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PHILOSOPHY
THE ESSENTIAL
GUIDE TO THE
HISTORY OF
WESTERN
PHILOSOPHY
.*s>
THE STORY/
PHILOSOPHY
"ALL MEN BY NATURE
DESIRE TO KNOW"
Aristotle
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Philosophers question the fundamental principles
underlying all knowledge and existence. Among
the important philosophical issues that The Story of
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Ojo medit-medit bro, kuwi
kelakuane asu. mati ora
nggondol buku kowe su.Dari
Jogja dengan Cinta
THE STORY OF
PHILOSOPHY
THE STORY OF
PHILOSOPHY
BRYAN MAGEE
DK PUBLISHING, INC.
The Great Democracy and
Rationalists Philosophy
Descartes 84 The Utilitarians 182
Spinoza 90 The American
Leibniz 96 Pragmatists 186
Revolutionary
French Thinkers
Vokaire 122
Diderot 124
Rousseau 126
An Invitation to
Philosophy
QUESTIONING THE FUNDAMENTALS WE NORMALLY
TAKE FOR GRANTED
THE that
DAILY LIVES OF MOST
keep us busy and preoccupied. But every
of us are full of things
"PHILOSOPHY BEGINS IN
Lawyers are referring constantly to guUt and innocence, health - if not, what do we mean by cure?" is beginning
justice, a fair trial, and so on. But if one of them says: to do philosophy of medicine. In every field of activity
"'Wlien we talk about justice, do we mean the same as there is a philosophy of it that involves questioning its
what the politicians mean when they talk about social fimdamental concepts, principles, and methods. So there
justice, or are we talking about something different here?" is philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, philosophy
he is beginning to do philosophy of law. The doctor of art, and so on. Nearly always, some of the best
who asks himself: "Is there ever such a thing as perfect practitioners in each field are interested in its philosophy.
AN INNITATION TO PMILOS()lMI^
It is important to realize that when the political for your rational assent, not for faith or obedience.
philosopher asks: "What is freedom?" he is not just asking Philosophy tries to see how far reason alone will take us.
for a definition of the word. If that were all he wanted Because philosophy is a quest for rational
he could look it up in the dictionary. His question goes understanding of the most fundamental kind it raises
far beyond that. He is seeking an altogether deeper important questions about the nature of understanding
understanding of the concept, and of how it actually and hence of enquiry and knowledge. How are we to
functions in our thoughts and our lives, and of other ways go about finding answers to all these questions of ours?
in which it might also be used, and of the possible dangers Can we ever really know, in the sense of being sure of,
of its use, and of how it does or could relate to other key anything? If so, what? And even if we do know, how will
political concepts such as equality. He is trying clarify his we be able to be sure that we know; in other words can
mind and ours on a subject that has important practical we ever know that we know? Questions like this have
implications for us and yet which bristles with difficulties. themselves come to occupy a place near the center of
of human
philosopher asks questions about the nature
perception, experience, and understanding.
philosophy. The greatest philosophers have So, put at its most basic, philosophy has developed
gone much deeper than that and questioned the in such a way that two fundamental questions
most fundamental aspects of our existence lie at its heart: the first is "What
and our experience. We human beings find is the nature of whatever
ourselves in a world we had no say about it is that exits?" and
entering. In its most obvious and basic the second is "How,
features it consists of a framework of space
and time - three dimensions of space and one
dimension of time - inhabited by a large number AUGUSTE RODIN,
THE THINKER (1880)
of widely differing material objects, some of which Thi' nakedness of
WONDER
religious faith, or appealing to the say-so of an authority.
They may as individuals have religious beliefs - most
great philosophers have had, though some have not -
if at all, can we know?" Investigation into the first Into this mainstream flow all the important tributaries,
question, about what exists and the nature of existence, such as moral and political philosophy, philosophy of
constitutes the branch of philosophy known as ontology. science, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, and the rest.
Investigation into the second question - about the All these have their place in philosophy as a whole, but
nature of knowledge, and what, if anything, we can questions about what exists, and how we can know, are
know - is called epistemology It is the development logically prior to questions raised in these other branches.
of these two over the centuries - and of all the It may be that to some of our most important
subsidiary questions that arise out of them - that questions we shall never find the answers. But that is
constitute the mainstream of philosophy's history. itself not something we can know in advance. So we
"THE BUSINESS OF
IS NOT TO GIVE RULES, BUT
THE PRIVATE
OF COMMON
shall want to mount assaults on all the problems that
interest us. If in the course of doing so we discover good
reasons to believe that a particular question is not
susceptible of an answer we shall have to find a way
of coming to terms with that. It is a conclusion which -
A different sort of frontier runs between philosophy and form. They enrich one another, and a fully rounded
the sciences. Again, the scientist like the philosopher and human being will find himself becoming naturally
the creative artist, is engaged in truth-seeking enquiry, interested in all three. This book tells the story of one
trying to make new discoveries about the world and the of them, philosophy. Like the other two,
nature of our experience of it, and tomake sense of it is among the most fascinating and
these, and to publish his findings. And he, like the valuable things that civilization has
philosopher, is much concerned to be able to provide produced. And, like the others,
rational backing for everything he says. In his case the its future is likely to be richer
key difference from the philosopher is that the scientist than its past.
PHILOSOPHY
TO ANALYZE
JUDGEMENTS
REASON" Immanuel Kant
Greeks
TheirWorld
Philosophy begins when human beings
start trying to understand the world,
Before Socrates
THE EMERGENCE OF
RATIONAL THINKING
The very earliest Western philosophers, those before Socrates,
produced large-scale theories about the world, some of which
CoNNECnONS
Chalcnas, a Greek were wildly mistaken but some profound enough to be
soothsayer of the 4th
century
animal's
i«:, examines an
liver. He was
influential down to our own day.
not studying anatomy.
however, he was trying
to predict the tuttire by
examining entrails. THE FIRST PHILOSOPHERS were making two great the first teachers who did not try to pass on
Everywhere, magical
thinking came before breaks with the past simultaneously. In the first a body of knowledge pure and unsullied, inviolate,
r.itional thinking, and place they were trying to understand the world by but instead encouraged their pupils to discuss and
sometimes led to it.
Eor this rea.son it is a the use of their reason, without appealing to religion, argue, debate, put forward ideas of their own.
rni.stake to think of the
or revelation, or authority, or tradition. This in itself These two developments in the mental life
two as nece.s.sarily
oppo.sed; they are was something wholly new, and one of the most of mankind, both of them revolutionary, are linked,
often contiguous.
important milestones in human development. which is why they appeared on the scene together
But at the same time they were teaching other They form the foundations of what we now call
people to use their own reason too, and think for "rational thinking." Once they had been introduced
themselves; so they did not expect even their own they launched an unparalleled rate of growth in
pupils necessarily to agree with them. They were human knowledge and understanding.
4^
AEGEAN I ( olophon
^f^:^^\ f^ SI A ''
i^
• I phesus
<f
Miletus ^
\ 01 '>->
"Vf„*':i,,
CRini:
*^ *.li.,.
I he Jiisl hnoivn
philosopher. The lies,
was born in .Miletus
12
BKFOKF. SOCKATFS
The first thinkers of this the astounding idea that the earth is not supported
kind emerged in the by anything at all. It is just a solid object hanging in
ancient Greek world space, and is kept in position by its equidistance
in the 6th century bc. from everything else. Anaximander did not think of
The one usually the earth as being a globe, because it seemed to
thought of as the him self-evident that we live on a flat surface, so he
very first, Thales, thought of it as cylindrical. "The earth... is held up
was a Greek who by nothing, but remains stationary owing to the fact
lived in the town of that it is equally distant from all other things. Its
AVV«
Miletus, on the Asia- shape... is like that of a drum. We walk on one of its
Minor coast of what flat surfaces, while the other is on the opposite side."
is now Turkey. After This was too much for his pupil Anaximenes,
the name of the town, who considered it self-evident that the earth was Harvesting olives
when Thales was taunted
he and his followers have and also that it must be held up by something.
flat, for his poverty, he ptit
Thales down money he
become known as the He came to believe that it floated on air in the sort all the
While he realized had on deposit to rent
that the material world Milesian school. We of way the lid of a boiling saucepan sometimes the olive pre.sses during
was reducible to a single do not know his floats on the steam. It is salutary to realize that for the next harvest season.
element, '/hales mistakeiil) He was then able to
supposed this to be water. dates of birth many generations after their deaths Anaximenes charge whatever he liked
when people needed the
and death, but we remained a more respected and more influential
presses. This was to
know he was active and flourishing in the 580s hc, philosopher than Anaximander. This means that show that philo.sophers
can make money if
because he accurately predicted an eclipse of the throughout those generations there were thinkers
they want to, but they are
sun that took place in 585 bc;. He was also an early using Anaximenes as their starting point when in interested in other things.
civil engineer, one who carried out the feat of fact there had already been another thinker before
diverting the waters of the river Hylas to enable him who had come up with
King Croesus to pass. something much
better. This sort
What are things made of? of
The question that most obsessed Thales was: "What
is the world made of?" It seemed to him that it must
ultimately all be made from a single element. Now
this is an amazing insight, extremely unobvious, and
one we now know to be true: we now know that
13
- "
(jiiotc'd. One is: unstable. Everything is in flux all the time. And
"A hidden coituection this is the second idea that has been permanently
is stronger than an
also disconcerting.
those that think,
Human beings
a tragedy to Heraclitus: THE first of hie highly quotables
Among J/eniclitus' sayittgs is that a man's character is his
those that feel - destiny. This perceptive insight was to he seconded by
Sigmund Freud more than two thousand years later.
a solution of
why Democritus continued to happen throughout the history of
philosophy. It does not develop in a straight line, but
laughed and
rather in a two-steps-forward-foUowed-by-one-step-
Heraclitus back sort of way. If it should happen that we
^^ ourselves are living in a one-step-back period, we
wept
Horace Walpole have especially much to learn from the past.
14
15 H FORE SOCK ATI'S
20th century have had to learn Pythagoras' Theorem mints, and these began
to .stamp their coins with
at school. It was he who introduced the idea of the their own di.stinctive
EVERYTHING ??
of
more of the
fundamental ideas
\X'ester)i philosophy
Heraclitus
from Pythagoras,
including the idea
We are now used to the idea that mathematics
thatwe remember a
plays an indispensable role in our understanding good deal of what we
know from a precious
of the universe. The fact that the cosmos at every
life, and the idea
level, from the outermost galaxies down to the thatmathematical
order pervades the
interior of the individual atom, is saturated with
physical world.
structure of a kind that is expressible in mathematical
15
THE GRF.FKS AND THEIR WORLD
of mysticism.
Pythagoras developed the philosophical
consequences of these insights over a broad area;
appearing obvious, but in truth it is not obvious at all, conjecture, and is in principle alw^ays replaceable by
it is utterly astonishing. It is what has led so many of something that may be nearer to the truth, is centra!
the greatest scientists of all, such as Einstein, to believe to Popper's philosophy; and he regarded Xenophanes
16
HKF(JKE StJCKA'IKS
have been nothing, and therefore it cannot be true Parmenides, while conceding
to say that everything - or, indeed, anything - came some of Parmenides' insights.
out of nothing. Everytliing must always have existed. He admitted that matter cannot
For a similar reason it is not possible for anything to come into existence out of
pass into nothing. Tlierefore not only must everything nothing, or pass away into nothing,
be beginningless and uncreated, it must also be but he held that everything was
eternal and imperishable. For similar reasons, too, made up of four different elements
there cannot be any gaps in reality, parts of reality that are perennial: earth, water, air,
where nothing is: reality must be continuous with and fire. (The fire accounts for the
itself at all points; all of space must be full, a plenum. heavenly fires of sun and stars.)
This gives rise to a view of the universe being really This doctrine of the four elements
a single unchanging entity. All is One. What appears
Classical orders
as change, or movement, is something that occurs The heaiity of mathematics was
within an enclosed and unchanging system. appreciated by Greek architects as ivell as
Greek philosophers. They embodied the
Surprisingly, perhaps, this is strikingly like the
principles of geometry in stone, as in the ^.
scientific view of the universe that developed Temple of Olympian Zeus (Corinthian ,'
in the twentieth. Two things about that view made such as the world had never seen before.
)k.iMJSKd.
Till- CKKKKS AN'l) THl-lK WOULD
was taken up by Aristotle, and played an important Anaxagoras, who introduced philosophy to Athens
role in Western thinking until the Renaissance. Indeed, itself, and Protagoras, who is still often quoted for
it is still quite often alluded to in Western literature. his phrase: "Man is the measure of all things."
Among the most insightful of the pre-Socratic If we stand back and view them as a whole
philosophers ^vere those known as'the Atomists," we find that before Protagoras they all had certain
by which term is meant chiefly two people, striking features in common. First, they were
Leucippus and Democritus. Leucippus had the concerned primarily to understand the nature
fundamental idea that everything is made up of of the world around us rather than human nature -
atoms that are too small to be seen, or even sub- indeed, it is doubtful whether they even had such
divided any further - the word "atom" comes from a concept as "human nature." Second, they
Sophists
the Greek words meaning "cannot be cut." Ail that uninhibitedly went in for bold theorizing on the
J'rofessioiial teachem. exists, he taught, are atoms and space; and all the largest possible scale. Inevitably, given that they
Sophists hegaii to
different objects that there are consist simply of
appear in the period
U
MAN IS
/list before Socrates. different collections of atoms in space.
They trained young The atoms themselves are uncreated and
men in the aiis
needed for public
indestructible, and all change in the universe
own
of
to
or their locations. The interpretation that he and
Democritus put on change was
and this is
to explain natural
notable because they
essentially causal,
made no attempt
phenomena in terms of purposes.
THE
private convictions
might be. they drew
opprobrium from the
intellectually
Democritus once
cause than gain
basic doctrine they taught
would rather discover one
said: "I
OF ALL
fastidious; the
"sophist "
consequently
not a continuum, as Parmenides said it was, but
acquired a derogatory consists of separate entities. Between them they
connotation that it
has kept to this day.
seem to have originated atomic physics. Altogether
astonishing strides. We ??
The first and most
famous of the .Sophists
was Protagoras.
these two thinkers
must not
developments of
when all is
fall
said
made
into the error of attributing to
their ideas which came
and done there remains something
later;
them
but
THINGS PR()TA(.()RAS
I'hildSdphcrs tif chissiccil inilupiity ivcrc Jrci/iiciilly /inrlniycd in nialierdl Icaniiiig Oflcn Ihcir /in:sciu\' in (in nlhciifL^c rcliiiions loiiIcxI inis niciinl
mid Rciuiissancc iirl. They represented ii scciihir ideal (fu'isdmii mid in iiidicnlc llnil fdilli was not hostile hi rciismi. Inil hdnuoiiKnis irilh il
18
IU:h()RI-: SOCKAl K.s
Achilles and
/^(^ Tortoise
One was
of Parmenides' pupils
young man
a clever
missing the point - and
important to be clear what the
it is actually overtakes the tortoise.
He does, and you know perfectly
called Zeno (known as point of this .story is. It is not to well that he does, and so does
Zeno of Elea to distinguish him convince you that Achilles never Zeno. The point is that here is
Among from
story of Achilles
these is the
and the I .
us to start
unobjectionable
tortoise. Achilles
tortoise decide to
and the
have
False Conclusion premises, and then
proceed by logical
19
THE GREEKS AND III 1- IK WOULD
Socrates
THE MASTERLY
INTERROGATOR
Socrates was in effect the founder
of moral philosophy. He also
established the method oftryiiig
to get at truth by persistent
questioning.
Center of attraction
Socrates was far from
handsome. All the
and images
(.lescriptions SOCRATES WAS THE FIRST great Greek philosopher
we have of him portray
him as snub-nosed and to be Athenian by birth, and he lived in what has
ptij^-faced. But he been called that city's golden age. He was born
possessed great irony
and luiiiior. He also around 470 hc and died in 399 bc, leaving behind
had a powerliil personal him a wife and three children. As a young man, he
th.irisma. People who
w eiv themselves of the studied the then-fashionable philosophies of what
highest ability were
are now called the "pre-Socratic philosophers,"
attracted to him. and
formed a brilliant circle which in their different ways were trying to
with him at its center.
understand the natural world around us. Two
things above all impressed him about them, both
of which he thought were to their disadvantage. The SCHOOL of athens
This magnificent fresco in the Vaticati. jHiinted
The was that they were at odds with one
first
by Raphael during the years 1508-1 J. portrays
another.They were a welter of conflicting theories. the most famous thinkers of ancient Greece.
At the very centre, side by side, stand Plato and
And there seemed to be no satisfactory way of Aristotle, Plato on the left, Aristotle on the right.
deciding between them. They propounded exciting To the left of them Socrates is addressing
a group of bystanders
ideas about the world, but without much apparent
regard for critical method; so it was impossible to
tell which of them, if any, was true. But his second difference, anyway, even if we could discover
objection was that it would make little practical which of them were true. What effect did it have
on our actual lives to know howwas far the sun
from the earth, or whether was the size of the
it
20
SOCKATKS
justice? '"
he was not asking for a mere verbal
definition. The fact that we apply the word "just" If you will
to all sorts of different people, decisions, laws, and
take my advice,
sets of arrangements meant, he believed, that there
was something common to them, a common you will think
property called "justice " which they all shared; little of Socrates,
and itwas the character of this common property
that he was trying to uncover. In other words, he
and a great
So he went around Athens raising the basic believed that something exists called "justice," and deal more of
questions of morality and politics with anyone that its existence ^^
truth
who would listen to him. Such was the interest is real, although
Socrates
of the discussions he raised - and he was
obviously a charismatic personality as well -
that people gathered round him wherever he
went, especially the eager young. His procedure
was always the same. He would take some
concept that was fundamental to our lives and ask,
"What is friendship?," or "What is courage?,"
Careless of fame
or "What is He would challenge
religious piety?" Socrates took no steps
a person who thought he knew the answer, and to ensure the sunnval
of his own work
then subject that answer to examination by or name. Socrates
asking the person a series of searching questions nener, so far as
we know, wrote
about it. For instance, if the person claimed that
anything down.
courage was essentially the capacity to endure, Alt the knowledge we
hare of him comes
Socrates might say, "But what about obstinacy,
from other people.
then? Obstinate people can show extraordinary The chief of these is
21
rm- CRFFKS AND THKIK WORLD
Socrates interrogated
In a scene from the
"WHAT IS ??
play The Clouds (423 nc)
liy tlie comic dramatist
tried, and condemned to die One is that to a man who preserves his
>V. by poison. The detailed story integrity no real, long-term harm can ever come.
of his trial and death is one of The uncertainties of this world are such that it can
the most inspiring tragedies in happen to anybody that he is stripped of all his
the history of human thought. possessions and thrown into prison unjustly, or
What has made Socrates crippled by accident or disease; but these are
in some ways the best known chance happenings in a fleeting existence that
of all philosophers is that it is going to end soon anyway. Provided your soul
was he who began the relentless remains untouched, your misfortunes will be
questioning of our basic concepts comparatively trivial. Real personal catastrophe
that has been characteristic of consists in corruption of the soul. That is why it
philosophy ever since. He used does a person far, far less harm to suffer injustice
to say that he had no positive than to commit it. We should pity the perpetrator
teachings to offer, only questions of injustice, not the victim of injustice.
to ask. But this was disingenuous. This belief of Socrates made him a hero to the
From certain lines of questioning to Stoics, who hundreds of years later turned him into
a sort of secular patron saint. Another basic belief
Aristophanes of Socrates was that no one really knowingly does
I he iiiiiiKirialcomedian Aristophanes was the greatest comic wrong. His point here was that if you really do in
/ilayu'right of ancient Greece. In one of his plays he caricatured
Socrates on the stage. This indicates how well known to the
the fullest sense understand that it is wrong to do
public Socrates had become something, then you do not do it. Cxjnversely, if you
SOCK A IKS
do do it, this shows that you have not properly will a man gain by winning the whole world, at the
grasped, deep down, that it is wrong. This view cost of his true self;' " And Shakespeare said: "This
has the consequence that virtue becomes a matter above all: to thine own self be true."
of knowledge. This conviction on Socrates' part In addition to this, Socrates did more than any
provided a great deal of the drive behind his other individual to establish the principle that
tireless pursuit of questions like "What is justice?": everything must be open to question - there can
he believed that if only we knew the answer to be no cut and dried answers, because answers, like
UsiNCi THE NAME
that question we would be bound to behave justly. everything else, are themselves open to question.
Socrates has gii'e>i
In such cases, the pursuit of knowledge and an Following on from this, he established at the centre his name to the
aspiration to virtue are one and the same thing. of philosophy amethod known as dialectic, the archetypal notion of
a wise and dominant
method of seeking truth by a process of question figure outside the
Be true to yourself and answer. It has remained there ever since, and realm of politics.
If we say of a person
It is doubtful whether any philosopher has had more is used particularly as a teaching method - which
"He is the Socrates
influence than Socrates. He was the first to teach is after all what Socrates himself used it for. It is not of presetit-day Paris"
ei'eryone k>ioivs ivhat
the priority of personal integrity in terms of a equally appropriate for all forms of teaching - it is
we are meaning.
person's duty to himself, and not to the gods, or the not, for example, a good way of imparting pure We do not use the
law, or any other authorities. This has had incalculable information - but as a way of getting people to name of any
other philosopher
influence down the ages. Not only was he willing re-examine what they think they already know, like this.
to die at the hands of the law rather than give up it is incomparable. To be most effective it calls
saying what he believed to be right, he actually for a sympathetic personal relationship between
chose to do so, when he could have escaped had teacher and pupil, one in which the teacher truly
he wished. It is a priority that has been reasserted understands the pupil's difficulties and prompts
by some of the greatest minds since - minds not him step by step in the right direction. This is
necessarily under his influence. Jesus said: "Wliat often still called "Socratic method."
This famous jMintiiig by the French artist Dai id. aiDiptcled in I ~S'7, shoirs prisoners condemned to death were required to take poison Ihemseli'es or be
Socrates about to drink the hemlock that killed him. hi uncicnl Athens
i killed.) He points to the higher realm which he considers his final destinaticnr
23
rHK CRKEKS AND THFIK WORLD
Plato
BRIDGING THE HUMAN AND
ABSTRACT WORLDS
There a well-known saying that the whole of Western philosophy
is
A WRITER BIT
NOT A RULER
Plato was a genius in NONE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS we have considered as the years went by. The early dialogues contain
more ways than one.
His dialogues, in the
up to now left written works which have survived. a more or less accurate portrait of the historical
finest Greek prose ever So everything we know about them comes from Socrates, if we allow for the usual artistic or
written, were works
of art as well as works
references and quotations in the writings of other journalistic licence. The subjects raised were the
of philosophy. When he and later thinkers, who knew them or their works, subjects raised by the real Socrates, and things that
tried to influence
practical politics,
works that have since been lost. Some of the Plato had heard him say were put into his mouth.
however, he was references and quotations are extensive but But by the time Plato had come to the end of this
not successful.
nevertheless they are incomplete, and second-hand. material he found he had created an enthusiastic
Socrates wrote nothing at all, and so it is only through reading public that was eager for more. So, having
the writings of others that we know anything at all plenty more to say, he went on writing and
about him. Yet we have a vivid sense of liis character publishing dialogues, in what was by now a
plato's socrates
WHO IS
of Plato's whole
philosophy.
