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HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY

From Nicolas of Cusa to the Present Time



by

RICHARD FALCKENBERG

_Professor of Philosophy in the University of Erlangen_




_THIRD AMERICAN FROM THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION_


TRANSLATED WITH THE AUTHOR'S SANCTION BY
A.C. ARMSTRONG, JR.
_Professor of Philosophy in Wesleyan University_



1893




TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

The aim of this translation is the same as that of the original work. Each
is the outcome of experience in university instruction in philosophy, and
is intended to furnish a manual which shall be at once scientific and
popular, one to stand midway between the exhaustive expositions of the
larger histories and the meager sketches of the compendiums. A pupil of
Kuno Fischer, Fortlage, J.E. Erdmann, Lotze, and Eucken among others,
Professor Falckenberg began his career as _Docent_ in the university of
Jena. In the year following the first edition of this work he became
_Extraordinarius_ in the same university, and in 1888 _Ordinarius_ at
Erlangen, choosing the latter call in preference to an invitation to Dorpat
as successor to Teichmueller. The chair at Erlangen he still holds. His work
as teacher and author has been chiefly in the history of modern philosophy.
Besides the present work and numerous minor articles, he has published the
following: _Ueber den intelligiblen Charakter, zur Kritik der Kantischen
Freiheitslehre_ 1879; _Grundzuege der Philosophie des Nicolaus Cusanus_,
1880-81; and _Ueber die gegenwaertige Lage der deutschen Philosophie_, 1890
(inaugural address at Erlangen). Since 1884-5 Professor Falckenberg has
also been an editor of the _Zeitschrift fuer Philosophie und philosophische
Kritik_, until 1888 in association with Krohn, and after the latter's
death, alone. At present he has in hand a treatise on Lotze for a German
series analogous to Blackwood's Philosophical Classics, which is to be
issued under his direction. Professor Falckenberg's general philosophical
position may be described as that of moderate idealism. His historical
method is strictly objective, the aim being a free reproduction of the
systems discussed, as far as possible in their original terminology and
historical connection, and without the intrusion of personal criticism.

The translation has been made from the second German edition (1892),
with still later additions and corrections communicated by the author in
manuscript. The translator has followed the original faithfully but
not slavishly. He has not felt free to modify Professor Falckenberg's
expositions, even in the rare cases where his own opinions would have led
him to dissent, but minor changes have been made wherever needed to fit the
book for the use of English-speaking students. Thus a few alterations have
been made in dates and titles, chiefly under the English systems and from
the latest authorities; and a few notes added in elucidation of portions
of the text. Thus again the balance of the bibliography has been somewhat
changed, including transfers from text to notes and _vice versa_ and a few
omissions, besides the introduction of a number of titles from our English
philosophical literature chosen on the plan referred to in the preface
to the first German edition. The glossary of terms foreign to the German
reader has been replaced by a revision and expansion of the index, with the
analyses of the glossary as a basis. Wherever possible, and this has been
true in all important cases, the changes have been indicated by the usual
signs.

The translator has further rewritten Chapter XV., Section 3, on recent
British and American Philosophy. In this so much of the author's
(historical) standpoint and treatment as proved compatible with the aim of
a manual in English has been retained, but the section as a whole has been
rearranged and much enlarged.

The labor of translation has been lightened by the example of previous
writers, especially of the translators of the standard treatises of
Ueberweg and Erdmann. The thanks of the translator are also due to several
friends who have kindly aided him by advice or assistance: in particular to
his friend and former pupil, Mr. C.M. Child, M.S., who participated in the
preparation of a portion of the translation; and above all to Professor
Falckenberg himself, who, by his willing sanction of the work and his
co-operation throughout its progress, has given a striking example of
scholarly courtesy.

A.C.A., Jr.

Wesleyan University, June, 1893.



PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION.

Since the appearance of Eduard Zeller's _Grundriss der Geschichte der
griechischen Philosophie_ (1883; 3d ed. 1889) the need has become even more
apparent than before for a presentation of the history of modern philosophy
which should be correspondingly compact and correspondingly available for
purposes of instruction. It would have been an ambitious undertaking to
attempt to supply a counterpart to the compendium of this honored scholar,
with its clear and simple summation of the results of his much admired five
volumes on Greek philosophy; and it has been only in regard to practical
utility and careful consideration of the needs of students--concerning
which we have enjoyed opportunity for gaining accurate information in the
review exercises regularly held in this university--that we have ventured
to hope that we might not fall too far short of his example.

