PHILOSOPHY
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PHILOSOPHY
D. Medieval Philosophy. — The philosophy of the
Middle Ages developed simultaneously in the West,
at Byzantium, and in divers Eastern centres; but
the Western philosophy is the most important. It
built itself up with great effort on the ruins of bar-
barism: imtil the twelfth century, nothing was known
of Aristotle, except some treatises on logic, or of
Plato, except a few dialogues. Gradually, problems
arose, and, foremost, in importance, the question of
universals in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries
(see Nominalism). St. Anselm (1033-1109) made a
first attempt at systematizing Scholastic philosophy,
and developed a theodicy. But as early as the
ninth century an anti-Scholastic philosophy had
arisen with Eriugena who revived the neo-Platonic
Monism. In the twelfth century Scholasticism formu-
lated new anti-Realist doctrines with Adelard of
Bath, Gauthier de ]\Iortagne, and, above all, Abelard
and Gilbert de la Porree, whilst extreme Realism
took shape in the schools of Chartres. John of
Salisbury and Alain de Lille, in the twelfth
century, are the co-ordinating minds that in-
dicate the maturity of Scholastic thought. The
latter of these waged a campaign against the Pan-
theism of David of Dinant and the Epicureanism of
the Albigenses — the two most important forms of
anti-Scholastic philosophy. At Byzantium, Greek
philosophy held its ground throughout the Middle
Ages, and kept apart from the movement of Western
ideas. The same is true of the Syrians and Arabs.
But at the end of the twelfth centurj' the Arabic
and Byzantine movement entered into relation with
\\'estern thought, and effected, to the profit of the
latter, the brilliant philosophical revival of the thir-
teenth century. This was due, in the first place,
to the creation of the University of Paris; next, to
the foundation of the Dominican and Franciscan
orders; lastly, to the introduction of Arabic and
Latin translations of Aristotle and the ancient au-
thors. At the same period the works of Avicenna and
Averroes became known at Paris. A pleiad of bril-
liant names fills the thirteenth century — Alexander
of Hales, St. Bonaventure, Bl. Albertus Magnus, St.
Thomas Aquinas, Godfrey of Fontaines, Henrj' of
Ghent, Giles of Rome, and Duns Scotus bring Scho-
lastic synthesis to perfection. They all wage war on
Latin Averroism and anti-Scholasticism, defended in
the schools of Paris by Siger of Brabant. Roger
Bacon, LuUy, and a group of neo-Platonists occupy
a place apart in this centurj', which is completely
filled by remarkable figures. In the fourteenth cen-
tury Scholastic philosophy betrays the first symptoms
of decadence. In place of individualities we have
schools, the chief being the Thomist, the Scotist,
and the Terminist School of William of Occam,
which soon attracted numerous partisans. With
John of Jandun, Averroism perpetuates its most
audacious propositions; Eckhart and Nicholas
of Cusa formulate philosophies which are sympto-
matic of the approaching revolution. The Renais-
sance was a troublous period for philosophy. Ancient
systems were revived : the Dialectic of the Humanistic
philologists (Laurentius Valla, Vives), Platonism,
Aristoteleanism, Stoicism. Telesius, Campanella, and
Giordano Bruno follow a naturalistic philosophy.
Natural and social law are renewed with Thomas
More and Grotius. All these philosophies were
leagued together against Scholasticism, and very often
against Catholicism. On the other hand, the
Scholastic philosophers grew weaker and weaker,
and, excepting for the brilliant Spanish Scholasticism
of the sixteenth century (Banez, Suarez, Vasquez,
and so on), it may be said that ignorance of the fun-
damental doctrine became general. In the seven-
teenth century there was no one to support Scholas-
ticism: it felt, not for lack of ideas, but for lack of
defenders.
E. Modern Philosophy. — The philosophies of the
Renaissance are mainly negative: modern philosophy
is, first and foremost, constructive. The latter is
emancipated from all dogma; many of its sj'ntheses
are powerful; the deiinitive formation of the various
nationalities and the diversity of languages favour
the tendency to individualism. The two great initia-
tors of modern philosophy are Descartes and Francis
Bacon. The former inaugurates a spiritualistic
philosophy based on the data of consciousness, and
his influence may be traced in Malebranche, Spinoza,
and Leibniz. Bacon heads a lineof Empiricists, who
regarded sensation as the only source of knowledge.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a
Sensualist philosophy grew up in England, based on
Baconian Empiricism, and soon to develop in the
direction of Subjectivism. Hobbcs, Locke, Berkeley,
and David Hume mark the stages of this logical
evolution. Simultaneously an Associationist psy-
chology appeared also inspired by Sensualism, and,
before long, it formed a special field of research.
Brown, David Hartley, and Priestley developed the
theory of association of ideas in various directions.
At the outset Sensualism encountered vigorous opposi-
tion, even in England, from the Mystics and Plato-
nists of the Cambridge School (Samuel Parker and,
especially, Ralph Cudworth). The reaction was still
more lively in the Scotch School, founded and chiefly
represented by Thomas Reid, to which Adam Fer-
guson, Oswald, and Dugald Stewart belonged in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and which
had great influence over Eclectic Spiritualism, chiefly
in America and France. Hobbes's "selfish" system
was developed into a morality by Bentham, a parti-
san of Egoi.'^tic L'tilitarianism, and by Adam Smith,
a defender of Altruism, but provoked a reaction
among the advocates of the moral sentiment theory
(Shaftesburj-, Hutcheson, Samuel Clarke). In
England, also. Theism or Deism was chiefly
developed, instituting a criticism of aU positive
religion, which it sought to supplant with a
philosophical religion. English Sensualism spread
in France during the eighteenth century: its influence
is traceable in de Condillac, de la Mettrie, and the
Encyclopedists; Voltaire popularized it in France
and with Jean-Jacques Rous.seau it made its way
among the masses, undermining their Christianity
and preparing the Revolution of 17S9. In Germany,
the philosophy of the eighteenth century is, directly
or indirectly, connected with Leibniz — the School of
Wolff, the .Esthetic School (Baumgarten), the philoso-
phy of sentiment. But all the German philosophers
of the eighteenth century were eclipsed by the great
figure of Kant.
With Kant (1724-1804) modern philosophj' enters its second period and takes a critical orientation. Kant bases his theory of knowledge, his moral and aesthetic system, and his judgments of finality on the structure of the mind. In the first half of the eighteenth cen- tury, German philosophy is replete with great names connected with Kantianism — after it had been put through a Monistic evolution, however — Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel have been called the triumvirate of Pantheism; then again, Schopenhauer, while Herbart returned to individualism. French philos- ophy in the nineteenth century is at first dominated by an eclectic Spiritualistic movement with which the names of Maine de Biran and, especially, Victor Cousin are associated. Cousin had disciples in America (C. Henry), and in France he gained favour with those whom the excesses of the Revolu- tion had alarmed. In the first half of the nineteenth century French Catholics api^roved the Traditionalism inaugurated by de Bonald ami de Lamennais, while another group took refuge in Ontologism. In the same period Auguste Comte founded Positivism, to which Littre and Taine
