued in his treatise The Prince for a pragmatic and somewhat cynical approach to politics. Assuming the corrupt nature of human beings, Machiavelli outlined a system for acquiring power by any means, thus preventing anarchy. In this tendency towards realpolitik, Machiavelli was also prophetic of modern political developments.

Chapter 4 Summary: “Erasmus and More”

The Dutchman Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) and the Englishman Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) were Renaissance humanists who were friends. Both were devoted to classical learning as well as to an enlightened form of Christianity. Neither was a philosopher in the technical sense, but both epitomized the urbane and scholarly side of the Renaissance and had great cultural influence through their writings on religion and politics. An important royal official, More was executed for his principled resistance to King Henry VIII’s policies.

Chapter 5 Summary: “The Reformation and Counter-Reformation”

Russell sees the Reformation as a movement of reaction of northern European peoples against the dominance of Italy, and the Counter-Reformation as a mostly Spanish movement. The three “great men” of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation were Martin Luther, John Calvin, and St. Ignatius Loyola. One of the consequences of both movements, and the wars of religion that they engendered, was a “growth of belief in religious toleration” (524) and an increasing independence from doctrinal orthodoxy among thinkers.

Book 3, Part 1, Chapters 1-5 Analysis

This section deals with the beginning of what is usually termed the early modern period of Western cultural history. This period was marked most notably by the rediscovery of classical civilization (a process already begun in the High Middle Ages) that characterized the Humanist movement and the Italian Renaissance, as well as by unrest in the ecclesiastical and political world that led to the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation.

More broadly, Russell interprets modernity as a whole as characterized by two major aspects: “the diminishing authority of the Church” and “the increasing authority of science” (491). Throughout the modern period, philosophers and other thinkers became more independent of religious authority, reflecting a new emphasis on individualism. Scientists began putting forth theories about the physical universe that challenged religious and traditional interpretations, although Russell overgeneralizes and does not provide sufficient nuance about the battle between “traditionalists” and “new knowledge” that characterized such episodes as the Galileo controversy.

Although the modern era would also be characterized by the growth of science, the early period covered in this section showed few scientific discoveries. Russell, indeed, sees the Renaissance as mainly a movement of literature (especially textual criticism) and the visual arts rather than of philosophy or science. This is partly because after the Reformation, Europe remained preoccupied with theology and disputes over religious doctrine for the remainder of the 16th century, thus shifting the focus away from pure philosophy. In the 16th century, the major thinkers like Machiavelli, Erasmus, and More devoted themselves either to political theory or to analyzing classical languages and texts (including the Bible) rather than contributing to original philosophical thought. This situation would change drastically in the 17th century, when both science and philosophy would come to the fore.

In his discussion of the cultural background of this period, Russell does not explain that the terms “Middle Ages” and “Renaissance” were themselves invented by Renaissance intellectuals in an attempt to define themselves against the recent past. In fact, throughout the book Russell tends to take accepted terminology (including names of historical periods) for granted and does not explore their origin and what light this might throw on the interpretation of philosophical history.