 chapter 68 of history of philosophy this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Kate McKenzie history of philosophy by William Turner chapter 68 French philosophy at the end of the 18th century the censism of Condillac was the dominant philosophy in France during the Revolution this censism was represented by the materialist Cabanis of whom mention has already been made during the last years of the 18th century and the first years of the 19th Destud de Tracy 1754 to 1836 taught a system of ideological censism in opposition to the physiological censism of Cabanis the period of reconstruction with which the 19th century opened in France witnessed two important movements opposed to censism the one theological and the other psychological towards the middle of the century positivism appeared and as a result of the practical bent of positivism there appeared also an important school of economy and sociology accordingly the history of French philosophy in the 19th century includes the study of one the theological or traditionalist school to the psychological spiritualistic school three positivism and four the sociological school one the traditional school the Catholic reaction against the materialism and rationalism of the period of enlightenment so-called appears in the writings of Joseph de Maistre 1754 to 1821 who in his work du pape 1819 to 1820 defends the principle of papal authority and in his soiree de Saint Petersburg 1821 arraigns the philosophy of the 18th century as a conspiracy against the truth in the latter work de Maistre touches on the relation of divine providence to human affairs and speaks of a future religious renovation which he describes in somewhat mystical language as the submerging of all things and all men in the ocean of divinity the bonald life Louie Gabrielle de bonald who is perhaps the most important of the traditionalists of this period was born at Mouna ne mio in 1754 having thrown in his lot with the royalists he was obliged in 1791 to leave France he sought refuge at Heidelberg where he composed his treatise entitled théorie de pouvoir politique et religieux Constance 1796 after his return from exile he was appointed by Napoleon to the position of counselor of the University of Paris and subsequently held several political offices under Louis the 18th and Charles the 10th in 1830 he renounced the peerage to which he had been raised by Louis the 18th and returned to his native place where he died in 1840 his collected works were published in 12 volumes Paris 1817 to 1819 doctrines de bonald's philosophy is based on his theory of language language he teaches is not an invention of man for in order to invent it man should think and he cannot think without words il faut penser sa parole avant de parler sa pensée language therefore was given to man by God himself and as language implies a knowledge of the essential truths of the religious metaphysical moral and political orders such truths must have been conveyed to primitive man together with language since the history of philosophy shows that human reason is of itself incapable of arriving at knowledge of these truths philosophical method demands that the divine revelation and tradition on which our knowledge of such truths depends should be set up as the supreme criterion of truth this account of the origin of language implies that social organization of some sort existed from the beginning and that political authority had not its origin in a social contract developing the principles of his speculative system and applying them to the study of the social life of man de bonald teaches that the family is the social unit that the state is not a union of individuals but of families that in every political society there are three moral personalities represented by the words power minister and subject that in every state there should exist between these personalities union and distinction and that such union and distinction are best maintained in a monarchy in which both the authority of the ruler and that of the ministers are hereditary la menace life felicité Robert de la menace who was by far the ablest of the traditionalists was born at Saint-Malo in 1782 he was educated by his uncle and by his brother Jean Marie who was a priest and founder of a religious society at the age of 22 he experienced the religious crisis of his life from this time forward he set aside all the doubts which had troubled his youth spent for the most part in disultery reading and gave himself up to study in prayer at la chainé the villa which Maurice de Guerin had so vividly described after a brief sojourn in England la menace returned to France and in 1816 was ordained priest during the years 1818 to 1830 besides publishing the essay sur l'indifférence en matière de religion he contributed to the conservateur and to other monarchical periodicals articles in which he attacks the revolution and defended the rights of the church so great was the favor which these articles found at Rome that Leo the 12th proposed to elevate la menace to the dignity of Cardinal from the publication of la venir which first appeared in 1830 dates a new era in la menace life the motto of the group of distinguished contributors to this celebrated journal was dieu et la liberté as dieu et le roi was that of the royalists they defended freedom of conscience freedom of education and freedom of the press they advocated the separation of church and state and the rescinding of the concordat they proclaimed the coming triumph of democracy and the abolition of hereditary monarchy these views naturally provoked opposition in 1831 the three principal writers engaged on the paper la menace l'accordére amont olembert went to lay their case before the holy sea in the following year Gregory the 16th issued the encyclical mirari vos condemning the doctrines advocated in the columns of la venir la menace submitted at first but later as is well known recalled his adhesion to the papal decision and in the parole de John Croyen 1834 and in the affaire de Rome made open war on the church and on the whole existing order in 1841 appeared the esquise d'une philosophie in four volumes la menace greatest constructive work in 1834 he threw in his lot with the revolutionary party and in 1841 was elected to the chamber of deputies he died on reconciled to the church in 1854 sources during la menace lifetime his works were collected and published in 12 volumes Paris 1836 to 1837 subsequently several treatises not contained in this edition were published for full bibliography compare Mollien Edwin l'aménée sa vie c'est idée liant 1898 consult also Gibson's the abbey de la menace and the liberal Catholic movement in France London 1896 doctrines traditionalism in the essay sur l'indifference la menace appears as the champion of orthodox Christianity he assails the fundamental tenet of rationalism and endeavors to prove the inability of individual human reason to arrive at a knowledge of truth having shown that the individual mind is incapable of attaining certitude he proceeds to establish a new criterion of truth namely the verdict of the collective reason in other words the universal consent of mankind by means of this criterion he proves the truth of theism revealed religion and Catholicism la menace traditionalism appears when as in essay tom 2 chapter 16 he refers the verdict of the collective reason raison sociale to the illumination of a higher reason philosophical synthesis in the esquise d'une philosophie la menace appears as a synthetic philosopher to the traditionalism which he professed in his earlier work he here adds an element of mysticism teaching that tradition is to be supplemented by faith that God is the first object of philosophy and that the finite is to be known by means of the infinite with this neoplatonic mysticism he mingles a strange form of rationalism he maintains for example the identity of the supernatural with the natural order of truth and teaches that the Trinity is an object of philosophical speculation finally he introduces an element of pantheism teaching that while there are two classes of being namely finite and infinite there is but one substance and that substance is God among those who were influenced to a greater or less degree by la menace philosophical doctrines were Gervais 1798 to 1864, Rochebache 1789 to 1856, Boutin 1795 to 1867, Bonati 1798 to 1879, Ventura 1792 to 1861 and Grattri 1805 to 1872 of these Boutin, Bonati and Ventura developed traditionalism into a system of Phidiasm substituting for the universal consent of mankind faith in God and in the doctrines of the scriptures and of the church while Grattri in his celebrated work de la connaissance de Dieu developed a system of ontologism historical position the traditionalists Phidias and ontologists of this period were all actuated by the same motive the desire to offset the materialistic skepticism of the age of enlightenment and to place theism and Christianity on a firmer basis than that which individual speculation can furnish but as Gattri himself pointed out the attempt to discredit individual reason could not but result in the discredit of religion so that far from curing religious indifference philosophical indifference was calculated to aggravate the evil this is the sentence which the church pronounced in condemnation of traditionalism to the psychological spiritualistic school was like the traditionalist movement an attempt to counteract the influence of skepticism and materialism but instead of turning to tradition and authority for the principles out of which it was to build a spiritualistic philosophy this school turned to Cartesian psychology and restored psychological introspection to its place as a supreme criterion of philosophical truth main De Birin 1766 to 1824 belonged at first to the ideological school of De Tracey later however he developed a system of his own based on the importance of internal reflection as a method in philosophy by means of this reflection we become aware of the voluntary effort which distinguishes our external from our internal experience in this way we arrive at a knowledge of self as distinct from not sell and at an understanding of the true nature of mental life and mental phenomena for the abstract metaphysician the soul must remain an unknown quantity for the advocate of censism