The predominantly practical aim of this _History_--it is intended to serve
as an aid in introductory work, in reviewing, and as a substitute for
dictations in academical lectures, as well as to be a guide for the
wider circle of cultivated readers--has enjoined self-restraint in the
development of personal views and the limitation of critical reflections
in favor of objective presentation. It is only now and then that critical
hints have been given. In the discussion of phenomena of minor importance
it has been impossible to avoid the _oratio obliqua_ of exposition; but,
wherever practicable, we have let the philosophers themselves develop their
doctrines and reasons, not so much by literal quotations from their
works, as by free, condensed reproductions of their leading ideas. If the
principiant view of the forces which control the history of philosophy, and
of the progress of modern philosophy, expressed in the Introduction and in
the Retrospect at the end of the book, have not been everywhere verified
in detail from the historical facts, this is due in part to the limits, in
part to the pedagogical aim, of the work. Thus, in particular, more space
has for pedagogical reasons been devoted to the "psychological" explanation
of systems, as being more popular, than in our opinion its intrinsic
importance would entitle it to demand. To satisfy every one in the choice
of subjects and in the extent of the discussion is impossible; but our hope
is that those who would have preferred a guide of this sort to be entirely
different will not prove too numerous. In the classification of movements
and schools, and in the arrangement of the contents of the various systems,
it has not been our aim to deviate at all hazards from previous accounts;
and as little to leave unutilized the benefits accruing to later comers
from the distinguished achievements of earlier workers in the field. In
particular we acknowledge with gratitude the assistance derived from the
renewed study of the works on the subject by Kuno Fischer, J.E. Erdmann,
Zeller, Windelband, Ueberweg-Heinze, Harms, Lange, Vorlander, and Puenjer.

The motive which induced us to take up the present work was the perception
that there was lacking a text-book in the history of modern philosophy,
which, more comprehensive, thorough, and precise than the sketches of
Schwegler and his successors, should stand between the fine but detailed
exposition of Windelband, and the substantial but--because of the division
of the text into paragraphs and notes and the interpolation of pages of
bibliographical references--rather dry outline of Ueberweg. While the
former refrains from all references to the literature of the subject and
the latter includes far too many, at least for purposes of instruction, and
J.B. Meyer's _Leitfaden_ (1882) is in general confined to biographical and
bibliographical notices; we have mentioned, in the text or the notes and
with the greatest possible regard for the progress of the exposition, both
the chief works of the philosophers themselves and some of the
treatises concerning them. The principles which have guided us in these
selections--to include only the more valuable works and those best adapted
for students' reading, and further to refer as far as possible to the most
recent works--will hardly be in danger of criticism. But we shall not
dispute the probability that many a book worthy of mention may have been
overlooked.

The explanation of a number of philosophical terms, which has been added as
an appendix at the suggestion of the publishers, deals almost entirely
with foreign expressions and gives the preference to the designations of
fundamental movements. It is arranged, as far as possible, so that it may
be used as a subject-index.

JENA, December 23, 1885.



PREFACE TO THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION.

The majority of the alterations and additions in this new edition are in
the first chapter and the last two; no departure from the general character
of the exposition has seemed to me necessary. I desire to return my
sincere thanks for the suggestions which have come to me alike from public
critiques and private communications. In some cases contradictory requests
have conflicted--thus, on the one hand, I have been urged to expand, on the
other, to cut down the sections on German idealism, especially those on
Hegel--and here I confess my inability to meet both demands. Among the
reviews, that by B. Erdmann in the first volume of the _Archiv fuer
Geschichte der Philosophie_, and, among the suggestions made by letter,
those of H. Heussler, have been of especial value. Since others commonly
see defects more clearly than one's self, it will be very welcome if I can
have my desire continually to make this _History_ more useful supported by
farther suggestions from the circle of its readers. In case it continues to
enjoy the favor of teachers and students, these will receive conscientious
consideration.

For the sake of those who may complain of too much matter, I may remark
that the difficulty can easily be avoided by passing over Chapters I., V.
(Sec.Sec. 1-3), VI., VIII., XII., XV., and XVI.

Professor A.C. Armstrong, Jr., is preparing an English translation. My
earnest thanks are due to Mr. Karl Niemann of Charlottenburg for his kind
participation in the labor of proof-reading.

R.F.

ERLANGEN, June 11, 1892.


* * * * *


%CONTENTS.%



INTRODUCTION



CHAPTER I.

THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION: FROM NICOLAS OF CUSA TO DESCARTES

1. Nicolas of Cusa
2. The Revival of Ancient Philosophy and the Opposition to it
3. The Italian Philosophy of Nature
4. Philosophy of the State and of Law
5. Skepticism in France
6. German Mysticism
7. The Foundation of Modern Physics
8. Philosophy in England to the Middle of the Seventeenth Century
(_a_) Bacon's Predecessors
(_b_) Bacon
(_c_) Hobbes
(_d_) Lord Herbert of Cherbury
9. Preliminary Survey




PART I.