The .Symposium
Plato was about 3 1 when Socrates was executed
in 399 B( He was in the courtroom throughout the
•
IGNORANT OF
for his views
on lore.
The Apology,
trial. That whole sequence of events seems to have
up with his questions. Plato seems to have had can never be satisfactorily solved. But there is little
two main motives for doing this. One was defiant, room for doubt that the earlier and later dialogues
to reassert the teachings of Socrates in spite of of Plato present us with the philosophies of two
their having been officially condemned; the other different philosophers, the earlier being Socrates
was to rehabilitate his beloved mentor's reputation, and the later being Plato.
showing him to have been not a corrupter of The earlier is solely concerned with the
young men but their most valued teacher problems of moral and political philosophy, and
It is generally agreed among scholars that the is dismissive of philosophical problems about the
chief source of the ideas in Plato's dialogues changed natural world. One of this earlier philosopher's
24
PLATO
most committed beliefs is in the identification of as to how we should conduct our personal lives.
virtue with knowledge; and he pursues knowledge No aspect of reality fails to arouse his interest.
entirely through discussion and argument. Far from being unconcerned with mathematics or
None of these things is true of the later physics, he regards these as the keys to understanding
philosopher. This one, Plato, is passionately the natural world. Over the door of his academy he
interested in philosophy right across the board, inscribed the words: "Let no one enter here who is
every bit as much applied to the natural world ignorant of mathematics." Many of his most important
25
THE GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
as
m \ki
the wall did not exist. Plato believed that all ail
if
in the house ivith a view of an imaginary garden. deceived in this way. and was a snare to the soul.
doctrines are expounded in long explanations that independently of any authority; so for Plato this
are not discussions or dialogues in any real sense meant tliinking for himself, independently of Socrates.
U, but only in a purely token form, with a cardboard By departing from Socrates he followed Socrates.
The wise Plato
character chiming in every now and again with a
saith, as ye "Yes indeed "or "That has to be admitted." And he The first professor
may read rejects the doctrine that virtue is solely a matter Plato lived for half a century after the death of
of knowing what is right. Socrates, dying at the age of 81. During this time
The word
Where Plato never parts company with Socrates he published some two dozen dialogues which
must needs is in his commitment to the view that the only real vary in length from 20 to 300 pages ofmodern
accorde with harm that can come to a person is harm to the soul, print.The most famous of all of them are the
^^
and therefore that it is better to suffer wrong than Republic, which is chiefly concerned with the
the deed
to commit it; and also in his commitment to nature of justice, and which attempts, among other
Geoffrey Chaucer
thinking for oneself, taking nothing for granted, things, to set out a blueprint for the ideal state, and
being ready to question everything and everybody. the Symposium, which is an investigation into the
It was this latter belief that carried him forward named after
nature of love. Most of the rest are
over the years from expoimding the ideas of whoever appears in them as the chief interlocutor
Socrates to expounding his own ideas. After all, of Socrates. Thus we have the Phaedo, the Laches,
to think in Socrates" way, the way Socrates taught the Euthyphro, the Theaetetus, the Partnemides,
Cradle of other people to think, is to think for oneself the Timaeiis, and so on.
WESTF.RN culture
These dialogues are among the world's great
Plato knew Athens in
its golden age in the
literature. In addition to containing some of the
5th and ilh cciilniics best philosophy ever produced they are beautifully
lit ichcn lIUs iiiic ( ilY
.
poet for an evening of conversation that unll last for ever. justification for his life.
26
PLATO
Plato is to be considered as an artist as well as a beautiful objects that exist in our everyday world,
philosopher. Also, it was he who established the and the particular courageous actions that
prototype of the college. "Academy" was simply the individual people perform, are always fleeting, but
name of his house, and because he taught grown-up they partake of the timeless essence of true beauty
pupils there the word came to be used for any or true courage; and these are indestructible ideals
building in which yoimg people of mature years with an existence of their own.
receive a higher education. Plato took up this implied theory about the
nature of morals and values and generalized it
purposes he meant the same thing. (In this context, whose ideal form (hence the terms Ideal and Form) writings could be
circulatedwas through
the words Form and Idea are usually spelled with has a permanent and indestructible existence being re-copied liy hancf
a capital letter to make it clear that they are being outside space and time. Thus a work's being
known and studied,
used in Plato's sense.) Plato supported this conclusion with arguments perhaps even its very
Reference has been made to the fact that from different sources. For example, it seemed to .survival, depended on
copying, as in the ca.se of
when Socrates asked "What is beauty?" or "What is him that the more we pursue our studies in the Clarke Plato (H95 ad).
courage?" he regarded himself not as trying to pin physics, the clearer it becomes that mathematical Throughout the Middle
Ages this was one of the
down the definition of a word, but as trying to relationships are built into everything in the chief occupations of
scholars and churchmen.
discover the nature of some abstract entity that material world. The whole cosmos seems to
So it is through the
He regarded these entities not
actually existed. exemplify order, harmony, proportion - or, as we medieval church that
a great deal of pre-
as being in some place, or at any particular time, would now put it, the whole of physics can be
Chri.stian culture has
but as having some kind of universal existence that expressed in terms of mathematical equations. been transmitted to the
modern world.
was independent of place and time. The individual Plato, following Pythagoras, took this as revealing
An austere regime
Sparta, the ancient
Greek city state that
dominated the
southern Pelopouiiese.
wasjloiirishiiig as
a rival to Athens
when Plato was in
the prime of life -
but he lived to see
its downfall.
Its social structure
was essentially a
militaiy one. and
by co>itrast with
cultured, democratic
Athens its way of
life was disciplined
and austere.
"
27
THH CiKEHK.s AND THKIK WOULD
/'/fl/oi Republic surface of our everyday world, there is an order that /)crh{ips themost famous statue
begins as an ciiqiiiiy in the ivurhL It shoivs the Greek
has all the ideality and perfection of mathematics.
into the nature of goddess Aphrodite as the ancient
justice, but broadens This order is not perceptible to the eye, but it is Greeks' ideal offeminine beauty.
out into a accessible to the mind, and intelligible to the
cousicleralion of
human nature as a intellect. Most important of all it is there, it exists,
an ideal society.
For all these reasons
it has Jioii' come to be
thought of as Plato's
sciences. All
Plato
were then
and Christianity
part of "philosophy."
\
masteipiece. the This approach, developed by Plato with great
dialogue proi'iding
the best oi'eniew
richness across a wide area of subject matter,
of his mature resulted in a view of total reality as bemg divided
philosophy.
into two realms. There is the visible world, the
world as it is presented to our senses, our ordinary
everyday world, in which nothing lasts and nothing
stays the same - as Plato liked to put it, everything
in this world is always becoming something else,
((
EVERYTHING
IS BECOMING,
The greek ideal
The Greek f^eniiis lor
ainiliining order with
emotion found
expression
of life,
to their art.
vases
from
in their
their politics
Even
show an
blend of form and
their
ideal
way
NOTHING Plato
IS
feeling. This balance has
been regarded as an our everyday world offers us only brief and
ideal ever since, and is unsatisfactory glimpses. But it is what one might
known as "the Greek
ideal," but no .subsequent call real reality, because it alone is stable,
society has succeeded
unshakeable - it alone just is, and is not always
in achiexin" it.
28
PLATO
this is a part that cannot be seen but of which our They do not call for any belief in a God, or in
minds are capable of achieving awareness. The part religious revelation, and during the period since
that can be seen consists of our bodies, material him they have been accepted in whole or in part
objects that exemplify the laws of physics and by many who were not religious. Plato himself did
inhabit the realm of space and time. These physical in fact come to regard the Ideal Forms as divine,
bodies of ours come into existence and pass away, because perfect; and he also came to believe, as
are always imperfect, are never the same for two Pythagoras had done, in reincarnation; but the bulk
moments together, and are at all times highly of his philosophical influence has been on thinkers llPClf^'
perishable. But they are the merest and most who declined to go along with him in either of Dance before the
god diony.sos
fleeting glimpses of something that is also us those respects, some completely irreligious.
The Greek world in
and is non-material, timeless, and indestructible, which Plato was
philosophizing was one
something that we may refer to as the soul. Plato's hostility to the arts in which religious rituals
These souls are our permanent Forms. The order Plato believed that for an intelligent person the were widespread.
For a prominent person
of being that they inhabit is the timeless, spaceless ultimate aim in life should be to pierce the surface to deny the existence
ot certain pagan gods
one in which exist all the unchanging Forms that of things and penetrate to the level of underlying
was for him to put his
constitute ultimate reality. reality. This may in turn be understood as a kind life in danger. This makes
it difficult to be sure to
Readers who have been brought up in a of intellectual mysticism, for it means acquiring
what extent, if at all.
Christian tradition will at once recognize this an intellectual grasp of that world of Ideas in Plato really helic\ed
in them.
view as familiar That is because the school of which the soul exists already, and will go on
philosophy that was dominant in the Hellenistic existing for all eternity. In this sense it is rather
world in which Christianity came on to the scene like rehearsing for being dead - which is exactly
and proceeded to develop w^as the tradition of what Socrates is quoted in the Phaedo as saying
Platonism. The New Testament was, of course, the philosopher does.
written in Greek; and many of the deeper To achieve this, clearly, the individual needs
thinkers among the early Christians were to see through (in both senses) the decaying
profoundly concerned to reconcile the revelations ephemera that constitute the world of the senses,
of their religion with Plato's main doctrines. to free himself from their attractions and seductions. Greek
TRAGEDY
What happened was that the It is this requirement that leads
H)J™«T-' Greek tragedy dealt
most important of these Plato to be hostile to the arts.
with some of the
doctrines became absorbed He views the arts as being of deepest of all human
concerns, and was
into orthodox Christian their nature representational,
therefore of interest
thinking. There was a time and as making a powerful to many philosophers.
when was common The three outstanding
it quite appeal to the senses - and
tragedians were
for people to refer to Socrates of course the more beautiful Aeschylus. Sophocles.
and Plato as "Christians before the art the more powerful this and Euripides,
of whom are still
all
Christ." Many Christians appeal is bound to be. Works performed. One of the
seriously believed that the of art are, in his view doubly perennial themes was
the co)iJlict Ix'tween
historic mission of those {|
deceptive, for they are illusory
the individual's
Greek thinkers had been to semblances of things that are private desires or
relationships and his
prepare the theoretical illusory semblances. They
duty to society as a
foundations for some glamorize the fleeting things whole: an individual
important aspects of of this world, and they enrich who comes into
head-on co>iJlict with
Christianity. The detailed our emotional attachment to society almost always
working out of these them, thereby holding us back ends by being
destroyed.
connections was something from our true calling, which is
29
THE GRFKKN AND THFIK WORLD
Plato sees the human individual as made up of from under the influence of Plato's teaching came
three conflicting elements: passion, intellect, and hundreds of years later, towards the end of its
will. And he deems it essential for the intellect to period of dominance, in the 3rd century ad. He was
be in control, governing passions through the will. Plotinus, who was born in 204 ai) and died in 269 ad.
From this appraisal of persons, he extrapolates a Plotinus, though an Egyptian (with a Roman
corresponding view of society as a whole. In his name), wrote in Greek, and can be thought of as
ideal society, an intermediate police class, which he the last of the great Greek philosophers, the end
calls the auxiliaries, would keep the masses in order of a line of succession that had begun with Thales
under the direction of a philosophically aware in the 6th century uc, and indeed the last great
governing class, who would act as the guardians of philosopher of antiquity altogether. His thought
society as a whole. Put like this, it sounds not unlike developed the mystical strain in Plato's and came
a description of the communist societies of the to be known as Neo-Platonism. He was not a
20th century; and was indeed to be the case that
it Christian and he never mentioned c:hristianity
Plato's political ideas had an immense influence in his writings, yet his philosophy stands
down the centuries, and not least on the Utopian recognizably close to those of the two greatest
totalitarian philosophies of Left and Right that Christian philosophers of the next thousand years,
characterized the 20th century. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. His influence
St.jcmin
The New Testanieiil on the development of Christian thought was
apostle St. John the
Disciples of genius enormous. The famous 20th-century C^hristian
F.vangelist ( 1st eentury
AD), to wliom the letters The writings of Plato, plus those of philosophers writer Dean Inge refers to him as "the great thinker
ot John are traditionally
ascribed, was a Jew
who developed under his influence, were to who must be, for all time, the classical representative
steepedGreek in dominate philosophy in Europe for six or seven of mystical philosophy. No other mystical thinker
thought. He launched the
centuries-long process of
hundred years - until, that is, the rise of Christian even approaches Plotinus in power and insight
accommodating it to the thought to a position of comparable and then and profound spiritual penetration."
Jtideo-Christian tradition.
greater pre-eminence.
The most gifted of Plato's successors was one The PHILOSOPHER-MYSTIC
of the most immediate, his pupil Aristotle, whose Plotinus' work, more than that of anyone before
If a man
work is of such importance that it will receive him except for Plato himself, made Platonic
seeks from the extended consideration in its own right. Aristotle philosophy central to the intellectual development
good life founded a tradition in philosophy that was different of C^hristianity. Plotinus taught that since ultimate
from Plato's, and often at odds with it - yet, even reality consists of Plato's Ideal Forms, what exists
anything beyond
so, he several times says "we" to describe the is ultimately mental, and therefore for something
itself it is not disciples of Plato. Apart from Aristotle, the to be created is for it to be thought. There are,
the good outstanding philosopher to emerge directly he believed, three ascending levels of being.
life
The lowest, on which
that he is
human beings are, is
30
PLATO
The Myth of
the Cave
The all
most famous passage
Plato's writings occurs in
in entities that the prisoners
puts into symbolic form his view circumstances it would be natural dark, that merely to turn around
of the human condition, and would be painful and awkward
especially of human knowledge, for him, and the fire would dazzle
lives, and know nothing else. there is; and it would be to this everything he said to the prisoners
"reality," and to their experiences about his experiences would be
the cave behind them is a of it, that all their talk would refer. unintelligible to those people whose
In bright fire. Unknown to them language had reference only to
there is a rampart as high as shadows and echoes.
a man between the fire and them;
All They
and on the other side of this
The way to begin
rampart are people perpetually
passing to and fro cariying things
on their heads. The shadows of
Can See is
understanding
is to see us
as imprisoned in our
human
own
this allegory
beings
bodies,
these objects
in front of the prisoners
are cast on to the wall
by the light
THE Wall with only other such prisoners
for company, and all of us unable
of the fire, and the voices of the
people carrying them are echoed
IN Front to discern the real selves of
of
Our
reality,
direct experience
but what is in
is
our minds.
not
31
THE GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
Aristotle
THE AAAN WHO
MAPPED OUT SCIENCES
AND FORMULATED LOGIC
Aristotle was the founder of an approach to philosophy
that starts from observation and experience,
prior to abstract thinking.
Genius undimmed
Aristotle is regarded liy JUST AS PLATO HAD been a pupil of Socrates, so sense of wonder that caused human beings to
serious
virtually all
Aristotle was a pupil of Plato. And Aristotle himself philosophize in the first place, whether as
students of philosophy as
one of the three or four became tutor to Alexander the Great, so there is a individuals or as a species; that this is the world
greatest giants of the
direct line of intellectual succession here through they want to get to know and understand.
subject. Today his
Metaphysics and his four generations of tremendous historical figures. Furthermore, Aristotle did not believe that
Ethics, in particular, are
studied in universities
Aristotle's father was court physician to the king we could find any firm ground outside this world
all over the world. of Macedon, which is how he later came to be tutor on which to stand, and from which to pursue
to Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon. Aristotle
^^Plato is dear
His father died
when he was
Academy.
when he was
brought up by a guardian,
about 17 to be educated
Aristotle stayed at the
who
still
sent
a boy, so
Academy
him
he was
to Athens
at Plato's
for
WHAT
to me, but
dearer still
sometliing like 20 years. Later in
he founded a school of his own
life,
in
in about 335
Athens called the
bc;,
IS
is truth Lyceum: its archaeological site was recently ??
Aristotle
discovered, to great international excitement, in
1996. He died in the year 322 bc at the age of 62. BEING? Aristotle
Philosopher of this world
Aristotle fully acknowledged Plato's philosophical enquiries. Whatever is outside all
genius, and his own indebtedness possibility of experience for us can be nothing
to him, but rejected something for us. We have no validatable way of referring to
fundamental to Plato's philosophy, it, or talking about it, and therefore it cannot enter
namely the idea that there are two into our discourse in any reliable way: if we stray
thing as reliable knowledge of this Aristotle was dismissive of Plato's Ideal Forms:
ever-changing world that is he simply did not believe that we have any good
presented to our senses. The objects reasons to believe that they exist, and what is
of true knowledge inhabit, he said, more he did not believe that they do exist.
another world, an abstract realm Aristotle's desire to know about the world of
independent of time and space, experience was like an unslakable lust. Throughout
accessible only to the intellect. his life he poured himself into research with
As far as Aristotle was concerned, gargantuan passion and energy across an almost
there is only one world that we can incredibly wide range. He mapped out for the first
32
AKISTCJTLE
33
THE GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
U
FHE
TEACHER
OF THOSE
WHO ?5
KNOVv Dante on Aristotle
ivhich Christian doctrine did not address. that were to develop as separate sciences eventually
outgrew not only Aristotle's own research but also
time many of the basic fields of enquiry, and his his conceptions and his methods. Nevertheless, in
Metaphysics own work on them provided the names for them the 14th century we find the Italian poet Dante
The word
that are used to this day: among these are logic, (1265-1321) referring to Aristotle as "the teacher of
"metaphysics " conies
from the Greek words physics, political science, economics, psychology, those who know ". His biology was important until
nwcDiing "after metaphysics, meteorology, rhetoric, and ethics. the 19th century, and so was his logic. His general
physics. "
and was
simply the name of This is an almost unbelievable achievement for one philosophy, including his political and moral theory,
that book ill Aristotle's individual. He also invented technical terms in those and also his aesthetics, remain influential to this day.
collected ivorkswhich
came after the book fields that have been used ever since, the words in J
about physics. It other languages being derived either from his The NATURE OF BEING
denotes the study of
the most underlying
Greek terms or from their subsequently Latinized The key question from which Aristotle started out
features of reality - equivalents. Such terms include energy, dynamic, was:>Xliat are the objects in this world? Wliat is it
time, space, material
induction, demonstration, substance, attribute, for something to exist? In his own words, "The
substance, and so on.
essence, property, accident, category, topic, question that was asked long ago, is asked now, and
proposition, and universal. On top of all this he is always a matter of difficulty [is] 'What is being?'
systematized logic, working out which forms of His first important conclusion was that things
inference were valid and which invalid - in other are not just the matter of which they materially
words, what really does follow from what, and what consist. He uses the example of a house. If you
only appears to but doesn't really; and he gave all commissioned a builder to build a house on your
34
ARISTOTLE
think it must be a joke, and is the matter of which his Quod li quit Jiimiijin tVouitui iiii{>i(ict.ct,o.
uexim atuminumici*. idtnq.juUMc filucon-
iranu>cll((,litilfmAaiiiulia]iiAMificniyfio-
a bad one. There would be body consists. Aristotle gnonionif Ataudoi.Eiinfigurjrutlii.tiibuKci
compared to an ass.
certain ways, with a very specific and detailed organization and structure which they share, and
structure, and it would be by virtue of that which differentiate them from other animals that
structure that it was a house. Indeed, the house are likewise made of flesh, blood, and bone.
would not need to be made of those sorts of These arguments of Aristotle's against the kind
materials at all, it could be made entirely of other of crude materialism which asserts that only matter
things - concrete, glass, metal, plastics. It does of exists are devastating, and have never been properly
course (and this retains a certain importance) answered. Yet from his day to ours there have
have to be made of some material, but it is not the continued to be some people who are crude uMen are
materials that make it a house, it is the structure materialists. However, until they can answer
and the form. Aristotle's most striking example Aristotle's objections their position would seem
good in
of this is human beings. Take Socrates, he says. to call for little further consideration. Aristotle, one way,
The matter of which his body then, has established that a thing is
but bad
consists changing whatever by virtue of
many V
is it is
Key WORKS
Nicomachean Ethics
Politics
Poetics
Rhetoric
Posterior Analytics
Physics
.Metaphysics
On the Soul
35
"
him straight up against his next problem: What complementary kinds of "cause." Since what he then
exactly is form in this sense? We have established calls "the four causes" constitute the reasons why a
that it is not material, so what is it? Aristotle has thing is as it is, it can be helpful to think of them as
already rejected Plato's theory of Forms, so he has the four"&e-causes,"in short the four becauses.
rviled out the possibility that form is some sort of Form is the explanation of things.
other-worldly entity existing outside space and Let us take his example of a marble statue. For
time. To satisfy him it has got to be this- worldly. this to be the thing it is there needs first of all to
be the marble. This would be called by Aristotle
The four becauses the material cause, the what-is-it-niade-of? cause.
We have seen that, according to Aristotle, form is We have already learnt from Aristotle that this is
RllF/IORtC that which causes something to be the thing it is. not enough in itself to make the statue, which
In this book Aristotle
This leads him to examine the notion of "cause" in requires no fewer than three other causes, yet
analyses and teaches the
ait of persuasion - not this context; and he ends by breaking the concept nevertheless the material is necessary, even though
only how to construct
of "form " down into four not sufficient. For the statue to come into being it
a speech but also how
to make a personal different and needs to have been hewn out of a block of marble
impression on the
by a hammer and chisel: this hewing is what
audience, the tricks
of the orator's trade. Aristotle calls the efficient cause, the what-actiially-
"ALL MEN
The weak
are always
anxious
BY NATURE
for justice
and equality. DESIRE
TO KNOW"
The strong
pay no heed
to either Aristotle
Aristotle
does, that of a horse or a man or whatsoever - a
block of marble hacked at random is not a statue.
Aristotle calls this shape the formal cause, the •
ivhat-gives-it-the-shape-by-u'hich-it-is-identified? '
/;; 1545 Roger intention: the overall reason for the statue "s
Ascbam (1515-68),
Ihe English scholar existence is that it is the fulfilment of a sculptor's
and humanist, made purposes. Aristotle calls this the final cause, the
the following
obseivation: "He that ultimate-reason-for-it-all cause.
will iiTite ii'ell in atiy Aristotle's four causes, then, are as follows:
tongue must follow
material cause, efficient cause, formal cause, and
this counsel of
Aristotle, to speak as final cause. Of the second, third, and fourth of
the comma)! people
Form and intention these, any two or more may be the same in an
do. to thitik as wise
men do: and so In Michelangelo's unfinished sculpture. The Awakening individual case. This is particularly germane in the
should every man Slave (c. 1525-,^0), a human figure emerges from obscurity.
life sciences: the formal cause of the oak tree that
understand him. The artist's intention, his concept, and his carving are /list
as indispensable to the statue as his marble. has grown out of the acorn is also its final cause:
36
FLK
ediicdtioii throiiiilniiil the MidcUe Af>es. and leell heyotid. Aristotle's l.(>i>ic. Cicero's Rhetoric, and '/'iilxil's Mitsic.
the ultimate shape achieved is also the ultimate is what it does, what it is for; and it is through
point of the process. (In this case the material cause understanding this that we learn to understand
would be the wood, bark, and leaves of which the tilings. We also come in this way to an understanding
Life at risk
tree consists, and the efficient cause would be the of Aristotle's concepts of soul, form, and final cause.
