A BEGINNER’S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
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Illustration: IMMANUEL KANT
(The Puttrich’sche Portrait of Kant was printed in the
_Kant-Studien_ in 1906 and is said by Professor Vaihinger to
be one of the best likenesses of the Königsberg philosopher.
The name of the artist was Puttrich, and the original painting
goes back before 1798. It is interesting to note that this
portrait of Kant was used by the sculptor, Rauch, as his model
for the statue of Kant upon the memorial monument of Frederick
the Great.)
A BEGINNER’S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
BY
HERBERT ERNEST CUSHMAN, LL.D., PH.D.
_Sometime Professor of Philosophy in Tufts College
Lecturer of Philosophy in Harvard College
Lecturer of Philosophy in Dartmouth College_
VOL. II
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Illustration: (‡ Colophon)
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY HERBERT ERNEST CUSHMAN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PREFACE
The pedagogical purpose of this history of philosophy is stated in
the Preface to the first volume. It may be desirable in this place to
restate what that purpose is.
This book is intended as a text-book for sketch-courses in the history
of philosophy. It is written for the student rather than for the
teacher. It is a history of philosophy upon the background of geography
and of literary and political history. Since the book is intended for
the student, it makes the teacher all the more necessary; for it puts
into the hands of the student an outline of the history of philosophy
and into the hands of the teacher the class-room time for inspiring
the student with his own interpretations. In making use of geographical
maps, contemporary literature, and political history, this book is
merely employing for pedagogical reasons the stock of information
with which the student is furnished, when he begins the history of
philosophy. The summaries, tables, and other generalizations are
employed, as in text-books in other subjects, as helps to the memory.
Therefore the book has the single purpose of arranging and organizing
the material of the history of philosophy for the beginner.
The student will be impressed with the short time-length of the modern
period compared with the tremendously long stretches of the periods
of antiquity. The modern period is only four hundred and fifty years
in length, if we take the date 1453 as its beginning. Compared to the
twenty-two hundred years of ancient and mediæval life, the period of
modern life seems very short. Furthermore the student who has followed
the philosophy of antiquity must have observed how often philosophy
arose out of ethnic situations in which whole civilizations were
involved. He will find that modern philosophy in this respect stands in
contrast with the philosophy of ancient times. With the decentralizing
of modern Europe, philosophy has also become decentralized. This
does not mean that philosophical movements have included fewer people
in their sweep, but that the movements have had shorter life, the
transitions have been quicker, and the epochs have been briefer.
Modern civilization is subjective; and its philosophy is thereby more
technical, and more difficult to understand and to interpret than the
philosophy of antiquity.
There are many helpful books in English on the history of modern
philosophy, and the student should have them at hand. I call attention
especially to Rand, _Modern Classical Philosophers_, for its judicious
selection from the original sources; to Royce, _Spirit of Modern
Philosophy_, chapters iii to x; to Eucken, _The Problem of Human
Life_, pp. 303 to 518; and to the Summaries in Windelband, _History
of Philosophy_, Parts IV to VII. Besides these there are valuable
histories of modern philosophy by Falckenberg, Höffding (2 vols.),
Weber, Ueberweg (vol. ii), Calkins, Dewing, and Rogers.
To friends who have read parts of the manuscript, I desire to
acknowledge my indebtedness for many wise criticisms and suggestions;
especially to Professor W. A. Neilson, Professor R. B. Perry, Dr. B.
A. G. Fuller, and Dr. J. H. Woods of Harvard University; to Professor
Mary W. Calkins of Wellesley College; to Professor W. P. Montague of
Columbia University; and to Professor S. P. Capen of Clark College.
TUFTS COLLEGE, December, 1910.