%From Descartes to Kant.%



CHAPTER II.

DESCARTES

1. The Principles
2. Nature
3. Man


CHAPTER III.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATION OF CARTESIANISM IN THE NETHERLANDS AND
IN FRANCE

1. Occasionalism: Geulincx
2. Spinoza
_(a)_ Substance, Attributes, and Modes
_(b)_ Anthropology; Cognition and the Passions
_(c)_ Practical Philosophy
3. Pascal, Malebranche, Bayle


CHAPTER IV.

LOCKE

_(a)_ Theory of Knowledge
_(b)_ Practical Philosophy


CHAPTER V.

ENGLISH PHILOSOPHY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

1. Natural Philosophy and Psychology
2. Deism
3. Moral Philosophy
4. Theory of Knowledge
_(a)_ Berkeley
_(b)_ Hume
_(c)_ The Scottish School


CHAPTER VI.

THE FRENCH ILLUMINATION

1. The Entrance of English Doctrines
2. Theoretical and Practical Sensationalism
3. Skepticism and Materialism
4. Rousseau's Conflict with the Illumination


CHAPTER VII.

LEIBNITZ

1. Metaphysics: the Monads, Representation, the Pre-established Harmony;
the Laws of Thought and of the World
2. The Organic World
3. Man: Cognition and Volition
4. Theology and Theodicy


CHAPTER VIII.

THE GERMAN ILLUMINATION

1. The Contemporaries of Leibnitz
2. Christian Wolff
3. The Illumination as Scientific and as Popular Philosophy
4. The Faith Philosophy




PART II.

%From Kant to the Present Time.%



CHAPTER IX.

KANT

1. Theory of Knowledge
_(a)_ The Pure Intuitions (Transcendental Aesthetic)
_(b)_ The Concepts and Principles of the Pure Understanding
(Transcendental Analytic)
_(c)_ The Reason's Ideas of the Unconditioned (Transcendental
Dialectic)
2. Theory of Ethics
3. Theory of the Beautiful and of Ends in Nature
_(a)_ Aesthetic Judgment
_(b)_ Teleological Judgment
4. From Kant to Fichte


CHAPTER X.

FICHTE

1. The Science of Knowledge
_(a)_ The Problem
_(b)_ The Three Principles
_(c)_ The Theoretical Ego
_(d)_ The Practical Ego
2. The Science of Ethics and of Right
3. Fichte's Second Period: his View of History and his Theory
of Religion


CHAPTER XI.

SCHELLING

1_a_. Philosophy of Nature
1_b_. Transcendental Philosophy
2. System of Identity
3_a_. Doctrine of Freedom
3_b_. Philosophy of Mythology and Revelation


CHAPTER XII.

SCHELLING'S CO-WORKERS

1. The Philosophers of Nature
2. The Philosophers of Identity (F. Krause)
3. The Philosophers of Religion (Baader and Schleiermacher)


CHAPTER XIII.

HEGEL

1. Hegel's View of the World and his Method
2. The System
(_a_) Logic
(_b_) The Philosophy of Nature
(_c_) The Doctrine of Subjective Spirit
(_d_) The Doctrine of Objective Spirit
(_e_) Absolute Spirit


CHAPTER XIV.

THE OPPOSITION TO CONSTRUCTIVE IDEALISM: FRIES, HERBART, SCHOPENHAUER

1. The Psychologists: Fries and Beneke
2. Realism: Herbart
3. Pessimism: Schopenhauer


CHAPTER XV.

PHILOSOPHY OUT OF GERMANY

1. Italy
2. France
3. Great Britain and America
4. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Holland


CHAPTER XVI.

GERMAN PHILOSOPHY SINCE THE DEATH OF HEGEL

1. From the Division of the Hegelian School to the Materialistic
Controversy
2. New Systems: Trendelenburg, Fechner, Lotze, and Hartmann
3. From the Revival of the Kantian Philosophy to the Present Time
(_a_) Neo-Kantianism, Positivism, and Kindred Phenomena
(_b_) Idealistic Reaction against the Scientific Spirit
(_c_) The Special Philosophical Sciences
4. Retrospect


INDEX


* * * * *


INTRODUCTION.

