Abstract

In this history of Western philosophy, an award-winning historian revisitshe milestones of Western religion and thought to propose new ways to findeaning and philosophical guidance in a "world beyond permanence".;Going backo the roots of Judaism and Christianity, Eisendrath shows human history as aesperate attempt to deal with change by cultivating notions of permanence,uch as the belief in an eternal God and soul, a meaningful history and fixedaws of nature. He shows how these notions of permanence have impacted almostvery leading religious or philosophical work from the Gilgamesh Epic toant's "Critique of Pure Reason"; how recent developments in science andociety have attacked these notions; and how a new philosophy of "mpermanence" is well under way.;The book is divided into two parts. Theirst concerns philosophical ideas promoting permanence beliefs, from theumerians to Hegelianian philosophy. The second concerns the emergence of theew "philosophy of change", as traced in the critical writings of Alfredorth Whitehead and in fields of thought ranging as far as physics, cosmology