also it must remain unknown as to its true nature because the census is unable to avoid the interpretation of internal phenomena in terms of external causes the only legitimate method in philosophy is that of internal reflection during the last years of his life De Birin abandoned the standpoint of psychological experience for that of mystic intuition to the two stages of life that of representation which animals possess and that of volition or rather of sensation and volition united in perception he now adds a third that of love the spiritual life in which representation and volition are absorbed in the life of supernatural grace Royer Collard 1763 to 1845 who was more distinguished as a statesman than as a philosopher introduced into France the principles of the Scottish school and thus prepared the way for the eclecticism of Cousin Victor Cousin 1792 to 1867 borrowing from Leibniz the principle that start quote systems are true by what they affirm and false by what they deny end quote sought to unite in one eclectic system platonism neoplatonism and German transcendentalism using the criterion of the Scottish school common sense as his guiding principle his works consist of lecture courses published 1815 to 1820 and 1828 to 1830 and fragment philosophic published in five volumes 1866 Cousin with whom the influence of German speculation was at one time preponderant maintained that the impersonal reason has an immediate intuition of the absolute later however he went back to the Cartesian position and restored individual introspection to its place in philosophical method at a still later period he seems to have reduced philosophy to a matter of merely historical interest he taught that all philosophical systems may be arranged under four heads censism idealism skepticism and mysticism that in each of these there are elements of truth and that the whole truth is to be found in a syncretic union of those doctrines which common sense judges to be true tailed or jufoi 1796 to 1842 took the extreme spiritualistic view of the relation between physiology and psychology treating them as branches of science which have nothing to do with each other his eclecticism appears in the following saying start quote there are two ways in which the thinking man can win peace for his soul and rest for his spirit the one is to possess or to believe he possesses the truth respecting the questions which interest humanity the other is to perceive clearly that truth is unattainable and to know why it is so end quote there are he maintains limits to the horizon of science and it is the task of science gradually to determine these limits here we observe the practical spirit which appears in more systematic form in positivism 3 positivism Auguste Comte 1798 to 1857 is the founder of positivism many influences went to form his system of thought the censism of didderot the criticism of Kant the common sense of the Scottish school the skepticism of Hume and the mysticism of the Middle Ages Comte stood in relations of personal friendship with Saint Simon John Stuart Mill his principal work is his course the philosophy positive published 1839 to 1842 translated by Harriet Martino London 1853 relativity of knowledge the critical or destructive aspect of positivism appears in its denial of the validity of metaphysical speculation and in its abolition of final causes and of the absolute our knowledge according to positivism is confined to facts and the relations of facts we do not know the essences of things all knowledge is therefore limited to our sense knowledge of facts and to the higher kind of organized knowledge which is a knowledge of the relations of facts it is futile to inquire into the first origin or the ultimate destiny of the facts which we know positive philosophy confines its inquiry to the investigation of the relations existing between facts at the same time positivism is far from giving its sanction to that empiricism which merely studies facts as isolated phenomena for the knowledge of isolated phenomena is valueless unless it be referred to a law or theory by which facts are explained law of the three stages positive knowledge begins when we learn to explain phenomena by their laws now this stage of knowledge was preceded in the development of human thought by two preliminary stages the metaphysical and the theological the law of the three stages is as follows human thought passed successfully through the theological the metaphysical and the positive stage which corresponds to the childhood youth and manhood of science in the theological stage of thought every phenomenon was referred to the voluntary action of supernatural intelligent beings and fetishism polytheism and monotheism became successfully the explanation of natural events in the metaphysical stage of thought abstract occult causes took the place of the supernatural entities of the theological period and events were explained by referring them to chemical force vital force substantial forms etc finally in the positive stage of thought occult and abstract causes are discarded and phenomena are explained by means of laws this law of three stages is germinally contained in the writings of turkle 1727 to 1781 classification of sciences some of the sciences have already attained the positive stage in which they deal merely with concrete facts and laws others are still in the metaphysical or the theological stage taking the positive sciences in the order of increasing complexity Comte reduces them to six namely mathematics astronomy physics chemistry biology and sociology this arrangement indicates the order in which the sciences have arrived at the positive stage and also the order of dependence each science being dependent on those which preceded metaphysics finds no place in the classification and psychology is included under biology with regard to sociology it is coms aim to make it a positive science and to this project he devotes special attention he starts with the doctrine that the relations of man to his fellow men are subject to law and proceeds to the discovery and formulation of the laws of the social order one in the social statics the inquiry into the conditions which constitute social equilibrium and ensure the permanence of social states and two in the social dynamics the inquiry into the laws of social progress in the former he lays down the principle that the harmony solidarity and mutual dependence of the different elements in social life depend on the proper adjustment of the selfish and the altruistic impulses of the individual the selfish impulses constitute the conservative while the altruistic impulses constitute the progressive element in science art religion politics and industry in the social dynamics com makes use of the principle of development from militarism to the juristic phase to the industrial phase of human society three stages which correspond to the theological metaphysical and positive stages of intellectual development mysticism in his later writings com evinces a decided leaning towards the principles of mysticism he abandons the view that intellectual development is paramount and that the stage of positive science is the highest aim of human activity and of social amelioration in his earlier works he was content with expressing his admiration for start quote everything great and deep which the Catholic system affected during the Middle Ages end quote now however he has recourse to the Catholic system for direct inspiration and learns from the study of the imitation of Christ to put the spiritual and emotional above the intellectual as a standard of values he aims at making positivism a religion of which he himself is to be the first pontiff the objects of veneration in this new religion are to be the great being humanity the great medium world space and the great fetish the earth which are to form the positivist Trinity nature must be looked upon as essentially endowed with life and all humanity is to form one family there must be universal and whole soul adhesion to the dogmas of the positive religion all freedom of inquiry being rigorously prohibited the only matter in which individuality is permitted being that of private devotion by which each may venerate some particular person living or dead as his guardian angel among the most distinguished of comps disciples was the well-known lexicographer a litre 1801 to 1881 who after having posed as the saint of positivism was eventually converted to the Catholic Church historical position it is hardly necessary to point out here the superficiality of the positivist doctrine of knowledge the inaccuracy of comps historical formula law of three stages and the inadequacy of his classification of sciences positivism has had greater and more widespread influence in England than in France where the defection of its founder from the principles of intellectual positivism did much to discredit the system for the sociological school mention has already been made of Saint Simon 1760 to 1825 among those who had a determining influence on the formation of comps idea of philosophy Saint Simon did not formulate a system of speculative thought he represents however a tendency which may be designated as industrialism and which took definite form and received systematic development in the writings of the French sociologists who flourished about the middle of the 19th century the best known of the Saint Simonian as they are called Augustin Thierry 1795 to 1856 Pierre Le Roux 1797 to 1871 and Jean Reno 1806 to 1863 these writers favored a reorganization of the social order on the basis of material progress advocating the substitution of industrial and economic ideals for intellectual and aesthetic ideals in political and social life things they maintained not men must be exploited the material world must be developed Saint Simon himself had the greatest respect for the social organization of the Middle Ages the new era he maintained has so far been a period of social and spiritual chaos out of which a new Christianity must be developed a Christianity which however will be more of a religion of this life than medieval Christianity was this idea was taken up by Infantin 1796 1864 who became the pair supreme of the new religion and not only preached but also practiced the doctrines of socialism and communism in the community which