BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE WORK OF THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY
If one asked for a brief description of the work of the Open Court Company, one would probably get the answer that the Company publishes books and articles on Science, Religion, and Philosophy. That is not quite exact; for that describes the ideal to which the Open Court Company is continually striving rather than the actual work it is doing. The ideal is Religion on a firm basis of Science, a Science of Philosophy, and a Philosophy of Science: the only path which can lead to this great ideal synthesis is the detailed and careful study of sciences, religions, and philosophies.
It was this ideal that prompted the late Mr. Edward Carl Hegeler of La Salle, Illinois, in the United States of America, to found a Company to publish books with the object of establishing ethics and religion upon a scientific basis. Such ideals are as old as philosophy itself. Among modern philosophies, that founded by Comte tried, probably in the most explicit fashion of all, to found a religion on the basis of positive science; and at one time it appeared likely to have a lasting success. But it is now quite plain that no philosophy which hopes to be permanent can neglect history or put itself into uncritical opposition to the systems that have for centuries expressed some of the dearest and highest aspirations of mankind. It is unprejudiced and fearless historical and critical investigation—non-sectarian in the widest sense—in both religion, science, and philosophy, that must go before any satisfactory synthesis. This is a great part of the work of the Open Court Company.
Let us consider what non-sectarianism means. We cannot, for example, isolate a single domain of science in a particular country and at a particular time—say, mechanics in England in the eighteenth century—and hope to make of it a thoroughly complete object of study. In natural science, for example, we make conventional divisions simply with the object of saving labor when dealing with the huge mass of material that experience offers. But the narrowest specialist knows that all workers in science, religion, and philosophy seek the Truth; and that the Truth is bounded neither by space nor by time nor by man-made divisions. A man may rightly conclude that he stands little chance of finding out very much of the Truth, and so he may voluntarily limit his view to a certain roughly defined domain of facts and thoughts, and become, for example, what is called a "biologist," a "physicist," a "higher critic," or, if he thinks that he may discover rather more of the Truth, a "philosopher."
And let us carry a clear understanding of a lofty aim into religion as well. It is our duty, as rational beings, to be non-sectarian. It is not a merit to allow ignorance to blind us to the glimpses of Truth that we sometimes get from prophets, poets, and priests of other religions and other philosophies than our own. If we think that there is more truth or sacredness in our own, let us use every means to make this sacredness or this truth appear evident to others. But, in justice, let us also fearlessly discuss other religions and philosophies, and discover their greater merits, if any, as compared with our own. If, after careful investigation, we arrive at the belief in the truth or falsehood of anything in these religions or philosophies, let us state our grounds for believing so in the fullest possible way. Only by so doing can we fulfil the duties of being true to ourselves and helpful to others.
Sometimes the work of a critic is said to be "merely destructive." This idea rests on a most harmful misunderstanding. Criticism consists not only in the pointing out of error, but in the pointing out of truth as well. Error is simply a psychological condition of blindness to the truth; and the discovery of errors committed by other people or ourselves is not—as many superficial people like to say—the pulling down of a structure already raised, unless an error can be called a structure which is built out of the fictions of our imagination which have no objective existence. Criticism often enables us to discover more of the Truth, and nobody can do more than discover Truth: nobody creates Truth, any more than Columbus created America.
Nowadays all intelligent men and women agree that all knowledge must be subjected to criticism, and the best men and women act on these beliefs. The books and magazines published by the Open Court Company are intended to help these men and women.
We will dwell a little longer on the subject of religion, because it is in religion that the majority of us have the one region of ideals above our bodily needs. It is rare, though of course not unknown, that Science or Philosophy satisfies the spiritual needs—the purest of human cravings. Nowadays, most of us realize that an anti-scientific attitude of religion is impossible. If there were an opposition between "science" and "religion," there would be no question as to which side would be victorious. More particularly during the last seventy years, "religion," conscious of the opposition which a rather crude doctrine which was called "science" had towards it, has been gradually, and often somewhat ludicrously, trying to bring itself more into conformity with that "science." The result is painful to the student of human nature; though it has its amusing sides, just as had the militant denial, on the part of those who were "on the side of the angels" about fifty years ago, of certain deductions from facts. What is called a "conflict between religion and science" always has ended in a victory for "science" and an agnosticism which ousted religion. And thus many see that it is desirable that the matured results of science should enter into the fabric of our religious convictions. For the realization of this purpose, the Open Court Company publishes two periodicals, The Monist, a quarterly magazine devoted to the philosophy of science, and The Open Court, an illustrated monthly devoted to the science of religion and the religion of science. In addition, the Open Court Company publishes books that directly or indirectly advance its aim—books on Philosophy, which, in contrast with the old metaphysicism, lay the foundations of a philosophy of science; books on the history of philosophies; books on mathematics and other lines of thought which are indispensable for a rational and scientific conception of the world; books that have a bearing on the doctrine of Evolution; books on the history of Religions, especially on the development of Christianity and on Higher Criticism; and books on Comparative Religion, on Psychology, on Education, and on Ethics. Above all, in all the works careful, sympathetic, and scholarly criticism is aimed at. Criticism is the joint result of love of Truth and independence of thought; rightly understood, it is not only a preliminary to a work of synthesis, but it is part of synthesis itself. No synthesis, in fact, is more than a discovery of Truth: from past history we know that syntheses have often blinded men to the Truth, though that was naturally not their intention.