CONTENTS
VOLUME II. MODERN PHILOSOPHY
(1453 TO THE PRESENT TIME)
CHAPTER I. THE CHARACTERISTICS AND DIVISIONS OF THE MODERN
PERIOD 1
THE DIFFICULTY IN THE STUDY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY 1
THE PERIODS OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY 2
THE CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE
AGES 4
(a) _The Internal Causes_ 4
(1) The Intellectual Methods were Self-Destructive 4
(2) The Standard of Truth became a Double Standard 5
(3) The Development of Mysticism 5
(4) The Doctrine of Nominalism 5
(b) _The External Causes_ 6
CHAPTER II. THE RENAISSANCE (1453–1690) 8
THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE RENAISSANCE 8
(a) _The New Man of the Renaissance_ 8
(b) _The New Universe of the Renaissance_ 9
(1) The Transformation of the Physical Universe 9
(2) The Restoration of the World of Antiquity 10
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RENAISSANCE IN HISTORY 11
MAP SHOWING THE DECENTRALIZATION OF EUROPE 13
THE TWO PERIODS OF THE RENAISSANCE: THE HUMANISTIC
(1453–1600); THE NATURAL SCIENCE (1600–1690) 15
(a) _The Similarities of the Two Periods_ 16
(b) _The Differences of the Two Periods_ 16
(1) The Countries which participate in the
Renaissance differ in the Two Periods 16
(2) The Intellectual Standards differ in the Two
Periods 17
(3) The Scientific Methods in the Two Periods were
Different 18
(4) The Attitude of the Church toward Science differs
in the Two Periods 19
A BRIEF CONTRAST OF THE TWO PERIODS――A SUMMARY OF THE
DISCUSSION ABOVE 21
CHAPTER III. THE HUMANISTIC PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE
(1453–1600) 22
THE LONG LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE HUMANISTIC PERIOD 22
NICOLAS OF CUSA (1401–1464) 24
PARACELSUS (1493–1541) 25
GIORDANO BRUNO (1548–1600) 27
MAP SHOWING THE BIRTHPLACES OF THE CHIEF PHILOSOPHERS OF
THE RENAISSANCE 30
CHAPTER IV. THE NATURAL SCIENCE PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE
(1600–1690) 31
THE PHILOSOPHERS OF THE NATURAL SCIENCE PERIOD 31
THE MATHEMATICAL ASTRONOMERS 32
GALILEO GALILEI (1564–1641) 36
THE LIFE OF FRANCIS BACON, BARON VERULAM (1561–1626) 39
THE POSITION OF BACON IN PHILOSOPHY 39
THE AIM OF BACON 42
THE METHOD OF BACON 43
(a) _Bacon’s Criticism of the Past_ 44
(b) _Bacon’s Positive Construction_ 45
THE ENGLISH NATURAL SCIENCE MOVEMENT 46
THOMAS HOBBES AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 47
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HOBBES (1588–1679) 49
1. As a Classical Scholar (1588–1628) 49
2. As Mathematician (1628–1638) 49
3. As Philosopher (1638–1651) 50
4. As Controversialist (1651–1668) 50
5. As Classical Scholar (1668–1679) 50
THE INFLUENCES UPON THE THOUGHT OF HOBBES 50
1. His Premature Birth 50
2. His Father 51
3. The New Mathematical Science 52
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE IN THE TEACHING OF HOBBES 52
THE METHOD OF HOBBES 54
THE KINDS OF BODIES 55
HOBBES’S APPLICATION OF THE MATHEMATICAL THEORY TO
PSYCHOLOGY 56
HOBBES’S APPLICATION OF THE MATHEMATICAL THEORY TO
POLITICS 58
THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND AFTER HOBBES 61
CHAPTER V. THE RATIONALISM OF THE NATURAL SCIENCE PERIOD
OF THE RENAISSANCE 62
THE NATURE OF RATIONALISM 62
THE MENTAL CONFLICT IN DESCARTES 65
THE LIFE AND PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF DESCARTES
(1596–1650) 66
1. As Child and Student (1596–1613) 66
2. As Traveler (1613–1628) 66
3. As Writer (1629–1650) 67
4. In Stockholm (1649–1650) 67
THE TWO CONFLICTING INFLUENCES UPON THE THOUGHT OF
DESCARTES 67
THE METHOD OF DESCARTES 69
INDUCTION――PROVISIONAL DOUBT――THE ULTIMATE CERTAINTY OF
CONSCIOUSNESS 70
DEDUCTION――THE IMPLICATIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS 72
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 73
THE REALITY OF MATTER 75
GOD AND THE WORLD 77
THE RELATION OF GOD TO MATTER 77
THE RELATION OF GOD TO MINDS 78
THE RELATION OF MIND AND BODY 78
THE INFLUENCE OF DESCARTES 80