Like Socrates. Aristotle
indispensable nourishment of it by earth, water, This analysis, in addition to giving Aristotle a teas indicted for
impiety by the
air, and the light from the sun's fire.) solution to the problem of what things are that
Athenians towards the
Through this analysis we begin to understand does away with Plato's Ideal Forms, also provides end of his life. In
order to prevent them
the nature of Aristotle's conception of form, as him with a solution to the problem of change.
from sinning against
against Plato's. According to Aristotle an object's According to him, change occurs when the on- philosophy a second
form, though not something material, is inherent going material that is part of something acquires time by executing him
as they had executed
in the this-worldly object, and can no more exist a form that it had not previously possessed. Socrates, he left Athens
separately from it than a man's build can exist for Chalets in 323 nc.
atid died there the
separately from his body. Something of utmost Saving the appearances following year aged
significance that this illustrates is that in our In all attempts to understand the world, says 62. Not all subsequent
ihitikers tvere so
understanding of the world we are not compelled Aristotle, we should never lose sight of the fact
lucky. We most
to choose between a materialist analysis and an that it is this world that we are trying to understand. philosopher of
rece>it
genius to be tortured
other-worldly analysis: it is possible to develop an Although we may be in awe of it we should never
to death for his rieirs
understanding of the world that gives full rein to accept explanations of it that deny the validity was Giordano Bruno
non-materialist considerations while remaining this- of the very experiences we are trying to explain. (1548-1600) in the
year 1600.
worldly. Aristotle always saw the true essence of We should make it a point of method in all our
any object as consisting not in the matter of which investigations to maintain a firm hold on these
it is made but in the function it performs: he once experiences, the experiences that actually present
said that if the eye had a soul it would be seeing. themselves to us, and to keep referring back to
He applied this principle also to inanimate objects: them at every stage, because it is understanding
he said that if an axe had a soul it would be cutting. these that is, so to speak, the final cause of our
The real point of everything, according to him, enquiries. To jettison our hold on them in order
37
THE GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
to embrace belief in sometliing we do not experience other undervalues. Therefore the important thing
is to throw the baby out with the bath water is not to be exclusive in our own approach, but
He called this principle "saving the appearances." from both. The unique genius of the
to learn
The phrase is a rather feeble-sounding one, but it German philosopher Kant, in the late 18th
is used by philosophers to this day because of the century, is that he brought the two harmoniously
importance of the principle involved. together and fused them in a way that is both
Archimedes Plato and Aristotle are the two archetypes of coherent and plausible.
The inventor and
matliematician
the two main conflicting approaches that have So far, our discussion of Aristotle has confined
Archimedes (287-212 bc) characterized philosophy throughout its history. itself to his epistemology (theory of knowledge).
was among Aristotle's
most gifted successors
On the one hand there are philosophers who set But something should also be said about other areas
in the development of only a secondary value on knowledge of the world of his philosophy. His writings in ethics have been
science. He formulated
our senses, believing that our as influential as anyone's, his key book here being
as it presents itself to
the principle of the le\ er,
and showed that an ultimate concern needs to be with something that the Nicomachean £f/7/c.s. Whereas for most of the
volume
irregular body's
lies "behind" or "beyond" (or "hidden below the 20th century moral philosophers tended to take
could he measured bs'
the amount of w ater surface of") the world. On the other hand there are a narrow view of the subject, and to devote
it displaced. philosophers who believe that this world is itself themselves to the analysis of moral concepts -
the most proper object for our concern and our Viljat do we mean by good? VChat do ive mean
philosophizing. To take an example much nearer by ought? - Aristotle's approach was quite different
to our own age, the great rationalist philosophers from this, and very much broader
of the 17th and 18th centuries believed that the
knowledge of the surface of things
MAN IS BY
that our sensory 44
experience seems to give us only too often deceives
us; whereas the great empiricist philosophers of the
selfsame period believed that reliable information
Poetjy
philosophical
is more
can be based only on direct examination of
observable
tendencies
facts.
is
The opposition between the two
perennial, and comes out in one way
or another in age after age, in different guises.
NATURE A
and more
worthy of The golden mean
The respective appeals that the two different
POLITICAL
serious attention ?5
than history
Aristotle
approaches possess for individuals may have
something to do with personal temperament.
People of a religious bent, though by no means
ANIMAL Aristotle
only they, are likely to find a more Platonic
approach congenial, while more down-to-earth, He starts out from the proposition that what each
worldly, commonsensical people are likely to one of us wants is a happy life in the fullest sense
prefer an Artistotelian approach. But the reason of the phrase. Wliat will give us this, he thinks, is
why both are perennial is that each emphasizes the fullest development and exercise of our capacities
truths which the that is compatible with living in a society. Unbridled
self-indulgence and self-assertion will bring us into
perpetual conflict with other people, and in any
case it is bad for our character - but then so also
is inhibition. So he develops his famous doctrine
of the golden mean," according to which a virtue
is the midway point between tw^o extremes,
38
ARISTOTLE
aspects of his political philosophy has been his of the drama, and they have had enormous influence,
enabling view of the State, his idea that the but they are not strictly speaking Aristotle's idea
function of the State is to make possible the but rather an extension of one of his ideas.
development and happiness of the individual. However, so many of Aristotle's ideas have
become part of our culture that it is a tragedy that
Pity AND terror we do not have in their original form the works Greek drama
The quality of the Ix-st
The only other book of Aristotle's that we shall that he published. These were famous throughout Greek drama has
mention is his Poetics. This is a discussion of antiquity for their great beauty of style - the Roman never been surpa.s.sed.
In .-Athens the piay.s were
literature and drama. The most important part writer and orator Cicero called Aristotle's writing .ittended by most of the
laid it down that a plot should have, in his very own of Plato, in fact they are a bit stodgy to read (as
words, "a beginning, a middle, and an end ". He also one would expect of lecture notes) so in practice
said that the plot of a tragedy "tries as far as is it is only devoted students of philosophy who read
possible to keep within a single revolution of the them. But of their importance to Western
sun, or only slightly to exceed it". One of his editors civilization there can be no question.
39
THE GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
A HARSH WORD
Cynic means
dog, " and
famous of all
"like
the most
the
a
The Cynics
this
cynic philosophers,
Diogenes, explained
>iickname: "I am
THE DROPOUTS
called
I fawn
a dog because
on those who
OF THE ANCIENT
give me anything,
I yelp at those
including most of what is now called the Middle Empire in the 1st century bc. During that time the
East, together with vast areas of North Africa. culture and civilization of ancient Greece became
Truly, if I The independence of the Greek city states came propagated throughout the ancient world. These
to an end as they were swallowed up in Alexander's were the circumstances in which the Roman
were not republic emerged, and in which the Roman Empire
empire, and they lost their cultural dominance.
Alexander Everywhere he went, Alexander founded struggled to establish itself. It was also the world
new cities, from which his conquests were to be into which was born, and explains
Christianity
I would wish to
administered, and these he colonized with Greeks. why although Palestine was a Roman colony
- -
^^
be Diogenes The colonists mostly married local women, so the New Testament was written in Greek.
Alexander the Great the populations of these cities quickly became
cosmopolitan, but their ruling ethos and language The first two cynics
remained everywhere Greek. The upshot was that Immediately after the death of Alexander his
the whole of the ancient world came to be run empire broke up into warring factions - so,
from "Greek " cities that were not in Greece, and while the cultural unity that he had created
whose populations were multiracial and continued, there was incessant strife and conflict
multilingual. That world is known as the Hellenistic at the political level. All four of the new schools
world. Its most important city was the one which of philosophy that flourished during this period -
Alexander named after himself, Alexandria, in the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans, and the
Egypt. This became the chief international center Stoics - reflect that fact. All of them are
years, from the downfall with the death of Socrates and the fall of Athens
of the Greek city states Antisthenes world came to an end, whereupon
The; eik.si i.NriiKNAiioxAi. eihraki
in the 4th century B( he decided to opt out and embrace a basic, simple
Alexandria's library was the world's most valuable Joi
nearly n thousand years, from 290 bc to ad 646. to the rise of the Roman life. He started dressing like a laborer, and living
40
THH CYNICS
An
1AM A
epitaph for
diogenes
An epitaph raised in
Athens to the memory
of Diogenes read:
"Say. dog, I pray.
"A dog.
"His name?"
"
in
OF THE "Diogenes.
"From far?"
"Sinope.
"
"
WORLD"
"He who made a tub
his home?"
"The same. Now.
dead, amo>ig the stars
a^eVr*,'^*-'':- Diogenes
\
among the poor, and he proclaimed that he wanted figuratively as well as literally. It is possibly the
;
no government, no private property, no marriage, most eloquent put-down of worldly values that
I and no established religion. a philosopher has ever managed to deliver.
Antisthenes had a follower who became more
j
famous than himself, a man called Diogenes
(404-323 Bc). Diogenes aggressively flouted all
'
-41
THE GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
The Sceptics
THE FIRST RELATIVISTS IN PHILOSOPHY
Scepticism as a philosophy ivas launched on its long and
influential career by one of Alexander the Great's soldiers.
IN THE BROADEST SENSE of the word "scepticism He launched a whole school of philosophers that
there had long been a certain tradition of it in Greek became known as Sceptics; and their brand of
Carneade-s (214-129 bc)
A formidable debater, philosophy. Xenophanes had taught that, although systematic, all-embracing philosophical Scepticism
Carneadcs succeeded we can always learn more than we know, we can is to this day sometimes referred to as Pyrrhonism.
Arcesilaus both as
head of Plato's Academy never be sure that we have reached any final truth. Pyrrho had served as a soldier with Alexander
and as the leading Socrates said that the only thing he knew was that the Great, and had campaigned with him as far
proponent of Scepticism
of the day. He was he did not know anything. However, Socrates did afield as India. Seeing such a huge diversity of
especially effective in
at least believe that knowledge was possible, and, countries and peoples seems to have impressed
criticizing the rival
philosophies what is more, he was bent on acquiring some, on him the diversity of opinions that are to be
of the Epicureans
and the Stoics.
while Xenophanes believed that we could lessen found among human beings. For almost everything
the degree of our ignorance if we made the effort. believed by the people in one place there seem
Both men took a positive attitude towards enquiry to be people somewhere else who believe the
and the possibility of learning. opposite. And normally the arguments are equally
good on both sides - or so it seemed to Pyrrho.
intellectual arguments.
In particular he
pomted out that
every argument
or proof proceeded
from premises which
It did not itself establish. If you tried to
42
THE SCEPTICS
"BY SCEPTICISM...
C \ N'
assumed it, and to have assumed already what it sets or, if they could, whether such a life would be "the vile and malign.int
di.sea.se" of Scepticism.
1 out to prove would be to move in a vicious circle. worth living. But this refutation of Scepticism,
;
So every "proof" rests on unproven premises; and if refutation it is, is not a logical argument.
this is as true in logic, mathematics, and science as In practical life we must steer a middle course
j
it is in everyday life. Even so, it does not follow from between demanding a degree of certainty that we
this that we have no better grounds for any one set can never have and treating all possibilities as if
of beliefs than for any other: to say that would be they were of equal weight when they are not.
43
THE GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
The Epicureans
THE EARLIEST SCIENTIFIC AND
LIBERAL HUMANISTS I
Epicurus
such philosophy to be fully developed intellectually.
David Hume, writing in
tiiL- 18tli century, made
the following OF THE PHILOSOPHIES that were new in the completely at odds with all previous ideas of
observation: "Epicurus'
c|uestions are yet
HeilenLstic age, two were outstanding in importance seeking fame and glory, or even wanting something
unanswered. Ls he [God] and influence, and they were those of the so apparently decent as honor But Epicureanism
willing to prevent evil,
but not able? Then is he
Epicureans and the Stoics. was to an unusual degree a fully worked-out
impotent. Is he able, but Epicureanism was very much the creation of philosophy that tried to embrace all aspects of
not willing? Then ishe
malevolent. Is he both a single thinker, Epicurus (c. 341-270 ik;). Its aim existence. It began with a view of physics.
able and willing? Whence above all else was to liberate people from fear, not First of all, Epicurus accepted the atomism of
then is evil?" A very
similar pa.s.sage occurs only the fear of death but the fear of life. In an age Democritus. He believed that all there was in the
in Voltaire. Perhaps when all forms of public life were unpredictable material universe were atoms and space, nothing else.
Epicurus' que.stions are
still unanswered. and highly dangerous it taught people to seek Since it is impossible for atoms to come into
happiness and fulfilment in their private lives. existence out of nothing or pass away into nothing
"Live unknown was one " of its they are indestructible and eternal. However, their
maxims. This was movements are unpredictable, and no combination
that they form ever endures. For this reason,
44
THE EPICUREANS
being gods, they have no desire to become involved The poet seems to have been somewhat
in the perpetual mess and turmoil of human affairs. desperately seeking salvation in the philosophy
So they are inactive as far as we are concerned, and he so passionately embraced, for he himself was
"we have nothing to hope and nothing to fear" intermittently subject to the terrors of madness,
from them. For us, it is as if they do not exist. and he died eventually by committing suicide.
Since non-existence is our own inescapable Perhaps because the doctrines of Epicureanism
destiny we
should make the best of the only life were to such an unusual degree the creation of
we have. The good life in this life, happiness in a single thinker, it remained surprisingly
Mi:\ii \ i( ) Ml )Ki
this world, should be our aim. The way to achieve unchanged throughout its long history. In the The .skull was u.sed
this is to have nothing to do with the violence Middle Ages it was denounced by Christians as by the Epicureans,
as by many others, as
and uncertainties of public life but to withdraw Antichrist, and then almost petered out; but it was a .symbol of mortality.
communities of like-minded people. rediscovered in the l6th and 17th centuries, and Its implied mes.sage
into private
was-. "Enjoy life while
And because both our physical health and the had a significant influence on the beginnings of you have it,"
VI
INEADVMG:
"DEATH IS
ENITRIXH
NOTHING ??
OMINVD!
m '^jii
TO US Epicurus
V Vi^^lc}- uoFupta'
Q c .loniamgtnci- p
The communities formed by the Epicureans
these purposes were
open to anyone,
in principle
for
O o-fiCipitv.r -Uu'aXi^iv, exortutn Lvinnn.-! '
,
: i-ta
{Poetic masterpiece
^.:xi i„iTa.£.tiii caoiij iCi ore
jWhat is striking to us now about Epicureanism
.--ini,-{, .rraoct2i-q;maucc!X perms
I
is how similar it is, almost point by point, to the
scientific and liberal humanism of the 20th century.
It was the first thought-through version of an
t attitude to life that has been widely embraced in
f our own age. Its most dramatic and widely read
,
articulation was achieved in a long poem written
iin the Latin language in the 1st century bc. On the
'i.
45
THH GREEKS AND THEIR WORLD
The Stoics
THE GOVERNING
PHILOSOPHY OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE
Since death and adversity are
ZeNC) Of CITIUM
Tile founder of Stoicism, out of our control, and come to
Zeno. wrote a much
admired Republic in everyone, we should meet them
which he argtied for the
rtiie of law and the
with dignified acceptance.
universal validity of
political institutions. With
the exception of scattered
tjuotalions. none of his
\\ ritings sur\ e.
STOICISM ASA PHILOSOPHY continued as an
i\
of Seneca
This was a direct result of Alexander the Great's symbolized for many generations the golden age of the
conquests having spread Greek culture throughout Roman Empire. As a Stoic and philosophical irriter. Marcus
The Discoiiises
.\urelius revecds what it cciu be like u'hen the man at the
of Epictetus the so-called civilized world - the early Stoic tvry apex of poiver is also a philosopher.
Tlie Medilcitioiis
philosophers were mostly Syrians, the later ones
of Marcus Aurelius
mostly Romans. The voices of the most famous First, the world as our reason presents it to us as
Excellent histories
of Stoicism iti the of them came from the entire gamut of the social being, that is to say the world of Nature, is all the
aucieiit world were one even being and nothing "higher" And
hierarchy, a slave (Epictetus) realitj' there is. There is
ifrilteu by Cicero,
Diogenes. Laertiits.
another a Roman Emperor (Marcus Aurelius). Nature itself is governed by rationally intelligible
(ukI Se.xtus Hiiipiricus Stoicism seems to have had a special appeal for principles. We ourselves are part of Nature. The
emperors. According to a leading authority, "nearly spirit of rationality that imbues us and it (and that
all the successors of is to say, everything) is what is meant by God.
Alexander - we may say As thus conceived, God is not outside the world
all the principal kings and separate from it, he is all-pervadingly in the
in existence in the world - he is, as it were, the mind of the world,
generations following the self-awareness of the world.
Zeno - professed
themselves Stoics." Emotions are judgements
Zeno (334-262 bc) we are at one with Nature, and
Because because
of Citium, in Cyprus, was there is no higher realm, there can be no question
the founder of Stoicism. of our going anywhere "else" when we die - there
(He should not be is nowhere else to go. We dissolve back into Nature.
confused with the pre- It is through the ethics evolved from this belief that
Socratic philosopher Zeno Stoicism achieved its greatest fame and influence.
of Elea, who was discussed Because Nature is governed by rational
on p. 19) The core of the principles there are reasons why everything is as
Stoic philosophy lies in it is. We cannot change it, nor should we desire to.
the view that there can Therefore our attitude in the face of our own
be no authority higher mortality, or what may seem to us personal tragedy,
the consequences of that as our emotions rebel against this, our emotions are
belief we arrive at most in the wrong. The Stoics believed that emotions are
M \M A - A I'HILOSOI'HER AND POl.l I H I \\
Hue iij ii)c Inter Stoics. Seneca, tutor la Nem. wasjimu-
of the important tenets judgements, and theretbre cognitive: they are forms
chief administrator of the Roman Empire from ad 54-(>,^ of Stoic philosophy. of "knowledge", whether true or false. Greed, for
46
'
THE STOICS
instance, is the judgement that money is a "stoicism" are in familiar use in our language, with
pre-eminent good and to be acquired by every perhaps grudgingly admiring overtones, to mean
available means - a false judgement. If all our "withstanding adversity without complaint '. There
emotions are made subject to our reason they will must be many people now living who - even if
embody none but true judgements, and we shall they have never consciously formulated this fact to A WORLD-VIEW
then be at one with things as they actually are. themselves - subscribe to an ideal in ethics which Sloicism did not only
consist of the moral
People who adopted the Stoic philosophy were is essentially the same as that of the Stoics.
philosophy with ivhich
often able to endure life's vicissitudes with calm The fact that in recent centuries the best it is now associated.
and dignity. But even for them there might come available school education in many European Stoics made advances
in logic and in theoiy
a time when they would no longer wish to go on countries was based on the study of Latin literature of knowledge -
living - for example in circumstances of personal had, as one of its side-effects, that many generations ii ideed, they proposed
a philosophy for the
ruin or disgrace, or in the agonies of a terminal of well educated European males absorbed some of whole of human
disease. In those circumstances, they believed, the values of Stoicism. The famous "stiff upper lip experience.
the rational thing to do was to end one's own life of the public-school educated Englishman was
painlessly, and this many of them did. So a high precisely an example of Stoicism in practice and
proportion of the well-known Stoics ended their in action, partly rooted in a classical education.
lives by committing suicide.
"bVtRY STOIC
WAS A STOIC,
BUT IN
CHRISTENDOM
WHERE IS THE
CHRISTIAN?"
IL\i.i>H Waldo Emerson
47
irl>
Christianity
Philosophy
For a thousand years between the fall of the
Roman Empire in the 5th century ad and the
DAWN OF THE RENAISSANCE IN THE 15TH CENTURY
the torch of civilization in western europe
was carried mainly by the christian church.
But before Christians were willing to embrace
Am^ IDEAS OR discoveries, THEY NEEDED TO
assure themselves THAT THESE WERE NOT
Saint Augustine
THE FUSION OF PLATONISM
AND CHRISTIANITY
Augustine was arguably the outstanding figure in philosophy
He tins
rclireme)it. His father was a pagan but his mother, whom he a fascinating account of his childhood, a moving
opposed to Mark loved dearly, was a woman of simple Christian faith. character portrait of his mother, and frank
Antony's control after
Caesar's death in
Augustine turned his back on Christianity when he confessions of his sexual promiscuity as a young
43 «(-. and was was a teenager Reading Cicero at the age of 18 or man. Wanting and yet not wanting to escape from
murdered at the
orders of Caesar's
19 sent him off on a philosophical quest that was his enslavement to sex, he tells us he used to pray
adopted son to take him through several different intellectual to God: "Lord, make me chaste, but not yet."
Octaiian.
positions before he returned to what he called
Catholic Christianity. Anticipations
He first adopted Manichaeism, a doctrine of the The most interesting philosophizing in the
Persian prophet Mani, of about the 3rd century ad, Confessions - appropriately for an autobiography -
to the effect that the universe is a battleground is about the nature of time. "If no one asks me
between forces of good and evil, light and darkness. [what time is] I know; if they ask and I try to
Matter is evil but spirit is good, and each human explain, I do not know." Augustine's conviction that
being is a mixture of both, with the spark of light although the flow of time exists for living creatures
that is his soul longing for liberation from the gross it is not a reality for God led him to the conclusion
material of his body. But Augustine grew sceptical that the flow of time is something that
of what seemed to him the unsound intellectual characterizes only experience, and is not something
arguments of the Manichaeans, and that exists in itself, independently of experience.
eventually he became a In this he anticipated the philosophy of Kant (see
fully-fledged pp. 1 32-37). In another of his doctrines about time
philosophical he anticipated Schopenhauer (see pp. 138-45),
Sceptic of the kind namely the doctrine that the present is the
that now ruled in inescapable mode of all existence. He anticipated
the Academy that had Schopenhauer again in his view that our whole
been founded by Plato. worldly being, including our intellect, is dominated
This seems to have by our will. Yet another of his impressive
led him to the study anticipations is of Descartes (see pp. 84-89): he
of Plato, and of argued that the Sceptics must be wrong, because,
Neo-PIatonism in the as he explained, to doubt anything, let alone
work of Plotinus; and "everything," I must needs exist, and therefore
for a time he came my own existence is something which it is
their sway. When I exist is a truth that I know with absolute certainty,
Saint AUGUSTINE finally he returned it is untrue to say that we cannot know anything,
In answer to the pagan challenge: "Why did your God create
to Christianity at the or that it is impossible for us to be sure of anything,
the universe at that arbitrary moment in time'''. St Augustine "
replied: But that teas ifheii he created time too. age of 32 he carried or indeed that it is possible for us to doubt
50
If^P
SAINT Al!(;USTINF,
A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE
One thing that made it possible for Augustine
to fuse the Platonic tradition in philosophy
with Christianity is the fact that Christianity
is not, in itself, a philosophy. Its
U
LORD Chrisluiiiily s beliefs
The baptism of christ
are
person
//
Key works
/,v rare for one
to hare u'ritte>i
BUT NOT
Augustine did. There
(perhaps not perceived immediately) something
is fiist The Confcs.sion.s
that contradicted Christianity, for Christianity was Cc. .1/) 400) the world's
the self-revelation of God, and must always have first autobiography.
atid still one (f the
?? prior claim to truth. Anything believed by a And then there
YET
best. is
philosophical religion, and Augustine, believing Plato's doctrines that true knowledge is of a realm
that Platonic philosophy embodied important of timeless and perfect nonmaterial entities with
51
CHKISTI ANI'lY AND F HI l.OSO 1^ H ^'
which our contact is nonsensory; that there is of theories produced by a philosopher being
a part of us that is also timeless and nonmaterial used to justify mass murder It demonstrates, if
which already belongs to that realm, while our demonstration were needed, the immense practical
bodies are among the fleeting and decaying consequences that can flow from an abstract idea.
material objects of the sensory world; that because More than a thousand years later this same idea
all the objects of the sensory world are ephemeral of Augustine's was still exerting a powerful
and decaying there can be no stable, true, and influence on leading religious thinkers, not
lasting knowledge of it, consisting as it does of Catholics only but also key Protestant church
fleeting illusions; all this, and many other Platonic reformers such as Luther, Calvin, and Jansen.
doctrines besides,became so familiar a part of the
Christian outlook that many if not most Christians The collapse of civilization
came to assume that these ideas, although nowhere Augustine lived during part of the period of
actually stated by Christ, had nevertheless somehow collapse of the Roman Empire. Throughout his
been originated by Christianity, and were to be life the whole civilized world as he knew it was
thought of as a natural part of it. being steadily destroyed by Barbarian hordes.
