[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.)