THE RELATION OF THE OCCASIONALISTS AND SPINOZA TO
DESCARTES 81
PORTRAIT OF SPINOZA 84
THE HISTORICAL PLACE OF SPINOZA 84
THE INFLUENCES UPON SPINOZA 86
1. His Jewish Training 86
2. His Impulse from the New Science――Descartes’
Influence 86
3. His Acquaintance with the Collegiants 87
THE LIFE AND PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF SPINOZA
(1632–1677) 88
1. In Israel (1632–1656) 89
2. In Retirement (1656–1663) 89
3. In the Public Eye (1663–1677) 90
THE METHOD OF SPINOZA 90
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF SPINOZA’S PHILOSOPHY 91
THREE CENTRAL PROBLEMS IN SPINOZA’S TEACHING 93
THE PANTHEISM OF SPINOZA――THE ALL-INCLUSIVENESS OF GOD 94
THE MYSTICISM OF SPINOZA 98
SPINOZA’S DOCTRINE OF SALVATION 102
SUMMARY OF SPINOZA’S TEACHING 106
LEIBNITZ AS THE FINISHER OF THE RENAISSANCE AND THE
FORERUNNER OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT 107
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF LEIBNITZ (1646–1716) 108
1. Leipsic and University Life (1646–1666) 111
2. Mainz and Diplomacy (1666–1672) 111
3. Paris and Science (1672–1676) 111
4. Hanover and Philosophy (1676–1716) 112
THE THREE INFLUENCES UPON THE THOUGHT OF LEIBNITZ 112
(1) His Early Classical Studies 112
(2) The New Science and his own Discoveries 113
(3) Political Pressure for Religious Reconciliation 114
THE METHOD OF LEIBNITZ 115
THE IMMEDIATE PROBLEM FOR LEIBNITZ 118
THE RESULT OF LEIBNITZ’S EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPLES
OF SCIENCE――A PLURALITY OF METAPHYSICAL SUBSTANCES 119
1. Leibnitz first scrutinized the Scientific
Conception of Motion 119
2. Leibnitz next examined the Scientific Conception of
the Atom 120
3. Leibnitz then identified Force with the Metaphysical
Atom 121
THE DOUBLE NATURE OF THE MONADS 122
THE TWO FORMS OF LEIBNITZ’S CONCEPTION OF THE UNITY OF
SUBSTANCES 125
THE INTRINSIC UNITY OF THE MONADS――THE PHILOSOPHICAL
UNITY 125
THE SUPERIMPOSED UNITY OF THE MONADS――THE THEOLOGICAL
UNITY 129
CHAPTER VI. THE ENLIGHTENMENT (1690–1781) 132
THE EMERGENCE OF THE “NEW MAN”――INDIVIDUALISM 132
THE PRACTICAL PRESUPPOSITION OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT――THE
INDEPENDENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL 134
THE METAPHYSICAL PRESUPPOSITION OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT 135
THE PROBLEMS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT 135
(a) _Utilitarian Problems_ 136
(b) _Questions of Criticism_ 138
A COMPARISON OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN ENGLAND, FRANCE,
AND GERMANY 140
THE MANY GROUPS OF PHILOSOPHERS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT 140
MAP SHOWING THE BIRTHPLACES OF SOME OF THE INFLUENTIAL
THINKERS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT 144
CHAPTER VII. JOHN LOCKE 145
THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN 145
JOHN LOCKE, LIFE AND WRITINGS (1632–1704) 147
1. Student Life (1632–1666) 147
2. As Politician (1666–1683) 148
3. As Philosophical Author (1683–1691) 149
4. As Controversialist (1691–1704) 149
THE SOURCES OF LOCKE’S THOUGHT 150
1. His Puritan Ancestry 150
2. His Training in Tolerance 150
3. The Scientific Influence 151
4. The Political Influence 152
SUMMARY 153
THE PURPOSE OF LOCKE 153
TWO SIDES OF LOCKE’S PHILOSOPHY 155
(a) _The Negative Side――Locke and Scholasticism_ 156
(b) _The Positive Side――The New Psychology and
Epistemology_ 157
LOCKE’S PSYCHOLOGY 158
LOCKE’S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE 160
LOCKE’S PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY 162
THE INFLUENCE OF LOCKE 163
THE ENGLISH DEISTS 164
THE ENGLISH MORALISTS 166
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE ENGLISH MORALISTS 168
CHAPTER VIII. BERKELEY AND HUME 169
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF GEORGE BERKELEY (1685–1753) 169
1. His Early Training (1685–1707) 169
2. As Author (1707–1721) 170
3. As Priest and Missionary (1721–1753) 171
THE INFLUENCES UPON THE THOUGHT OF BERKELEY 172