At the very moment when he died in the city
Souls in hell of his birth. Hippo, it was being besieged by
One doctrine of St. Augustine's that was never Vandals, to whom it surrendered after his death.
officially accepted by the church but had >Vhat lay immediately ahead in time was further
long-term and in many ways tragic consequences collapse followed by the period we now call the
believed that sexuality for our salvation. Souls who go to hell are souls in which we have to live. His great book The City
was fundamental part
of
a
human nature as
for whom God does not intervene. Thus the of God is about how each individual is a citizen
intended by God, but damned are damned by God's choice. This doctrine of two different communities simultaneously;
was distorted through
was used over subsequent centuries to justify the on the one hand there is the kingdom of God,
Adam's sin - Man had
fallen by the act of his burning and torture of many heretics - treating which is unchanging and eternal, and based on
own will.
them, in other words, as if they were damned souls true values, while on the other there are the highly
in hell - and untold thousands died appalling unstable kingdoms of this world, which come and
deaths in its name. This is one example - Marxism go with bewildering rapidity and are based on false
provides others, and there are more elsewhere - values. We find ourselves Living in both. (The reader
will at once see a parallelism between these and
the two worlds of Plato.)
52
wM
'
SAINT AUGUSTINK
r~J^. •»i«onr.»iwf;vn».iuo«cttiffc(|(:."Jlcafhr<»Jl>:crr
,>_v\ I
Jc titiirtr rt Cx Riicurtr tre fxnin- tourir inic fir >tc i^ v^'J' cft-.umiiicffpi?ij:t>;i*a'iihTiiiirtco(irpntt-<iitt (Icoiii
^^j^^
'^m.
53
CHRISTIANn ^' AND 1' i 1 1 1,( )S{) 1' HV
Medieval Philosophy
A PROLONGED ATTEMPT TO FIT
PLATO, ARISTOTLE, AND
CHRISTIANITY HARMONIOUSLY
MoORlMl ARCHITECTURE
INTO THE SAME OUTLOOK
TliL- Moor.s' conquest of
Spain, following their
invasions of ai:) 711,
Because of the subsequent rise of science, medieval philosophy
lasted for eight eenturies.
In the citadel and palace
has been unjustly neglected in recent centuries, except by Roman
of the Alhambra
(1238-13S8) the Moorish Catholic scholars. It richly reivards attention.
tradition reached its
climax. With its
colonnades and courtyard
gardens the Alhambra is
a fine example of the
THE COLLAPSE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE saw and Roman culture was brought down in ruins, and
Islamic heritage running the overrunning and occupation of its various was succeeded by the period that we call the Dark
alongside the Chri.stian
traditions of European
territories by other forces, many of them pagan Ages. Since Europeans have for so long tended to
Gothic architecture. This hordes who were often at war with one another equate civilization itself with European culture it is
view of the palace shows
the Court of Lions.
The classical civilization that by now consisted of worth noting that while Europe was going through
the accumulated treasures of Greek, Hellenistic, this dark age - approximately the period between
AD 600 and 1000 - there were more highly
developed civilizations flourishing in other parts of
is to have
been happy ^^
"A PERSON IS
BoETums
AN INDIVIDUAL
The world of islam
SUBSTANCE OF
III Ml
By
Mnhiiiiimeil s
Ihc liiiic
(>-'}J Isltiiii
of
tleatli
lliidir^h iiiiich
had
A RATIONAL
NATURE"
sjirc'titl
54
MEDIEVAL lMIILOS(JlMl'i'
Tang dynasty
to do that it would probably have seemed absurd. which his title refers are not specifically Christian China Tang dynasty
's
lost in Europe but preserved in the Arab world, and Ireland as a beacon arts it produced great
literature, sculpture.
were not to be reintroduced into Europe until the After Boethius, Europe's reversion to barbarism porcelain, and
1 3th century. (Cultural contact with the Arab world lasted over a period of several hundred years, pottery. Tlje iiwention
ofporcelain (about
in the 12th and 13th centuries was to have altogether throughout which time the individuals and
1.000 years before
a transforming effect on European intellectual institutions trying to cling to the remnants of its discoveiy in
Europe) meant that
development, and not only with regard to Aristotle.) civilization were very much on the defensive.
ceramics became
The only works of Aristotle's to survive in Europe Foremost among these institutions was the highly valued abroad.
during the Dark Ages were his logical writings, and Ta)ig pottery best
Christian church, which in the earlier part of the is
calledThe Consolation of Philosophy which has unbarbarized. Many of the literate and learned from
continued to be read from that day to this. Britain and the Continent fled there, with the
Although he was a Christian the consolations to result that an amazing period occurred in Irish
55
c:iiKisTiANrr^' and phii.osoimi"!'
history - roughly the 6th, 7th, and Erigena was the only large-scale
turn /ec/ Id I/jc those days being "Scotia." He is another: Peter Abelard in the
c/ei'e/opineiit of t/jc sometimes referred to as
also 1 2th century, Roger Bacon
decorated boole. Royal
patronage ivas vita/ John Scotus Erigena. His dates of and Thomas Aquinas in the
for t/ie civiiliiiii of t/je birth and death are unknown, but 13th, followed then by Duns
fine iiieUi/ir(>r/> and
iiuiiiiiscri/>ts of tin's
he is thought to have been born Scotus, then by William of
/icriDit //le Bo<ik of in around ad 810 and died in Ockham - by which time
Kclls. created /yy Iriski
monks in t/je
about AD 877. the medieval period is itself
ma II iiscripl produced conclusions, there can never be Crucifixion in Ireland contribution to the history
time of
ill l/>is
any conflict between reason and of thought is the ontological
remarka/y/e artistic
achieveme)it. divine revelation: they are independent ways of argument for the existence of God. This is explained
arriving at truth, and both are valid. So he set out to and discussed on p. 57, so at this point we may
demonstrate rationally all the truths of the Christian move straight on to Abelard, whose life (c. 1079-
faith. This was to bring his work under official 1 142) was lived mostly in and around Paris.
suspicion on the ground that if he were right it The tragic story of Abelard and Heloise is one of
would render both faith and revelation unnecessary. the great love stories of the world, on a par with
His philosophical approach was that of Neo- that of Tristan and Isolde, or Romeo and Juliet.
Platonism, and as such very much in the Heloise was the niece of Canon Fulbert
tradition of St. Augustine; but he was a of Notre Dame; and she and Abelard
Chivalry
Chiva/iy was
more rigorous thinker than became secret lovers. She had
originai/y a co//ectire Augustine - the technical a child, whereupon they
term used to descri/?e
quality of the argumentation married, still secretly. Seeking
mediera/ /.^lights
l.aler it came to mean is higher, and his intellectual revenge, her brothers,
l/ie />uiiorai)/e, /ova/.
points drive deeper One of organized by the Canon,
and courteous
iK'hai'iotir expected his profoundest arguments broke into Peter's room
of a liiiight. Chiva/iy was to the effect that one night and castrated
was at its height
during the 12th and since God is unknowable, him. The story ends with
IJlh centuries and in the sense of not being him becoming a monk
was strengthened by
the Crusades, which
the sort of entity that and her a nun, and the
had led to the constitutes a possible object two of them writing letters
founding of the earliest
of knowledge, it is impossible to one another which are
orders of chivalry,
such as the Order of for God to know himself, to now an established part of
the Hospital ofSlfihn understand his own nature. After world literature.
ofJerusalem
many centuries this insight was In philosophy Abelard's
generalized by Kant into the AUII.AKI) .\\\> lU.l.okSE most interesting writings are
point that it is impossible for Peter Ahelard was a theologian, logician, ami about the problem of what
moral philoso[)her, ivhose most important
any consciously aware being - are called universals, which
writings address the problem of universals
not only God but also, for His love affair with Heloise led to him being are terms such as "red or "
understand its own nature. veil from Ahelard. exactly the same way to an
56
ir^P
MK 1 ) I E \A L PHIL O S O P H Y
T
argument that the I that the third great
universe exhibits design and universe's being here at lor the existence of God
purpose: the acorn becomes
the oak, the stars move in have created
means that
it - it
someone must
cannot just
all
have
Ti is called the "ontological"
argument - the word "ontology"
predictable courses, everything come into existence all by itself, out applies to any discussion todo
seems to be acting out some of nothing - is the "cosmological" with the nature of being. The
purpose or plan. An argument of argument. Its great weakness is that inventor of this argument seems
this kind is called a "teleological" to have been St. Anselm (1033-1109)
nonconscious phenomena. it leads to an infinite regress. If the that this argument will not do,
Also, although there is certainly a cosmos is so wonderful that its but - as in the case of Achilles
great deal of order in the universe, existence needs something else and the tortoise (see p. 19) - it is
there is also apparent chaos, and to explain it, then the existence disconcertingly difficult to show
perhaps the order has been at one of that something else is even more what is wrong with it. Kant, in the
time exaggerated. Furthermore, wonderful, and how shall we late 18th century, did this to most
it has been seriously questioned explain that? And indeed, if we peoples' satisfaction. But the matter
whether it is meaningful to talk do hit on an explanation, we shall remains controversial, and in recent
of the sum total of everything then have to provide an explanation years the ontological argument has
as having a purpose. of that. And so on. resurfaced in philosophy.
57
CHRISTIAN'ITY AND PHILOSOPHY
in consent to Medieval renaissance One (f the finest examples of Gothic architecture is the
Sainte-Chappelle (1243-48) in Paris, ichich displays the
^^ The 1 3th century saw the first really big flowering
decoratife effect of ivindoiv traceries, and the lightness and
the desire
of European thought and civilization to occur since soaiing height that typified the style. Vertical shafts and
Peter Abel\rd pointed arches led the eye- and the soul - tip to heaivn.
the collapse of the Roman Empire. It was the period
in which the Christian and Islamic cultures had
their most fruitful interchanges; the philosophy of Charlemagne and the Nibelungs, came into
Aristotle returned to Europe from the Arab world; existence; the great French Gothic cathedrals
the wonderful romantic literature of the Arthurian were built. In England it saw the foundation of
legends, and the literatures surrounding the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; also
the beginnings of constitutional government with
Gothic painting
ne Gothic style firs! Magna Carta and the House of Commons. Among
umergi'd in the the earliest people to teach at Oxford was Roger
aichilecture of the
Bacon (c. 1220-c. 1292). He was remarkable not
Idle Meilieriil period.
in /xiiiiliiif;. the so much for his achievements as for his perception
chiiiiiie Id ii new style
of possibilities. He believed that there could and
hei^iin in the h(le-lMh
eentnry ivilh the irork should be a unified science, based on mathematics,
(f lUilicin iirlisls siuh but making use of observation and experiment as
us Ciiinil>iie
re. 1240-.- IMU) He himself did original
well as abstract reasoning.
and (iKittd work in optics. He was one of a small but growing
Ihe nuisl niilieeiihle
band of people who were beginning to recognize
fecilnic d/ Ihc art the importance of practical observation in the
of this jicndcl IS its
pursuit of empirical truth.
I nc reused luiliirulisiii
Ihe (idlhic style But the outstanding philosopher of the 1 3th
heciniie the ddiuiniinl
century - in most people's view the greatest
style if l>iiinttn<>
thriiiighdiit Eiiriipe
A HANn RIShS FROM IHE LAKE lO LAKE KING AKTHUKS .SWORD philosopher since Augustine, 800 years before - was
end of the The Arlhiiriatt legends came into existence during the IJlh
until the
century. The story of Arthur assumed its final form in 1485.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-74). more recent times
In
15th century.
after Ihe publication q/'Morte d'Arthur hy Sir TIjomas Malory. there was a long period during which Aquinas held
58
MFDIKVAL PHILOSOPHY
a very special place in the minds of Roman he believes (though it is not rationally demonstrable) Key WORK.S
Catholics, because in 1879 Pope Leo XIII that the world had a beginning, having been created The most famous
works of Aquinas arc
recommended his philosophy as a model for by God, and will one day have an end.
Iwo compeiiclia
Catholic thought. For something like a hundred Basing himself on Aristotle, Aquinas argues that for stnclcnls.
ii'rilleii
years after that Aquinas was almost what one might all our rational knowledge of this world is acquired hy whom they hare
been used ever since.
call the official philosopher of the Catholic Church, through sensory experience, on which our minds One is called Summii
regarded by Catholics with unique veneration. Since then reflect. There is nothing in the intellect which Theologinc ('Summary
of Theology/ and the
the Second Vatican Council of 1962-64, however, was not first in the senses. When a child is born its other Summ-A Contra
this attitude has relaxed, and Catholic thinkers now mind is like a clean slate on which nothing has yet Gcntile.s COn the Truth
of the Catholie Faith/
feel more comfortable about criticizing Aquinas. been written. (Aquinas uses the
Unlike Augustine s
Latin term tabula rasa, or clean works, hoirever. they
are difficult for the
Thomas aquinas slate, a phrase often accredited
goieral reader.
The great achievement of Aquinas was to produce to the much later philosopher
a vast synthesis of aU that had been best argued John Locke.) From these
in Western thought up to his time, and show it to beginnings Aquinas
be compatible with Christian belief. He even drew develops a theory of
on other sources too by including elements of knowledge which is so
Jewish and Islamic thought. Christian philosophy uncompromisingly
had developed from the beginning, as we have empiricist that a
seen, with a high content of Platonism and Neo- modern reader might
Platonism; but now the philosophy of Aristotle was suppose it to sit
a
THE
SOUL IS
KNOWN
BY ITS
??
ACTSThomas Aqi'INas
59
t;HRISTIANITV AND i' H 1 1,()S() P 1 1
^
Guilds
III Difdtercil fill rope
^iiilih iivrc
associiilioiis fonned
for the prnlllnlinll of
professiiiiuil iiiWrests.
skiiulcir(/\ iiiiil
and Inulesiiieii
belonged In a fiiiild
the basis for Aquinas" rejection of Anselms it can possibly possess any of the characteristics
60
irvlh
MF.DIKVAI. PHILOSOPHY
Scotus (c. 1266- 1308), who in some technical and therefore, other things being equal, the more Duns scotus
ways is the most superior example of a medieval simple is the more likely to be correct. This being A Scottish .scholastic
philosopher and
scholastic philosopher. His exposition and so, we should always, in the course of trying to theologian, Duns Scotus
dissection of arguments is so meticulous that those work out an explanation of something, assume became and
a Franci.scan
.studied and taught at
who study him are often permanently influenced the minimum we need to assume. Entities should Oxford and Paris, and
by that in itself. He always holds honestly to the not be posited urmecessarily At first sight it seems finally at Cologne where
he died. His philo.sophy
distinction between reason and faith: for example, counter-intuitive to say that simpler explanations represents a reaction
do in fact succeed in proving it. The outstanding being equal" is crucial here. Einstein hit the point
American philosopher C. S. Peirce (see pp. 186-87) off brilliantly when he said "Everything should
regarded him as one of the "profoundest be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
"ENTITIES
SHOULD NOT
BE POSITED
UNNECESSARILY"
William of Ockham
61
^<^*^
>^^
H. '^V^vJi
Beginnings
Modern
Science
Science did not begin, as we might have
EXPECTED, with A STUDY OF THOSE MATTERS
NlCOLAUS COPERNICUS
By
earth
attributing to the
a daily motion
around its own axis
From
and a yearly motion
around the stationary
sun, Copernicus
del 'eloped an idea
Copernicus
that had far-reaching
implications for
modern science. The
earth could no longer
TO Newton
be considered the
center of the cosmos. THE UNVEILING
OF THE UNIVERSE
In the I6th and 1 7th centuries
Psalm 93,
be known as the Ptolemaic system, after Ptolemy,
addressing god an astronomer who lived in Alexandria in the
2nd century ai) and published the first systematic
account of astronomy as it had evolved up to that
the ancients with the Christian religion. On this movements that were becoming increasingly
view God had made the world to be at the center difficult to explain suddenly made good, clear
of everything.And to be the master of this world sense. Copernicus kept insisting that this was only
he had created man in his own image. In the a hypothesis. He had some idea of the trouble his
heavens, he had established his paradise, as being ideas would cause, and so he delayed their
Ptolemy the realm to which the souls of human beings publication until what turned out to be the year
An Alexandrian
mathematician and would go after their bodies died. of his death, 1543; and even then he dedicated
astrontjmer. Claudius
Psychologically, this picture was fairly simple. his book to the Pope.
Ptolemy was active
in 2nd centuty ad.
the The observable part of it seemed more or less As usual with new ideas, it took some time
His most important book.
obvious, even if the mathematics required to for his to get through. But when they did - one
Almagest, puts the earth
at the center of the support it were disconcertingly complicated. is tempted to use the phrase "all hell broke loose."
universe. From the I6th
But in the l6th century a Polish churchman called For Copernicus" hypothesis meant that the earth
century, this view was
gradually superseded by Copernicus (1473-1543) pointed out that many moved round the sun, and not vice versa; and not
the heliocentric .system,
of the most fearsome mathematical difficulties only did this deny something the church had been
\\ hich puts the sun at
the center. would melt away if, instead of assuming that the teaching for a thousand years, it flatly contradicted
64
irvO
hUOM COPERNICUS TO NEWTON
VENTURE TO to
out that a pair of
lenses could be used
make far-off objects
appear closer.
COPERNICUS "refracting
to
In
which used
make
"
light
telescopes
which, by using
telescope
Sphere.s -which
even the very idea of authority itself.
proposed that the
playlets orbit around
The wrong circles the sun - until the
end of his life
Another consequence of Copernicus' ideas that in 1543.
the Bible itself. Psalm 93 says (addressing God): was to be seismic in its effect was the removal
"Thou hast fixed the earth immovable and firm." of man from his privileged position in the universe.
It is scarcely surprising that, in the century after We humans were no longer the center of
its publication, Copernicus' theory was officially everything. It no longer appeared that
condemned by the church. ^ everything else revolved around us.
But not only the Catholic Church was outraged. WTien this realization spread
Leading Protestants were just as scandalized. was earthquakelike in its
"People give ear," protested Luther, "to an upstart consequences for human
astrologer who strove to show that the earth attitudes, not least peoples'
revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the attitudes towards religion.
sun and the moon... This fool wishes to reverse the If no authority could
entire science of astronomy; but sacred scripture be accepted uncritically
tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand this was bound to apply
still and not the earth." Calvin, similarly, said: to Copernicus himself
"Who will venture to place the authority of Astronomers who came
Copernicus above that of the Holy Spirit?" after him criticized his
65
THK BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE
Kepler's key works ancient Greeks and then acquired a religious basis
/;; his New Astronomy in the Middle Ages. This was yet another demolition
(1609). Kt'plcr
of age-old conceptions of the universe - and of the
dcmatistratcd that the
oihil of the l)la>iel authority of the authorities.
Mens is an ellipse.
hi Harmonics of the
Galileo, the giant from pisa
World (1619) be
related a planet s The first of the founding fathers of modern
mean ilistance fioDi
science to come into personal conflict with the
the sun to the tune
it takes to complete power-wielding authorities of this world was
elliptical orbit
its
Galileo (1564-1642). He was condemned by the
around the sun.
Inquisition - a tribunal formed by the Roman
Catholic Church to uncover and suppress heresy -
first privately in I6l6, then publicly in 1633
His crime was the two-fold one of asserting that
the earth rotates on its axis and that it revolves
round the sun. These ideas were by now nearly
a century old, having been got by Galileo via Kepler
When Ikinish King Frederick II gare I'ycbo liriihe. the Galileo was a wonderful scientist, and more
greatest of the pre-telescope iistniiinDiers. the island (f I lien.
Jupiccr than a scientist. It is disputed whether or not he
Tycho built an ohserratory fur the accurate iiieiisiireinent
stars, '/he instrunients he used far these oliseridtums
invented the telescope, but he was certainly the
of the
Music of the planets
Kepler discovered a
were ktige metal se.xtciiits and i/iuidranls. first person to look through one at the stars, and
relationship between the this development transformed the whole nature
velocities of the planets
in their elliptical orbits
The Danish astronomer
against observable reality. of astronomy. He discovered the principle of the
and musical harmony. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) built up the biggest pendulum, and this transformed both the
He then calculated
musical scales from the
and most accurate body of measured observations manufacture and the accuracy of clocks. He
velocities of the planets that was ever made before the invention of the invented the thermometer Everyone up to his time
when closest to and
furthest from the sun. telescope - and then handed all this material over had believed that the heavier a body is the faster
The example aliove is
to a figure of genius, the it will fall, but he made the
horn his Ilariniinies VM-?IAN[1A»VMB 1, tT DllTANTIAS PCE-^HNOV^
Johannes kepler Kepler destroyed both of these furthermore, that this velocity
ne German assumptions. He showed that accelerates at a uniform rate
mathematician and the planets move in ellipses, of 32 feet per second per
astronomer Johannes
Kepler (1571-1630) not circles, and that their second. He established that
sttidied theology before motions are faster in some every projectile moves in a
becoming interested
in astronomy. parts of their orbit than in parabola (thus launching the
He discovered the others. This in turn destroyed science of gunnery). And he
ofplanetaty
lairs
motion by studying
the deep-rooted assumption showed that - far from it being
the orbit of Mais and that all celestial movements natural for heavenly bodies, or
stated that the planets
must make symmetrical any other bodies, to move in
moved in elliptical
orbits, and not in patterns - an assumption Kepler's explanation of the planets circles or ellipses - the natural
circles as Copernicus Johannes Kepler applied mathematics to the
which had started out on thing was for a moving body
had thought. study of planelaiy orbits and based his lairs
an aesthetic basis with the of planetaty motion entirely on ohseivalicm. to carry on moving in a
66
ir Vilfe
FROM COl'KRNICUS TO NF.WTON
Academies of rrAtv
hi the urljan cotters
(f late lOth-ceiiluiy
Italy there were a
large tntmber of
learned academies
that debated
literature, philosophy.
and science.
One of the most
famous U'as the
Accademia del
Cimcnto (Academy
of Experiments) in
Florence, established
in J 657 Ijy Galileo's
pupil. Vicenzo Viviani
(1662-1703). Its
members conducted
a broad range of
experiments in
subjects such as
biology and physics.
Ptolemaic and Copernican. published in 1632, argued for Iraditional beliefs. Eventually. Galileo was forced to declare
the new cosmology. As a result. Galileo was called before the that the earth was the immovable center of the universe.
