Page:An introduction to philosophy (IA introductiontoph00flet).pdf/11



Introduction is a product of the classroom. It originated in a desire to outline an undergraduate year in Philosophy that would be both critical and constructive.

The History of Philosophy affords a natural introduction to the problems with which this discipline deals. It acquaints the student with the questions considered by those who have determined the course of reflective thought, and it reveals their attitudes and modes of approach. It also furnishes him with developed statements of philosophical problems, and discovers to him the advance made in their solution. In thus tracing the development of the Science of Sciences, the student grasps the significance of philosophical activity. This course is also preëminently fitted to develop the critical interest and aptness which are essential to the framing of worthy philosophical conceptions. But the results have led many to doubt the wisdom of limiting the undergraduate to the History of Philosophy. Most students whose only acquaintance with Philosophy has been made through a historical study of it, are merely critical. Many become philosophic sceptics; and most of those who retain some philosophic faith are sadly confused.

On the other hand, if the history of reflective thought be ignored and the student be immediately introduced to a completed statement and solution of these problems, he fails to get what the history alone furnishes. This alternative course tends to a blind acceptance of the views held by the teacher; and the resultant dogmatism pre-