Randall Collins. The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change

Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002. — 1098 p.This astonishing book testifies to decades of research through the greater part of philosophy. East and West. Collins attacks myths of the origin and spread of ideas about knowledge and the world. He demolishes at least two. One is that ideas flow ready-made from the heads of a few great men. The other is that ideas are created by "cultures." Collins shows again and again that small groups are the source of innovation. They are often stimulated by a single figure who tends to move from group to group, but several people make a contribution. Small factual errors inevitably turn up in such a book, but overall the research is deep and sound, and years of debate should lead to refinements.