Straight line unless and until some other force acted The consequences of his work for man's
on it. He discovered that if several different forces understanding of the world, and hence for human
act on a moving body at the same time, the effect thought processes, is beyond all calculation. Despite
on its movement is the same as if they had acted the precariousness of his situation, he proclaimed,
The pendulum clock
separately and successively. This particularly rich when he dared, the principle that power and Galileo observed that a
discovery opened the door to the whole new authority, including the authorities of the Christian pendulum appears to
take thesame time to
science of dynamics. It was Galileo who consciously religion, should have no right to interfere with the swing back and forth.
truth-seeking activities of science. "Why he said: "
He later designed a clock
that operated on this
'X "this would be as if an absolute despot, being
BUT IT STILL
principle. This design.
this attitude
formulated for the first time the principle of Two Chief World
Systems - Ptolemaic
objectivity in science, the idea that even the most Isaac newton - supreme scientist and Copernican
immediate and direct physical experiences such as The greatest genius of all in this unfolding story - (1632). Galileo
argued for the sun-
colors and smells should systematically be left out of indeed, possibly the greatest scientist of all time -
ceiUered cosmology.
the recorded observations of scientists as being was an Englishman, Isaac Newton (1642-1727). Galileo's work on
the principles of
personal to the observer. Just for starters, between the ages of 23 and 24,
mechanics is
This cursory list of his achievements, incomplete he correctly analyzed the constituent properties discussed in his
though it is, must make it clear that Galileo was one of light, invented calculus, and not only formulated Discourses upon the
New Sciences (1638).
of the most original and creative geniuses of all time. the concept of gravity but worked out the law of
67
THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE
J
Only 54 years earlier the Pope had publicly
condemned Galileo for asserting that the earth
I
i
with an accurate working model of the entire
planetary system.
The name given was
to this kind of enquiry
"natural philosophy," because was the attempt to
it
apple
garden. The falling
made him question
SHOULDERS
wliether the force exerted
by the earth
the apple
in
fall
making
was the
OF GIANTS" Isaac; Newton
same force that made the
moon towards the
fall
earth, and so pull it into Newton's laws of motion - and gradually built up
an elliptical orbit round
a system of mathematical physics that enabled
the earth.
him to give a complete and accurate picture of
the planetary system. The book in which he did
this was published in 1687, and is usually known
as his Principia, short for a much longer Latin title
68
\J^P
FKOM COPERNICUS TO NEWTON
f tniriubtM U'bct
MATHEMATICA
Quivr vagb populit
I>^'™ '!"°'",^'^'
Auto, ". Orrf..
its state would be at any future time. This in turn ,
Defmitiones.
m«.r.r.v...n.„i.r,t p.6o!
Vdooi N.1BO
gave many of the people who understood the new H„m»m farcn. »»--. 'fi'- "'P^'X
Jrcii-»s mifr™
Woaimodo t>mMXS> rti. -.
D,<,f««.- i).
R
""f^
I
CUutol-'c-n'Tom:,
,cton»!UcmmoM.. orJa, \ Er dup)o (Icnfior dupio fp.itio qiiadciinlti
in
feeling that they had somehow tamed the universe V „ui i.r.K.ili UliK-rar.I
IVcuU moodi. intclIipcdcNivcnPuIvcribuspcrcomprdliunaH vclliqito
faftioncTi] condcnfam. F.t par rft nrio corpomm omnnini, qua;
just in his theoretical explains his three laws of motion and his theory of gravity.
understanding but in as well as clemo)istralinf> that it is the force ofgrarity that
keeps the planets moving in orbits around the sun.
the most direct
practical
terms of domination and exploitation. However,
'^ Where the
with the earth no longer seen as the center of
the universe but a minor planet of a minor star
statue stood
it became difficult for many to believe that the Of Newton, with
existence of the entire cosmos must have a
his prism and
purpose connected with man. There began that
rapid spread of disbelief in the existence of God silent face,
that conspicuously characterizes the West over The marble
the following three centuries, as more and
index of a
more people came to think of man himself as
lord of the known universe. mind for ever
Voyaging through
A NEW WORLD-'VIEW
The consequences of all this for traditional strange seas of
thought-structures and authorities were Thought, alone
cataclysmic. It came to be believed William Wc^rusworth
increasingly widely that, in matters of truth-
seeking, tradition was an encumbrance and
authority had no Any statement of the
place.
form "x is true " was met no longer with the
question 'Which authority is it that says so?"
but with the question "What is your evidence
Newton's
for that - where is your proof?"; and authorities key works
came eventually to be seen as being as open hi the Principia
(16H7). Newton
to critical questioning, as accountable, as others.
formulated a theory
These great intellectual movements took time of graritatio)! and
slated his three lairs
to work themselves out, of course, but they played
of motion.
a central role in helping to bring about the end of Newton s Oplick.s
(1704) demonstrated
that white light is
The clockwork universe made up of all the
clockwork model of the solar system, with the sun in the center
'/his colors of the risible
orbited by the earth and the moon, was built in 1712 by John Rowley. sped mm from
Known as an orrery, after the fourth Earl of Orrery, for whom it was red to violet.
made, it reflects Newton 's vietv of the universe as a giant machine.
69
1?FGINNING,S OK MODERN SCIF.NCK
Formal si'li-ndor
The gardens of Vaiix-le Vicomte ( 1C)-)G-C)1_) by Andre Lc Notre geometrical design, derived from mathematical form idas.
have a strong axial emphasis. The restrained details and expre.'is the philosophical thought of the 17th centuiy.
what we call the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church only ecclesiastical and biblical authority but also the
lost its control over the intellectual and cultural authority of Aristotle. So the new scientific view of
life of Europe - completely so in those countries the world had to struggle for several generations to
that went Protestant, but to some degree even in establish itself against the world-view of Aristotle.
those countries that remained Catholic, where
in the longer run they were also to lose it almost
completely. At the scientific level the world-view
Andri- i.f, Notre
that was thus overthrown was in essentials
'the i-'i\')ich l/iiitlsccipe
gardens at Versailles
and I 'aiix-le- Vico mte
"THE LAST
are the perfect symbol
of the age. 'Ihey are
balanced and
geometrical with a
ENCHANTMENTS
broad terrace a>id the
main axis nuuiiiig
from the Jtriiici/yal
OF THE
dooriVdV ifllh- hnll^c
h'ealiircs yiit
baliislnidcs.
l> as MIDDLE AGE" Matthew Arnold
finntains. ami statues
are organized on a
symmetrical plan.
centuries of the Middle Ages thinker after thinker,
culminating in Thomas Aquinas, struggled to
incorporate the work of Aristotle within the world-
view of the Catholic Church (see p. 59). To the very
extent that they succeeded, one of the inevitable
consequences was that when - throughout the
subsequent period covered by, first, the
70
\r
FROM COPFRMCl'S T(J \K\\ TOX
"God said,
Let Newton be!"
new was now
Isaac Newton is generally to take full account of the what they said at all: truth
acknowledged to be the greatest science, in that any description to be established by methods that
scientist who ever lived, the only of reality had to incorporate in operated independently of them.
possible exception being Einstein. a plausible way the reality revealed So established authorities lost their
Among many other things, he was by science. Not only that: any place in society's intellectual life.
all
God
WITH THE Revelations
be Reconciled Fsome
hundred years
after Newton,
of the greatest
objects on the earth's of philosophers addressed
surface. He brought
perfection the sciences of
to
OF Science? themselves to these
questions. How could
statics and dynamics. The application account of the nature of knowledge belief in God l^e reconciled with
of these through technology was itself, and of the way it was aiTived the revelations of science? How
to make the Indu.strial Revolution at, and its foundations, had to apply could morality function in a world
possible, and thus to transform the to science if it was to command governed by scientific laws? How
face of the earth - not to mention credibility. could there be free will in a
the nature of human societies. As far as science was concerned, deterministic universe? Newton's
The consequences of Newton's the age-old authorities of Church work set out the agenda not only
work for philosophy were immense. and State simply did not exist.What for the .science of the age following
Henceforth, eveiy philosopher had the truth was did not depend on him but also for the philosophy.
71
THE BEGINNINGS Ol' MODERN SCIENCE
Key works
The Prince (1513)
i/isciLsses how a
THE EXCITING STORY OF the emergence of use as a derogatory term meaning cunning,
modern science has such a narrative sweep - from amoral, opportunist, and, above all, manipulative.
Copernicus, through Kepler, and then Galileo, to its But all Machiavelli was doing was to bring
culmination in Newton - that we wanted to follow intellectual honesty to bear on the realities of
it through, and this has carried us ahead of related politics. Just as the new scientists tried consciously,
developments in other fields. So we now have some against the whole weight of Christian tradition, to
catching up to do with parallel developments in other develop a value-free science, so Machiavelli was
areas. One of the most important of these is political trying to develop a value-free political understanding.
established ways of talking about of force; with the importance of appearances, and
politics and to see the facts as they therefore of image-making; with the question of when
really are, head on. As he puts it in it is advantageous for a politician to keep his word,
his most famous book. The Pfince, and when it is advantageous for him to break it; with
published in 1513: "Since my which sorts of plot can be expected to succeed and
intention is to say something that
will be of practical use to the
enquirer, 1 have thought it proper "IT IS MUCH SAFE!
to represent things as they are in
real truth, rather than as they are
imagined." Before him, theorists
FORA PRINCE
of politics had written about such
things as the duties of the ruler,
TO BE FEARED
and what sort of person would
constitute an ideal prince, and
THAN LOVED Niccolo Machiavfxli
??
writings were they were not English, for "real," hard-nosed politics). One of its
about the day-to-day activities chapters is headed: "On those who came to Power by
of politics. By contrast with all Crime." Never at any time does Machiavelli base an
this Machiavelli set out to tell argument on whatever it is that people are supposed
it it is. From that day to
like to do, still less on any Christian or biblical exliortation.
72
W^P
MACH I A\ H I. [. I
modern times. So universal and valid are accuse him of advocating these wicked
the best of these insights that one practices he wrote about, or to talk of
sees them confirmed wherever liim as if he were the devil himself,
human beings jockey for place rhere are places in his writings
and preferment, not only in where he says, in effect, that if
that, in churches and clubs and this or that moral principle; but SYLVnSTRI TELIJ
the same time as The Prince, and circumstances of his time and
also published in 1513), he compares place, which was Renaissance Italy.
C A S I L £ AE
with a similar penetration and His revelations were hugely Ex oSlLtnaPctn Pcrnx.
Florentine statesman M O XXC
honesty the pros and cons of Machiaivlli was employed as an appreciated even from the
different forms of government, and envoy by ihe Florentine Repnhlic al beginning by the perceptive, who The prince
a time when Fjirope's jHiiitical order Intended as a handliook
reveals it as his view that a republic, appeared lo l>e hreakiuii down. saw him, correctly, as clearing away tor rulers, ne Piince
The borgias
Originally Spanish
nobles, the Borgia
family first came to
Italy in 1443 and rose
to great prominence
in the 1 5th century.
Rodrigo. who later
became Pope
Alexander 17, iras
anxious to extend his
power and further his
children s i)iterests.
His illegitimate
children, Cesare
(1475-1507)
and Lucrezia
(1480-1519), ivere
)iotorions for their
many crimes and
moral excesses.
73
THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE
uilh
Key works
Essaycs (1597) deals
how men live:
what men do and
Francis Bacon
irhal men ought to do.
The Advancement of
Learning (1605) is a
A NEW METHOD FOR THE NEW SCIENCE
lerieiv
of knowledge of
of the state
Bacon saw the vast possibilities of the newly emerging science,
Bacon's own time.
In Novum Organiim
and put forward programs for its development at every level, from
(1620) Bacon
J>resenled his
the theoretical to the institutional.
scientific method.
FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626) was a true essays that has been his most popular book ever
polymath, a man distinguished in politics, law, since. But throughout his adult life he was producing
literature, philosophy, and science. His whole life writings that were to have a liistoric influence on the
EfTaycs. was lived in and around the English court, the direction taken by Western science and philosophy.
Religious Meditations.
center of political power, under Queen Elizabeth I Given that he had a public career so overcrowded
Places of perfwafion and
and King James I. His father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was with work and achievements, to suggest that in
diffwafion. Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to Elizabeth. Francis addition to all this he also wrote Shakespeare's
was educated at Cambridge, where he acquired an plays is about as probable as that George Bernard
abiding hostility to Aristotle, and then went into Shaw's plays were written by Einstein.
law. He became a Member of Parliament at the
age of 23, and eventually, in succession, Solicitor- Godfather of science
A r L o « D o »,
Mntcd for Humfrcy Hoopei ,
utisie General, Attorney-General, Lord Keeper of the Bacon wanted to use his political influence for
lObcloMirtheblickcBcue
in Cbauncer} Line.
• f } 7-
Great Seal (like his father). Lord Chancellor, as well the advancement of science. He tried to persuade
as becoming a baron and a viscount. At the age James I to establish a royal institution that
Bacon's £.s.s>i>7:;s
In his K'isayes (\59'7). of 36 he published the would take the lead in this, and to
Bacon gives views on his
sarious subjects - political
collection of found a college for the study of the
<incl personal. In kicic experimental sciences. He also
prose he studies the
natures of such things
wanted to see professorships of the
as amiiition, rc\engc. new science founded at Oxford
and lo\e.
and Cambridge. None of that came
about in his lifetime. But when James'
grandson, Charles II, founded the Royal
Society in 1662 its members were largely
^^^' T^^
(Ireshain College in the City of /.ondoii iccis the hifthjiUice of the Royal (jresham College had sefeii resident />rofess(irs tiho gate J>uhlic lectures in
.'iocic'ty. and its home from l()62-171(). Ihe College ivas founded by Sir English as well as Latin. Some of these dealt with jiractical .scientific subjects,
Ihomas (ircsham ( I5l9-''9i one of the great Elizabethan merchants. such as astrtnioniy. u'hich were not then on any iinnvrsity curnculuin.
74
FRANCIS BACON
were incoiporated
to have considerable
OF MANKIND"
injhience o>i scientific
developments. Among
itsfounding membei's
Alexander Pope on Francis Bacon were the architect .Sir
Christopher Wren
and the physicist
Aristotle was useless as a tool for discovery: it Robert Hooke.
and therefore that the advance of science could be will begin to emerge, [he Queen did not like Bacon, ivho ivas adviser to the
used to promote human plans and prosperity on an causal connections will Earl of E.sse.y. her favorite When, hotvever. Esse.x ivas
arrested for plotting against the Qtieen. it was Bacon,
unimaginable scale. But he thought that no one had reveal themselves, and we as one of Her Majesty's counsel, who took part in the
yet gone about this in the right way. The more shall start to perceive the prosecution ivhich led to his execution.
75
THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE
laws of nature at work in the particular instances. generations of philosophers, including some of the
At this stage, however, it is important for us to keep greatest, looked on Bacon as having set humanity
our eyes open for contrary instances. We are all on the right path for distinguishing scientific
inclined to leap to conclusions based only on the knowledge from all other sorts of knowledge -
evidence that fits them: for example, if a man has a Kant placed a quotation from Bacon at the front of
dream that then comes true he will often announce the revised edition of his Critique of Pure Reason.
that this proves dreams to be prophetic, thereby In the 18th century Voltaire and the French
simply ignoring the countless number of his dreams
that have not come true. Negative instances are as
cc
important as positive ones in guiding us to the right
conclusions. However,
this respect we
if we are self-disciplined in
begin to perceive the general
WORDS ARE
BUT THE
shall
Alice
Queen
In 1606 Francis married
Barnham,
alderman's daughter, but
a
of Scots.
London
whereas
it
in applying the
we move from
a process known
law once we
the general to the particular,
as deduction. (Readers of the
have got
WITH THEM
IS TO FALL IN
their marriage was
childless. He
widely is
Sherlock Holmes stories will note that the standard
rumored to have been
homo.sexual - perhaps method of the great detective, always referred to
LOVE WITH
bisexual.
by him as deduction, is in fact induction, usually of
William harvey
to have a simply immense influence from the
17th century to the twentieth. Generation after
generation of scientists were guided by it; and many
A PICTURE Franc:is Bacon
The Fjiglisl) physician
W'illiiiiii Hcirrev
(I^ZH-KiSl) iiiis
Encyclopedists regarded him as
the i/iscdivrci' a/ ll'e
Circilltlllnit ()///)('
having inaugurated the critical,
Ccimbmli^c. iiiul
they spent their lives
ill
76
FRANCIS BACON
^^ little
philosophy
inclineth man's
mind to atheism,
but depth in
philosophy
bringeth mens'
minds about to
^^
religion
Sir Franci.s Bacon
people, and human beings can often confuse language depicted above in Egbert van Heemskerk's 1637 painting
1618) was one of the
I
with reality (Bacon's "idols of the market place"). Noivhere q/"Thc Election in the Guildhall. Oxford.
spectacular figures of
the Elizabetha>i age.
I
and he names four as being especially dangerous. tendency to confuse language with reality. Finally, His love of adventure
First there are what he calls "idols of the tribe," there are "idols of the theater." These are systematic and leaniiiii^ typified
Elizuhcllhiii t'ligltiiid.
, because they are common to all mankind. These representations of reality which are in fact not Raleigh quoted Bacon,
are the distorting factors inherent in our nature reality at all. What Bacon has chiefly in mind here with approval, in his
Hi.story of tlic World
j
as human beings: our tendency to believe the are all the various systems of philosophy in terms
( 1614). Accused of
evidence of our senses when in fact it often of which people mistakenly look at reality, perhaps /reason against
FJizal^e/l^ s successor,
deceives us, and to allow our judgements especially the sort thatwe nowadays term lames I. Raleigh was
to be colored by our feelings, and to impose ideologies, the creators of false consciousness. imprisoned in the
Tower tf London px>m
interpretations based on our own ideas and
1603 to 1616. and
; expectations on what we perceive. Then there Quality of the mind ivas eventually put
to death.
: are "idols of the cave," a reference to Plato's myth Bacon was a wonderful thinker. He systematically
of the cave (see p.31): each separate individual separated science from metaphysics (the things
I
;
"has his own private den or cavern, which we have to assume before we can do any thinking
intercepts and colors the light of nature" according at all), and saw clearly that scientific explanations
I
to his own "peculiar and singular disposition." were essentially causal explanations, not explanations
Thirdly, there are "idols of the market place", which in terms of purposes or goals. Of special and
come from exchanges between human beings, and permanent value were his assertions of the
I
are therefore mediated chiefly by language. There centrality of observation and experiment to the
are two special ways in which words deceive. First, acquisition of knowledge about the world, and his
the same word means different things to different insistence on the never-to-be-forgotten importance,
people. Second, human beings have a marked when drawing conclusions, of the negative instance.
11
THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE
ik'i
Key works
nomas
viopeii his polilical
theory in The
Hobbes
Hobbes
Elements of
Natural and Politic
Liiw
THE FIRST MODERN
Ill l,e\ iathan
his iiicisleipiccc.
( l()5l ).
K4ATERIALIST
Ilohbc'S presented his
thoughts on Hobbes put forward the view that
metaphysics.
psychology', and physical matter is all there is, and
political philosophy.
or worth of a He grew up in England during the reign of Charles II. during ivhich time England faced 'he many
Queen Elizabeth I, and after her death his long life challenges caused hy Ihe h'e/hriiiation and Ihe Ciril War
mail is, as of
covered most of the period of Stuart rule plus the
all things, whole of the English Civil War After being educated that were greatly to promote his intellectual
^^ at Oxford he became tutor to the son of the future development: access to a first-class library, extensive
his price
Earl of Devonshire, and this gave him three things foreign travel, and the opportunity to meet
Thomas Hobbhs
unusually interesting people at home and abroad.
He formed connections at the highest level that
were both personal and intellectual: he used to visit
kiioini as ihe English faction, when to deny belief in God brought a man
Ciril War 1642-51),
(
foul of the law and might endanger his life, Hobbes
ended irilh a
ParUaiiieiitai']' rulory. boldly came out with a philosophy of complete
The Slices nfllie
materialism: "The universe, that is the whole mass
Farliiiniciilary furces
(helped hy tl>e of things that are, is corporeal, that is to say body;
crealiiiii n/ i/>e \i-ir
and hath the dimensions of magnitude, namely,
Model .Army I led lo
the Kiii.ii \ e.yeeiilion
length, breadth, and depth. Also every part of body
ill 16-1'), /he e.xile of is likewise body, and hath the like dimensions.
his heir Charles II.
And, consequently, every part of the universe is body,
ami Ihe eslahlishnienl
oj a ( Kiimuiuireallh CHAKLLb II Ab HIE PRINCL OI- WALLS Willi A I'AGL and that which is not body is no part of the universe.
under ( tlirer Thomas Hobbes was mathematics tutor to the future
Charles II (1630-85), who became king in 1660 ichen
And because the universe is all, that which is no
Croinieell
Parliament accepted the restoration of the monarchy. part of it is nothing, and, consequently nowhere."
78
...b
"
HOBliKS
"WORDS ARE
WISE MEN'S
COUNTERS... An age dominated by religion
Hobbes' philosophy of complete materialism was at odds
with the God-fearing spirit of his day. St. Peter's in the
77jc' Eii^lisl)
Sir CJ.nistopher
wren
architect
Wren
I
; materialism, he was the first philosopher to put Hobbes became fascinated by motion,
;
forward an out-and-out mechanistic view of nature. especially after his visit to Galileo. According to
! As part of this he developed a mechanistic the old Aristotelian world view, which Galileo was
psychology. This was something wholly new, to now fighting to overthrow, rest was self-evidently
79
THE BEGINNINGS OF MOOKUN SCIENCE
Influence on the
utilitarians
when the social
co)Uract Weill out
offashion Hobhcs
suffered a period of
iieglecl. Bui in the
the natural state for physical bodies to be in. and effective than any other, is the fear of death.
But according to Galileo all physical bodies without Death is something that most of us will do more
exception were in motion, including the earth itself or less anything to avoid.
(and therefore everything on the earth), and the This basic view of human psychology was
natural thing was for any such body to go on carried over in turn by Hobbes into his political
moving in a straight line unless acted upon by a philosophy. And it was his political philosophy
force. Hobbes, according to his own account, found which turned out in the long run to be the most
this idea haunting. It opened up for him the idea of influential aspect of his thought.
mechanical world took the form of push; and that "war of every man against every man," and all
Leviathan was how all change occurred, he believed. outcomes are determined by violence and cunning, Ji
community, dominating and aversion. There are many familiar forms of and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and
the State. Below are the
symbols of ecclesiastical
them: liking and disliking, love and hate, joy and short." Individuals might try to get out of this by
and ci\ rule.il grief, and so on. The first halves of such pairs entering into agreements or alliances with one
denote the inherently unsatisfiable, and therefore another; but, as Hobbes says, "covenants without
endless, needs and wants of human beings, which the sword are but words, and of no strength to
cannot cease unless and until life itself ceases. secure a man at all." Anyone who can get away with!
The overwhelmingly dominant form of the other, breaking them will break them as soon as
aversion, and indeed a repulsion far more powerful he finds it in his interests to do so. The only way
80
nOUBF.S
cnilhority In
llohhcs' riew thai
punish Uiwhreakers
it is the rc'sj)<»!si/>i/ily
severely.
the execulion of the regicides responsible for the
'I'his
nfa cciilnil
wooikitl shows
clecilh of
forcibly dissolving
Parliament, Cromwell
became lord protector
When
was at
it
France
was published
the height of his
when he wrote
in 1651, Oliver
power as dictator of
Leviathan.
