安东尼·肯尼爵士系牛津大学常务副校长，曾任贝列尔学院(Balliol College)院长和罗德学院(Rhodes House)院长。自20世纪60年代以来，肯尼一直是牛津大学哲学系成员，并且是许多美国大学的客座教授。他是英国科学院前任主席和英国图书馆馆长。

中国社会科学院研究生院哲学博士，北京第二外国语学院比较文学与跨文化研究所副教授，中华美学学会副秘书长，中华美学学会美育学术委员会副主任，《美学》与《中国艺术教育》杂志编委。主要学术兴趣为美学、美育学与比较文学。

主要著作有《康德与中国现代美学思想》和《多维视野中的美育》等。合著有《思辨的想象——20世纪中国美学主题史》《知识经济时代的美学与设计》和《美国艺术教育新台阶》等。译著有《环境美学——自然、艺术与建筑的鉴赏》和《中国人的生活智慧》等。

Sir Anthony Kenny's engaging new history of Western philosophy now advances into the modern era. The Rise of Modern Philosophy is the fascinating story of the emergence, from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, of great ideas and intellectual systems that shaped modern thought. Kenny introduces us to some of the world's most original and influential thinkers, and shows us the way to an understanding of their famous works. The thinkers we meet include Rene Descartes, traditionally seen as the founder of modern philosophy; the great British philosophers Hobbes, Locke, and Hume; and the towering figure of Immanuel Kant, who perhaps more than any other made philosophy what it is today. In the first three chapters Kenny tells the story chronologically: his lively accessible narrative brings the philosophers to life and fills in the historical and intellectual background to their work. It is ideal as the first thing to read for someone new to the history of modern philosophy.In the seven chapters that follow Kenny looks closely at each of the main areas of philosophical exploration in this period: knowledge and understanding; the nature of the physical universe; metaphysics (the most fundamental questions there are about existence); mind and soul; the nature and content of morality; political philosophy; and God. A selection of intriguing and beautiful illustrations offer a vivid evocation of the human and social side of philosophy. Anyone who is interested in how our understanding of ourselves and our world developed will find this a book a pleasure to read.