Early German Philosophy: Kant and His Predecessors [Book Review]

Recently there has been a growing interest in German philosophy, but most of this interest has focused on Kant and his successors. With the exception of Leibniz, most Anglo-Saxon philosophers are ignorant of what happened in German thought before Kant. Beck has written a model history of German philosophy from Albertus Magnus to Kant. He brings enormous erudition and good judgment to the task. He clarifies for us historical relations and continuities without succumbing to the temptation of writing short atomistic capsule descriptions or the story of a single Volkgeist. In the chapters on Leibniz and Kant he succeeds both in helping us to see their historical role and the systematic integrity of their thought. Some may feel that the ambitiousness of this history requires slighting some important figures and currents in German philosophy. But no matter how briefly Beck discusses a thinker or a movement, he is always illuminating. There is a helpful informal bibliography. Beck's work is superb, and we might have expected that one of our more distinguished university presses would have exercised the same care in publishing this book that Beck has taken in writing it. Unfortunately the print is extremely difficult to read and this is aggravated by the inferior quality of the paper. Costs of printing books are rising all the time, but it is sad when university presses do not hold to the highest standards, especially when publishing such an important book as this one.--R. J. B.