Cromwell
or a group of individuals, and that in either case it ascended the throne as King of England.
holds its power not from God, or from any ancient
or higher authority, but from the people ^.^^f-
War, when a king who believed himself to rule by Thh battle oi- marston moor
/;/ /6<S'_'. when in his Hobbes published \^l..^h^:m(Ah. The History of the Causes of the
<S()s.
divine right was executed, and the country Civil W.iis (i| Kngkind. The battle of Ahnslon Moor. July J 1(> 1. was one of the decisive
1
descended into violent disorder, and peace was Ihillles (f the English Civil War and giuc Ihc nnrlh (f England lo Parliament.
81
X
»«»
4f.'
• S
J.
^ J^--
I i'i 'I t 'i •inT~ rit"-' t
**J'
r^'h i'
^
*^^lffl^^8hl^^ '
" 'infflffy^
\
r ':
i
''
*<-i
V
^ Great
Rationalists
When the Church's authoriti' over thought
was finally loosened, many people came to
believe that knowledge of the world could
be gained by the use of reason alone.
An early calculator
The French pbilosapher ami uialheiuaticiaii Blaise Pascal iuveuled
litis calculator in 1644 to help his father icith his tax calculations.
THE GKEAT RATIONALISTS
Analytical c.eometry
Descartes imviiled the
branch oftJeonietty
Liillcil (iiuilyliL cil
Descartes
L;ciiiiuir)' in /(>.i~
y/i(' /;</.s7s (./
a)iiih1ictil i^coniclrv is
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
Descartes placed the question 'What can I know?" -
ihe iilcei Ihcil ci juiiiil
iil;^chrii III i^i'i iiiielry of Western philosophy for three himdred years.
iiiil jiisl hy iisiii^t;
iiliichni Id iikiiii/iiiltile
by the large often he did not know what to Swedish winter he contracted
believe. In order to complete pneumonia, and died in 1650.
number of his education, he says, he joined Rene descaktes
Descartes Inicl his portrait painted sereral
falsehoods I the army, and traveled widely in times during his lifetime. This portrait
Cartesian doubt
Europe as a soldier, though of Descartes is after a painting hy the Descartes was a mathematician
had accepted Flemish-horn artist Frans Hals (c. /5S()-
without seeing any fighting.
1666), though Descartes almost certainly
of genius, and invented a new
as true in my His travels taught him that the never sal for Hals. branch of the subject which
question whether there was anything we could be invented the graph. Those two familiar lines on a
sure of, anything we could know for certain. graph are named after him: they are called Cartesian
He settled down in Holland, which allowed the coordinates, the word Cartesian being the adjective
greatest freedom of expression of any country in from the name Descartes. The transparent and
Europe, and proceeded to examine the foundations utterly reliable certainties of mathematics thrilled
of human thought, his investigations taking the him. And he began to wonder whether what gave
mathematics its certainty was something that could
be taken over and applied in
84
I)i:s(. \KTES
Treatisi: OS man
Descartes' treatise.
published in 1664. looks
at the human liody as a
machine, and attempts to
explain physiological
processes in terms ot the
helia\ior of micro.scopic
corjiLiscles, This drawing
examines the relation.ship
between heat and pain.
Christina of sweden
Christina of Sweden
(1 626-89 J. the only
child of King Guslar II
Adolphus and Princess
Maria Eleonora of
Brandenhtirg, was
queen of Sweden from
1644 to 1654.
Independcmt and
intellectually gifted.
she was the patron
of Descartes, the
composer Alessandro
Scarlatti, and the
architect Gioi'anni
Bernini. Christina
converted to Roman
Catholicism in 1652
a>id abdicated
because of her faith
in 16S4.
Ql CHRISTINA Of
i:i,.\ S\\EDI,.\AND DESCARTES
This pciintiiig by I'wrrc Luuis Duniesnil the Younger depicts days a week. The lessons lasted around fire hours. The
(Jiicen Christina and members of her court listening to combination of early rising and the exceptionally harsh
I h-scartes giring a philosophy lesson. Christina insisted thai Swedish winter led to Descartes falling seriously ill. and
iIh' lessons he given at five o'clock in the morning, three to his death fmni pneumonia on Fehniaiy IT /0 5CA
85
THE GREAT RATIONALISTS
Descartes came to the conclusion that mathematics deduce from them must be true. This will give us the |
owed its certainty to the following set of reasons. methodological foundations for a body of knowledge i
Mathematical demonstrations began from a minimal on whose discoveries v^^e can one-hundred-percent :
number of premises of the uttermost simplicity, rely. But are there any such premises? Or is it the '
a simplicity so basic and so obvious that it was case (as many people in Descartes' own day were I
impossible to doubt them, such as that a straight saying) that nothing at all can be known for certain .
line is the shortest distance between two points. outside mathematics and logic? '
The demonstrations then proceeded deductively In his search for indubitable premises Descartes ;
by one logical step at a time, each step being journeyed through three stages. First, he considered
and usually very simple, again the experience of direct and immediate
'
irrefutable,
everyone who came under the spell of or that tree dipping in the water, surely I can trust
and 18th
The hook was
obvious, from premises each of
simple and obvious, you began to reach conclusions
that were not at all simple and not
which was
at all
also
obvious:
. THINK
an attempt to explain
physiological processes
along mechanistic lines
and interpreted the body
whole worlds of unanticipated discoveries
opening up before you, many of them amazing,
many of them of great practical usefulness,
started
and all
THEREFO
AM
as a machine. This
illustration shows the of them reliably true. And there seemed to be no ??
human brain awake end of these undiscovered worlds: mathematicians
and asleep.
were for ever opening up the way to unexpectedly I
new ones, as Descartes himself had done. Rene Descartes
Now, asked Descartes, might it be possible to
apply precisely this method to non-mathematical the immediate evidence of my senses? Alas, on
knowledge? If we can find any propositions outside investigation it turns out that direct observation
mathematics whose truth it is literally impossible to deceives us frequently. This church spire that
doubt we can use them as premises for deductive flashes golden in the noonday sun, and glows red at i
arguments, and then whatever we can logically sunset, looks grey the rest of the time. That branch !
86
,u
UKSCAR TKS
that looks bent at the point where it enters the aim is who can exercise
to deceive me, and
water turns out to be straight when I lift it out. superhuman power over me - can make me sleep
So I can never be sure that things are in fact as they and then dream vividly that am awake, or make I
appear to me, however head-on I may be looking at everything look at look to me like something else,
I
them, and however awake and alert my state of mind. or make me believe that two and two add up to
five. Is there anything at all about which even a ^^'•'"'
^'
Malicious demon malignant spirit such as this would be unable to
This brings us to Descartes' second set of deceive me? And he comes to the conclusion that
< ^/ X
considerations. Often, he says, he had believed there is, namely the fact that the deliverances of . B
himself with complete certainty to be doing my consciousness are whatever it is they are. I can
something or other, and then woken to find that always make false inferences from them - may
I
'I'.';-
he had been dreaming. Sometimes these dreams suppose myself to be sitting beside a fire when in I
had been homely dreams about his everyday fact there is no fire and 1 am in bed dreaming, and 4a^; :.
H
activities: he had dreamed he was sitting at his yet that I suppose myself to be sitting beside a fire
fireside reading, or at the desk in his study writing, is an inescapable fact. So the one thing in this and .''/^ "
•s,™ nO ,..>
when all the time he had really been in bed every other case that I can be unshakably sure of
sleeping. How could he be sure he was not is that I am having the experiences I am having. Descartes' universe
In Tlie WbrW(1633),
dreaming at this very instant? By this token it And from this there are things I can infer with
De.scartes gives an
appeared that he could never be absolutely sure absolute certitude. First of all it means I know account of an
hypothetical "new
he was not dreaming, or hallucinating, or something myself to be some sort of existing being. 1may not
world." In the diagram
of that sort. know my own nature, indeed I may have completely above, he represents the
universe as an indefinite
At this point of apparent despair in his search mistaken views about what it is, but that I exist is
number of contiguous
for indubitability Descartes gave the knife an indubitable; and what is more I know with absolute shows
vortices. Descartes
how the matter which
additional and malign twist, and this was his third certitude that 1 am a being which at the very least,
filled the universe was
phase. Suppose he said, that all the errors and if nothing else, has conscious experiences, the collected in the vortices,
with a star at the center
illusions on my part were due to the fact that there particular conscious experiences I have. Descartes of each, often with
exists, unknown to me, a higher spirit whose sole encapsulated this conclusion in a Latin phrase that orbiting planets.
Pursuit of certainty
So, he says, there actually are things outside
knowledge must
the concept of an infinite being, eternal and
ultimately he derired
immortal, perfect in every way; and it is impossible from the senses.
87
THK CRHA I K \ I lONAI.IS IS
required of me, I can be certain of the truth of This bifurcation of nature into two kinds of
whatever is then presented clearly and distinctly entity - mind and matter, subject and object,
to me as being true - not by my senses, of course, observer and observed - became a built-in part
which I already know to deceive, but by my mind, of Western man's way of looking at the world.
that part of me that apprehends God and also To this day it is referred to by philosophers as
mathematics, neither of which the senses can do; 'Cartesian dualism." Between Descartes and the
the mind that I irreducibly am. 20th century there were few leading philosophers
who dissented from it, perhaps the most effective
The birth of rationalism being Spinoza and Schopenhauer Only in the 20th
Out of this conclusion grew the school of century did dissent from become widespread -
it
philosophy known as rationalism, which bases and even then it was by no means universal; some
itself on the belief that our knowledge of the world leading philosophers continue to subscribe to it.
is acquired by the use of reason, and that sensory Even more than Francis Bacon and Galileo,
input is inherently unreliable, more a source of Descartes was a key figure in persuading people
error than of knowledge. Rationalism has been in the West that certainty was available in our
Dkscartes' skull?
Uescartcs was buried in
one of the abiding traditions of Western philosophy knowledge of the world. To obtain it you needed
Stockholm but his body ever since. Its greatest period spanned the 17th
was
"COMMON
later transterred to
Paris. The skull which and 18th centuries, and its outstanding figures
lies w ith his remains in apart from Descartes were Spinoza and Leibniz,
the church ol St ('.eniijiiv
des-Prcs in I'aris is almost but it has never lost an important degree of
certainly not that of
Descartes.
a captain in the Swedisli
It appears that
influence on Western thinking.
Few of the great philosophers after Descartes
SENSE IS
guarcis
at
removed the
who was
the original exhumation
skull
present
and
shared his view of the indubitabilit^' of God's
existence. But he introduced some fundamental
THE BEST
replaced with another. things into Western thought. His belief that the
DISTRIBUTED
it
COMMODITY IN
Western science. Subsequent thinkers came
mostly to believe that controlled and disciplined
THE WORLD,
Marin mrrshnne
observation (and therefore the use of our senses)
had an indispensable role to play in establishing FOR EVERY MAN
llie French we need to stock our
CONVINCED
ll>cnhi;j,i<ni.
those indisputable facts that
iiialhciiuHu mil. ciiul
Jjhil()Si>/>lH'r Miiiiii
premises, but they still thought that Descartes had IS
Mcisciinc 1 1 SSS- l<>^S) got the basic method right, namely, to start from
ivcis III Cdiihul
phildso/ihci's iiiul
scieiilisis ll>i\ iii;j,hi
irith
mt
reliable facts,
not to let
then apply logic to those facts and
anything intervene that is in the very
HE IS WELL
Eiirojie- such
fiiiiiix's
how
as Ilobhes.
iiiul Ciiililrii
(itissciit/i.
- mill iviis
least degree susceptible to doubt, no matter
far-fetched that doubt might be. Descartes SUPPLIED
method made possible
WITH
lIlllS III ll lllllljIIC
convinced people that this
posilidil Id iillnnliice
Descarh's ivdih in ilwiii a mathematically based science that would give IT"
(111(1 rc/>dil Ihcir
human beings reliable knowledge about the world, Rhne Descartes
Cdiiiiiiciils hiich
I-Ic iilsd ilisuircii'il
and indeed that it was the only way of finding out
ll Jdniiiild I \lcr\ciiiie about the world with absolute certainty. to follow the right method, but if you did that you
iiiinihcrs '
) llnil
could build up an impregnable science that would
iilleiiiplci/ Id ivpn-seut
all prime numbers. Mind and matter give you rock-hard, reliable knowledge. He, more
Descartes' conclusion that what human beings than anyone else, "sold "science to educated
irreducibly are is minds led him to develop a view Western man. It was largely under his influence that
of the world as consisting ultimately of two the pursuit of certainty came to dominate intellectual
different kinds of substance, namely mind and activity in the West, and that considerations of
matter. He saw human beings as experiencing method became central to that pursuit, for he
subjects whose world, apart from themselves, regarded himself not as giving us such knowledge
consists of material objects which they observe. with certainty but as showing us how to get it.
88
wrP^
DHSCARTKS
KhY WORKS
In Discourse on
Method (1637)
Descartes presented
his method in
simple terms, and
summarized his
scientific views anil
metaphysical system.
hi Meditations (1641)
Descartes developed his
iiieliiplnsiccil doctrine.
Principles oi
Philo.sophy (1644)
is an attempt to
account for all
natural phenomena
in one single system
of mechanical
l>riiiciples.
If piHx ntM fiiirff [t ^ ^Si/ pr*je ^^t L-s if Jirtrt.
illustrates the death of Descartes' illegitimate daughter. a position he held until his oivn death on 11 Februaiy 1650.
It will be remembered that the earliest us right back to square one, and attempts to begin
DESCARTES.
philosophers, the pre-Socratics, had taken their again from scratch. The first-person-singular form MEDITATIONES
D E PRIMA
fundamental question to be; "What is there?" or of the question sharpens its cutting edge - not PHILOSOPHIA-
IS QVA D£i EXiiTENTlA
"What does the world consist of ?" Socrates had "Wliat is it possible for us human beings to know?"
replaced this with a different question, namely but "Wliat can I know?" This appeals to the young, ^^l
"How ought we to live? "These questions and and rightly so.
of philosophy, where it remained for three written in the French language, the other being Marin Mensenne, who
hundred years, so much so that many subsequent Leibniz. But Leibniz had nothing like the stylistic was given the task ol
collecting together
philosophers came to think of philosophy as being, distinction of Descartes. This makes Descartes critical opinion,
essentially, epistemology. For this reason Descartes one of France's greatest cultural possessions, including that of
Thomas Hobbes ;uul
is generally thought of as the first modern and for this reason he is required reading in the Pierre Gassendi, to
philosopher, and it often happens that students upper reaches of all secondary schools in France, which Descartes
drafted replies. The
going to university to study philosophy are the famous French Lycees. This in turn means that book's publication
required to begin their course with his work. every well-educated French man or woman has made Descartes famous
but also involved him
There is another reason for this. By using doubt read him. He still makes worthwhile reading for in controversy. In
Holland the president
method - systematically suspending
as a educated people everywhere - and one of the best
of the University of
commitment to anything that it is logically possible ways of introducing oneself to the writings of the Utrecht accu.sed him ol
atheism, and Descartes
to doubt, thereby stripping away layer after layer great philosophers is still to read Discourse on
was condemned by the
of our accustomed ideas and suppositions - he takes Method followed by Meditations. local authorities.
89
THE GREAT RATIONALISTS
The sephardim
The descendants of
Spanish and
Portuguese Jews, the
Spinoza
Sephardim, are
distinct from those ONE, AND
ALL IS
descended from North
and East Etiropeati
Jews, the Ashkenazim.
THE ONE IS DIVINE
The Sephardic Jews
who excommunicated Although God is, and is in,
Spinoza lived in
Spain J'rom the Middle everything, this totality is
Ages until their
expulsion in 1492.
also to be understood in the
Thereafter, they settled
in North Africa, the
Middle East, and later
same way as a system of
in Amsterdam and
other cities in Europe mathematical physics.
and the Americas.
the great he changed his first name from the Hebrew form
Baruch to its Latin form Benedict. He proceeded because he wanted to be left alone to do his
philosophers
to live a solitary life, earning his living by grinding philosophizing "in accordance with his own mind,"
Bertrand Russell
ON Spinoza and polishing lenses for spectacles, microscopes, as he put it.
and telescopes - at that time a new profession. Apart from his philosophy he was the first
His writings made him famous even so; but when scholar of note to examine the scriptures as
he was offered a Professorship of Philosophy at historical documents that were of problematic
Heidelberg University in 1673 he turned it down authorship and embodied the intellectual
limitations of their time. In doing this
he inaugurated the so-called higher
criticism that was to come to full
90
. "
SPINOZA
Portuguese as well as Dutch and Hebrew; and he one, and this raised all sorts of difficulties for him
wrote in Latin. In addition to this and to being a as regards the new science. If total reality is the
distinguished biblical scholar he was learned in instantiation of a deductive system in which
mathematics and what people called "the new everything that is or happens can be deduced
science," studying in particular the works of with all the necessity of logic from self-evident
Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Hobbes, and Descartes.
His professional understanding of
telescopes gave
the possibilities of
him
new
a grasp,
microscopes and
ahead of
technology that were being
his time, of "GOD IS THE
opened up by
might be said,
this new science. His philosophy,
attempted to bring all these things
it
CAUSE OF ALL
and their implications together into an integrated
and orderly whole.
THINGS, WHICH
He was mightily impressed by science, and he
accepted from Descartes the view that the right ARE IN HIM"
way to build up the edifice of our scientific Benedict Spinoza Optics
Spinoza had a deep
knowledge was to start from'indubitable premises interest in optics and the
and deduce the consequences of these by logical premises, what room is there for moral choice, new astronomy and was
expert at making len.ses.
reasoning. But at the same time he saw that or indeed free will at all - how can there be free He made a living by
Descartes' philosophy left certain fundamental will if everything is scientifically determined? grinding and ptilishing
len.ses tor eyegla.sses,
problems unsolved. If total reality consists of two Also, what place is there for God in such a telescopes, and
microscopes. This
different sorts of substance that are ultimately system? If everything that happens in the universe
illustration shows a
distinct, namely material substance and mental can be explained in terms of scientific laws and micro.scope and
conden.ser, taken from
substance, or matter and mind, how is it possible mathematical equations, it would seem that we Robert Hooke's book
for mind to move matter around in space? no longer need God to function as any part of the Micrographia ( 1 665 ).
Descartes' own answer to this was so feeble that explanation. He is left outside it all, extraneous to
I
no-one was convinced by it, and his successors the system so to speak: superfluous. From the 17th
considered it scarcely worth discussing. But there century to the 20th many people were deeply upset -
were other unsolved problems which were of equal and baffled - by questions of this kind. Newton's
I
moment to Spinoza. He was a deeply moral human answer was that it was God who had created the
I being and also, by temperament, a deeply religious whole universe in the first place; and that he then
left it, from outside, to operate all by itself Biblical criticism
dispassionately (a)id
dating many Old
I'estamenl books later
than tradition)
.Spinoza has been
as a forerunner
.•iee)i
of biblical criticism
HEIDELBHIU. INIVER.SITY
I'rofessorship of Philosophy al
Sjiiiiozci ii'ds (ijjcrcc/ ii foiiinlccl by h'lipcrl I unci chiirlercil by I'opc Vibciii VI in
Heidelberg University in 1673, but chose to turn Ihe offer 13HG. At the time Spinoza was offered his proffssorship it was
down. The oldest nnii'ersity in Germany. Heidelberg was already co?isidered one of the finest nnirersilies in luiro/>e.
91
THK GKHAI RATIONALISTS
Against dualism
Key works Spinoza's solutions to these problems started with
7?ieTlic()l()gicaI-
the bold stroke of denying the basic premise,
Politic;il Treatise iras
puhlisheci denying the fundamental distinction between mind
anonymously in J 670 and matter We know, he said, for the reasons given
hul iras banned in
1674 for its
by Descartes, that God exists, and is an infinite and
conlroi'crsial rieiis on perfect being. But if God is infinite then he cannot
I he Hihlc anil
have boundaries, cannot have limits, for if he had
Christian theology.
he would be finite. So there cannot be anything that
F.thics (16^7).
Spinoza 's great work. God is not. So it cannot, for instance, be the case
rejects Cartesian
that God is one entity and the world quite another,
dualism iiifai'or of
Pantheism. for this would be to place limits on God's being. So
God must be co-extensive with everything there is.
"YET NATURE
CANNOT BE
CONTRAVENED,
BUT PRESERVES
A FIXED AND
IMMUTABLE
MosHS MAI.\U)NIl)i:s
The tdremost intellectual
ligure of niedievyl
KidaiMii, Maimonides
ORDER" Bknedkt Spinoza
( 1 13^-1204) was born in
Cordoba, Spain. He was
a philosopher, jurist, and
scientist and his
There is another good Cartesian reason why this
92
S IM \OZA
^^I have
striven not to
laugh at human
actions, not to
weep at them,
nor to hate
them, hut to
understand
them
Benedict Spinoza
Pantheism
Pa)itheisin. which
literally tra>islates as
"all is God. " is a mode
of thought that
regards God as
ide>itical to the
Lhiiverse or Nature.
Pantheism affirms the
unity of all reality
and the divineness of
that unity. Religions
pantheists are often
mystical, claiming to
experie>ice God
intuitively. Spinoza
teas a rationalist, he
believed that God.
man. and the physical
The powf.r of nature world were all part of
lUiin in Kicscngebirgc ( 181 S-JO). by llie Cicniuiit paiiiler awesome iiiul siililiiite power of \citiiix\ His risioii s/irnii^^/y one substance, and
Ois/Hir Daricl Friedrich ( 1 774-1840). depicts a vast and expresses the oneness of Alan and Nature and the that everything, both
desolate landscape through which Friedrich evokes the rationalistic pantheism fontid in the work of Spinoza. physical and spiritual.
was an extension of
God. Besides Spinoza.
other pantheistic
say, though that would be merely one way of This is a compelling vision, and many gifted
philosophei's might
looking at it: a spiritual apprehension of God people since Spinoza have come under its spell. perhaps include
would be simply a different way of knowing the His deification of nature had enormous appeal Fichte. Schelling.
and Hegel.
same being. We ourselves, although we are finite during the late 18th and early 19th centuries for
creatures and not infinite, have the same dual the Romantic Movement, whose intellectuals made
character in one being: we are our physical bodies, him one of their patron saints. Unlike the Romantics,
but we are also our souls, and these are not two however, Spinoza saw the actions of the human
different people, they are one and the same person: individual as determined by factors outside his
it is as if as an ancient Jewish teaching had it, the control, though not in any crude, mechanical way.
body is the soul in its outward tbrm. With insights strikingly previsionary of Freud's,
93
THE GREAT RATIONALISTS 1
Humane VISION
Balance, perspective, toleration -
these are the consequences that
flow from the social side of
Spinoza's philosophy; and they
are duly embodied in his political
Descartes,whose work greatly iiijhienced Spinoza. Spinoza, loo. would not hciix
said that in a rationally governed
been allowedto do his philosophical work in any other country Jun Stccn s society "every man may think what
(1625-79) painting. Musical (^imipanv. conreys this ))iood oj rcUuirc freedom
Men are he likes, and say what he thinks ';
themselves are not for the most part aware of the real causes of of judgment which they are unable to tyrannize over."
our actions; and that acquiring this awareness Spinoza's masterpiece, £rMc.s (1677), is laid out
free
through reflection can liberate us, not in the sense like a textbook of geometry. Each demonstration
Benedict Spinoza
of making us free agents literally but by giving us begins with the appropriate definitions and axioms,
understanding and insight, and thus enabling us to and then there follows the argument itself - at the
come to terms with things as they are. He was the end of which the letters QED are usually printed.
first person in Europe to put forward this idea. But (QED is short tor quod erat demotistrandum,"
94
SPINOZA
G. E. Lessing and
in the 3rd century !« .)A11 this is in accordance with work of each one of them is a vision of total reality. Goethe, and the 19th-
Spinoza's view, derived from Descartes, that the cenliity English poet
Coleridge. Lessing
right way to achieve understanding of the world is ii
to apply the
This book is
methods of mathematics
often held up as the
to reality.
supreme example
THE TRUE e.xpressed his belief
in the pantheistic
philosophy of Spinoza
after reading Goethe s
AIM OF
of a philosopher's attempt to understand everything poem Proniethetis,
follow only
most of the
if
makes for dry reading.
logical derivations
the reader
And
book lie elsewhere, not in the detailed working-out to us with persuasive arguments. He considers
of the proofs but in the conclusions, the overall vision. possible criticisms of these arguments that people
might make, and tries to demolish those criticisms
GR)RGE ELIOT
Benign influence with further arguments. All this argumentation can The English novelist
Spinoza was the supreme pantheist George Eliot, pen name of
among Western become very complicated. Individual arguments can
Mary Ann Evans (1819-80),
philosophers. Although his work was neglected be technical, and difficult to follow; or, worse, they developed the method (if
psychological analysis
for something like a hundred years after his death can be detailed and boring. But the point of it all lies
characteristic of modern
it was revived and treated with veneration by not in the arguments but in the vision. Sometimes this Her Middlemarch
fiction.
