PHILOSOPHY.
There have been, since the waters of thought began to flow, two great streams running side by side,—Rationalism and Mysticism. Those who sail upon the former recognize Reason as king; those upon the latter enthrone some vague and shadowy power, in general known as Intuition. The tendency of the one is to begin with sense impressions, and out of these to build up a universe in the brain corresponding to the outer world, and to arrive at a belief in God by climbing the stairway of induction and analogy. The tendency of the other is to start with the affirmed nature of God, arrived at, the thinker knows not how, and deduce the universe from the conception of the Divine Nature. If this matter is kept in mind, the earnest student will be able to see through the mists sufficiently to discover what the philosophers are talking about whenever it chances that they themselves knew. Spencer, Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Locke, are all worthy of a thorough reading; and Comte's philosophy of Mathematics is of great importance.
The manner of reading good philosophic works should be: R. D. G.
[186] Spencer's Philosophy is the grandest body of thought that any one man has ever given to the world. No one who wishes to move with the tide can afford to be unfamiliar with his books, from "First Principles" to his Essays. He believes that all ideas, or their materials, have come through the avenues of the senses. (Eng., 19th cent.)
[187] Plato and Socrates are a double star in the sky of Philosophy that the strongest telescopes have failed to resolve. Socrates wrote nothing, but talked much. Plato was a pupil of his, and makes Socrates the chief character in his writings. Ten schools of philosophy claimed Socrates as their head, but Plato alone represented the master with fulness. Considering the times in which he lived, the grandeur of his thought, the power of his imagination, and the nobility, elegance, originality, and beauty of his writings, Plato has no superior in the whole range of literature. With Plato, ideas are the only realities, things are imperfect expressions of them, and all knowledge is reminiscence of what the soul learned when it was in the land of spirit, face to face with ideas unveiled. Read his dialogues, especially "Phædo" and the "Republic." (Greece, 429-348 b. c.)
[188] A most acute idealist, whose argument against the existence of matter is one of the great passages of literature. (Eng., 18th cent.)
[189] Kant argues that the forms of thought, time, and space are necessarily intuitive, and not derived from sensation, since they are prerequisites to sensation. Read the "Critique of Pure Reason," "Critique of Practical Reason," in which he treats moral philosophy, and "Observations on the Sublime and Beautiful." (Germany, 18th cent.)
[190] Locke bases knowledge on sensation. His "Essay on the Conduct of the Understanding" is one of the most valuable books in the language. Spencer, Mill, and Locke have so fully imbibed all that was good in Hobbes that it is scarcely necessary to read him. (Eng., 17th cent.)
[191] Comte's "Positive Philosophy" rejects intuitive knowledge. It is characterized by force of logic, immense research, great power of generalization (which is frequently carried beyond the warrant of facts), and immense bulk. (France, 19th cent.)
[192] Sensationalist. A very strong writer. (Eng., 19th cent.)
[193] "Limits of Religious Thought." A very powerful exposure of the weakness of human imagination. (Eng., 19th cent.)
[194] "Matter and Force." A powerful presentation of Materialism. (Ger., 19th cent.)
[195] "Freedom of the Will." A demonstration of the impossibility of free will. (Amer., 18th cent.)
[196] A very acute English philosopher. (Eng., 1748-1832.)
[197] Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. (Eng., 19th cent.)
[198] A deep, clear thinker, of sceptical character, who laid bare the flaws in the old philosophies. (Eng., 1711-1776.)
[199] One of the most profound metaphysicians the world can boast, and inventor of quaternions, the latest addition to Mathematics. (Scot., 19th cent.)
[200] Aristotle was the Bacon of the Old World. His method was the very opposite of Plato's. He sought knowledge chiefly by carefully looking out upon the world, instead of by introspection. No one has exerted a greater influence on the thought of the world than this deep and earnest thinker. (Greece, 4th cent. b. c.)
[201] A very beautiful writer of the idealist school, though he claims to be eclectic. (France, 19th cent.)
[202] Hegel endeavored, by the method set forth in his "Absolute Logic," to reduce all knowledge to one science. (Ger., 1770-1831.) Schelling, in his "Philosophy of Identity," tries to prove that the same laws hold in the world of spirit as in the world of matter. Schelling bases his system on an intuition superior to reason, and admitting neither doubt nor explanation. (Ger., 1775-1854.)
[203] Fichte carries the doctrines of Kant to their limit: to him all except the life of the mind is a delusion. (Ger., 18th cent.)
[204] A great German philosopher of the time of Luther (16th cent.), very learned, refined, and witty. Read his "Familiar Colloquies."
[205] "Cosmic Philosophy." (Amer. 19th cent.)
[206] "Rational Cosmology, or the Eternal Principles and Necessary Laws of the Universe." (U. S., 19th cent.)
[207] Scottish Philosophy. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[208] Theologico-politico-moral, voluminous dissertations. (Amsterdam, 17th cent.)