Four Ages of Understanding: The First Postmodern Survey of Philosophy from Ancient Times to the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

John Deely

Published by University of Toronto Press 2001

Four Ages of Understanding

The First Postmodern Survey of Philosophy from Ancient Times to the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

John Deely

In the series Toronto Studies in Semiotics and Communication

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442675032

Overview
Contents

About this book

The first full-scale demonstration of the centrality of the theory of signs to the history of philosophy, Four Ages of Understanding provides a new vantage point from which to review and reinterpret the development of intellectual culture at the threshold of "globalization".

Author / Editor information

Deely John :

John Deely has been a Professor of Philosophy since 1976 at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and is now at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.

Reviews

Thomas A. Sebeok, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Semiotics at Indiana University; and Honorary Fellow of Victoria College, University of Toronto:

'This magisterial conspectus, nothing less than John Deely's Summa semioticae, attends to the lofty sweep of Western philosophy from its foundations to the threshold of, and across to, the new millennium. In some sense, the book reminds me of Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, but, whereas Russell situated his chronicle within the context of political and social circumstances from the earliest times to the mid-1940s, Deely is bent on reconfiguring this same progression and beyond by inseparably intertwining it with the doctrine of the sign – a story hitherto revealed only in fragmentary fashion. Deely's masterpiece is destined to become an indispensable work of reference for all students of semiotics.'

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Aviso: Why Read This Book? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents at a Glance Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Contents in Detail Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
List of Tables and Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxiv
Reconocimientos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxvii
Preface: The Boundary of Time Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxix
CHAPTER ONE: Society and Civilization: The Prelude to Philosophy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART ONE: Ancient Philosophy
CHAPTER TWO: Philosophy as Physics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
CHAPTER THREE: The Golden Age: Philosophy Expands Its Horizon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
CHAPTER FOUR: The Final Greek Centuries and the Overlap of Neoplatonism with Christianity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
PART TWO: The Latin Age
CHAPTER FIVE: The Geography of the Latin Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
CHAPTER SIX: The So-Called Dark Ages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
CHAPTER SEVEN: Cresting a Wave: The Second Stage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
CHAPTER EIGHT: The Fate of Sign in the Later Latin Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	364
CHAPTER NINE: Three Outcomes, Two Destinies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
CHAPTER TEN: The Road Not Taken Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	447
PART THREE: The Modern Period
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Beyond the Latin Umwelt: Science Comes of Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	485
CHAPTER TWELVE: The Founding Fathers: Rene Descartes and John Locke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	511
CHAPTER 13: Synthesis and Successors: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	540
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Locke Again: The Scheme of Human Knowledge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	590
PART FOUR: Postmodern Times
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Charles Sanders Peirce and the Recovery of Signum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	609
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Semiology: Modernity's Attempt to Treat the Sign Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	669
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: At the Turn of the Twenty-first Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	689
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: At the Turn of the Twenty-first Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	735
Historically Layered References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	743
Gloss on the References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	835
Index: RERUM ET PERSONARUM Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	837
Timetable of Figures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1015

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 928

eBook

Published: June 11, 2001
ISBN: 9781442675032