he founded opposed to the socialists of the school of Saint Simon with those sociologists who believed that the present social order is sound and that if free play be given to the industrial forces now existing they will of themselves produce harmony and social well-being la sé faire la sé passer may be said to have been the motto of this school to which JBC 1767 to 1832 and Bastia 1801 to 1850 belonged Cizmondi 1773 to 1842 while protesting against the la sé faire doctrine adopted a modified form of political optimism and advocated the intervention of the state for the purpose of directing the social forces towards the general happiness end of chapter 68 chapter 69 of history of philosophy this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings on the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by David Brent history of philosophy by William Turner chapter 69 English philosophy contemporaneously with the deistic and the general empirical movement of the 18th century they arose in England the School of associational psychology and the utilitarian ethics which dominated English throughout the greater part of the 19th century associational psychology footnote consult Bauer Hartley and James Mill London 1881 compare Porter's appendix to Uberwigs history of philosophy of volume 2 page 421 end footnote the physician David Hartley 1705 to 1757 is regarded as the founder of the Association School of Psychology he reduces all mental phenomena to the sensation and association of vibrations of the white medullary substance of the brain and spinal cord he does not however identify the brain with thinking substance or soul for vibrations merely affect the body the sensation of vibrations affecting the soul sensations on being repeated leaf traces which are simple ideas simple ideas are by association amalgamated into complex ideas similarly ascent and belief are to be explained by association Hartley protests against the materialistic identification of the soul's body he maintains that there is a correspondence between the cerebral and physical processes but contends that the latter cannot be reduced to the former John Priestley 1733 to 1804 theologian philosopher chemist and physicist brought out the materialism which was latent in Hartley psychology he teaches that the soul is material that thought is a function of the brain and that psychology is merely the physics of the nerves he maintains however that psychological materialism does not imply the denial of the immortality of the soul or of the existence of God Priestley is best known by his great contribution to chemical science the discovery of oxygen 1774 Erasmus Darwin 1731 to 1802 who was a botanist philosopher and poet is reckoned among the associationists of this period in his Zoonomia for the laws of organic life London 1794 to 1796 he teaches that nature is made up of two substances matter which produces motion and spirit which receives and communicates motion he teaches further that motion is of three kinds gravitation chemistry and life to the last named kind of motion belong ideas which are defined as contractions motions or configurations of the fibers which constitutes the immediate organs of sense all the complex phenomena of mental life namely sensation comparison judgment reasoning volition are explained by the association of ideas which come to us not singly but in companies or tribes this associational psychology necessitates the utilitarian view of human conduct the view namely that certain actions are to be performed mainly or primarily because they are means to our enjoyment this principle was developed into a system of ethics by Jeremy Bentham utilitarian ethics footnote compare Leslie Steven English utilitarians three volumes London 1900 all be history of English utilitarianism New York 1902 end footnote the founder of modern English utilitarianism is Jeremy Bentham 1748 to 1832 in his introduction to the principles of morals and legislation in 1789 and in his deontology 1834 he formulates the principle that the end of morality is the greatest happiness of the greatest number utility means the power of an action to produce happiness Bentham system has consequently been described by JS mill as utilitarianism footnote mill was the first to bring this word into common use Bentham however had employed it end of footnote in ultimate analysis it is hedonism for it teaches that every virtuous action results in a balance of pleasure it is however a hedonism which unites altruism with egoism for it maintains that while each one's primary care should be for his own welfare the interest of the individual is inseparable from that of the community the determinants of utility are according to Bentham the act the circumstances the intention and the consciousness all of which should be taken into account in the estimation of the moral value of an action all virtue he reduces to two kinds prudence and benevolence footnote compare falkenberg of sit page 457 English translation page 565 end footnote revive associationalism and utilitarianism the most important of Bentham's co-workers was james mill 1773 to 1836 author of the analysis of the phenomena of the human mind in 1829 in psychology james mill combines the doctrines of hardly but those of humor teaching that sensations are kinds of feeling and that ideas are what remains after the sensations have disappeared he was the first to formulate the doctrine of inseparable association by which he explains belief of every kind believe in events believe in testimony and believe in ascent to the truth of propositions similarly by means of association he explains the phenomena of volitional and emotional life in ethics james mill reasserts Bentham's doctrine that moral value is identical with utility and proceeds to give a more definite method of estimating moral worth he distinguishes three successive stages in the evolution or education of the moral sentiments namely the association with certain actions of pleasure or pain the association with certain actions of pleasure or pain arising from the praise or blame of others and finally the association with certain actions of the idea of future praise or blame john stewart mill life john stewart mill son of james mill was born in london 1806 from 1823 to 1858 he was clerk and chief examiner of correspondence at the india house the remainder of his life with the exception of two years 1865 to 1868 during which he was a member of parliament a spent at avignon where he died in 1873 sources mill's most important philosophical works are the system of logic 1843 utilitarianism 1863 and examination of sir william hamilton's philosophies 1865 he contributed valuable essays and treatises to the literature of social and political philosophy and to the history of positivism consult bane john stewart mill a criticism 1882 douglas john stewart mill edinburgh 1895 doctrines logic mill defines logic as the science of the operations of the understanding which are concerned in or subservient to the estimation of evidence and evidence he defines as that which the mind ought to yield to not that which it does or must yield to footnote logic book three chapter 21 in footnote his logical inquiry includes therefore an investigation of the nature of mental ascent and an empirical analysis of intuition and belief as well as of judgment and reasoning so that in spite of mill's frequent repudiation of the title of metaphysician he is obliged in his system of logic to take up a study of many of the fundamental problems of metaphysics thus in the chapter entitled of the things denoted by names footnote opposite book one chapter three end footnote he draws up the following scheme of categories one feelings or states of consciousness two minds which experience these feelings three bodies which cause certain of these feelings and four the successions coexistences likenesses and unlikenesses between feelings or states of consciousness having our ever resolved to make experience the sole source of knowledge and to reject all a priori or intuitive knowledge mill is obliged to reduce body to the permanent possibility of sensations and mind to the series of actual possible states he is aware of the difficulty incident to any phenomenalistic concept of mind he cannot see how a series can be aware of itself as a series and admits that there is a bond of some sort among all the parts of the series which makes me say that they were feelings of a person who was the same person throughout and this bond to me constitutes my ego footnote compare notes to the analysis volume to 175 mills notes to his addition of his father's works are important sources of information with reference to his own psychological doctrines end footnote here mill definitely abandons the association's view of matter and mind and practically admits a numeral cause of sensations and a numeral mind thus opening as one has said a trap door in the middle of his own philosophy insisting on the principle that we must make experience the test of experience mill maintains that the fundamental actions of logic and mathematics are merely generalizations from experience that the law of contradiction is simply a summing up of the experience which tells us of the incompatibility of belief and non-belief and that the peculiar accuracy supposed to be characteristic of the first principles of geometry is hypothetical that is to say fictitious footnote logic book to chapter five end footnote the law of causation is likewise a generalization from experience for causation is nothing but invariable and unconditional sequence footnote opposite book three chapter five end footnote mill recognizes one kind of inference namely inference from particulars to particulars the syllogism he teaches is not a proof for involves a petit show print cheapy its function is to decipher or interpret the major premise which is a record of particular experiences these experiences being the only evidence on which the conclusion rests footnote compare opposite book to chapter three end footnote mill's most important contribution to the logic is the formulation of the rules and methods of experimental inquiry this is the most successful portion of his work and it is this which has earned him the title of the Aristotle of inductive logic his success is I above marred by his inability to give a