THE PURPOSE OF BERKELEY 173
BERKELEY’S GENERAL RELATION TO LOCKE AND HUME 174
BERKELEY’S POINTS OF AGREEMENT WITH LOCKE 175
THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF BERKELEY’S PHILOSOPHY 176
1. As shown in General in his Analysis of Abstract
Ideas 177
2. As shown in Particular in his Analysis of Matter 177
THE POSITIVE SIDE OF BERKELEY’S PHILOSOPHY 179
1. Esse est Percipi 179
2. The Existence of Mind is assumed by Berkeley 180
3. Spiritual Substances are Sufficient to explain all
Ideas 181
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF DAVID HUME (1711–1776) 183
1. Period of Training (1711–1734) 184
2. Period of Philosopher (1734–1752) 185
3. Period of Politician (1752–1776) 185
INFLUENCES UPON THE THOUGHT OF HUME 186
DOGMATISM, PHENOMENALISM, AND SKEPTICISM 187
THE ORIGIN OF IDEAS 189
THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS 191
THE ASSOCIATION OF CONTIGUITY 193
THE ASSOCIATION OF RESEMBLANCE 194
1. Mathematics 194
2. The Conception of Substance: Hume’s Attack on
Theology 195
THE ASSOCIATION OF CAUSATION: HUME’S ATTACK ON SCIENCE 196
THE EXTENT AND LIMITS OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE 199
HUME’S THEORY OF RELIGION AND ETHICS 200
THE SCOTTISH SCHOOL 201
CHAPTER IX. THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN FRANCE AND GERMANY 203
THE SITUATION IN FRANCE IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT 203
THE ENGLISH INFLUENCE IN FRANCE 206
THE TWO PERIODS OF THE FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT 207
THE INTELLECTUAL ENLIGHTENMENT (1729–1762)――VOLTAIRE,
MONTESQUIEU, AND THE ENCYCLOPÆDISTS 208
VOLTAIRE (1694–1778) 209
THE ENCYCLOPÆDISTS 211
THE SOCIAL ENLIGHTENMENT (1762–1789) 213
ROUSSEAU (1712–1778) 213
THE GERMAN ENLIGHTENMENT (1740–1781) 216
THE INTRODUCTORY PERIOD (1648–1740). ABSOLUTISM 217
1. The Rise of Prussia 218
2. The Early German Literature 219
3. The Pietistic Movement 219
4. The Transformation of Leibnitz’s Rationalism 220
SUMMARY OF THE LITERARY ENLIGHTENMENT OF GERMANY
(1740–1781) 223
THE POLITICAL ENLIGHTENMENT OF GERMANY――FREDERICK THE
GREAT 224
THE COURSE OF THE GERMAN ENLIGHTENMENT 226
LESSING 228
CHAPTER X. KANT 230
THE CONVERGENCE OF PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES IN GERMANY 230
THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY 231
THE TWO PERIODS OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY 232
THE INFLUENCES UPON KANT 233
1. Pietism 233
2. The Leibnitz-Wolffian Philosophy 233
3. The Physics of Newton 234
4. The Humanitarianism of Rousseau 234
5. The Skepticism of Hume 235
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF KANT (1724–1804) 235
THE PROBLEM OF KANT 238
THE METHOD OF KANT 239
THE THREEFOLD WORLD OF KANT――SUBJECTIVE STATES,
THINGS-IN-THEMSELVES, AND PHENOMENA 240
THE WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE 243
THE PLACE OF SYNTHESIS IN KNOWLEDGE 245
THE JUDGMENTS INDISPENSABLE TO HUMAN KNOWLEDGE 248
THE PROOF OF THE VALIDITY OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE 252
1. In what does the Validity of Sense-♦Perception
consist? 253
2. In what does the Validity of the Understanding
consist? 255
HAS THE REASON BY ITSELF ANY VALIDITY? 260
THE IDEA OF THE SOUL 262
THE IDEA OF THE UNIVERSE 264
THE IDEA OF GOD 265
CONCLUSION 268
THE PROBLEM OF THE CRITIQUE OF PRACTICAL REASON: THE
ETHICS OF KANT 269
THE MORAL LAW AND THE TWO QUESTIONS CONCERNING IT 271
1. The First Question concerning the Moral Law 272
2. The Second Question concerning the Moral Law 273
THE MORAL POSTULATES 275
1. The Postulate of Freedom 276
2. The Postulate of the Immortality of the Soul 276
3. The Postulate of the Existence of God 276
CHAPTER XI. THE GERMAN IDEALISTS 278
IDEALISM AFTER KANT 278
FICHTE, SCHELLING, AND HEGEL 279
MAP SHOWING THE UNIVERSITY TOWNS AND OTHER IMPORTANT
PLACES CONNECTED WITH THE GERMAN IDEALISTS 280
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF FICHTE (1762–1814) 282
1. His Education (1762–1790) 283