(1872) is considered one
the Romantics; and ever since then it has had vision is also difficult to grasp; but more often than
of the greatest novels of
its admirers, particularly for its religious attitude not it is simple compared to the arguments. the 19th century.
95
THE GREAT RATIONALISTS
Key works
Leibniz wrote on
many branches of
JLtiliKlZ
philosophy, bid
published
short treatises
o)ily
THE SUPREME
Theodicy (1710)
expressed his faith in
eidightenment and
POLYMATH
reason, which
Voltaire satirized Logically, Leibniz divided all
in Candide.
In Tile Monadology truths into two sorts, truths of
(1714) Leihniz argued
that ei'eiy thing reason and truths offact. This
consisted of units
called monads. distinction continues to play an
important role in philosophy.
96
LEIBNIZ
u
td Ki ,•»«.' ., ^ 'I':,'-, i
1'
TRUTHS: TRUTHS
first
as the wife of
Frederick I in 1701.
She was the daughter
them without having to look outside them, they ucIiuiIIy /he case.
I loiverer. itwas not
became known later in the history of philosophy
iiii/il Ihc work of
as "analytic statements." The other sortbecame Frc:^c Liiid Rwisell that
l.cihniz pionceri)ig
never had time to sort out and index, I have to do known as "synthetic statements." These two terms s
planned and laid out whole, with Leibniz the reader hundred years. It became central to the empirical
is in the quite different position of having to piece
it together for himself.
-"
Basic distinction
If someone says to us: "My next-door neighbors
97
THE GREAT RATIONALISTS
tradition of philosophy which arose between possible for us human beings to have had six
Leibniz and Kant, and was then again central to fingers on each hand, or three; but there is no
Kant's philosophy. In the 20th century it was possible world in which we could have had both
fundamental to Logical Positivism. It has often been at the same time. So although both are possibilities,
said that if a student of philosophy does no more the actualization of one possibility rules out the
than acquire a firm grasp of this distinction then actualization of the other This leads to the notion
studying the subject will have been worth his or of "compossibilities" - possibilities which are
her while. Over time, the whole of both logic and compatible with one another, as against possibilities
mathematics came to be seen as consisting of that are not. The sum total of any set of
analytic statements, while all knowledge claims compossibilities makes up a possible world - and
Caroline of ansbach about the empirical world were seen as synthetic. there is an indefinitely large number of them.
The beautiful and This profoundly influenced the way knowledge of Leibniz believed that God could have created any
intelligent Queen
Caroline (1683-1737), each kind was envisaged and pursued. sort of world he chose, provided of course that it
"THE SOUL
it
In 1676 Leib)iiz made which free will does not exist; and that is the
a visit to London,
explanation of why a perfect God has created a
where his discussions
with mathematicians world in which there is so much evil.
of Isaac Newton 's
Voltaire, in his novel Candide (1759),
circle were later to
lead to a controversy lampooned Leibniz immortally as the character
as whether it was
to Pangloss, a fatuously optimistic philosopher who
he or Newto)i who
proclaims that all is for the best in the best of
was the i>U->entor of
infinitesimal calculus. possible worlds. Like most truly marvellous
Leibniz published his
caricatures, it did its victim less than justice, for it
system in 1684,
Newto)t published his gave no indication that there was a serious point
in 1687, though he
behind what Leibniz was saying.
could relate it to
earlier ivork. The
Royal Society Sufficient reason
declared for Newton
in 1 71 1, but the
Another idea that Leibniz made current in
controversy was never philosophy is called the principle of sufficient
really settled.
reason. For everything that is the case, he said, there
must be a reason why it is the case. If the truth in
question is an analytic one it can be proved without
reference to external reality, whether by a logical
98
LEIBNIZ
tried to express himself. He saw the points of the more mass it has.
and the more kinetic
propensity for activity that constitute matter as energy it has. As early
being like dots of consciousness occupying points as 1686. more than a
hu>idred years before
in space. He called these "monads," and believed this discoveiy was
that everything was made up of them. Although he made, Leibniz had
i)itroduced the term
saw all monads as spaceless within themselves he
vi.s viva, meaning
also saw them as differing widely in intensity, from "living force. " Tloe vis
viva ofa)i object
those that go to make up inorganic matter at the
depended on its mass
lower end of the scale to human minds, each of and .speed. We idea
which is a monad, and then on to God, who is also caused controversy
during the 1700s.
a monad. Each monad is a point of view in relation
I/errenhaiisen palace lo Hanover, and two years later to generally used description of Leibniz's system.
larger accommodation in a rear wing. From 1698 it was Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz can be described as a philosopher's
housed in a separate building, with living quarters for the Leibniz
librarian. Known as the Leibniz-Haus. it teas destroyed in philosopher: the best of his work is too technical
World War II, but a replica was inaugurated in 1983
for untrained readers to follow, but his influence
99
^«^0i^
^ Great
Empiricists
The chief reaction against rationalism in
PHILOSOPHICAL
ESSAYS
(.ONCERNING
Locke
Human Underftanding.
BylhtAuTHO. of .he
THE SUPREME LIBERAL
Essays Moral and PotiTicAL.
MDttXLVIil.
JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) was the son of escorted the Princess of Orange from
Essay concerning a West of England lawyer who fought with Holland to England, in February 1689,
human vnderstandina
John Locke's major the Parliamentarians against the King in and there she became Queen Mary to
philosophical work was the English Civil War In 1646 Locke was her husband's King William III. In the
published in 1689,
but had been developed sent to Westminster School, at that same year Locke published the first
over the preceding
time perhaps the best school in of his important political works,
20 years. It is a
systematic enquiry into England, and learned not only A Letter concerning Toleration.
the nature and scope of
human reason.
the classics but Hebrew and In 1690 came Two Treatises
Arabic. From there he of Government, 2Lnd in 1693
passed into Oxford Some Thoughts concerning
University, where he Education. Although he
discovered the new lived to be 72, and wrote
philosophy and the other things, his most
Key works
E.ssay concerning
new science, becoming influential writings all came
Human eventually qualified out within a period of less
Understanding (1689)
in medicine. He began to get than five years.
A Letter
concerning Toleration involved in public affairs at the Locke derived great
( 1689) level of secretary and satisfaction from being
John lockh
Two Treatises of
adviser. In 1667 he took up Locke's chief conlribiitions included a clear involved in practical affairs as
Government (1690) formidcition of the social and political principles
Some Thoughts
residence in the household that emerged from the turbulence of 1 Jth-century well as philosophy, and was
concerning Education of the Earl of Shaftesbury, and an account nf human knowledge.
Britain, unusually effective at both.
( 169M leader of the parliamentary He never married, but was
opposition to King Charles II, as his personal much loved, and had many friends: he was warm,
physician, though in fact serving him in other charming, witty, and wise, yet at the same time
and more political capacities also. modest. Whether in personal relationships, politics,
He spent the four years 1675-79 in France, or philosophy, his supreme attachment seemed to
where he studied Descartes and came into contact
with some of the greatest minds of the age. In 1681
the Earl of Shaftesbury was tried for treason,
102
LOCKE
Our limitations
Locke is a thinker of the front rank in
ourselves. No matter how much (or William and Mary in triumph is to be found on the ceiling of the
Painted I tail ai the naral hospital in (ireenwich.
little) exists over and above what is
The 1st earl of
apprehensible to us, it will have no
shaftesbury
way of getting through to us. felt a sense of special indebtedness to others who ne English statesman
This is why Locke called his masterpiece preceded him in this line of succession, a linked Anthony Ashley Cooper.
the J.•it Earl of
Essay concerning Human Understanding, and chain that can be said now to constitute a tradition. Shaftesbiiiy (1621-83).
why, at the very beginning of the book, he says he was a supporter of the
103
THE GKFAT EMPIRICISTS
The glorious simply anything that is immediately present to an intelligible view of the world; and we develop
revolution conscious awareness. As regards our knowledge also the ability to think about it.
English Rei'ohilioii
'IIk'
of the external world, he insists, the raw data, the One thing Locke emphasizes is that our senses
of 1688. also kjiowii
CIS Ihe Glotiotis basic input, comes to us through our senses: we are constitute the only direct interface between
lic'i'oliitioti, was a increasingly in receipt of specific impressions of ourselves and the reality external to us: it is only
paaccftil, bloodless
affair, achieved whe)i
light or dark; red, yellow, or blue; hot or cold; rough through our senses that anything of which we can
the (illemfils (fJames or smooth; hard or soft, and so on and so forth; to ever become aware is able to get into us from
II III )Ull'ticlllLC
which in the early stages of our conscious lives, outside. We develop the capacity to do all sorts of
CAilholicism III (ileal
Brilain leil .wren we are not even able to give names. But we register marvelous and complicated things inside our heads
iinhles iiirile
\\ illiaiii i)f
III
( )niii;j.c In
them from the beginning, and remember some of with these data; but if we start performing those
sci:e Ihe Ihnnic in Ihe them, and begin to associate some with others, operations on material which does not come from
his in/e
luiiiie III
until eventually we begin to form general notions our (or somebody's) sensory input we have
.\liirv W illuim liiiuled
III I ii'ciil Ih'iliiiii III
and expectations about them. We start to acquire forfeited the mind's only link with external reality.
felines III I'ninie. he from which we are receiving these impressions; may not be doing, they are not connecting up with
inis criiirneJ jniiil and then we begin the process of learning to anything that exists in the external world. Of
iiiiintiixh irilh Mary
in l-el)riuirr 1689
distinguish one thing from another We begin to course, the mind can produce, from within its own
discriminate, say, a furry object that is always resources, dreams and all sorts of other fictions to
around the place and moves about on four legs and which nothing in the external world corresponds;
makes a particular kind of noise: eventually we will and there are many circumstances in which they
learn to call itFrom beginnings such as these
a dog. do that. But Locke came to the conclusion that our
our minds and our memories build up ever more notions about what actually exists - and therefore
complex and sophisticated ideas on the ultimate our understanding of reality, of the world - must
''it is
basis of our sensory input, and gradually we acquire always derive ultimately from what has been
one thing to
show a man
he is in error,
and another
to put him in
possession of
^^
the truth
John Locke
Locke's influence
on education
The English
gentleman had long
been England's
ideal of the educated
iK'ison. Locke look
this ideal and
infused it ivith
democratic. Puritan.
and practical
characteristics, thus
modifying it to a form
acceptable to the
neir bourgeoisie.
'Ihis thinking teas
extremely injhiential
in shaping the
KNOWLHUOE of IHE E.XIERNAL WORLD
deivlopment (f
Locke believed that mir kiioivledge of Ihe e.xterniil ivoiid Eslehan Mitrillo's Tlic Holy Family 1 16^0) exchanges
English educational
comes to us through our senses, through ivhich tve acquire glances ivilh an nh/ect that he will eventually, by a process
thought.
the idea of objects outside ourselves. The child in Bartolonie if cliscrniiiiuilinii. Icani in recognize as a dog.
104
—
LOCKK
f^^.^-
L^^- .
,_
^iWM
mm
^.
'!>
denies, for instance, the notion 1
that
are
we
it "14
1^ 1
1 ^ti'-^i^JP l4
have acquired in a previous
V
existence. Much more germane
to Locke's own time, it denied it;
~ mm
with nothing but the contents of
our own consciousness, we can ^/. ^ \ r
iM
validate our conception of the
external world. In fact, Locke was K^k^fl^^^^ '-'-:
^ ^^i^w ^^ '
mm
m
^biD- '-0m^ E ^
against the notion of innate ideas H^y'^^Hb )
that when we are born the mind ElM (AllON FOR ALL
Locke believed Ihal when we are horn the mind is like ci hkiiik sheet ()fpcijier- all
is like a blank sheet of paper on fiiliire development depends on how an individual is educated. These radical
which experience then begins to ideas led to a belief that everyone could he liberated by education. This satirical
classroom scene. A School for Boy.s and Girl.s, was painted by fan Steen in
write; and that all our subsequent c. 1670, around the time that Locke was beginning ivork on his Essay.
revolutionary, in fact.
forward
of its
it was new, and not
social implications
KNOWLEDGE
If
1560 Elizabeth 1
world with a mind that is a blank sheet of paper, a reorganized and re-
HERE CAN GO
its histoiy Westminster
anyone else in this regard: everything for the School has educated
individual depends on how he or she is educated. some ofE)igland 's finest
politicians, scientists,
Locke's ideas led directly, especially in France, to
the belief that the mass of the people could be
liberated from social subjection by education, and
BEYOND HIS and U'riters, includi)ig
Locke. Sir Christopher
Wren, Robeil Hooke,
and Edward Gibbon.
all on an equal footing.
105
THE GREAT EMPIRICISTS
those which arose out of the interaction between out to be erroneous even after it has been checked
the object and an observing subject and therefore by others. So even the most carefully constructed
contained a subjective element which could easily knowledge built on observation is not absolutely
differ from observer to observer - such certain: it is merely probable. It could perhaps
characteristics as taste, smell, color, and so on. These occasionally be wrong. So if, says Locke, we are to
characteristics belonged to objects in an ambiguous maintain the principle that our beliefs about things
way that depended on being experienced by a need to be based on the evidence for them, we
7. .flAJ- -'
subject, and were therefore called by Locke an must be willing to change our beliefs in the light of
0.it -;<"
object's "secondary qualities." This distinction, changing evidence. This calls for a cormnonsense
Locke's birthplace
The letter above shows
having been written into philosophy's constitution attitude towards the way we hold our own beliefs -
the house in Wrington, by Locke, was never wholly to depart from it. a requirement which is an important part of Locke's
Somerset, where John
Locke was born on An essential element in Locke's theory of philosophy. It connects up in a vital way with his
August 29, 1632. He was knowledge is the view that because we are able to theories about politics, as we shall now see.
the first son of a lawyer
and country attorney, observe only an object's observable characteristics
whtise own father had and behavior we have no way of apprehending it
been a clothier.
independently of those characteristics. In other
words, we cannot have any knowledge of what the
object is that has those characteristics and behaves
in that way, the thing in itself: it is an invisible,
not already us. So, according to Locke, both the subject and the
Liberal revolution
Because Locke did not believe, as Descartes had,
Robert boyle that our scientific knowledge of the world is
106
LOCKF
Mankind began, says Locke, in a state of nature. As individual rights even after government has been Chris T church
a creature made by God in His own image man was set up. Sovereignty ultimately remains with the COLLEGE, OXFORD
Fou}ided as Cardinal
not, even in a state of nature, a jungle beast, for God people. The securing of their rights - the protection
College in 1525 by
had given him reason and conscience. So Locke's of the life, liberty, and property of all - is the sole Thomas Wolsey, Heniy
view of the state of nature is very different from legitimate purpose of government. If a government VJIVs Lord Chancellor,
the college was
Hobbes'. Even so, the absence of any such things as begins to abuse those rights becomes
(i.e. renamed Christ
government or civil order is so greatly to the tyrannical) or ceases to defend them effectively Church in 1546. The
famous Tom Tower,
detriment of human beings that, Locke believed, (i.e. becomes ineffectual) the governed retain a
over the entrance to
individuals came together voluntarily to create moral right - after seeking redress through normal the college, was built
by Sir Christopher
society. As with Hobbes, the social contract is seen procedures and failing to obtain it - to overthrow
Wren in 1681. 'The
as being not between government and the the government and replace it with one that does walls of the Tudor
hall are adorned ivith
governed but between free men. Unlike Hobbes, the job properly. This explains, incidentally, Locke's
portraits of some of the
however, Locke sees the governed as retaining their role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. college 's famous
alumni, including
fohn Locke. William
Gladstone (one of
13 Briti.sh prime
ministers produced by
Christ Church), and
Charles Dodgso>i,
alias Lewis Carroll.
passion or
interest, under
temptation
^^
to it
John Locke
Pierre gassendi
Betiveen 1675-79
Locke traveled in
France, spending most
of his time at Paris
a>id Montpellier
He made contacts
u'ith scientists and
philosophers of the
Gasseudist school.
ivho were followers of
the French philosopher
and scietitist
Pierre Gassendi
(1592-1655).
An advocate of the
experimental approach
to science. Gassendi
tried to reconcile the
atomic theory of
matter (based on the
Epicurean model) ii'ith
Christian doctrine
107
THE C, UKAT F, MP 1 R IC 1 SIS
Influence
Locke did more than any other
single thinker to provide the
theoretical foundations of liberal
democracy. What Americans call
dun I',! \tiiiiiicl I\'/>vs what we like with our own. work to produce
If I educational, and philosophical ideas. So he was a
;-/'(!
(
/(> ', -])
something, and in doing so do no harm to anyone
recorded lhc:^n'cil
ihc licriod.
else, then I have a right to the fruits of my labor
"WE HAVE AS
erciils i>l'
such ,/s Ihc :^rciil If someone seizes it from me he is, literally, stealing
picifiiic ( Kid^hd).
tliltl Ihi- t^ri'dl fire of
my labor Given, then, that I have this right to it,
Loiltloii
Ihc fdlronrt^e
/(,()0J. I can dispose of
someone else if
it
I
as I wish:
so choose, or
I can give
sell it
it to
to a willing
CLEAR A
oflhcljidoj
Sandwich. I'epyn
became secrelat^g^
'
buyer. Thus a society develops that
voluntary transactions entered into independently
of government. These constitute the elementary
is based on
NOTION OF
the AdnUrally. hut hat
his office
lni/>ri^one<l
(ICloIIIII oj his
and iras
on
foundations of liberal capitalism. THE SUBSTANCE
coiujilicil]' in Jlie
I'ofish riot
In I6S4 he
1 1679).
was
Toleration
One of the ways in which Locke's political
OF SPIRIT AS 4
re-appointed
became the /ircldenl
oj Ihe h'oral .'socielv
ami also philosophy connects up with his theory of
knowledge gives
be remembered
rise to a belief in tolerance.
our
will WE FiAVE
knowledge of the empirical world
but only a kind of working probability. This being
is not available, OF BODY" John Locke
so, he sees it as both mistaken and morally wrong
for political and religious authorities to impose key intellectual influence on the American and
their beliefs. His views in this matter have had the French revolutions. It is doubtful whether any
such momentous historical influence that it is philosopher between Aristotle and Karl Marx has
worth quotuig an example of them in liis own words. had a greater influence on practical affairs.
108
LocKi:
The Beginnings of
a Modern Outlook
Tocl
"ocke has been described as through practice and example; his outlook carried with it
L having the
fThis is
first
ones. He
less
believed that
emphasis on
more on modern
all human
a hostility to all
government
meet these criteria.
forms of
that failed to
And yet
outlook some of the although Locke's
its
and
tenor was
as "Don't unthinkingly
follow authorities,
FOR Development not at all
aggressive but,
militant or
on
whether intellectual, or the contrary, good-
political, or religious. And don't tempered, moderate, and down-
unthinkingly follow traditions, to-earth. There was always an
or social conventions. Think for insistence on common sense,
yourself. Look at the facts, and on not pushing things to
try to base your views and extremes, on taking fully into
your behavior on how things account the plain facts of
influenced Newton,
and was influenced
Locke
An Insistence on of a recognizably
Anglo-Saxon way
of looking at things,
by him.
his attitude
opposed
In education
was
to rote
Common Sense but they also had
immense influence
on developments in
learning, and to the study of a beings have the potential for the French- and German-speaking
curriculum ossified by time and development, and that the worlds. Voltaire in France and Kant
sanctified by tradition: Locke preservation of their rights and in Germany both regarded Locke
believed that languages should their freedoms is the only legitimate as having inaugurated the kinds
be learned not via grammar but purpose of government. of thought they were advocating.
109
THE GREAT EMPIRICISTS
Berkeley
THE CONSISTENT
EMPIRICIST
Berkeley pointed out that all that
Trinity' college, diiblin
Founded 1S92 by
Queen
in
Elizabeth I, Trinity
can ever be experienced by
College, ilso known as
the University of Dublin, conscious beings is the contents of
is the olde.st university in
Ireland and was originally their consciousness. Nothing else
built to be one of several
colleges. The photograph can be known to exist.
above shows the
famous bell tower, which
was built by Sir Charles
Lanyon in 1853-
GEORGE BERKELEY (1685-1753) was a Protestant
Irishman, educated at Trinity College, Dublin. All the
philosophical works for which he now well is
1701. One of Yale's colleges is now named after our sensory images are "copies" of the objects, but
him. The city of Berkeley in California is also named what could this even so much as mean? How could
after him. He died at the age of 67 in Oxford, where
he lies buried in Christ Church Cathedral.
Basic insight
Most of the famous philosophers of the past have
produced a body of work that covers a wide range
of problems, but Berkeley is remembered for a
110
HKKKELEY
believing in the existence of anything else. We it into a view of total reality as existing in the mind
could certainly never have grounds for believing in of God, an infinite spirit who has created us finite
the existence of inert, independent matter, Locke's spirits, and who is communicating with us via our
experiences. On this view everything that exists
does so either in our minds or in God's mind - or TREATISE
else, of course, is either us or God. Thinkers who Concerning the
PART
"TRUTH IS THE
I.
DV B LIN:
Ill
THE GREAT EMPIRICISTS
TREATISE
Humiin Nature :
Hume
1 M«ho.l of RcjfomnK
A MODIFIED SCEPTIC
MORAL SUBJECTS.