satisfactory account of the basis of induction the uniformity of nature which he sits down as the ground of all induction depends according to him on induction and is not unconditionally certain ethics in the opening chapters of the sixth book of the logic mill endeavors to show that the doctrine of philosophical necessity does not imply that our actions are performed under compulsion but merely that they follow the motive causes by a certain unconditional sequence which renders a scientific study of human nature possible footnote compare Dr. Ward's refutation of mill in Dublin review end footnote mill adopts the utilitarian doctrine that in the effects of an action that is to say in its power of promoting happiness we possess a clear and natural standard by which to judge its moral worth with Bentham he holds that the aim of human action should be the promotion of the greatest happiness for all sentient beings he differs however from Bentham in his analysis of the moral feeling in his edition of quantitative and quantitative distinction of pleasures and in general in his attempt to bring utilitarianism into closer harmony with the requirements of subjective ethics he is an altruist whereas Bentham was in ultimate analysis an egoist Alexander bane 1818 to 1903 author of sensors and intellect third edition 1868 the emotions and the will third edition 1875 mental and moral science third edition 1872 and mind and body third edition 1874 etc is one of the most distinguished recent representatives of the English school of psychology he avails himself of the aid which contemporary physiological science affords in the study of mental phenomena and while he is commonly reckoned among the associationists he seems to abandon the fundamental tenets of associationism when he acknowledges similarity as the basis of all association of ideas doctrine of evolution evolution in the sense of a transition from the simpler to the more complex from the lower to the higher forms of existence is a concept almost as old as philosophy itself the evolution of the physical universe from a primitive mass by a process of purely mechanical changes was implicitly contained in many of the ancient and in some modern systems of philosophy notably the cars and cars the idea of development was applied to history by herder 1744 to 1803 to astronomy by le plus 1749 to 1827 and to the zoological sciences by bouffant 1707 to 1798 Le Marc 1744 to 1829 and courier 1769 to 1832 to anatomy and embryology by wolf 1733 to 1794 and von Bauer 1792 to 1876 and to geology by liel 1797 to 1875 the history of evolution in the modern meaning of the word namely that of the development of the sum of living beings from less perfect forms of existence by means of natural causes begins with the name of Charles Darwin 1809 to 1882 who was the first to establish the doctrine of development as a scientific theory in biology footnote consult truth and error in Darwinism by Hartman translated in journal speculative philosophy volumes 11 through 13 Wallace Darwinism London 1889 Romains Darwin and after Darwin three volumes London 1892 to 1895 compare Weber opposite page 560 and following pages also th green works volume one page 373 and following pages in footnote as in the case of Newton Galileo and Copernicus Darwin scientific discoveries while belonging to the history of natural science are of interest in the history of philosophy because of the new point of view which they established for for just as Newton had unified the whole physical universe by means of a single law so Darwin unified the phenomena of the biological world under a single concept and reveal the existence of the continuity in a region where up to that time continuity had not been scientifically demonstrated and just as Lyle had shown that the present state of the earth's surface is to be explained by the agency of natural causes which are even now at work so Darwin undertook to show that the flora and fauna of the earth originated by development and that the agencies in the process of development were the same as those which are in operation at the present time Darwin's method affords an interesting example of the use of inductive and accumulative argument during his voyage on the Beagle in 1831 to 1836 he began his observations on the fauna of South America noting especially the geographical distribution of species and the similarity and difference existing between the present and pre-existing forms on his return to England Malthus 1766 to 1834 essay on population suggested to him the idea of the struggle for existence this may be regarded as his provisional hypothesis to the verification of which he devoted 21 years preliminary to publishing his celebrated work the origin of species 1859 the observations on which the process of verification is based may be reduced to one observations of the effect of artificial selection two observations of the kinship existing between extinct species and species which are extant three observations of the geographical distributions of animals and four observations of the embryological development of animals in the work entitled the descent of man 1871 Darwin applied the evolution theory to the origin of the human species he was however willing to concede that there are what have since been called gaps in evolution he confessed his inability to account for the origin of life and always regarded the first beginning of variation as something mysterious Darwin laid the foundation of modern evolutionistic ethics by referring the moral feeling to natural selection or the struggle for existence which fosters such qualities and faculties in the individual as confer the greatest benefit not on the individual but on the group or species A. R. Wallace born 1822 who shares with Darwin the honor of establishing the doctrine of natural selection was more careful than Darwin to exclude from the general process of development the higher powers of the human mind and to give a large scope of the operation of the theological principle in the evolutionary process W. K. Clifford 1845 to 1879 John Tyndall 1820 to 1893 George J. Romaines 1849 to 1894 and Thomas Huxley 1825 to 1895 are the most distinguished amongst those who applied that Darwinian doctrine to the different departments of natural science it was the last mentioned who in 1859 first used the word agnostic to designate one who is conscious of the inadequacy of our knowledge to solve the problem what is the reality corresponding to our ultimate scientific philosophical and religious ideas footnote compare flint agnosticism new york 1903 end footnote none of these men however with the exception of Clifford attempted to construct a system of metaphysics or to evolve a theory of reality from the principles of evolutionistic philosophy this task was reserved for Spencer Herbert Spencer life Herbert Spencer footnote compare Hudson's introduction to the philosophy of Herbert Spencer new york 1894 end footnote was born in 1820 at Derby it was first intended that he should adopt the profession of teacher to which his father belonged but he decided to take up civil engineering at the age of 25 he abandoned his profession to devote himself to literary work in 1850 appeared his first important publication entitled social statics this was followed by the principles of psychology 1855 and progress its law and cause 1857 in which two years before the publication of Darwin's origin of species the view was expanded that all development is a transition from homogeneity to heterogeneity and the principle of evolution was enunciated as a universal law the first principles 1862 principles of biology 1863 to 1867 principles of sociology 1877 and forward and principles of ethics 1879 to 1893 form parts of a scheme of synthetic philosophy footnote for outlines of the scheme compares Spencer's prospectus prefixed in the first principles compare also Collins's epitome of a synthetic philosophy new york 1889 consult Brown the philosophy of Herbert Spencer new york 1874 end footnote Spencer died december the 8th 1903 doctrines the historical antecedents of the synthetic philosophy may be reduced to three one from Hamilton and Mansell and thus ultimately from Kant Spencer drew his metaphysical principles namely relativity of knowledge and agnosticism two from comte and the contests he derived the positivism which appears in his definition of the scope of science and in a general way in his plan of the coordination of sciences and three from wolf the anatomist from one bear the embryologist and from Lyle the geologist he borrowed the principle of development which the publication of Darwin's work elevated to the rank of a scientific law in the biological world footnote compare macosh realistic philosophy volume 2 page 255 and following pages in footnote one agnosticism neither scientific ideas nor religious beliefs can express the ultimate nature of reality the higher scientific ideas such as space time matter involve contradictions and timonies and theologians themselves admit the inadequacy of our idea of the infinite for to think that God is as we think him to be would be blasphemy moreover the nature of consciousness itself shows that all knowledge is relative the conclusion therefore is inevitable that the ultimate religious ideas and ultimate scientific ideas are merely symbols of the actual not cognitions of it and that if religion and science are to be reconciled the basis of reconciliation must be this deepest widest and most certain of facts that the power which the universe manifests to us is utterly inscrutable the ultimate philosophical as well as the ultimate religious is unknown and non-knowable footnote first principles p.i. in the footnote therefore when spencer teaches that the ultimate or absolute reveals itself in the forms and laws under which phenomena occur the persistent impressions being persistent results of a persistent cause are for practical purposes the same as the cause itself and maybe habitually dealt with as its equivalents footnote opposite paragraph 47 and footnote he practically abandons the position of the agnostic and confesses that the absolute is not utterly unknowable to definition and data of philosophy all knowledge is confined to the relation of things common knowledge is unified knowledge science is partially unified knowledge philosophy is