Medieval Philosophy (A New History of Western ... (ISBN 0198752741)

A Pleasure:
The book expounds the main ideas of the medieval thinkers with great clarity and a pleasing lightness of touch. The book is not only a pleasure to read but to hold and look at. Author and publisher have both done an excellent job.

A Good Resource:
A good introductory survey of philosophical topics as they were treated by various medieval thinkers throughout the entire period, from late antiquity and the commentators of Aristotle, to the inception of the humanists. The survey combines what is properly called intellectual history and philosophy proper. The historical aspect is kept to a minimum (as it ought to be in a philosophy book) without sacrificing salient features of the historical context in which the topic under discussion occurred. The philosophy, on the other hand, is more developed and Kenny has an emphasis on concept explanation, as opposed to explicating arguments; though he does do both at times. This includes the following topics: God, Mind and Soul, Logic and Language, Knowledge, Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, as well as an excellent treatment of philosophy and religious belief from Augustine to Maimonides,and scholasticism from the twelfth century renaissance (Abelard and the 'nominales' school) to the so-called renaissance proper (roughly 1360-1550), at which point scholasticism began to give way to the new schoolman, the humanists. Kenny is especially good at explaining the intellectual current of a given period and how such a current has bearing on the topic at hand, this is particularly seen in his discussion of physics. As such, the historical context of each topic and its subsequent development is presented thoroughly but briefly; however, little attention is given to the explication of any particular thinker's arguments on any given topics. For that reason, you will find little critical analysis of is presented. All in all it is an excellent work, written clearly and informatively, by a very capable philosopher. Its a good introduction for undergraduates at the freshman and sophomore level. But if you've had more than a survey course in medieval philosophy, you need something with a bit more depth.