QUACKGRASS PRESS

• An Introduction to Logic, H. W. B. Joseph. Back in print!
• Logic: An Introduction, Lionel Ruby. Back in print!

• History of Western Philosophy, W. T. Jones. In 5 volumes.
• History of Western Philosophy, Wilhelm Windelband (out of print, alas.)
• History of Ancient Philosophy, Wilhelm Windelband (out of print, alas.)
• Leonard Peikoff's Lectures on Western Philosophy

• How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill
• Ancient Science Through the Golden Age of Greece,George Sarton
• The God of the Machine, Isabel Paterson

An Introduction to Logic, by H. W. B. Joseph. This long out of print classic has been brought back by The Paper Tiger, and is now available from Amazon! Despite its title, Joseph's Logic is anything but an introduction. In his review of the new printing, Objectivist Dr. Harry Binswanger says "It is a very advanced and very brilliant work on the philosophy of logic, in the Aristotelian tradition. First published in 1906, it is a high-water mark in the field, showing how much we have lost over the ensuing decades."  Joseph's Logic is the single volume treatment of logic; what Joseph doesn't tell you about logic, you're unlikely to learn from anyone else. A must for the personal library of any aspiring deep thinker, or come to think of it, of any thinker whomever!

Logic: An Introduction, by Lionel Ruby. Ruby's logic was also long out of print until resurrected by The Paper Tiger, and it too has been briefly reviewed by Dr. Binswanger. He writes, "Ruby's book was first published in 1950; the second edition of 1960 is the one now republished. This is an elementary textbook that reflects the philosophic climate of the early to mid-twentieth century—i.e., it has enough remnants of the nineteenth century that, in comparison to the philosophic shambles of today, it seems clear-headed and common-sensical." I'd say that Ruby is chiefly for those who are too nervous to plunge directly into Joseph; Ruby will give you a good start on the basic ideas and terminology of logic. Ruby followed by Joseph is an unbeatable combination for your studies!

History of Western Philosophy, W. T. Jones. 
Jones' is the best history of philosophy for beginners! A standard textbook. A bright, clear introduction to the whole of western philosophy, in 5 volumes.

"The Jefferson School has begun the publication of the literary version of Leonard Peikoff's twenty-four lectures on the history of Western philosophy. Edited by Linda Reardan, A.M., this is ... a polished literary rendition, so that you can now read and study it in the way it deserves. The lectures are the only available source of the Objectivist view on all of the essential doctrines of all of the major philosophers in history." 

Leonard Peikoff was for many years an associate of Ayn Rand. I heard these lectures on tape in the 1970s, and am enthusiastic about their quality. Until recently, they were not available in printed form. Each lecture occupies about 50 printed pages.

You can get the first 3 lectures immediately, and subscribe to this series to get the rest as they are completed—all at a special discounted price of US$10.95 each.

How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe, Thomas Cahill, Paperback, Anchor Books

The Dark Ages gave way to the Middle Ages. 

Why? When Roman civilization vanished into the abyss of the Dark Ages, it was still declining. When medieval civilization appeared on this side of the abyss, it was already rising. What happened in between? What reversed the trend? What ideas created the Middle Ages from which the Renaissance eventually emerged?

It is a commonplace that ancient learning was preserved in "the monasteries," but Cahill tells us who these scholarly monks were and where they came from.

They came from Ireland. Ireland had been put in contact with ancient learning by St. Patrick ca. 430 AD. Isolated at the far edge of the known world, Ireland was spared the barbarian rampages that devastated the continent and most of Britain.

As Cahill abundantly documents, the Irish plunged into centuries of scholarship and quackgrass activism! They copied every book they could lay hands on, and carried them all over Europe. They founded monasteries in Scotland, England, and as far away as the toe of the Italian boot. Each monastery in turn became a center of learning and copying. Traces of Irish scholars have been detected as far afield as Kiev in the Ukraine!

Cahill's story of Dark Age quackgrass activism is truthful and fascinating, but is only the foundation for deeper thoughts. He asks how these Dark Age scholars transformed the heritage they transmitted, and he zeroes in on some of the deepest ideas of all. In briefest essence, he says that these Dark Age monks began to uphold the reality and goodness of this world, the natural world, the one we perceive by our senses, a.k.a., reality.

This contrasts starkly with the (Platonic) ideas of later antiquity. For example, we hear from Augustine in the 4th century that this world is almost nothing compared to the supernatural, a mere vale of tears in which we can hope for nothing. Augustine's ideas are the kind you'd expect to create a Dark Age, and their opposites are the kind you'd expect to end a Dark Age. Reality and goodness of this world are the sort of ideas you'd expect eventually to create a civilization that would welcome Aristotle. And they did.

Don't let Cahill's easy style and cheerful grinding of Irish nationalist and religious axes put you off. This slim volume is deep and immensely learned, and begins to fill a gaping hole in the history of civilization.

Where did science come from? In this reprint of a classic originally published in 1952, George Sarton digs for the roots. By the time you finish this one volume, you will have met all the greats of ancient thought in the context of their time, and have been introduced to many of their discoveries. If you're not already acquainted with outlines of general ancient history, you'll pick them up along the way. 

Aristotle took a bum rap during the Renaissance as an enemy of science, and his reputation has still not fully recovered. Ancient Science shows with tremendous care that Aristotle was great, not only in philosophy, but in the narrower sciences.

Paterson looks at the whole sweep of history, from ancient to contemporary, and relates it to the ideas and principles of freedom. Her central concern is to discover the political forms which freedom and civilization require. Her central unifying concept of "the long circuit of energy that makes civilization work" is both exhilarating and true: if economic thinking has not yet caught up to Isabel Paterson, so much the worse for it!

God of the Machine is one of my all-time favorites; it was my first clue that history could be more than a boring recitation of names and dates. 

Written by a friend of Ayn Rand, and a lover of freedom, God of the Machine is a gem!