completely unified knowledge the data of philosophy are one the existence of likenesses and differences as is proved by the permanence of our consciousness of congruity and incongruity two the distinction of self and not self the former being constituted by the current of faint manifestations and the latter by the current of vivid manifestations of the unknowable power three space time matter motion and force these being certain most general forms into which the manifestations of the unknowable are separated and the reality of which science at every moment assumes for by reality we are to understand persistence in consciousness and the persistence of space and time consists in this that they are the universal relations of coexistence and sequence by which as postulates we think while the persistence of matter motion and force consist in the indestructibility continuity and persistence respectively of those ultimate scientific ideas passing now from these analytic truths we come to inquire what is the law of universal synthesis what is the universal formula which shall combine all the particular formulas of science and philosophy the answer is the continuous redistribution of matter and motion which involves the double process of evolution an integration of matter and a dissipation of motion and a dissolution a disintegration of matter and an absorption of matter if now the word evolution is taken to designate the process of development in all its complexity evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion during which the matter passes from an indefinite incoherent homogeneity to a definite coherent heterogeneity and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation footnote upset paragraph 144 in the sixth edition 1901 of the first principles the word relatively is inserted before the words definite and indefinite in footnote this is proved by induction to be the law of the physical universe and of psychic and social life and just as in Hegel's philosophy development implied three stages so in Spencer's theory evolution starts with the instability of the homogeneous and proceeds through the multiplication of effects and segregation to the equilibrium of forces which constitutes the impossible limit of evolution the point where dissolution begins three special philosophy of the sciences the other portions of the synthetic philosophy namely the special philosophy of biology psychology sociology and ethics are merely the application of the evolution formula to the different branches of philosophic inquiry biology spencer defines life as the continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations footnote principles of biology paragraph 30 end footnote he then proceeds to the study of growth function adaptation genesis heredity variation etc taking up footnote opposite chapter 5 end footnote the problem of the origin of life he contrasts the special creation hypothesis with the evolution hypothesis and adduces in favor of the latter arguments from classification embryology morphology and distribution the factors in organic evolution are he teaches both internal and external footnote opposite paragraphs 148 through 158 end footnote he excludes all consideration of the question how life first arose though it is clear that he regards the lowest forms of life as continuous in their essential nature with sub vital processes footnote sully in encyclopedia britannica ninth edition article evolution end footnote for darwin's phrase natural selection spencer substitutes the survival of the fittest psychology applying to the study of mental phenomena the method found to be so fruitful of results in the study of vital phenomena in general spencer arrives at the conclusion that among mental phenomena there are no organic differences reflex action feelings instinct intelligence being merely different stages of the process of development from the simple to the complex from the indefinite to the definite from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous with regard to the substance of mind spencer holds that all mental action whatsoever is explained by the continuous differentiation and integration of states of consciousness he is not however a phenomenonist existence he says means nothing more than persistence and hence in mind with that which persists in spite of all changes and maintains the unity of the aggregate indefiance of all attempts to divide it is that which we must postulate as the substance of mind in contra distinction to the varying forms it assumes footnote principles of psychology paragraph 59 end footnote this substance of mind is unknowable with regard to the origin of ideas spencer rejecting on the one hand the empiricism of Locke and Hume and on the other hand the absolute a priorism of Leibniz and Kant teaches that while the universal and necessary elements of intellectual knowledge are a priori with reference to the individual they are not a priori with reference to the race between the theory of the empiricist who refers all the elements of knowledge to the experience of the individual and that of the transcendentalist who regards the universal and necessary elements of thought as forms of intuition spencer finds a via media in accordance with the general principle of evolution he refers the elements characterizing intellectual thought to organized and semi organized arrangements which existing in the cerebral nerves of the child sum up the experience of all his ancestors here as elsewhere spencer seems to forget that the survival of the organized and semi organized arrangements merely proves their practical utility in the struggle for existence and can in no way guarantee their validity as tests of absolute truth footnote compare hofding opposite volume 2 474 end footnote from such inherited dispositions arises our inability to conceive the contradictory of certain principles and truths of fact this inability to conceive the contradictory is the ultimate test of all beliefs the criterion of truth the universal postulate may therefore be formulated as follows a cognition which we are obliged to accept because we cannot conceive its contradictory is to be classed as having the highest possible certainty footnote compare principles of psychology paragraph 426 end footnote epistemology spencer's epistemology is comprised in his doctrine of transfigured realism he rejects idealism on the ground of priority immediateness and superior distinctness of the realistic conception of mental processes footnote upset paragraph 406 to 408 end footnote he next proceeds to show that while some objective existence manifested under some conditions remains as the final necessity of thought there does not remain the implication that this existence and these conditions are more to us than the unknown correlatives of our feelings and the relations among our feelings footnote opposite paragraph 473 end footnote this realism stands widely distinguished from crude realism and to mark the distinction it may properly be called transfigured realism footnote ibbid end footnote sociology in his various treatises on sociology spencer conceived society after the manner of the individual organism as possessing a variety of organs and functions and as tending to evolve itself by a series of adjustments to the social and physical environment he insists on the innerness of the principle of social development and emphasizes the truth that societies and constitutions are not made but grow he is however careful to point out one very important distinction between the individual organism and the social organism in the individual the parts exist for the sake of the whole while in the society the whole exists for the sake of the parts this distinction is overlooked in those forms of society in which militarism and officialism predominate industrialism is the basis of modern social reconstruction the highest type of social organization will however be reached when freer scope shall be given to the play of those activities which are exercised for the sake of the satisfaction they afford and not for the sake of obtaining the means of subsistence ethics spencer's system of ethics may be briefly described as a substitution of rational utilitarianism for the empirical utilitarianism of the school of bentham the goal of the process of ethical development is the ideal man in the ideal state a view which combines as the earlier form of utilitarianism had combined altruism with egoism but instead of insisting on the hedonistic calculus of the earlier utilitarians spencer emphasizes the rational deduction of the moral ideal from the necessary laws physical biological psychological and sociological the recognition of which rather than the calculation of the happiness to which the human action leads furnishes the cognitive basis for moral action moral phenomena must be considered as part of the aggregate of phenomena which evolution has wrought out the moral sense itself is a product of evolution i believe that the experiences of utility organized and consolidated throughout all the past generations of the human race have been producing corresponding modifications which by continued transmission and accumulation have become in us certain faculties of moral intuition certain emotions responding to right and wrong which have no apparent basis in the individual experiences of utility footnote letter to mr. mill quoted by bane mental and moral sciences page 722 in footnote the most distinguished of the opponents of utilitarian ethics in england was dr martineau 1805 to 1900 author of types of ethical theory in 1885 he defended what is known as the preferential theory of ethics according to which the morality of an action is not to be judged by its pleasure producing effect but rather by the perfection of the motives inspiring it virtue being defined as the rejection of the lower and the adoption of the higher motives since george mivart 1827 to 1900 occupied a unique position amongst the english representatives of philosophy of evolution during the latter half of the 19th century in the genesis of species 1871 on truth 1889 etc he appeared as the defender of the theistic evolution and sought to reconcile the evolutionistic hypothesis with the essential doctrines of scholastic philosophy idealism german idealism was first introduced into england by samuel