Doubt: A History

The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson

by Jennifer Hecht

On Sale: 09/07/2004

Doubt: A History

The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson

by Jennifer Hecht

On Sale: 09/07/2004

Format:

About the Book

In the tradition of grand sweeping histories such as From Dawn To Decadence, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and A History of God, Hecht champions doubt and questioning as one of the great and noble, if unheralded, intellectual traditions that distinguish the Western mind especially-from Socrates to Galileo and Darwin to Wittgenstein and Hawking. This is an account of the world's greatest ‘intellectual virtuosos,' who are also humanity's greatest doubters and disbelievers, from the ancient Greek philosophers, Jesus, and the Eastern religions, to modern secular equivalents Marx, Freud and Darwin—and their attempts to reconcile the seeming meaninglessness of the universe with the human need for meaning,

This remarkable book ranges from the early Greeks, Hebrew figures such as Job and Ecclesiastes, Eastern critical wisdom, Roman stoicism, Jesus as a man of doubt, Gnosticism and Christian mystics, medieval Islamic, Jewish and Christian skeptics, secularism, the rise of science, modern and contemporary critical thinkers such as Schopenhauer, Darwin, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, the existentialists.

Critical Praise

“A remarkably wide ranging history.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Hecht gleefully invites readers on a lively stroll through three millennia of clashes between believers and nonbelievers.” — Detroit Free Press

“Hecht aims to give doubt its due in her lively and endlessly provocative new book.” — Christian Century

“Hecht is right that doubt’s story deserves to be told ... [and] she tells it in just the right spirit.” — Alan Wolfe, New Republic

“Jennifer Michael Hecht has forever changed the way I will think about history — religious or otherwise.” — Krista Tippett, Speaking of Faith -- Minnesota Public Radio

-

Resources

Product Details

  • ISBN: 9780060097950
  • ISBN 10: 0060097957
  • Imprint: HarperOne
  • On Sale: 09/07/2004
  • Pages: 576
  • List Price:21.99 CAD
  • BISAC1 : HISTORY / United States / General
  • BISAC2 : RELIGION / Religion, Politics & State
  • BISAC3 : HISTORY / General
  • BISAC4 : PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Modern
  • BISAC5 : SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General

Doubt: A History by Jennifer Hecht

The broadest selection of online bookstores. The links will take you to the web site's home page.

Other Booksellers

The broadest selection of online bookstores. The links will take you to the Web site's home page.

SELECT:

Specialty Booksellers

Interest-specific online venues and gift accounts that offer books for purchase. The links will take you to the store’s home page.

International Customers

If you are located outside Canada, the best way to order online is to choose from the following bookstores listed by region and country.