In no other department is a thorough knowledge of history so important as
in philosophy. Like historical science in general, philosophy is, on the
one hand, in touch with exact inquiry, while, on the other, it has a
certain relationship with art. With the former it has in common its
methodical procedure and its cognitive aim; with the latter, its intuitive
character and the endeavor to compass the whole of reality with a glance.
Metaphysical principles are less easily verified from experience than
physical hypotheses, but also less easily refuted. Systems of philosophy,
therefore, are not so dependent on our progressive knowledge of facts as
the theories of natural science, and change less quickly; notwithstanding
their mutual conflicts, and in spite of the talk about discarded
standpoints, they possess in a measure the permanence of classical works of
art, they retain for all time a certain relative validity. The thought of
Plato, of Aristotle, and of the heroes of modern philosophy is ever proving
anew its fructifying power. Nowhere do we find such instructive errors as
in the sphere of philosophy; nowhere is the new so essentially a completion
and development of the old, even though it deem itself the whole and assume
a hostile attitude toward its predecessors; nowhere is the inquiry so much
more important than the final result; nowhere the categories "true and
false" so inadequate. The spirit of the time and the spirit of the people,
the individuality of the thinker, disposition, will, fancy--all these exert
a far stronger influence on the development of philosophy, both by way of
promotion and by way of hindrance, than in any other department of thought.
If a system gives classical expression to the thought of an epoch, a
nation, or a great personality; if it seeks to attack the world-riddle from
a new direction, or brings us nearer its solution by important original
conceptions, by a subtler or a simpler comprehension of the problem, by a
wider outlook or a deeper insight; it has accomplished more than it could
have done by bringing forward a number of indisputably correct principles.
The variations in philosophy, which, on the assumption of the unity of
truth, are a rock of offense to many minds, may be explained, on the one
hand, by the combination of complex variety and limitation in the motives
which govern philosophical thought,--for it is the whole man that
philosophizes, not his understanding merely,--and, on the other, by the
inexhaustible extent of the field of philosophy. Back of the logical labor
of proof and inference stand, as inciting, guiding, and hindering agents,
psychical and historical forces, which are themselves in large measure
alogical, though stronger than all logic; while just before stretches
away the immeasurable domain of reality, at once inviting and resisting
conquest. The grave contradictions, so numerous in both the subjective
and the objective fields, make unanimity impossible concerning ultimate
problems; in fact, they render it difficult for the individual thinker to
combine his convictions into a self-consistent system. Each philosopher
sees limited sections of the world only, and these through his own eyes;
every system is one-sided. Yet it is this multiplicity and variety of
systems alone which makes the aim of philosophy practicable as it endeavors
to give a complete picture of the soul and of the universe. The history of
philosophy is the philosophy of humanity, that great individual, which,
with more extended vision than the instruments through which it works,
is able to entertain opposing principles, and which, reconciling old
contradictions as it discovers new ones, approaches by a necessary and
certain growth the knowledge of the one all-embracing truth, which is
rich and varied beyond our conception. In order to energetic labor in the
further progress of philosophy, it is necessary to imagine that the goddess
of truth is about to lift the veil which has for centuries concealed her.
The historian of philosophy, on the contrary, looks on each new system as
a stone, which, when shaped and fitted into its place, will help to raise
higher the pyramid of knowledge. Hegel's doctrine of the necessity
and motive force of contradictories, of the relative justification of
standpoints, and the systematic development of speculation, has great and
permanent value as a general point of view. It needs only to be guarded
from narrow scholastic application to become a safe canon for the
historical treatment of philosophy.

In speaking above of the worth of the philosophical doctrines of the past
as defying time, and as comparable to the standard character of finished
works of art, the special reference was to those elements in speculation
which proceed less from abstract thinking than from the fancy, the heart,
and the character of the individual, and even more directly from the
disposition of the people; and which to a certain degree may be divorced
from logical reasoning and the scientific treatment of particular
questions. These may be summed up under the phrase, views of the world. The
necessity for constant reconsideration of them is from this standpoint at
once evident. The Greek view of the world is as classic as the plastic art
of Phidias and the epic of Homer; the Christian, as eternally valid as the
architecture of the Middle Ages; the modern, as irrefutable as Goethe's
poetry and the music of Beethoven. The views of the world which proceed
from the spirits of different ages, as products of the general development
of culture, are not so much thoughts as rhythms in thinking, not theories
but modes of intuition saturated with feelings of worth. We may dispute
about them, it is true; we may argue against them or in their defense; but
they can neither be established nor overthrown by cogent proofs. It is not
only optimism and pessimism, determinism and indeterminism, that have their
ultimate roots in the affective side of our nature, but pantheism and
individualism, also idealism and materialism, even rationalism and
sensationalism. Even though they operate with the instruments of thought,
they remain in the last analysis matters of faith, of feeling, and of
resolution. The aesthetic view of the world held by the Greeks, the
transcendental-religious view of Christianity, the intellectual view of
Leibnitz and Hegel, the panthelistic views of Fichte I and Schopenhauer are
vital forces, not doctrines, postulates, not results of thought. One view
of the world is forced to yield its pre-eminence to another, which it has
itself helped to produce by its own one-sidedness; only to reconquer its
opponent later, when it has learned from her, when it has been purified,
corrected, and deepened by the struggle. But the elder contestant is no
more confuted by the younger than the drama of Sophocles by the drama of
Shakespeare, than youth by age or spring by autumn.

