Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud

Author’s Note

In the acknowledgements to his book The Joys of Yiddish, published in 1970, Leo Rosten thanks a friend of his who, in making a critique of the manuscript, brought to bear ‘his singular acquaintanceship with ancient history, Latin, Greek, German, Italian, Hebrew, Aramaic and Sanskrit’. It is that last touch I liked – Aramaic and Sanskrit. To be able to speak English, German and Italian is impressive enough; add on Latin, Greek and Hebrew and that marks you out as a linguist of unusual distinction; but Aramaic (the language of Jesus) and Sanskrit? Such an individual can only be what Rosten himself identifies elsewhere in his book as a great scholar, a chachem, ‘a clever, wise or learned man or woman’. In a work such as Ideas it is comforting to think of learning and wisdom as one and the same but Rosten immediately punctures any such hope. ‘A bright young chachem told his grandmother that he was going to be a Doctor of Philosophy. She smiled proudly: “Wonderful. But what kind of disease is philosophy?” ’

I could have done with any number of friends like Rosten’s in the course of writing this book, which ranges over material conceived in many languages, Aramaic and Sanskrit among them. But multi-multilingual mavin (Yiddish for experts, connoisseurs) are not as thick on the ground as once they were. However, I have been no less fortunate in that a number of eminent scholars, who liked the plan for a history of ideas aimed at a general readership, agreed to read either parts or all of the typescript, and to give me the benefit of their expertise. Before I thank them, I hasten to make the usual disclaimer, that such errors, omissions and solecisms as remain in the text are my responsibility and mine alone. That said, I extend my gratitude to: John Arnold, Peter J. Bowler, Peter Burke, Christopher Chippendale, Alan Esterson, Charles Freeman, Dominick Geppert, P. M. Harman, Robert Johnston, John Keay, Gwendolyn Leick, Paul Mellars, Brian Moynahan, Francis Robinson, James Sackett, Chris Scarre, Hagen Schulze, Robert Segal, Chandak Sengoopta, Roger Smith, Wang Tao, Francis Watson and Zhang Haiyan. For editorial and other input, I am also indebted to: Walter Alva, Neil Brodie, Cass Canfield Jr., Dilip Chakrabati, Ian Drury, Vivien Duffield, Hugh van Dusen, Francesco d’Errico, Israel Finkelstein, Ruth and Harry Fitzgibbons, David Gill, Eva Hajdu, Diana and Philip Harari, Jane Henderson, David Henn, Ilona Jasiewicz, Raz Kletter, David Landes, Constance Lowenthal, Fiona McKenzie, Alexander Marshack, John and Patricia Menzies, Oscar Muscarella, Andrew Nurnberg, Joan Oates, Kathrine Palmer, Colin Renfrew, John Russell, Jocelyn Stevens, Cecilia Todeschini, Randall White and Keith Whitelam. The book could not have been written without the help of the staffs of three libraries: the Haddon Library of Anthropology and Archaeology, Cambridge, England; the London Library; the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, in the University of London. I am most grateful for their help.

At the end of this book there are roughly 3,550 references spread over 95 pages. However, I would like here to draw attention to those titles on which I am especially reliant. One of the very real pleasures of researching and writing Ideas has been making the acquaintance of so many works that, though they may never be bestsellers, are masterpieces of erudition, insight and scholarship. Not a few of the titles mentioned below are classics of their kind, and were this book not so long already I would have liked to have attempted a bibliographical essay describing the contents, approach and attractions of many of the following works. As it is, I will merely say that the list which follows contains books that are, quite simply, indispensable for anyone who wishes to consider himself or herself informed about the history of ideas and that my gratitude to the following authors knows no bounds. The pleasure these volumes have given me is immeasurable.

Alphabetically by author/editor, they are: Harry Elmer Barnes, An Intellectual and Cultural History of the Western World; Isaiah Berlin, The Sense of Reality; Malcolm Bradbury and James McFarlane (editors), Modernism: A Guide to European Literature, 1890–1930; Jacob Bronowski and Bruce Mazlish, The Western Intellectual Tradition; Edwin Bryant, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture; James Buchan, The Capital of the Mind; Peter Burke, Culture and Society in Renaissance Italy; J. W. Burrow, The Crisis of Reason: European Thought, 1848–1914; Norman Cantor, The Civilisation of the Middle Ages; Ernst Cassirer, The Philosophy of the Enlightenment; Jacques Cauvin, The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture; Owen Chadwick, The Secularisation of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century; Marcia Colish, Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400–1400; Henry Steel Commager, The Empire of Reason; Alfred W. Crosby, The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society; Georges Duby, The Age of the Cathedrals; Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas; Henri F. Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious; J. H. Elliott, The Old World and the New; Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin, The Coming of the Book; Valerie Flint, The Imaginative Landscape of Christopher Columbus; Robin Lane Fox, The Unauthorised Version; Paula Fredericksen, From Jesus to Christ; Charles Freeman, The Closing of the Western Mind; Jacques Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilisation; Marija Gimbutas, The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe: 6500 to 3500 BC; Edward Grant, God and Reason in the Middle Ages; Peter Hall, Cities in Civilisation; David Harris (editor), The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia; Alvin M. Josephy (editor), America in 1492; John Keay, India: A History; William Kerrigan and Gordon Braden, The Idea of the Renaissance; Paul Kriwaczek, In Search of Zarathustra; Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution; Donald F. Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe; David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations; David Levine, At the Dawn of Modernity; David C. Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science; A. O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being; Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought; Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America; Steven Mithen, The Prehistory of the Mind; Joseph Needham, The Great Titration; Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China; Hans J. Nissen, The Early History of the Ancient Near East; Anthony Pagden, The Fall of Natural Man and People and Empires; J. H. Parry, The Age of Reconnaissance; L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars; E. G. Richards, Mapping Time: The Calendar and Its History; Richard Rudgley, The Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age; H. W. F. Saggs, Before Greece and Rome; Harold C. Schonberg, Lives of the Composers; Raymond Schwab, The Oriental Renaissance; Roger Smith, The Fontana History of the Human Sciences; Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind; Ian Tattersall, The Fossil Trail; Peter S. Wells, The Barbarians Speak; Keith Whitelam, The Invention of Ancient Israel; G. J. Whitrow, Time in History; Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A Manual.

I would also like to draw attention to the sponsors and editors of the various university presses around the world. Many of the most interesting and important books discussed in the following pages were never going to be commercial propositions; but university presses exist, at least in part, to see that new ideas get into print: we are all in their debt. Nor should we forget the translators (some anonymous, some long-departed) of so many of the works described in this book. As Leo Rosten acknowledged, linguistic skills ought not to be taken for granted.

In the chapters on China I have used the Pinyin system of transliteration as opposed to Wade-Giles, except for certain words where the Wade-Giles format is well known even to non-specialists (Pinyin dispenses with all apostrophes and hyphens in Chinese words). In transcribing other scripts (for example, Arabic, Greek, Sanskrit) I have omitted virtually all diacritical marks, on the grounds that most readers will not know how, for example, å or ẹ modifies the sound. Marks are included only where essential – for example, to distinguish the Russian prehistoric site of Mal’ta from the Mediterranean island of Malta. For the most part I have referred to the books of the Hebrew Bible as scriptures. Occasionally, for the sake of variety, I have used Old Testament.

My greatest debt, as always, is to Kathrine.