The Reception of Russell’s <em>A History of Western Philosophy</em>

Abstract

Russell’s History of Western Philosophy was a commercial success and generally popular with the overall public. There were many reviews written of the work; most were not favourable. In this paper I examine a selection of the reviews which shed light on how Russell was perceived as a historian of philosophy. Among the many philosophers who reviewed the work and are discussed here are Isaiah Berlin, C. D. Broad, Martial Gueroult, C. E. M. Joad, H. J. Paton, Karl Popper, Joseph Ratner, Yor­ick Smythies and Paul Weiss.