If it is thus indubitable that the views of the world held in earlier times
deserve to live on in the memory of man, and to live as something better
than mere reminders of the past--the history of philosophy is not a cabinet
of antiquities, but a museum of typical products of the mind--the value
and interest of the historical study of the past in relation to the exact
scientific side of philosophical inquiry is not less evident. In every
science it is useful to trace the origin and growth of problems and
theories, and doubly so in philosophy. With her it is by no means the
universal rule that progress shows itself by the result; the statement of
the question is often more important than the answer. The problem is more
sharply defined in a given direction; or it becomes more comprehensive,
is analyzed and refined; or if now it threatens to break up into subtle
details, some genius appears to simplify it and force our thoughts back
to the fundamental question. This advance in problems, which happily is
everywhere manifested by unmistakable signs, is, in the case of many of the
questions which irresistibly force themselves upon the human heart, the
only certain gain from centuries of endeavor. The labor here is of more
value than the result.

In treating the history of philosophy, two extremes must be avoided,
lawless individualism and abstract logical formalism. The history
of philosophy is neither a disconnected succession of arbitrary
individual opinions and clever guesses, nor a mechanically developed series
of typical standpoints and problems, which imply one another in just the
form and order historically assumed. The former supposition does violence
to the regularity of philosophical development, the latter to its vitality.
In the one case, the connection is conceived too loosely, in the other, too
rigidly and simply. One view underestimates the power of the logical Idea,
the other overestimates it. It is not easy to support the principle that
chance rules the destiny of philosophy, but it is more difficult to avoid
the opposite conviction of the one-sidedness of formalistic construction,
and to define the nature and limits of philosophical necessity. The
development of philosophy is, perhaps, one chief aim of the world-process,
but it is certainly not the only one; it is a part of the universal aim,
and it is not surprising that the instruments of its realization do not
work exclusively in its behalf, that their activity brings about results,
which seem unessential for philosophical ends or obstacles in their way.
Philosophical ideas do not think themselves, but are thought by living
spirits, which are something other and better than mere thought
machines--by spirits who live these thoughts, who fill them with personal
warmth and passionately defend them. There is often reason, no doubt, for
the complaint that the personality which has undertaken to develop some
great idea is inadequate to the task, that it carries its subjective
defects into the matter in hand, that it does too much or too little, or
the right thing in the wrong way, so that the spirit of philosophy seems
to have erred in the choice and the preparation of its instrument. But the
reverse side of the picture must also be taken into account. The thinking
spirit is more limited, it is true, than were desirable for the perfect
execution of a definite logical task; but, on the other hand, it is far
too rich as well. A soulless play of concepts would certainly not help
the cause, and there is no disadvantage in the failure of the history of
philosophy to proceed so directly and so scholastically, as, for instance,
in the system of Hegel. A graded series of interconnected general forces
mediate between the logical Idea and the individual thinker--the spirit of
the people, of the age, of the thinker's vocation, of his time of life,
which are felt by the individual as part of himself and whose impulses
he unconsciously obeys. In this way the modifying, furthering, hindering
correlation of higher and lower, of the ruler with his commands and the
servant with his more or less willing obedience, is twice repeated, the
situation being complicated further by the fact that the subject affected
by these historical forces himself helps to make history. The most
important factor in philosophical progress is, of course, the state of
inquiry at the time, the achievements of the thinkers of the immediately
preceding age; and in this relation of a philosopher to his predecessors,
again, a distinction must be made between a logical and a psychological
element. The successor often commences his support, his development, or his
refutation at a point quite unwelcome to the constructive historian. At all
events, if we may judge from the experience of the past, too much caution
cannot be exercised in setting up formal laws for the development of
thought. According to the law of contradiction and reconciliation, a
Schopenhauer must have followed directly after Leibnitz, to oppose his
pessimistic ethelism to the optimistic intellectualism of the latter; when,
in turn, a Schleiermacher, to give an harmonic resolution of the antithesis
into a concrete doctrine of feeling, would have made a fine third. But it
turned out otherwise, and we must be content.

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