On the subject of independence of thought it may be proper shortly to refer to the work of Dr. Paul Carus, who has been, since the end of 1887, closely associated with the Open Court Company and its publications. Only two things need be said here. In the first place, it was owing to the need he felt for keeping his independence of thought that he resigned a post in Germany and came, first to England and then to America. In the second place, his views, which are also, broadly speaking, the views for which the Open Court Company works, may be characterized both as monism and positivism, though his philosophy differs considerably from Hæckel's monism, which is practically materialism, and even more so from the French positivism of Comte and from agnosticism, its English equivalent. In his philosophy, form plays the most important part. Form is the significant feature of both objective existence and subjective thought. Matter and energy only denote reality, but form characterizes quality. Science traces form, and the nature of all things, the human character included, is constituted by form. In the formal sciences again, that which is the core of their usefulness as general propositions is the character of anyness, the use of which justifies the method of generalization. Here lies the root of the kinship of Dr. Carus's philosophy with modern logic, and allows him to reconstruct the old artistic and religious ideas upon a new and modern ground. In this sense, he himself has characterized his philosophy as a philosophy of form.
A Partial List of Books in the
OPEN COURT SCIENCE SERIES
PROBLEMS OF SCIENCE
BY FEDERIGO ENRIQUES
Authorized translation by Katherine Royce, with an introduction by Josiah Royce. Pp. 375. Price, $2.50.
"The end for which we ought to strive today is a scientific education, which shall enable the workers in any field whatsoever to understand better how the object of their own research is subordinated to more general problems."
The author is professor of projective geometry and geometric drawing in the University of Bologna, and is one of the most conspicuous of contemporary Italian scientists.
The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution
By E. D. Cope
Illustrated. Cloth, $2.00 net
The Soul of Man
By Paul Carus
An investigation of the facts of physiological and experimental psychology. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50 net; paper, 85c.
Plant Breeding
By Hugo De Vries
Comments on the experiments of Nilsson and Burbank. Illustrated. Cloth, gilt, $1.50 net
The Rise of Man
By Paul Carus
A sketch of the human race. Illustrated. Boards, cloth back, 75c net
Species and Varieties, Their Origin and Mutation
By Hugo De Vries
Edited by D. T. MacDougal. Price, $5.00 net
The Mutation Theory
By Hugo De Vries
Experiments and observations on the origin of species in the vegetable kingdom. (2 vols.) Translated by Prof. A. B. Farmer and A. D. Darbishire. Numerous illustrations, colored plates. Cloth, per volume $4.00 net.
Intracellular Pangenesis
By Hugo De Vries
Including a paper on fertilization and hybridization. Translated from the German by C. Stuart Gager. Cloth, $3.00 net.
On Memory and the Specific Energies of the Nervous System
By Ewald Hering
New edition, including "The Theory of Nerve Activity." Price, $1.00; paper, 30c.
Psychology of the Nervous System
By Paul Carus
An extract from the author's larger work, "The Soul of Man." Price, 30c.
The Psychology of Reasoning
By Alfred Binet
Translated by Adam Gowan Whyte. Cloth, 75c net
Has the Psychological Laboratory Proved Helpful?
By L. M. Billia
Translated from the French by Lydia G. Robinson. Pp. 16. Paper, 15c net.
A Mechanico-Physiological Theory of Organic Evolution
By Carl von Nageli
Summary. 30c.
Experiments on the Generation of Insects
By Francesco Redi
Translated from the Italian edition of 1688 by Mab Bigelow. Illustrated. Cloth, $2.00 net
Science and Faith, or Man as an Animal, and Man as a Member of Society, with a Discussion on Animal Societies
By Paul Topinard
Translated by T. J. McCormack. Price, $1.50 net
A First Book in Organic Evolution
By D. Kerfoot Shute
Written especially for the use of students. Illustrated, seven colored plates, 2d ed. Cloth, $1.25; paper, 60c net
On Germinal Selection as a Source of Definite Variation
By August Weismann
Translated by T. J. McCormack. Paper, 30c
Popular Scientific Lectures
By Ernst Mach
Translated by T. J. McCormack. Illustrated. $1.50 net; paper, 60c net
Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations
By Ernst Mach
Translated by C. M. Williams. Price, $1.25 net
Space and Geometry in the Light of Physiological, Psychological and Physical Inquiry
By Ernst Mach
Translated by T. J. McCormack. Cloth, gilt top, $1.00 net
The History and the Root of the Principle of the Conservation of Energy
By Ernst Mach
Translated by Philip E. B. Jourdain. Cloth, $1.25 net
On the Inheritance of Acquired Characters
By Eugenio Rignano
Translated by Basil C. H. Harvey. With an appendix "On the Mnemonic Origin and Nature of Affective Tendencies." Cloth, $3.00 net
Darwin and After Darwin
By George J. Romanes
An exposition of the Darwinian theory and a discussion of post-Darwinian Questions. Three volumes, $4.00 net.
Part I. The Darwinian Theory. Cloth, $2.00.
Part II. Post-Darwinian Questions: Heredity and Utility. Cloth, $1.50.
Part III. Post-Darwinian Questions: Isolation and Physiological Selection. Cloth, $1.00.
An Examination of Weismannism
By George J. Romanes
Cloth, $1.00 net; paper, 40c net.
Send for complete list.
OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO.
(Scientific and Educational Books)
122 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text just after the appendix.
Other than that, printer's inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and ligature usage have been retained.