A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future
A one-voume reference to the history of ideas that is a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilization into the twenty-first century. Massive in its scope, and yet totally accessible, A HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE covers not only all the great theories and discoveries of the human race, but also explores the social conditions, political climates, and individual men and women of genius that brought ideas to fruition...
Search in google:
A one-voume reference to the history of ideas that is a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilization into the twenty-first century. Massive in its scope, and yet totally accessible, A HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE covers not only all the great theories and discoveries of the human race, but also explores the social conditions, political climates, and individual men and women of genius that brought ideas to fruition throughout history."Crystal clear and concise...Explains how humankind got to know what it knows."Clifton Fadiman Selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the History Book Club Publishers Weekly Van Doren's provocative, encyclopedic guide to great thinkers, concepts and philosophical trends was a BOMC and History Book Club selection in cloth. (Apr.)
AcknowledgmentsxiiiAuthor to ReaderxvProgress in KnowledgexvKinds of Progress in KnowledgexviUniversal HistoryxviPrimitive ManxviiiKnowledge of ParticularsxixGeneral KnowledgexixCertain KnowledgexxiKnowledge and HappinessxxiiiOutline of the Bookxxiii1.Wisdom of the Ancients3Egypt4India6China7Mesopotamia9Aztec and Inca11Human Sacrifice13Judaism15Christianity16Judaism and Christianity Compared18Islam19Judeo-Christianity and Islam Compared20Buddhism21Lessons from the Past23Alphabets25Zero272.The Greek Explosion29The Problem of Thales30The Invention of Mathematics: The Pythagoreans34The Discovery of Atomic Theory: Democritus38The Problem of Thales: The Ultimate Solution41Moral Truth and Political Expediency: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle42The Fallacy of the Consequent44Greece versus Persia: The Fruitful Conflict48The Tragedy of Athens51Herodotus, Thucydides, and the Invention of History53The Spirit of Greek Thought563.What the Romans Knew60Greek Theory, Roman Practice65Law, Citizenship, and Roads67Lucretius70Cicero72Seneca77Tacitus81What the Romans Did Not Know844.Light in the Dark Ages86The Fall of Rome86Post-Roman Europe88The Triumph of Christianity: Constantine the Great91The Promise of Christianity: Augustine92After the Fall955.The Middle Ages: The Great Experiment98The Struggle for Subsistence98A World of Enemies99The Problem of God100The Science of Theology100Theology in Other Religions102Principles of Theocracy103Empire and Papacy105Monasticism106Crusaders109Millennial Fears, Postmillennial Achievements110The Dispute about Truth112Boethius113Pseudo-Dionysius113Avicenna114Peter Abelard115Bernard of Clairvaux116Averroes117Thomas Aquinas119The Pyrrhic Victory of Faith over Reason122Dante's Dance1246.What Was Reborn in the Renaissance?127The New Style in Painting: Perspective128Man in the Cosmos129The Revival of Classical Learning: Petrarch130Inventing the Renaissance: Boccaccio132The Renaissance Man134Renaissance Men: Leonardo, Pico, Bacon137The Renaissance Man and the Ideal of Liberal Education141Renaissance Humanism142Montaigne144Shakespeare146Cervantes148The Black Death151Gutenberg's Achievement153Renaissance Cities155Nation-States156The Crisis of the Theocratic State158Erasmus159Thomas More160Henry VIII161Martin Luther163Tolerance and Intolerance165Man at the Center1667.Europe Reaches Out168Mongol Empires169Marco Polo170Voyages of Discovery172Columbus174Sailing Around the World177The Birth of World Trade178Trade in Ideas179Homage to Columbus1828.The Invention of Scientific Method184The Meaning of Science184Three Characteristics of Science187Aristotelian Science: Matter190Aristotelian Motion191The Revolt Against Aristotle192Copernicus195Tycho Brahe196Gilbert197Kepler198Galileo199Descartes203Newton205Rules of Reason209The Galilean-Cartesian Revolution2119.An Age of Revolutions213The Industrial Revolution213Human Machines and Mechanical Humans214An Age of Reason and Revolution216John Locke and the Revolution of 1688218Property, Government, and Revolution220Two Kinds of Revolution222Thomas Jefferson and the Revolution of 1776223The Declaration of Independence224Property in Rights226Robespierre, Napoleon, and the Revolution of 1789228The Rise of Equality232Mozart's Don Giovanni234Goethe's Faust23810.The Nineteenth Century: Prelude to Modernity243The Difference Money Makes244Economic Life Before 1800: The Peasant245The Lord247The Cleric248The King248The Merchant249The Rise of the Labor Market: Economics251Faustian Development255Marxism: Theory and Practice257Marxian Insights261Economic Facts: Steam Power264Equality in the Muzzle of a Gun266The Magic of Electricity269Magical Mathematics271New Ways of Seeing273The End of Slavery275Shocking the Bourgeoisie278Darwin and Freud28011.The World in 1914284Economic Divisions284The Study of War285Colonialism287The Boer War289The Powder Keg of Europe289Character of the 1914-1918 War291Thoughts on War and Death292Causes of War29512.The Twentieth Century: The Triumph of Democracy297The Progress of Democracy299Communism304Totalitarianism307Theocracy in the Twentieth Century311Economic Justice313Why Not World Government?314One World, One Human Race31713.The Twentieth Century: Science and Technology321Greek Atomic Theory321The Revival of Atomic Theory323What Einstein Did325What the Bomb Taught Us327The Problem of Life328The Science of Heredity329How DNA Works330The Size of the Universe332Galaxies332The Smallness of Earth334The Big Bang and the Primordial Atom334Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle337Uncertainties of Knowledge338One Giant Step341Green Rebellion342The Terrestrial Greenhouse343Digital Computers and Knowledge345Turing Machines348Technological Dependence350Triumphs of Medicine351Drug Cultures353The AIDS Challenge35414.The Twentieth Century: Art and the Media356The Media and Their Messages356A Visual Revolution: Picasso, Braque, Cubism359Pollock, Rothko, and the Hexagonal Room361Urban Revolution: The Bauhaus and Le Corbusier363Literary Prophets: Yeats365A Passage to India366The Castle and the Magician367Waiting for Godot369Mass Media and Education37015.The Next Hundred Years375Computers: The Next Stage377The Moral Problem of Intelligent Machines379Companion Computers379The Birth of Thinking Machines381Three Worlds: Big, Little, Middle-sized383Chaos, a New Science384Mining Language: Ideonomy386Exploring the Solar System387The Message?390Man as a Terrestrial Neighbor392The Gaia Hypothesis395Genetic Engineering397Eugenics398Mapping the Genome400Democracy and Eugenics402Speed403Addictions406War in the Twenty-first Century408Computer Revolt410Index413
\ Publishers Weekly\ - Publisher's Weekly\ Van Doren's provocative, encyclopedic guide to great thinkers, concepts and philosophical trends was a BOMC and History Book Club selection in cloth. (Apr.)\ \
