A Concise History of Western Philosophy

From Platonism to Nihilism

Mark Anderson (Belmont University, USA)

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Hardback

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
13 November 2025

Philosophy; Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500; Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600; Western philosophy: Enlightenment; Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology

Telling the compelling story of western philosophy from Plato to Nietzsche, Mark Anderson presents a series of through-provoking interpretations of its major figures.

Anderson traces western thought through the conflict between the order of Being and the change of Becoming.

Identifying Plato as the premiere philosopher of Being and Nietzsche as the peerless advocate of Becoming, the book tracks the transition from a realist worldview to the world of skepticism, relativism and nihilism we inhabit today.

Traveling from the ancient Greeks to modern nihilists, Anderson explores the thought of Parmenides and Heraclitus; Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus; Augustine, Aquinas, and Ockham; Descartes, Hume, and Kant. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Platonism, its place in the history of western metaphysics, and its power to help us understand the ethical crisis of our postmodern world.

By: Mark Anderson (Belmont University USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781350555983
ISBN 10: 1350555983
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 13 November 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface 1. One and Many 2. Parmenides 3. Heraclitus 4. Gorgias 5. One and Many 6. Plato: Ontology 7. Plato: Epistemology 8. Plato: Objectivism and Relativism 9. One and Many 10. Aristotle: Ontology 11. Aristotle: Ethics 12. Plotinus 13. Sextus Empiricus 14. Augustine 15. Aquinas 16. William of Ockham 17. Descartes 18. Hume 19. Kant 20. Nietzsche: Platonism Inverted 21. Nietzsche: Metaphysical Nihilism 22. Nietzsche: Psychological Nihilism 23. Being and Becoming Suggestions for Further Reading Index

Mark Anderson is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Director of Classics at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He is the author of Pure: Modernity, Philosophy, and the One (2009) and translator of selections from Plato’s “myths” in Gods, Heroes, and Monsters: A Sourcebook of Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern Myths in Translation, edited by Carolina López-Ruiz (2013).

Reviews for A Concise History of Western Philosophy: From Platonism to Nihilism

This is a fun, lively, deeply informed and pedagogically useful story of the movement in Western philosophy from Parmemides to Nietzsche. -- Paul S. Loeb, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Puget Sound, USA