2. Discipleship of Kant (1790–1794) 283
3. His Life at Jena (1794–1799) 284
4. His Life at Berlin (1799–1814) 284
THE INFLUENCES UPON FICHTE’S TEACHING 285
WHY WE PHILOSOPHIZE 286
THE MORAL AWAKENING 287
THE CENTRAL PRINCIPLE IN FICHTE’S PHILOSOPHY 288
THE MORAL WORLD 290
GOD AND MAN 292
WHAT A MORAL REALITY INVOLVES 293
1. It involves the Consciousness of Something Else 293
2. It involves a Contradiction 294
ROMANTICISM 295
GOETHE AS A ROMANTICIST 297
ROMANTICISM IN PHILOSOPHY 299
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF SCHELLING (1775–1854) 300
1. Earlier Period (1775–1797) 302
2. The Philosophy of Nature (1797–1800) 302
3. The Transcendental Philosophy (1800–1801) 302
4. The Philosophy of Identity (1801–1804) 303
5. The Philosophy of Freedom and God (1804–1809) 303
6. The Philosophy of Mythology and Revelation
(1809–1854) 303
A BRIEF COMPARISON OF FICHTE AND SCHELLING AS
PHILOSOPHERS 303
SCHELLING’S PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE 305
SCHELLING’S TRANSCENDENTAL PHILOSOPHY 307
THE SYSTEM OF IDENTITY 310
SCHELLING’S RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY 311
HEGEL AND THE CULMINATION OF IDEALISM 312
WHY HEGEL REMAINS TO-DAY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF KANT 314
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HEGEL (1770–1831) 315
1. Formative Period (1770–1796) 317
2. Formulation of his Philosophy (1796–1806) 317
3. Development of his Philosophy (1806–1831) 317
REALISM, MYSTICISM, AND IDEALISM 318
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HEGEL’S IDEALISM 321
THE COSMIC UNITY 322
THE COSMIC LAW 326
HEGEL’S APPLICATION OF HIS THEORY 328
CHAPTER XII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE THING-IN-ITSELF 330
HERBART AND SCHOPENHAUER 330
JOHANN FRIEDRICH HERBART 332
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HERBART (1776–1841) 333
THE CONTRADICTIONS OF EXPERIENCE 334
THE ARGUMENT FOR REALISM 334
THE MANY REALS AND NATURE PHENOMENA 337
THE SOUL AND MENTAL PHENOMENA 338
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER AND HIS PHILOSOPHICAL RELATIONS 340
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF SCHOPENHAUER (1788–1860) 342
1. Period of Education (1788–1813) 343
2. Period of Literary Production (1813–1831) 343
3. Period of Retirement (1831–1860) 343
THE INFLUENCES UPON SCHOPENHAUER’S THOUGHT 343
THE WORLD AS WILL AND THE WORLD AS IDEA 345
THE WILL AS IRRATIONAL REALITY 347
THE MISERY OF THE WORLD AS IDEA――PESSIMISM 348
THE WAY OF DELIVERANCE 349
CHAPTER XIII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 352
THE RETURN TO REALISM 352
THE CHARACTER OF THE REALISM OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 353
MODERN PHILOSOPHY AND GERMAN IDEALISM 355
THE PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 356
1. The Problem of the Functioning of the Soul 357
2. The Problem of the Conception of History 360
INDEX 365
ILLUSTRATIONS
IMMANUEL KANT _Frontispiece_
MAP SHOWING THE DECENTRALIZATION OF EUROPE 13
MAP SHOWING THE BIRTHPLACES OF THE CHIEF PHILOSOPHERS OF
THE RENAISSANCE 30
BARUCH DE SPINOZA 84
MAP SHOWING THE BIRTHPLACES OF SOME OF THE INFLUENTIAL
THINKERS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT 144
MAP SHOWING THE UNIVERSITY TOWNS AND OTHER IMPORTANT
PLACES CONNECTED WITH THE GERMAN IDEALISTS 280
A BEGINNER’S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
VOLUME II
MODERN PHILOSOPHY (1453 TO THE PRESENT TIME)
CHAPTER I
THE CHARACTERISTICS AND DIVISIONS OF THE MODERN PERIOD
=The Difficulty in the Study of Modern Philosophy.= Beside the great
spans of ancient and mediæval civilizations, the 450 years of the
modern period seem brief. The road is indeed relatively short from
mediæval times to the century in which we live, and yet it proves
difficult to the student who travels it for the first time. Even for
the modern mind the study of modern philosophy is inherently more
difficult than that of the ancient and mediæval. The preceding periods
