The Passion of the Western Mind - Understanding the Ideas that Shape Our World View

573 Pages·2010·7.66 MB·English

by  Richard Tarnas

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Tarnas is a professor of philosophy and cultural history at the
California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he founded
the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. He also
teaches archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate
Institute in Santa Barbara. Born in 1950 in Geneva, Switzerland of American
parents, he is a graduate of Harvard University and Saybrook Institute. His
most recent book, Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View,
received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network
in the UK.

TH E PASSION O F THE
WESTERN MIND
Understanding the ideas that have shaped our world view
Richard Tarnas
PIMLICO
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Epub ISBN: 9781407053998
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Published by Pimlico 2010
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Copyright © Richard Tarnas 1991
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indentified as the author of this work
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First published in the USA in 1991 by Crown
First published in the UK in 1996 by Pimlico
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To Heather
Contents

Preface
Introduction

I. The Greek World View 1

The ArchetypalForms 3

Ideas and Gods 11

The Evolution of the Greek Mind from Homer to Plato 14

The Mythic Vision 14

The Birth of Philosophy 17

The Greek Enlightenment 24

Socrates 30

The Platonic Hero 35

The Philosopher’s Quest and the Universal Mind 41

The Problem of the Planets 49

Aristotle and the Greek Balance 57
The DualLegacy 72

II. The Transformation of the Classical Era 77

Crosscurrents of the Hellenistic Matrix 79

The Decline and Preservation of the Greek Mind 79
Astronomy 83

Astrology 86

Neoplatonism 89

Rome 92

The Emergence of Christianity 94
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III. The Christian World View 97

Judaic Monotheism and the Divinization of History 100

Classical Elements and the Platonic Inheritance 105

The Conversion of the PaganMind 113

Contraries Within the Christian Vision 128

Exultant Christianity 134

Dualistic Christianity 140

Further Contraries and the Augustinian Legacy 149

Matter and Spirit 149

Augustine 154

Law and Grace 160

Athens and Jerusalem 163
The Holy Spirit and Its Vicissitudes 167

Rome and Catholicism 171
The Virgin Mary and the MotherChurch 175

A Summing Up 179

IV. The Transformation of the Medieval Era 1 85

The Scholastic Awakening 189

The Quest of Thomas Aquinas 194

Further Developments in the High Middle Ages 206

The Rising Tide of Secular Thought 206

Astronomy and Dante 208

The Secularization of the Church and the Rise of Lay Mysticism 211

Critical Scholasticism and Ockham’s Razor 215

The Rebirth of Classical Humanism 225
Petrarch 225
The Return of Plato 227
ii
At the Threshold 237

V. The Modern World View 239

The Renaissance 240

The Reformation 250

The Scientific Revolution 266

Copernicus 266

The Religious Reaction 270

Kepler 273

Galileo 276

The Forging of Newtonian Cosmology 280

The Philosophical Revolution 292

Bacon 292

Descartes 296

Foundations of the Modern World View 303

Ancients and Moderns 313

The Triumph of Secularism 321

Science and Religion: The Early Concord 321

Compromise and Conflict 325

Philosophy, Politics, Psychology 332

The Modem Character 343

Hidden Continuities 345

VI. The Transformation of the Modern Era 349

The Changing Image of the Human from Copernicus through Freud 350

The Self-Critique of the Modern Mind 358

From Locke to Hume 358

Kant 366

The Decline of Metaphysics 378
iii