Thought and Action
 | |
| Author | Stuart Hampshire |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Philosophy |
| Published | 1959 (Chatto and Windus) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 276 |
Thought and Action is a 1959 book by Stuart Hampshire, his major work.[1]
Summary
Hampshire develops in greater detail ideas about freedom and the philosophy of mind that he had already explored in his Spinoza (1951). He examines a set of contrasts between that which is unavoidable in human thought and that which is contingent, between knowledge and decision, criticism and practice, philosophy and experience.[1] He argues that empiricist theories of perception descending from George Berkeley and David Hume mistakenly represent people as passive observers receiving impressions from "outside" of the mind, where the "outside" includes their own bodies.[2]
Scholarly reception
Philosopher Roger Scruton writes in Sexual Desire (1986) that Hampshire provides a seminal discussion of two contrasting outlooks on the future that can be called "predicting and deciding."[3] Philosopher Anthony Quinton writes that the book's "systematic aim and fine mandarin prose were both unusual for an Oxford philosopher of the time."[4]
References
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Downie 2005. p. 358.
- ↑ Hampshire 1959. p. 47.
- ↑ Scruton 1994. p. 333.
- ↑ Quinton 2005. p. 546.
Bibliography
- Downie, R. S. (2005). Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926479-1.
- Hampshire, Stuart (1959). Thought and Action. London: Chatto and Windus.
- Quinton, Anthony (2005). Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926479-1.
- Scruton, Roger (1994). Sexual Desire: A Philosophical Investigation. London: Phoenix. ISBN 1-85799-100-1.