present new points of view, but these, once attained, lead along
comparatively easy ways. The chief difficulty of the preceding periods
is overcome when their peculiar view of things is gained; but the
student of modern philosophy is confronted with difficulties all along
the way. In the first place, modern philosophy is very complex because
it is a conflict of various aspirations. It has neither the objectivity
of ancient thought nor the logical consistency of mediæval thought.
It arises from subjective motives, whose shadings are difficult to
trace. The task is rendered harder by the fact that intimations of the
problems in the history of modern philosophy are on the whole present
in the beginner’s mind; and yet at the same time his mind possesses,
besides these, many mediæval notions as well. For the student to pass
successfully through the entire length of modern thought from Cusanus
to Spencer means, therefore, two things for him: (1) he must gain an
insight into the depth and significance of his own half-formed ideas;
(2) he must transcend or give up entirely his mediæval notions. If
therefore philosophy represents the epoch that produces it,――either as
the central principle or as the marginal and ulterior development of
that epoch,――the modern can come to an understanding of the history of
modern philosophy only by coming to an understanding of himself and his
own inner reflections.
This will explain why the short period of modern thought is
traditionally divided into comparatively many periods. These
subordinate periods ring out the changes through which the modern man
feels that he himself has blindly passed in his inner life. Modern
philosophy is no more local and temporary than the ancient; it is no
less a part of a social movement; but the modern man is more alive to
the differentiations of modern thought than he is to those of antiquity.
=The Periods of Modern Philosophy.= The divisions of the history of
modern philosophy are as follows:――
1. The Renaissance (1453–1690)――from the end of the Middle
Ages to the publication of Locke’s _Essay on the Human
Understanding_.
2. The Enlightenment (1690–1781)――to the publication of Kant’s
_Critique of Pure Reason_.
3. German Philosophy (1781–1831)――to the death of Hegel.
4. The Nineteenth Century Philosophy (1820–the present time).
The Renaissance, the first period, covers more than half of the length
of modern times. It is sometimes called the springtime of modern
history, although it is longer than all the other seasons together.
It is to be noted that two epoch-making books form the dividing lines
between the first three periods. The transition from the Renaissance
to the Enlightenment is signalized by Locke’s great _Essay on the Human
Understanding_, which expressed for one hundred years the political
and philosophical opinions of western Europe. The transition from the
Enlightenment to German Philosophy was in its turn signalized by the
appearance of Kant’s _Critique of Pure Reason_, and this book may be
said to have been fundamental to human thinking ever since. There is
one point further to be noticed in these divisions, and that is the
overlapping of the last two periods. German philosophy ends practically
with the death of Hegel in 1831, and the modern Evolution movement
began at least ten years before, about 1820. No great philosophical
treatise marks the division here, for the Evolution movement had its
beginnings in German philosophy and in the discoveries and practical
inventions of natural science. Evolution, however, became a reaction
upon the last phases of German philosophy, and then formed a distinct
movement. The book that formulated the Evolution movement most fully
appeared several years after the theory was under way. This was
Darwin’s _Origin of Species_, published in 1859. Locke’s _Essay_ and
Kant’s _Critique_ are therefore the most influential philosophical
interpretations of the history of modern times since its early
beginnings in the Renaissance.
