Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/448

 4:34: PHILOSOPHY tion of the earliest Greek (Ionic) philosophy. As the proximate causes are found to be not self-originating, or are seen to be inadequate, their existence and operation must be ex- plained, and we thus pass from Ionic specula- tion to the vovg of Anaxagoras. This, at first regarded as a deus ex machina, rises into special importance in the teachings of Socrates, when he connects it not merely with the physical but the moral order of the world. Thus he legiti- mates the theory of his predecessor by putting it to broader and better use, and justifies the claim made in his behalf that he had brought down philosophy from heaven to earth. In him, but eminently in his pupil Plato, the re- action against the sophists denying moral dis- tinctions, and representing all things as illu- sive is distinctly seen. Plato asks after the reality underlying all phenomena, but in doing this he has to consider the capacity of man to know the real. The relation of the constitu- tion and powers of the soul to sensible phe- nomena, or to actual cognition, must necessa- rily be taken into account, and a line of dis- cussion is entered upon which Aristotle also follows up. The result is twofold: on one side, doubt and distrust, as illustrated by the academics, or even a despair and surrender of all philosophy as futile ; and on the other, a restriction of reason, which has speculated to little purpose, to matters of practical life. Here again there are two classes of thinkers : one finding wisdom, with Epicurus, in practical prudence and a shrewd calculation of the utili- ties, of pleasure and pain; while another (the stoics), retaining the high sense inspired by the earlier teachings of philosophy of the dig- nity of the soul, are indisposed to capitulate to obstacles and hardships, and count that dispo- sition of mind and heart which defies them in the strength of virtuous resolve to be the high- est philosophy. At this point we find specula- tion modified by contact with Christianity and oriental elements. The relation of the Supreme Deity, as transcendental and absolute, to crea- tion is a new problem, which gives birth to Gnosticism, and determines the development of Neo-Platonism. Christian dogmas, authori- tatively proclaimed, limit the sphere of specu- lation, and present their solution of the gravest problems of providence and human destiny, which are declared to be above the sphere and capacity of human reason. But in the conflict with paganism, Christianity sometimes accepts the alliance of Platonism, and in the writings of St. Augustine we have, along with the at- tempted refutation of pagan, the introduction of what may be considered the first approxi- mately perfect scheme of Christian philosophy. Until the revival of learning, the ancient phi- losophies, imperfectly apprehended, are studied, often with little original thought, and are modi- fied to meet the demands of reason, silent and submissive before dogma, but intent to settle the conditions and terms of its submission. Studied under the new conditions of mental activity in the loth and 16th centuries, the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were ac- cepted as bases of speculation, but in the 17th century they began to give place to original thought. Bacon broke the way in which oth- ers were ready to follow, indicating the true methods of philosophy, rather than construct- ing a system of his own. Descartes broke still more completely with the past, taking skep- ticism as his starting point. From his time the psychological element has predominated in philosophy. He laid the foundation for the later idealism, and, in his dual division of the existent into mind and matter, prepared the way for the monism of Spinoza, the preestab- lished harmony of Leibnitz, and the specula- tions of Locke. Conditions of race, climate,, and natural scenery, as well as forms of gov- ernment and religion, and national tastes and capabilities, have all exerted their influence in determining the order of philosophical devel- opment; and yet, as a rule, each generation has built on the foundation laid by its prede- cessor, but reconstructed often to meet its own necessities. /Schools. The term school, as ap- plied to philosophy, is sometimes used in a specific, but often also in a more general and indefinite sense. When its application is local or national, as when we speak of the Hindoo, Greek, scholastic, Scottish, French, German, or Italian philosophy, the unity that is predi- cated of each belongs not to the views main- tained by the different thinkers who composed it, so much as the class of topics which they discussed. In other cases, as when we speak of the nominalists or realists, idealists or ma- terialists, Platonists or Aristotelians, stoics or Epicureans, the term has a more specific and exclusive significance. It belongs to a class of thinkers who are agreed as to the method and tendency of a system. History. In connec- tion with the following brief outline of the course of philosophy, a much more complete and somewhat continuous history may be ob- tained, by consulting in this work the numer- ous biographical and other articles bearing upon the subject. In India, speculation on the great problems of philosophy, if not the most ancient, is, among the ancient, the best known. As among other early nations, we here find philosophy combined with theology, or involved in myths. The germs of it must be sought in the Vedas (probably composed before 1000 B. C.), the laws of Manu, and other sacred writings. Associated with much that is superstitious, it possesses elements indicative of patient and profound thought. With a gross idolatry it combines an ideal pantheism, not unlike that wrought out by German thinkers. Its standard of human perfection is abstraction from matter and absorption in God. Creation is an illusion, and spirit is the only substance. Appearances in nature are manifestations of God, and all life, even in the worm, is sacred. The Upani- shads speak of the Divine Self, the Eternal Word, not to be grasped by reason, but only