哲学与历史、政治与宗教、科学与蒙昧，它们或互为表里、或相反相成，只有独具慧眼才能揭示其中的真理之光。

从希腊城邦、罗马帝国、到文艺复兴以迄于今的西方文化的昌明，从苏格拉度、柏拉图、亚里士多德、到康德、黑格尔、尼采，这是一条绵延不绝的智慧与思想的长河。

这是一本以通俗、浅显的现代语体写成的西方文明史、诚如这本书的副标题所揭示的，是在自希腊城邦政体以迄于今的政治、历史这个大背景下探讨整个西方文明演进的脉络，旁及科学、宗教、经济乃至社会习俗，无所不包、无所不备。

"A BIG BOOK," said Callimachus the Alexandrian poet, "is a big evil!" On the whole I feel inclined to share this view. If, therefore, I venture to put the present volume before the reader, it is because, as evils go, this book is a minor one. Nevertheless, it calls for a special explanation; for I have some time ago written a book on the same subject. Wisdom of the West is an entirely new work; though, of course, it would never have appeared had not my "History of Western Philosophy" preceded it.

What are philosophers doing when they are at work? This is indeed an odd question, and we might try to answer it by first setting out what they are not doing. There are, in the world around us, many things which are understood fairly well. Take, for instance, tile working of a steam engine. This falls within the fields of mechanics and thermodynafiaics. Again, we know quite a lot about the way in which the human body is built and functions.

FOREWORD

PROLOGUE

BEFORE SOCRATES

ATHENS

HELLENISM

EARLY CHRISTIANITY

SCHOLASTICISM

RISE OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY

BRITISH EMPIRICISM

ENLIGHTENMENT AND ROMANTICISM

UTILITARIANISM AND SINCE

CONTEMPORARY

EPILOGUE