=The Causes of the Decay of the Civilization of the Middle Ages.= The
social structure of the mediæval time weakened and broke apart, in the
first place because of certain inherent defects in its organism; in
the second place because of some remarkable discoveries, inventions,
and historical changes. We may call these (1) _the internal causes_ and
(2) _the external causes_ of the fall of the civilization of the Middle
Ages.
(a) _The Internal Causes_ were inherent weaknesses in mediæval
intellectual life, and alone would have been sufficient to bring
mediæval society to an end.
(1) _The intellectual methods_ of the Middle Ages were self-destructive
methods. We may take scholasticism as the best expression of the
intellectual life of the Middle Ages, and scholasticism even in its
ripest period used the _method of deductive logic_. Scholasticism did
not employ induction from observation and experiment, but proceeded on
the principle that the more universal logically a conception is, the
more real it is. (See vol. i, p. 355.) On this principle scholasticism
set as its only task to penetrate and clarify dogma. Its theism was
a _logical_ theism. Even Thomas Aquinas, the great classic schoolman,
used formal logic (dialectics) as the method of obtaining the truth.
After him in the latter part of the Middle Ages, logic instead of being
a method became an end. It was studied for its own sake. This naturally
degenerated into word-splitting and quibbling, into the commenting
upon the texts of this master and that, into arid verbal discussions.
The religious orders frittered away their time on verbal questions of
trifling importance. The lifetime of such intellectual employment is
always a limited one.
(2) _The standard of the truth_ of things in the Middle Ages became
a double standard, and was therefore self-destructive. Ostensibly
there was only one standard,――infallible dogma. Really there were two
standards,――reason and dogma. The employment of logical methods implied
the human reason as a valid standard. Logic is the method of human
reasoning. To use logic to clarify dogma, to employ the philosophy
of Aristotle to supplement the Bible, to defend faith by argument,
amounted in effect to supporting revelation by reason. It was the same
as defending the infallible and revealed by the fallible and secular.
It was the erecting of a double standard. It called the infallible into
question. It was the offering of excuses for what is supposedly beyond
suspicion. The scholastic made faith the object of thought, and thereby
encouraged the spirit of free inquiry.
(3) _The development of Mysticism_ in the Middle Ages was a powerful
factor that led to its dissolution. There is, of course, an element
of mysticism in the doctrine of the church from St. Augustine
onwards, and in the Early Period of the Middle Ages mysticism had
no independence. But mysticism is essentially the direct communion
with God on the part of the individual. The intermediary offices of
the church are contradictory to the spirit of mysticism. It is not
surprising, therefore, to find in the last period of scholasticism
numerous independent mystics as representatives of the tendency of
individualistic religion, which was to result in the Protestantism of
the Renaissance.
(4) _The doctrine of Nominalism_ was the fourth important element to be
mentioned that led to the dissolution of the civilization of the Middle
Ages. This was easily suppressed by the church authorities in the early
mediæval centuries, when it was a purely logical doctrine and had no
empirical scientific basis. In the later years, however, nominalism
gained great strength with the acquisition of knowledge of the nature
world. Nominalism turned man’s attention away from the affairs of
the spirit. It incited him to modify the realism of dogma. It pointed
out the importance of practical experience. It emphasized individual
opinion, neglected tradition, and placed its hope in the possibilities
of science rather than in the spiritual actualities of religion.
(b) _The External Causes_ consisted of certain important events that
brought the Middle Ages to a close and introduced the Renaissance.
These events caused great social changes by demolishing the
geographical and astronomical conceptions of mediæval time which had
become a part of church tradition.
First to be mentioned are the inventions which belong to the Middle
Ages, but which came into common use not before the beginning of the
Renaissance. These played an important part in the total change of
the society which followed. They were the magnetic needle, gunpowder,
which was influential in destroying the feudal system, and printing,
which would have failed in its effect had not at the same time
the manufacture of paper been improved. Moreover at the end of the
fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century occurred the
following events:――
1453. Constantinople fell and its Greek scholars migrated to Italy.
1492. Columbus discovered America, an achievement which was made
possible by the use of the magnetic needle.
1498. Vasco da Gama discovered the all-sea route to India and thereby
changed the course of the world’s commerce.
1518. The Protestant Reformation was begun by Luther.
1530. Copernicus wrote his _De revolutionibus orbium_, in which he
maintained that the earth moved around the sun.