taylor colridge 1772 to 1834 and thomas carlyle 1795 to 1881 during the latter half of the 19th century the hegelian philosophy found many able exponents in great britain of whom the most prominent rjh sterling born 1820 john cared 1820 to 1898 edward cared born 1835 and thomas hill green 1836 to 1882 footnote compare fair brother philosophy of thomas hill green london 1896 greensworks were edited by nettleship three volumes london 1885 to 1888 end footnote greens prolegomena to ethics fourth edition 1899 represents the first important contribution to english hegelianism green considers that metaphysics is the foundation of ethics and that without a metaphysical theory a theory of ethics is wasted labor the primary questions of metaphysics are what are the facts of my own individual consciousness and what is the simplest explanation i can give of the origin of these facts that is necessarily true which is required to explain my experience applying this test to the evolution doctrine green while admitting the fact of the biological evolution of man protests against any biological explanation which cannot account for the facts of individual consciousness if there are reasons he writes for holding that man in respect to his animal nature is descended from mere animals this does not affect our conclusion in regard to the consciousness of which as he now is man is the subject a conclusion founded on analysis of what he now is and does footnote prolegomena to ethics paragraph 83 end footnote the whole is not material but spiritual a world of thought relations consisting of three main facts self cosmos and god self is first in the order of knowledge god the eternal consciousness which manifests itself in the spiritual cosmos is the first in the order of being the unification of the manifold in the world implies the presence of the manifold to a mind for which and through the actions of which it is related whole the unification of the manifold of sense in our consciousness of a world implies a certain self realization of this mind in us through certain processes life and feeling of the world which only exists through it footnote prolegomena paragraph 82 end footnote in his ethical doctrines green insists on self reflection as the only possible method of learning what is the inner man or mind that our action expresses and he emphasizes the importance of man's looking forward to a moral ideal to be attained by conscious effort rather than backward to a series of natural changes through which man came to be what he is our ultimate standard of worth is an ideal personal worth not the well being of the race but the perfection of human character according to the divine plan footnote upset paragraph 180 through 191 end footnote historical position it is impossible to judge with anything like indefiniteness systems of thought some of which are still in the process of formation while others are in the process of the solution when however we look back over the course of English philosophy during the 19th century two conclusions appear to be indisputable namely that the association is account of mind and of mental processes has been definitely abandoned and that's whatever changes the evolution doctrine may have wrought in the method and standpoint of philosophy it's importance as a contribution to ultimate philosophic truth must depend largely on whether it will materially affect the great Gnostic idealistic movement which during the last quarter of a century has apparently superseded the agnostic empirical movement it is not to the evolutionistic synthesis of Spencer but rather to the idealistic constructions of such men as green that we must look for a solution to the question what is the present tendency and what is likely to be the future trend of philosophical speculation in England end of chapter 69 chapter 70 of history of philosophy this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org history of philosophy by William Turner chapter 70 Italian philosophy the founder of modern Italian philosophy is Giovanni Battista Vico 1668 to 1744 who at the beginning of the 18th century opposed the Cartesian method in philosophy and anticipated the historical method subsequently developed by Herter and Hegel the mind Vico teaches can only know that which it can produce through its own activity this activity is manifested in the historical development of civilization the basis of which is divine providence human experience is therefore to be interpreted and rendered reasonable by referring it to the principles by which human nature has developed itself in this development Vico distinguishes three stages the divine theocracy the heroic aristocracy and the human monarchy and democracy in the movement of philosophic thought in Italy during the 19th century we may distinguish one censism and empiricism of which the chief representatives are Gioia 1767 to 1829 and Romagnosi 1761 to 1835 these represent the Italian phase of the censistic philosophy of Condoloc which as we have seen was dominant in France at the beginning of the 19th century two criticism of which the chief exponent is Pasquale Gallupi 1770 to 1846 who while he assumes the immediate consciousness of the ego and the objectivity of sensation reduces the intellectual element of thought to the synthetic relations rapporti of identity and difference which are a priori products of the activity of the mind in this as well as in his emphatic assertion of the supremacy of moral obligation Gallupi betrays the influence of Kant 3 idealism the principal representative of idealism in Italy during the 19th century is Antonio Rossmini Rossmini life Antonio Rossmini Srebati 1797 to 1855 the founder of Italian idealism was born at Roberto near Trent in 1821 he entered the priesthood and in 1828 founded the Institute of Charity a religious society devoted to corporal intellectual and spiritual works of charity in 1848 he went to Rome a special envoy of King Charles Albert in the same year he became minister of instruction in the papal cabinet and was considered a candidate for the honors of the cardinal eight after the murder of Rossi November 1848 and the flight of Pius the 9th to Galleta changes in the policy of the Pontifical Court necessitated Rossmini's retirement the last years of his life he spent at Stessa near lago maggiore where he had established a house of his order there he led a quiet studious life edifying his brethren by his many virtues and especially by the humility with which he received the condemnation of two of his works he died in 1855 sources the treatises in which Rossmini sets forth his metaphysical and psychological doctrines are Teodicia 1828 nuovo saggio su origine della idea 1830 il rinnovamenta della filosofia in italia 1836 antropologia 1838 psicologia 1846 to 1850 introduzione alla filosofia 1850 la logica 1853 and Teosofia 1859 for a full bibliographical list CF Davidson Rossmini's philosophical system London 1882 doctrines Rossmini distinguishes the matter and the form of thought the matter being sensation and the form being the pure intellectual element now the matter of thought is multiple and diverse the form however is one and self-identical namely the intuition of being in its transcendental ideality le sere ideale ente universale this intuition cannot result from experience abstraction or reflection it is an innate concept and is of divine origin Rossmini does not it is true expressly identify this idea of being with the idea of God for he teaches that le sere ideale though it is necessary eternal immutable and identical for all minds is a principle of knowledge not a principle of existence nevertheless Rossmini cannot consistently maintain a distinction between le sere ideale and God because although he maintains that God is both real and ideal le sere reale ideale he teaches that the reality of le sere iniziale is a reality of pure indetermination indeed in the Teosofia all attempts at discriminating between le sere iniziale and God are abandoned and we are told that the former is something of the word which the father distinguishes from the word by a distinction which is merely logical distingue non realmente mas accondo la ragione del verbo there is therefore in Rossmini's teaching only too much foundation for the almost unanimous verdict of his critics that he was an ontologist and by implication a pantheist in his account of the soul in its faculties Rossmini teaches that the soul is not the substantial form of the body but is united to it by a fundamental sensibility sentimento fondamentale that the essence of the soul is sensibility sentimento primitivo e sostanziale and that the soul becomes intelligent by the intuition of being in its ideality sere ideale ontologism vincenzo jobberti 1801 1852 who was a priest a revolutionary leader a statesman and a controversialist ilge suito moderno his first known controversial work appeared in 1846 opposed the philosophy of Rossmini and formulated a system of his own which is characterized by ontologism he begins as a metaphysician rather than as a psychologist he does not examine the contents of the mind nor does he subject mental processes to analysis he simply postulates a primitive intuition with which constructive synthesis begins the content of this intuition is not being in its ideality nor god but god as creating ends creot as his stench yes through the intuition of this principle the mind is in possession at once of the real and the ideal for the first member of the formula being contains the object the absolute idea as well as the absolute substance and cause the second existences gives the organic multiplicity of contingent substances and causes and relative ideas the third the creative act expresses the relation existing between the absolute and the relative the production of real and ideal existences from the absolute the premium philosophicum is therefore an organic truth containing in itself the premium ontologicum and the premium psychologicum Gioberti's posthumous works published by massari 1856 to 1859 exhibit a more advanced form of ontologism than that which has just been sketched among the later ontologists may be reckoned terenzio mamiani 1800 to 1885 who during the later half of the century associated his name and influence with the rationalistic movement represented by ferry 1826 to 1895 ferrari 1812 