<sod>''A History of Western Philosophy'' received a mixed reception, especially from academic reviewers. Russell was somewhat dismayed at the reaction.<ref>Monk p. 296</ref> [[Roger Scruton]] writes that the book is elegantly written and witty, but faults it for its concentration on pre-Cartesian philosophy, lack of understanding of [[Immanuel Kant]], and over-generalization and omissions.<ref name="Scruton">Scruton, R: "Short History of Modern Philosophy ", Routledge, 2001</ref> In Jon Stewart's anthology ''The Hegel Myths and Legends'' (1996), ''A History of Western Philosophy'' is listed as a work that has propagated "myths" about Hegel.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Stewart, Jon |title=The Hegel Myths and Legends |publisher=Northwestern University Press |location=Evanston, Illinois |year=1996 |page=383 |isbn=0-8101-1301-5 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> Stephen Houlgate writes that Russell's claim that Hegel's doctrine of the state justifies any form of tyranny is ignorant.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Houlgate, Stephen |author2=Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich |title=The Hegel Reader |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Oxford |year=1998 |page=2 |isbn=0-631-20347-8 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref><eod>
<sod>''A History of Western Philosophy'' received a mixed reception, especially from academic reviewers. Russell was somewhat dismayed at the reaction.<ref>Monk p. 296</ref> Russell himself described the text as a work of social history, asking that it be treated in such a manner.<ref name="autobio">Russell, B: "The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell", Routledge, 2000</ref> Russell also stated: "I regarded the early part of my ''History of Western Philosophy'' as a history of culture, but in the later parts, where science becomes important, it is more difficult to fit into this framework. I did my best, but I am not at all sure that I succeeded. I was sometimes accused by reviewers of writing not a true history but a biased account of the events that I arbitrarily chose to write of. But to my mind, a man without bias cannot write interesting history — if, indeed, such a man exists."<ref name="autobio"/><eod>