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Work #1462 · Career-spanning

A History of Philosophy

Frederick Copleston
1946–1974 (9 volumes) · English
Multi-volume history of philosophy · Neo-Scholastic Thomism / English Catholic philosophy of religion / analytic-friendly Catholic scholarship

Copleston's 1946–74 nine-volume history — the standard English-language Catholic survey of Western philosophy

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute A History of Philosophy (Career-spanning)
Time · Extent Finite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Both
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Immediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Limited
Observer · Moral Authority Revelation
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

A History of Philosophy

1946–1974 — twentieth-century English Catholic survey of two and a half millennia of Western thought.

Space

A History of Philosophy

England / Rome — Jesuit-academic context.

Matter

A History of Philosophy

Nine-volume historical survey covering Greek, medieval, modern, and contemporary philosophy.

Observer

A History of Philosophy

Copleston as the implicit Neo-Scholastic evaluator of the tradition he surveys.

Energy

A History of Philosophy

Sustained career-long synthesising labour.

Information

A History of Philosophy

Approximately six thousand pages of historical exposition with extensive bibliography.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

A History of Philosophy

The standard mid-twentieth-century English-language history of philosophy; superseded in specifics by later monographs but never displaced as a single coherent survey.