to 1876 and al sonio francki si bonavino 1821 to 1895 positivism the principles of positivism were defended by the three rationalistic writers just mentioned and taught systematically by Roberto Artigo born 1828 Andrea Anjuli 1837 to 1890 and others hegelianism the most distinguished of the italian representatives of hegelianism augusto vera 1813 to 1885 was by education and long residence of frenchmen rather than an italian his works some of which were composed in french others in italian and others in english are devoted to the interpretation and exposition of hegel's philosophy scholasticism the history of scholastic philosophy in italy during the 19th century will be given in the chapter devoted to the history of catholic philosophy historical position the systems which have just been outlined do not with the exception of rosmini's idealism exhibit any sustained effort at independent construction the most distinctive trade of modern italian philosophy is its tendency to treat religious and political philosophy in the controversial or polemical spirit rather than in the spirit of constructive synthesis a tendency easily traceable to the influence of the events which determined the political history of italy during the 19th century end of chapter 70 chapter 71 of history of philosophy this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org history of philosophy by william turner chapter 71 american philosophy the history of philosophy in america begins with jonathan edwards 1703 to 1758 a pupil of samuel johnson 1696 to 1772 who during berkeley's sojourn at rhode island visited and corresponded with the distinguished advocate of immaterialism edwards was however influenced more by lock than by berkeley in his principal work which is devoted to the discussion of the freedom of the will he maintains that freedom in the sense of self-determining power is a contradiction that true freedom the quality of human action which raises it to the dignity of virtue is a disposition of the heart and that with this idea of freedom the foreknowledge and providence of god are easily reconciled edwards works were edited by s e dwight new york 1844 the disciples of edwards chief among whom were jonathan edwards the younger 1745 to 1801 and timothy dwight 1752 to 1817 can find their attention for the most part to the problems of freedom of the will the nature of virtue and the principles of the moral government of the universe they also endeavor to supply a rational basis for the calvinistic system of theology benjamin franklin 1706 to 1790 deserves mention among those who helped to stimulate an interest in philosophical speculation during the years that preceded the revolution the practical morality and the sagacious reflections of poor richard are franklin's title to distinction as the socrates of america at the beginning of the 19th century james marsh 1794 to 1842 called attention to german speculation he was succeeded by william ellery channing 1780 to 1842 one of the leaders of the unitarian movement from which sprang the new england transcendentalism represented by ralph waldo emerson 1803 to 1882 and theodore parker 1810 to 1860 the scottish philosophy was introduced into this country by james mccosh 1811 to 1894 who after having taught logic and metaphysics at queen's college belfast came to america in 1868 and was appointed president of princeton college in 1869 dr mccosh wrote intuitions of the mind third edition 1872 laws of discursive thought new edition 1891 first and fundamental truths 1889 realistic philosophy two volumes 1887 etc he opposed and criticized cunt hamilton mill and spencer and advocated the common sense philosophy substituting the phrase intuitions of the mind for the expression common sense in the writings of noah porter 1811 to 1892 author of the human intellect 1868 and the elements of intellectual science 1871 the doctrines of the scottish school are modified by the introduction of elements from german transcendental philosophy the most distinguished representative of ontologism in america was arrestees a brownson 1803 to 1876 who was born at stockbridge vermont brownson joined the presbyterian church at the age of 19 three years later he became a universalist minister in 1832 he became a clergyman in the unitarian church in 1836 he organized in boston the society for christian union and progress and finally in 1844 he joined the catholic church he died in 1876 in brownson's quarterly review of which the first number was published in 1844 he championed catholic claims and discussed literary philosophical and political topics of interest at the time his works were published by his son hf brownson 10 volumes detroit 1882 who is also the editor of a little volume of extracts entitled literary scientific and political views of arrestees a brownson new york 1893 brownson distinguishes between intuition direct perception and reflection the latter can contain nothing which is not first perceived directly by intuition philosophy begins and ends with thought thought is for us always ultimate now the careful analysis of intuitive thought discloses three elements subject object and their relation always distinct always inseparable given simultaneously in one in the same complex fact this complex fact is given by the action of creation ends creot existentious in which subject object and the activity of object are synthetically united this is at once the premium philosophicum and the premium psychologicum that of which we have immediate intuition in every process of reasoning and without which no such process would be possible or conceivable is god the creator when joberty speaks of the ideal formula defines it to be ends creot existentious and calls it the premium philosophicum he speaks of the real intuitive formula not of the conceptual he presents this formula as the premium both of things and of science among the american representatives of spencerian philosophy mentioned must be made of loren's p hickock 1798 to 1888 and of john fisk 1842 to 1901 the latter in his outlines of cosmic philosophy 1874 presents in somewhat popular form the tenets of evolutionistic philosophy the former represents an important attempt to modify the synthetic philosophy so as to render it more compact in its inherent consistency and more consonant with theistic ideas for the spencerian conception of the mind as purely passive hickock substitutes the notion of a mind partly passive and partly active the activity of mind is in its cosmic aspect the active reason of god through whose absolutely free self-limitation there have been created certain mechanical forces which constitute the thing in itself the external world prior to our consciousness of it end of chapter 71 chapter 72 of history of philosophy this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by gazina history of philosophy by william turner modern philosophy chapter 72 catholic philosophy in the 19th century philosophy is more closely allied to theology and to literature than is any of the other sciences if therefore the manifold relations of philosophy to literature entitles to speak of german french and english philosophy surely the intimate alliance of philosophy with the doctrinal system of the church justifies the appellation catholic philosophy few of the names of those who represented scholastic philosophy during the 17th and 18th centuries have risen to prominence in the history of philosophy the following however rendered considerable service to the scholastic philosophy by their interpretations and expositions of the schoolmen kosmo alimani 1559 to 1634 silvestre maros 1619 to 1687 both of whom were jesuits and taught at the roman college footnote the works of these two commentators were re-edited 1885 to 1891 by father erle sj and the footnote the dominican on twangudin 1639 to 1695 the authors of the curses philosophiae complutenses alcala footnote collegium complutense philosophicum hockest artium curses sieve disputationes in aristoteles dialecticum etc the authors were carmelites of the convent of saint siril at alcala the curses theologicos of the carmelites at salamanca commonly referred to as the salamante sensis which belongs also to the 17th century is a theological commentary on saint thomas summa to the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century belongs the great jesuit commentary commentary collegium conimbricensis sj in octolibros fisicorum aristoteles etc end of footnote and the franciscan claudios frassen 1620 to 1711 whose scottos académicos is being republished by the franciscans of the college of saint antonio Rome 1900 and the following these belong to the 17th century to the 17th century belong also caramuel 1606 to 1682 roselli end of 17th century whose summa filosofica is said to have furnished the basis for the somistic reconstruction of the 19th century and gherinois 1640 to 1703 whose clipkos filosofii to mysticii etc is an elaborate refutation of cartesianism to the 18th century belong father boskovich sj 1711 to 1787 and cardinal gadu 1718 to 1802 father boskovich was professor of philosophy and mathematics at the roman college he attained very great prominence by his theory of the ultimate composition of matter which may be described as a modification of leipnitz monadism matter boskovich taught is composed of indivisible unextended points which were originally placed at a fixed distance from each other and endowed with the forces of attraction and repulsion cardinal gadu defended the philosophy of decart and malbranche and advocated a modified ontologism during the 19th century germany france spain and italy produced a large number of distinguished philosophers who admitted in one form or another the supremacy of christian revelation as contained in the teachings of the catholic church and are on this account to be included in the history of catholic philosophy germany in germany france barder 1765 to 1841 of whom mention has already been made footnote compare page 560 also stuckel the history of philosophy 1888 to 333 end of footnote opposed the anti-christian tendencies in the philosophical systems of cunt fichte shelling and hegel in his account however of the origin of the universe he shows traces of the influence of the transcendentalists and in his theory of the soul he betrays the influence of origin and the nostics you