Newman in the Story of Philosophy

Book excerpt: Saint John Henry Newman is widely acknowledged to be an important theologian. Despite this, Newman commentators believe that his work has received little recognition by philosophers. This book explores whether or not Newman’s supposed philosophical isolation constitutes a misconception in Newman historiography. First of all, it does this by examining Newman’s general philosophical reception over the last two centuries; surveying a wide range of philosophical positions and philosophers from the many different branches of this discipline. The book then focuses upon whether or not Newman has made a contribution to one specific philosophical position, seldom given attention within Newman scholarship: the particularist approach to epistemology. In its investigations into this and the other more general dimension of Newman’s philosophical reception, the book offers an historical re-evaluation of Newman’s philosophical legacy.