Human imagination has gone through
A special journey through history
Human history is a history of evolution of thought.
‘Idea’, the starting point of everything in history,
Exploring humanity's incredible potential with that power

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto transforms history into refined art.
Victoria Glendinning, The Times

Author like the hero of the Argo.
Persistent and bold.
_〈Washington Post〉

Extraordinary, erudite, always intelligent, and often witty, A History of Ideas is a must-read not only for scholars of the history of ideas, but for all readers interested in the human past.
This book is a celebration of intellectual diversity and a scathing critique of the homogenization of thought that is a hallmark of our times, particularly our academia.
Niall Ferguson (Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University)

I am different from other authors who have tried to write the history of ideas before me.
First, I address the question of how and why we come to have ideas in the first place.
(…) Second, contrary to common practice, I begin my story from the depth of the evidence rather than relying solely on the documentary record.
(…) Third, when I write the history of ideas, I want to break away from the practice of describing it as if it were a parade of individual thinkers.
_From the "Preface"

The thoughts that come out of our minds can make us seem crazy.

Some of our powerful ideas defy reason, conventional wisdom, and common sense.
These ideas emerge from recesses buried deep underground, inaccessible to science and incomprehensible to reason.

--- p.7

I argue that it is ideas, not impersonal forces, that create the world.
Almost everything we do begins in our heads, with reimagined worlds we strive to build into reality.
We fail often, but even these failures influence events, and the resulting shocks give rise to new patterns and new processes.

--- p.68~69

We have ideas because we come up with them ourselves.
Ideas do not come to us through some force outside ourselves.

--- p.75

By accessing the invisible, we gain the power to master the visible.
Witchcraft is truly powerful.
Even today, magic exerts a powerful influence over humans, if not over other parts of nature, and reappears in all societies.

--- p.118~119

The world's most extraordinary ideas—symbolic communication, the distinction between life and death, existence beyond the material cosmos, the possibility of accessing other worlds, spirits, mana, and even gods—had already entered our lives and transformed our world before the end of the Ice Age.
The political thought of this time had already produced various methods of selecting leaders—not only by force but also by charisma and hereditary succession—and various devices for regulating society, including taboos related to food and sex, and the ritualization of commodity exchange.
But what happened when the glaciers retreated and the environments people cherished vanished? How did people react when global warming resumed intermittently between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, threatening the familiar comforts of traditional ways of life? What new ideas emerged in response to, or independent of, the changing environment?
--- p.146

Conflict and competition often stimulate new thinking.

--- p.208

The ideas about God presented by new religions are an excellent place to examine the new ideas they inspired.

--- p.228

But the wise men could never avoid expanding their thinking beyond what their customers found useful, entering the realm of speculation that reached transcendence and truth.

--- p.245

Thought does not need to seek its object outside of thought.
Thought can create its own object.

--- p.252

Religion should make us good people.
Isn't that right? Religion should change our lives.
People who say their lives have changed after encountering religion sometimes talk about rehabilitation.
But if you actually look at their actions, the effect seems minimal.
It appears that religious people are, on average, just as likely to commit evil acts as other people.
In my case, I don't do anything noble other than going to church diligently.
If religion is meant to make us better people, why doesn't it work that way?
--- p.285

Church and state have always been closely intertwined.
Because saints were held in high esteem as pure and objective beings, they were not permitted to leave the world.

--- p.337

Intellectuals ruled the world.
This is true in light of anecdotes traditionally illuminated in 16th and 17th century history.
The Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution followed one another, leaving a deeper mark than the change of dynasty or the fate of war.
The 'Age of Expansion' - the traditional expression for this period in general - was nothing less than the product of expanding minds, a 'discovery of the world and a discovery of man'.
Of course, other forces were also at work in the background.
Plagues have returned, bitter cold has arrived, and the mutations and rearrangements of mindless life forms (what scientists call "biota")—plants, animals, and microbes—have triggered a global ecological revolution.

--- p.359

The pursuit of an ideal society is similar to the pursuit of happiness.
A journey filled with hope is better.
Because arrival only leads to disillusionment.

--- p.397

It is often misunderstood that legendary monsters are the product of a lively imagination, but in fact, the opposite is true.
The monsters of legend are evidence of the mental limitations of people.
People lack the ability to think of strangers on the same terms as themselves.
--- p.415

For those who believe in the natural equality of all people, the state exists to enforce equality.
To those who do not, the state has a moral obligation to level the “playing field” and correct the imbalances between the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor.
But this is a dangerous idea.
Because equality enforced at the expense of freedom can lead to tyranny.

--- p.458~459

A proper balance between the supply of labor and the demand for goods is a key requirement for industrialization.
Britain was the first to meet this requirement, followed in the 19th century by other European countries, including Belgium, the United States, and Japan.

--- p.493

“Courtesy and righteousness” were above “convenience and skill.”

--- p.551

The early 20th century was both a grave and a cradle.
It was a graveyard of long-standing certainties and a cradle of a peculiar and hesitant civilization.
A succession of surprising and unsettling new ideas and discoveries has challenged many of the assumptions that have underpinned the cultural trends that have prevailed in the West, and more broadly in the world, over the past two centuries—ways of life, attitudes of mind, the distribution of power and wealth.
A sudden intellectual counter-revolution dethroned the certainties inherited from the Enlightenment and the scientific tradition.

--- p.581~582

Freud's ideas could have potentially quite shocking implications for morality.
If we don't know the reasons behind our actions, our power to change ourselves for the better is limited.
The very concept of individual moral responsibility is questionable.
We can free ourselves from guilt and blame our shortcomings and misdeeds on our upbringing.

--- p.605

In every era, great empires have coexisted with diverse peoples with very different lifestyles.
Of course, each empire usually had one dominant culture, but many other cultures were tolerated.
In the 20th century, simple tolerance was no longer sufficient.
Hostility feeds dogmatism.
If the enemy refutes your opinion, you will have no choice but to assert the unique truth of that opinion.
If you want to rally people to support your irrational arguments, all you need is a common enemy they can freely vilify and fear.
But in a multi-civilized world, a multicultural society shaped by mass migration and passionate cultural exchange, we cannot afford to tolerate hostility.
We need ideas that will bring peace and cooperation.

--- p.691