hunt foreshower footnote compare consales upset for 337 end of footnote born 1821 also occupied himself with a refutation of anti-christian theories devoting special attention to the criticism of materialism but like barder he was led by his study of the transcendentalists to profess a form of philosophic belief incompatible with catholic dogma in the work the fantasy als grundprinzip des veld processes 1877 he proposes imagination in place of the hegelian spirit and schopenhauer's will as the imminent and transcendent and principle of the evolution of the world he is careful however to make a formal declaration of the superiority of god with respect to this principle of evolution there is apparent in his writings a tendency to rationalize theology to the extent of bringing the mysteries of faith within the scope of philosophical speculation a tendency which became a principle openly avowed in the writings of georg hammers 1775 to 1831 hammers makes reason the ultimate criterion of old truth supernatural as well as natural and attempts to establish by the aid of reason the dogmas of the catholic faith his doctrines were condemned by the church footnote compare densinger and kiridion edition 7 page 350 end of footnote and his writings placed on the index 1835 another movement towards the identification of theology with philosophy is represented by anton gunter footnote compare stucco opposite to 345 end of footnote 1783 to 1863 who maintained that if revelation is necessary it is because of the weakness of the understanding which results from original sin that of itself human reason is capable of proving all truth but that in man's present condition faith is the foundation of all knowledge these errors were condemned in 1857 footnote compare densinger opposite pages 361 and following end of footnote the most remarkable of the german catholic philosophers of this period was joseph gurus 1776 to 1848 who in the christian mystic and other writings developed the fantastic system of spiritism he maintained that besides the visible material body man possesses a subtle body composed of imponderable fluid which remains united to the soul after death and returns to earth with the soul whenever the latter appears as a ghost footnote gurus true significance as a writer appears in his atanasios in which by his eloquent and vigorous vindication of the principles of religious authority and religious freedom he rallied the forces of catholicity in germany for the contest which has been so successfully waged in our own day the gurus gesellschaft still adorns its literary productions with the figure of saint athenasius end of footnote mention must also be made of france anton staudenmeier 1800 to 1856 who was associated with gunter and foreshomer in the refutation of anti christian doctrines while he differed from them in his adherents to strict orthodoxy and his condemnation of rationalism and semi-rationalism it was however the jesuit father clodken 1811 to 1883 author of the philosophie der fortzeit 1860 and following and dr albert stuckel 1823 to 1895 author of the geschichte der philosophie des middle altes 1864 to 1866 who rendered the greatest service to the course of scholastic philosophy in germany and prepared the way for the contemporary neo-scholastic movement in that country france in france the traditionalists and ontologists who succeeded by a group of distinguished confiranciers and apologists who in their discourses and writings expanded and defended the traditional philosophy of the schools in its application to practical issues chief among these were per la cordaire op 1802 to 1861 per the ravignon sj 1795 to 1858 frédéric osanam 1813 to 1853 monsignor dulcet 1841 to 1896 and labide brullier 1834 to 1895 spain in spain footnote compare gonzales upset for 441 and following end of footnote the succession of philosophical systems during the 19th century was almost identical with that which occurred in france during the first years of the century philosophical speculation in spain reflected the sensism and empiricism of kondiax school then came a reaction in favor of spiritualistic philosophy in the form of a modified traditionalism and ontologism the most distinguished name in the history of philosophic thought in modern spain is that of haim balmes 1810 to 1848 author of philosophia fundamental and of el protestantismo comparado con el catolicismo the basic principles of balmes philosophy are somistic to these however he adds elements derived from dickart leipnitz and the scottish school he restricts for example the region of rational certitude to subjective phenomena maintaining that the certitude which we possess with reference to objective phenomena is indistinctive and more akin to the certitude of faith than to scientific certitude he departs also from the teachings of saint thomas in rejecting the active intellect and the intelligible species his discussion of the criteria of truth to which he devoted a special treatise el criterio is perhaps his most valuable contribution to philosophy exceedingly able to is his refutation of skepticism in the work entitled cartas a un esceptico juando no su cortez 1809 to 1853 the demestre of spain although not a professed philosopher of any school contributed to the establishment of the spiritualistic philosophy by his profound philosophical reflections on religious political and social topics of the day his principal work is entitled ensayo sobre el catolicismo el liberalismo y el socialismo england in england the oxford movement which is the most striking illustration of the assertion of the principle of authority as opposed to individualism in matters of religious thought gave to catholic intellectual activity in that country a decidedly theological trend cardinal newman 1801 to 1890 may be said to have formulated in his grammar of ascent a theory of estimation of theological evidence the metaphysics of the schools by father thomas harper as j is an elaborate attempt at presenting scholastic philosophy in a form accessible to english readers italy in italy catholic philosophy during the 19th century experienced a revival which within the last 25 years has spread its influence throughout the entire church during the reign of pious the ninth's father's liberatore 1810 to 1892 cornoldi 1822 to 1892 and others contributed to the chivalta catholica articles in which the principles of rosmini's idealism were criticized and the traditional philosophy of the schools expounded and defended to father cornoldi belongs the honor of having founded at bolonia in 1874 the philosophical academy of saint thomas of aquin which until here 1891 continued to publish the scienza italiana canon san severino 1811 to 1865 author of philosophia cristiana com antiqua et nova comparata his pupil canon signorello 1821 to 1889 author of a lexicon peripatheticom filosofico theologicom and monsignor talamo author of barista telismo della scholastica et ketara are to be mentioned among those who prepared the way for the new scholastic movement inaugurated at the beginning of the reign of leo the 13th's new scholastic movement in the encyclical inscrutabili dei concilio published in 1878 in the encyclical aeternae patrice 1879 in briefs relating to the foundation of the roman academy of saint thomas 1879 and of the institut supérieure de philosophie at the university of louva 1894 and in many other documents leo the 13th's has encouraged and promoted the study of the great masters of scholasticism and in particular the study of saint thomas of aquin in all these documents pope leo insists on one the return of the study of the texts of the scholastic writers of the 13th century to the exclusion of such problems as are more subtle than profitable and the rejection of such doctrines of the school men as have been proved to be false secret is a doctoribos scholastic is well nemia subtilitate caesitum ver param considerate traditum secret cum exploratis posterioris avid octrinis minus coherence it nullo pacto inanimo est ai tati nostrai at imitandum proponi and three the extension and completion of the scholastic system vettara novice augere et perfiquere it is therefore in no spirit of undiscriminating devotion to the past but rather in the spirit of sorrow and scholarly appreciation of the past that the representatives of neo scholasticism have discarded as useless those compendia at mentum divi tomai in which scholastic philosophy was watered down to the taste of the modern reader and have gone back to the study of the texts of the masters prominent among those who have contributed to the success of the neo scholastic movement are cardinals patchy 1807 to 1890 ziliara 1833 to 1893 and sattoli monsignor lorencelli footnote cardinal patchy de ente et esentia 1882 et cetera cardinal ziliara summa filosofica three volumes 1876 8th edition 1891 della luce intellettuale et cetera cardinal sattoli in kiridion filosofiai past prima completens logica universal 1884 in summa teologica prelectiones de deo uno 1884 de operatione bus divinis 1885 de gratia cristi 1886 de trinitate 1887 de incarnatione 1888 de habitibus 1897 lorencelli filosofiai teoreticai institutiones two volumes 1896 and the footnote the jesuit fathers de maria and de mandato and the dominican father le pidi footnote de maria filosofia per epatetico scholastica three volumes 1892 de mandato institiones filosofica 1894 le pidi elementa filosofiai cristiana 1875 and following and a footnote in germany the movement was taken up by father tilman pech and the other jesuit authors of the filosofia lakencis while in france it has had many able representatives among them the salvation monsieur labé farge footnote la vie et l'évolution des espèces 1892 matière et forme 1892 le cerveau l'âme et cetera 1892 teorie fondamentale de l'acte et de la puissance 1893 l'idée du contenu dans l'espace et le temps 1894 l'idée de dieu 1894 et cetera and a footnote the most notable english contribution to the new scholastic literature is the stonyhurst series of manuals of catholic philosophy mentioned must also be made of the excellent publications of the institue supérieure de filosofie of the university of louvin namely the cour de philosophie by monsignor mercier m de wolf d nis and others and also of the periodicals divas thomas la revue thomist and la revue new scholastic end of chapter 72