An Historical Introduction to Modern Philosophy is a huge work on modern, western philosophy by Hugh Miller. It was first published in 1947, then re-printed in 1949. This version is the latter. The books give an excellent introduction and historical tour of western philosophy. Millers’ final chapter about the future of philosophy is a great article of the philosophical thoughts and lessons after the wars and scientific discoveries of the time. From the book:
This book is intended to lead the reader to an understanding of contemporary philosophy, allowing him to play his full part in the intellectual life of this time. Recent advances in science and logic have effected a radical reorientation of thought, necessitating profound readjustments in our conceptions of the individual, society, and nature. So deep do these changes go that they seem to cut through the living tissue which binds the present to the past. We face unprecedented tasks, to the solution of which the past brings little or no help; yet the tasks are so urgent that only immediate action, unhindered by time-consuming thought, seems to be of avail. To this pressure of urgent and unprecedented tasks comes the modern habit of mind, which assumes that problems arising out of present conditions must and can be solved by a better perception of present activities. How should history help meet the emergency which history has precipitated?
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