Ernest Gellner

Ernest Gellner:An Intellectual Biography

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A remarkable account of the life and thoughts of the philosopher and linguist

Ernest Gellner was a multilingual polymath who set the agenda in the study of nationalism and the sociology of Islam for an entire generation of academics and students. This definitive biography follows his trajectory from his early years in Prague, Paris and England to international success as a philosopher and public intellectual. Known both for his highly integrated philosophy of modernity and for combining a respect for nationalism with an appreciation for science, Gellner was passionate in his defence of reason against every for of relativism.

Reviews

  • The cumulative effect is monumental—and a monument does seem overdue.

    Scott McLemeeNational
  • Gellner has been brought back to life—alongside his combative ideas and his maverick approach to intellectual combat—in a sympathetic but by no means reverential biography by his former pupil John A. Hall.

    Wall Street Journal
  • Few books have more successfully combined the study of personal life and intellectual development in the turbulent setting of the twentieth century.

    Eric HobsbawnObserver Books of the Year