A Tin:ATIS li OF
HVMAN NATI'RE DAVID HUME (171 1-76) is concerning Natural
One of the central texts
oF Briti.sli empiricism,
one of the most attractive Religion, on which he had
Hume's was
I'reatise as well as one of the most been working in secret, and
piihlishetl anonymously
m Lontlon in P.-i'^—!•).
important figures in the which undermined all the
It bore the subtitle, 'an history of philosophy. Without then most attractive rational
attempt to introduce the
experimental method of
being in any way sugary he arguments for the existence
reasoning into moral seems to have been loved by of God, were posthumously
subjects '
It is set oLit in
three books: Book I. on everyone. In France, where he book has
published. This
'undenstanding," aims to lived for several years, he was been considered by some to
explain man's process of
knowing; Book II, on known as "le bon David" and be his best work.
pa.ssions," tries to
in his native Edinburgh he
explain in p.sychological
terms the emotional order was known as "Saint David." A BUNDLE OF SENSATIONS
man; and Book on
in III,
The Edinburgh street in Hume shared with Locke the
morals, attempts to
describe moral goodness which he lived is today called basic empiricist premise that
terms of "feelings" of
in
St. David's Street. Some of his it is only from experience
approval or disapproval.
best work was done very that our knowledge of the
young: for eight years he D.Win iiiMi: existence of anything outside
/;; /);.v ec/r/i' )'tY(/'.s". lliiine- shoiiii here in
labored at what is still
a portrait of 1 766 by Allan Ramsay - attended ourselves can be ultimately
generally regarded as his Edinburgh Unirersity. Later, against his wishes. derived, whether the
he was pressed to study law. and in 1729 he
masterpiece, A Treatise of
suffered a nervous breakdinrn.
experience be our own or
Human Nature (1739-40), somebody else "s. With
and he was still only 28 when it was published. Berkeley he shared the principle that this premise
No one took any notice of it. In his thirties he needs to be employed with consistency. This led
developed its ideas further and in what he hoped him to agree with Berkeley, at least, that we can
F- would be a more popular form; the results were
published in two smaller volumes, /I « Enquiry
concerning Human Understanding (1758) and "BEAUTY IN
*^ An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals
(1751). no one took very much notice.
Still
who
Among
is
his closest friends
engineer James 'Watt. after his death in 1776. In 1779 his Dialogues ourselves. However, he took this to be primarily not
112
HUME
What is a cause?
A similar argument applies to the
or he does not exist - and A lADY AT tlllK MIRROR, JKAN RAO I X (1720s)
I liiiiic iiiiiucil Ihdi irhcii uc iiurospecl. whcil iic find ourselves co)ilemplalin^
questions of fact, or questions of
lire e.\j}ei-ieiices. such cis lh<>iif>hts and eDialioiis - ive never finil ourselves
existence, can be settled only by confronting an experiencing self having these experiences. Therefore. I luine
believed, we cannot assert that the experiencing self exists.
observation. Who has observed
Key works
God? There is, says Hume, no
A Treatise of
serious observational evidence for his existence. With regard to both God and the self, Hume's Human NatLirc
Hume has little difficulty in showing that what argument takes the same basic form. To be justified, (17.^9-40)
people claim as observational evidence is he says, in claiming the existence of these things
An Enquiry'
inferential, indirect, and vague: the most that can we have to be able to point to evidence for it in concerning
the Principles
be claimed in that direction, he says, is that the observational experience, and there is none. This
of Morals
degree of order evidenced by the universe could basic form of argument was used by him most ( nSl)
possibly be the manifestation of something influentially of all about the cause and effect
Dialogues
remotely analogous to a designing intelligence. relationship, causality itself. concerning
But that is a far cry from proof of the existence of To those coming to philosophy for the first time Natural Religion
( 1 779)
a personal God, the God of the Christians or the it is not always obvious why causality is considered
Jews. And feelings of certainty are not knowledge. so important by philosophers. Causality is of
113
THE GREAT EMPIRICISTS
B happened because A
happened. So all we have
observed is a sequence of
events, whereas the causal
relationship is a necessary
connection. You may be
tempted to say: "Ah yes, but
I can assert that in this case A
Cause and effect was the cause of B because
For //nine, each causal event is independent n/'each other such event, and to
every time there is an event
illitstrtite this rcliitiimship nj cause and efjcct he used the ci)llisi<ni of hilliiird l>(ill.\
of type A it is invariably
'/he Jxijnilarity <f the game of billiards in the Jiilh century is here .satirized i>y tin
English cailoonist James Gillray ( /757-1815). followed by an event of
type B. I admit that the causal
fundamental interest to scientists too, incidentally. relationship is not just a simple conjunction of
This is because it appears to be what binds the events, butwhen you get constant and invariant
Hume the economist whole of the known world together: why the
it is conjunction you know that causal connection is at
Hume's economic cosmos is not just a jumble or a chaos. One event work." But this will not do either Every day there
icritings began in the
Political Discourses causes, or is caused by, another; and there are has ever been has been followed by a night, and yet
(1752). which brought persistent regularities in many of these happenings, day is not the cause of night: day and night are both
him a degree offame.
//is use of eridence.
such that different states of affairs connect up with caused by something else, namely the rotation of
and clear e.xposition one another in ways that are intelligible to our the earth on its axis as it goes round the sun. So a
of ideas, made his
work ahead of bis
understanding, thus enabling us to make sense of connection between two things can be invariant
time: though unliize our environment. If there were no such thing as without either of them being the cause of the other
his friend Adam Smith,
causal connection our experience would lack Given this, if constant conjunction is the most that
he did not work out
an ecotiomic system. intelligibility, in which case human life (as distinct we can ever observe, how are we to distinguish
//lime Ixlieved that
from the life of the lower animals) would be those examples of it in which the connection is
advance beyond an
agriculliiral to an impossible. Common sense takes causal connection causal from those in w^hich it is not?
industtial economy for granted, but the scientist is all the time trying
was a precondition
of civilization.
to uncover hitherto unknown causal connections, We don't know ANYTHING
while the philosopher queries the very nature of Since Hume spelled out this problem it has baffled
causality itself and asks: "What is this amazing many philosophers. And it has led directly to a
phenomenon, without which there would not be further classic problem. If we can never have
an intelligible world - what is causality? In other " grounds in experience for asserting that one event
words, because the philosopher's task is to necessarily brings about another, how is science
understand reality in terms of its most general possible? It may be that every time in history that
features he finds that understanding causality has water has been heated it has boiled at a
got to be one of his central preoccupations. temperature of 100 degrees Celsius, but that does
114
H I ' MF
not prove that the heating causes the boiling, and This raises a deep problem for science. Typical
it certainly does not prove that the next time I heat scientific laws are unrestrictedly general statements,
water it will boil at 100 degrees Celsius. Perhaps, which also assert causal connections, statements like
next time, things will be different. For thousands "if you heat a body of water at sea-level atmospheric
of years all the swans that any European had ever pressure it will boil when its temperature reaches
observed had been white, and Europeans took it 100 degrees Celsius ". Neither the unrestricted
for granted as a self-evident fact that all swans were generality of the statement nor the causal EDINBUIKiH'S
<i<)LDKN A<iE
connection it asserts can be validated by observation
From the second half
or experience. How then, if at all, can either element of the IHib wiiimy
on expecting water
but we
be validated?
to boil at
was
Ediiihiirgh
at the height of its
itijhience. hecoinitig
a leading center of
could stop
will; and therefore
we knoii' that
just at this point,
we
it
cannot, strictly
will.
sceptic, a man
THE GREAT
stand before us as an unmitigated intellectual figii res of
the day. including
who denied that we could be sure of anything,
David Hume, the
whether it be the existence of God, or of the economist Adam
external world, or of our own continuous selves, or Smith, and the
HUMAN ??
do not
chosen by our
really
is so
intellects.
a
is that
For instance
says, of living in
we do not do
not
lis
THE GREAT EMPIRICISTS
aiul iitis/orliiiics
iiiaiihiiiil
of
"REASON IS
THE SLAVE OF
THE PASSIONS" David Hume
generally regarded as Everything, whether in philosophy, politics, science, Hume's views have exerted a large and continuing
one of the world's
greatest tliarists.
religion, or any other sphere; for if we cannot be influence down to our own day. Some of the
certain of anything, how ridiculous it is to think fundamental problems he posed are still regarded
we have the answer to everything! Vast, organized by certain philosophers as unsolved, above all the
systems of belief are out for Hume. He believes problem of induction - the apparent impossibility
116
tre
"
HUM F.
^^The Christian
was at first
attended with
miracles, but
any reasonable
person without
one
David Hume
Hume's influence
David Hume leas one
of the major figures
of his century. On the
continent of Europe.
especially in France.
Hume is seen as one
of the most iinpoiiaul
philosophers that
Britain has ever
produced.
In Germany. Kant
read Hume and
claimed that the
e.xperieiice had
aivoken him from his
'dogmatic slumbers.
Hume's ideas on
moral philosophy had
a formative influoice
on the 19th-century
Utilitaria i is feren ly
Bentham and John
Stuart Mill. If a poll
were taken today
Riled by THE HEART among professors of
lliniic hclicivcl thai our hcbcirior is clc/crmnicc/ by our desires. In his J>aintin}i'Yhc Boll ^c. 1777). the Frencli
Philosophy onwho has
ewolions- our desires and passions. Reason, the slave of the Baroque cu-lisi Jeaii-Hoiiore Fragonard powerfully expresses
written the finest
passions, only conies into play in order to secure those one of the orerriding human passions- that of desire.
philosophy in the
English language, the
winner would
of leaping from any finite number of individual A.J. Ayer, have attempted to follow him in this, but
certainly be Hume.
instances, however large, to a general conclusion. also French and German pliilosophers. Schopenhauer,
His writing style has also nibbed off on others: he for instance, disgusted by the obscurity that had
showed that it is possible to write with clarity and characterized philosophy inGerman up to his time,
wit about some of the deepest and most difficult of made a conscious attempt to write German in the
philosophical problems. Not only subsequent writers way Hume had written English - and produced
in the English language, such as Bertrand Russell and some of the best German prose ever written.
117
THE GRFAT HMIMKICISTS
Burke
THE SUPREME CONSERVATIVE
Because in a developed society tradition embodies the accumulated
wisdom and experience of many generations it is likely to be a more
reliable guide to action than any one person's opinion.
Burke AS AN mp
In 17(n Burke hecaine
private seeretary to the EDMUND BURKE (1729-97) sheer quality of the content
Marquess of Koekingham,
was born in Ireland, into a of his public speeches and his
leader of one of the
Whig groups (the liberal family of modest means, and journalism made him one of the
faetion in Parliament),
brought up a Protestant. He most influential figures of his
and entered the House
of Commons. Among his was educated at Trinity College, day. He has been regarded since
colonial policies were
Dublin, and then at the as the classic expositor of the
a call for the easing of
politicaland economic lawcourts in London, though he conservative position in politics.
pressures on Ireland,
never became a practising
a conciliatory attitude
towards the American lawyer Instead he worked as an Past wisdom
colonies, and a proposal
that India he governed
author and journalist, then In Burke "s view a developed
not liy the British East entered the House of Commons society is so big and so
India Company or
ihe Crown, but by a at the age of 37. A speech he complicated that a single mind
bo.uxl of independent made to his electors in Bristol cannot possibly contain it all
coniiiiissionei's
is the classic statement of the and understand it. It has come
principle that a Member of into being over many
Parliament is a representative EDMI ND BURKE generations through numberless
//)(• \\'IUf> JmlilicicDi (iinl polilicdl Ihearisl
but not a delegate - in other lUliuiiiul Burke was one of the finest
acts of initiative and organization
words, an MP's vote cannot be I'olUiccil thinkers EugUuul has ever kiunvii. on the part of individuals and
I Ic remains an impoilant figure in the
mandated, because his duty is
history of political theory.
groups who have all had to
to vote according to his own cope with reality. Its institutions
judgement. His best-known hook. Reflections on the and arrangements embody innumerable choices and
Revolution in France, was published in 1790, the decisions, balanced judgements arrived at through
French Revolution having broken out the previous experience, preferences based on knowledge.
year Although he never held ministerial office, the The whole thing is like a vast and complex
organism; and it changes organically, developing
new capacities in response to need, and perpetually
adapting to ever-changing circumstances. It is not
at all like a machine which can be built from
scratch to a blueprint, and whose working parts
can be removed and replaced at will. Neither in
theory nor in practice could any one political
thinker, or any small group of political leaders, wipe
out a developed society and replace it with one
that was adequate. (This was Burke's fimdamental
objection to what the French revolutionaries were
trying to do.) The only acceptable mode of political
change, he thought, and the only one consonant
with reality, is organic, not revolutionary. Each
generation needs to regard itself not as owning the
assets of society but as taking care of them: it has
The ( HANOI.Nt, EACE OE SOC.IEIT inherited a treasure from the past which it is its
Hurke l:>elievecl that a society's institutions embody balanced /uilgnients leased on experience
duty to pass on, augmented if possible but at any
and knowledge. The Mansion House, completed in 1753, is the (ffuud residence of the
Lord Mayor of London (also Chief Magistrate of the City), and is also used as a court. rate not depleted, to future generations.
118
BrRK H
Burke's influence
/» his own day.
Burke's wrilitigs un
France were an
important ins/)irati(»i
to German and
/•'re)!ch connter-
rei 'olulionaiy thought.
In England, he is seen
as the original
exponent of
constitutional
co)irentions. the idea
philosophy of modern
conservatism.
under the administration of men who are used to taking such as the members of the aristocracy depicted in
responsibility for others - a comhinalion most likely to he 'Ihonuis Gainsborough's Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (c. 1749). Philofophical Enquiry
O . 1 o 1 N of our I C E A s
Human beings are imperfect creatures, and intellectualism in politics, that is to say a scepticism
therefore the idea that any human society could be about the applicability of grand ideas, ideologies
SUBLIME
perfect is an idle fancy - another reason why the and "isms," to the lives of flesh-and-blood human BEAUTIFUL.
aims of idealists are unattainable. Governments have beings, and also about the motives of those who
to deal with people as they are, extremely unequal advocate them. There are different kinds of
in talent and ambition yet each a mixture of good conservatism, even within a society so tradition-
and bad. The public are likely to prosper more bound and continuous as that of Britain, but
under the administration of practical-minded men Burkean Toryism is one of the most civilized and
who are used to carrying responsibility for others most rationally arguable, and perhaps for that Burkean aesthetics
Piililislied in 1756,
in their day-to-day affairs than they are under the reason tends to be respected even by its opponents. A Philosophical Fjiquiry
into the Origin of our
rule of theoreticians, even though the theoreticians
Ideas of the Suhluiie and
may be clever as individuals. It is not intellectual The sublime Beautiful contributed to
brilliance that is called for in government but a An important idea that Burke had which is
new trends in aesthetic
theory. It gave Hurke
sound understanding of people and the ways of the altogether outside politics is worthy of mention. a reputation in England,
and was noticed aliroad
world, steadiness of character, and common sense - In his book A Philosophical Enquiry into the
by such figtires as Kant
plus perhaps a dash of flair. This combination is Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful and Diderot,
more likely to be found among people born to (1756) he took issue with the 18th-century
wealth and responsibility than among clever people Enlightenment belief that clarity is an essential
who have made their way up from humble quality of great art. On the contrary, he maintained,
backgrounds - though a few of the latter may with great art strives after the infinite, and the infinite,
advantage be admitted into the governing class having no bounds, can never be clear or distinct. Key works
A Philosopliicai
of each generation. That why
is great art cannot be pinned down, and
Enquiry into
This whole attitude is woven from the coming why we are capable of being so much more moved the Origin of
together of particular leading strands: affection and by suggestion than by any amount of clear-cut our Ideas of the
Sublime and
respect for existing social reality, and for the past statement - and from this position Burke went on Beautihil
out of which it has developed; a cautious attitude to write about the emotional pull of the unknown. (1756)
to change, and a desire to see it take place gradually; In England, at least, it was this book that signalled Rellections on
the Re\(iluti(in
acceptance of the mixed character of human beings the first turning away from the formal classicism
in France
and their motivations, and a firm disbelief in their of 18th-century thinking about art in favor of the (1790)
119
rnir ^fe ./-' Ph^fn>^ f,,it f\fA {fninntiPLn^ cT^ , fn /JSnifiili
^olutionary
French
Thinkers
In 18th-century France the consequences
The encyclopedia
There are ,t5 niluiiics of Ihe EncyclojKului ( I ~51-80J.
'J'hcse are firsf eililiinis /rinii Ihe colkxiinii of Louis AT/.
REVOLUTIONARY FRENC;H THINKERS
Key works
Philosophical
Letters (1734)
Voltaire
Elements of the
Philosophy of Newton
(1738)
THE SUPREME POPULARIZER
The Age of
Louis XIV (175 J) Voltaire did more than any other writer to propagate the
Candide (1 759)
revolutionary implications of the new science and the new
Dictionaire
Philosophique (1764) liberalism in Continental Europe.
Philosophie de
IHistoire (1765)
Jean-phillippe
(1683-1764) was a
frieuci of many of I he
leading inleHecliutls
SUPERFLUOUS that was original, but the ideas
IS VERY
of his clay, nicliii/iiig writing career they provided him with the staple
Vdllaire. diiil ivas
iurolreil in sereni!
intellectual content of his work. He propagated them
Iheorelical ilisptiles through every medium available to him - plays,
PulerdI
NECESSARY"
irilh aiiil
novels, biographies, historical works, pamphlets, open
lydiissciiii llesl i'lioini
linlay joy his letters, critical reviews - and with such wit and
hciipsiehorcl iiuisic.
brilliance that they became known to every serious
ill his lifeliiiie he was Voltaire
faiiKiiis lis a c<iiii/>i)ser reader in Western Europe. Seldom anywhere has
iif DjKTii^ iiihl as a day, the respect for the individual and the law, gave there been so gifted a popularizer, or one who made
iiiiisual Ihciirisl
I lis H'Dii's iih liiile the
him the yardstick with which he was to beat the so substantial an impact on the society around him.
(//>eras I li|ipi iKtc el French for the rest of his life. He mastered the Perhaps the most explosive principle he
Anie I r K'l mill
English language, and immersed himself in serious propounded was Locke's idea that the confidence
Pygmalion ( I 748).
study of the new science as represented by we have in our beliefs needs to relate to the
122
VOLTAIRE
evidence that exists in their support. So many the kind of thinking that did The bastille
established beliefs in the religious and social life so much to bring about the /;; 13S0. at the order
State that they began to collapse when end of the 20th century the around I'aris against
English attack, hi the
subjected to rational enquiry. This cause of radical reform in 1 7th and ISth
insistence on viewing everything in Continental Europe showed more centuries it became a
state prison. Prisoners
the light of reason became known of a tendency towards militancy, were interned by
as "enlightenment," and this period, a greater willingness to use lettre de cachet, a
direct order of the
in which it took hold in Western violence in order to promote the
king, and prohibited
Europe, has been known ever values of the Enlightenment, than books were also
placed there. The
since as "the Enlightenment." its counterpart in the English-
capture of the Bastille
speaking world. In Anglo-Saxon took place on July 14.
123
REVOLUTIONARY FRENCH THINKERS
Key works
Philosophical
Thoughts
(1746)
Diderot
Letter on the Blind
(1749)
THE ENCYCLOPEDIST
Essay on the
Life of Seneca All-around genius - philosopher,
( 77,v;
The Ntin
satirist, novelist, playwright, art
(1790)
- Diderot was the leading
critic
Rameaii's Nephew
(1821)
editor of the French Encyclopedia,
D'Alembert's Dream
(1830) whose impact was international.
incredulity became known - and made money - by translating Diderot became its editor, and it provided his chief
Denis Diderot's intellectually important books from English into occupation and source of income until 1772.
Dyinc; Words French. His first original work. Philosophical Volume after volume was published under him as
Thoughts, appeared in 1746; and in the same year the years went by, until the complete work ran to
he became associated with the Encyclopedia. 35 volumes. It was far and away the biggest
This encyclopedia had begun in a modest way, publishing venture that had appeared in any
as a straightforward commercial undertaking to language up to that time.Wliat made it intellectually
translate the Chambers Cyclopedia of 1728 from and historically important was that it embodied the
English into French. But the project grew until it new attitude to knowledge that Voltaire had
lost all connection with its original intentions. imported into France from England - a scientific
Anti-authority
The negative side of this was of
crucial iinportance, and was to
bring the Encyclopedia into trouble
with the authorities. This whole
huge work implicitly denied that
religious teaching was a valid
source of factual information about
PLATRS from THE ENCYCLOPEDIA ON PERCUSSION INSTRHMEN IS, MINING, AND PAPERMAKINC; the world, and thus denied any
7he first of ihc F.iiLycl(>[xdiil (1751) was inspired by the success, in rjigicnid. q/'C7)rt/;;/jc^c.s Cyclopedia,
ec/ilioii
intellectual authority to the Bible
Under Diderot's editorship it became a showcase for nearly all the important French writers of the time,
incliidinfi Rousseau. Montesquieu, and Voltaire. It also became the focus of artistic and religious controversy. or the Church. It also refused to
124
1)11)1 ROT
Encyclopedia in its original edition about 4,225 editor of the Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia has on democracy and
despotism for the
sets were sold. There was simply none to compare now been very largely superseded by the onward Encyclopedia he
with it in any country, and its impact on the march of science and scholarship, while the writings declined, saying that
he had already had
intellectual life of Europe was incalculable. It must on which Diderot's fame now chiefly restscame his say on those themes
out after his death. Perhaps the best known among but that he would like
125
RFA'OLUTIONAKY FRENCH THINKFRS
Key works
Discourse on ihc
Origins and
Foundations of
Rousseau
Inc-qLialitN' '17541
La NouNcllc HcloVsL'
CRITIC OF CIVILIZATION
(l^(U)
Emilc: Ou dc Rousseau was the first Western philosopher to insist that
I'cducation
( 1 762) our judgements should be based on the requirements offeeling
The Social Contract
( 1 762) rather than reason.
Dreams of a
Solitaiy Walker
(1776-78)
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-78) was born in Rousseau's Encyclopedia articles were about music -
Confessions
(1782-89)
Geneva when it was an independent state. That he indeed, when he first went to Paris with the hope
was not French is an important fact about him, for of making his name there it had been through
unlike most writers in French he was never an music, for he had invented a new system of musical
admirer of French culture, or indeed of any culture. notation. But there was to be no long-term follow-
That he was Swiss had a profound effect on his up to his hopes in this direction - though some
attitu'de to democracy, the thing with which years later he did have his opera Le Devin du
eventually he came to be most associated. Unlike Village {The Cunning-Man, 1766) performed, with
There is most eminent philosophers he received very little great success, in front of Louis XV at Fontainebleau.
no original in the way of formal education, and this too was Nevertheless it was his prose writings that brought
important, in that it reinforced his espousal of him lasting reputation.
perversity in
spontaneous feeling as against conceptual thinking. He began with two essays. Discourse on Science
the human Rousseau's mother died a few days after he was and the Arts (1750) and Discourse on the Origins
heart
born, so he was brought up by an aunt and an and Foundations of Inequality (1754). Then, in
erratic father, who at least taught him to read. the two years 1761-62, came three of his four most
Jkan-Jacques Rousseau
He was parcelled out, first to a country famous books: La Nouvelle Heloise, Eniile, and The
minister, then to an uncle. He was Social Contract - the fourth being the autobiography,
apprenticed, first to a notary, then
to an engraver, who treated him
brutally
ran away. His
continue
and from
life
whom
was
like this, often full
to
he
"MAN WAS
of violent emotions, always
rootless, always wandering,
BORN FREE,
from one job to another, one
woman to another,
country to another He
one
AND
experienced plenty of the
harsher
at a
realities of life,
ignorant servant
five
girl.
by an
But
HE IS IN
he also met Diderot and
other philoscjphes. (This
word is still used
CFiAINS"
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
of the writers associated
with the Encyclopedia: Confessions, which was not published until after
it means little more than his death. In the mid- 1760s he decided to live in
JEAN-JACQUES ROITSSEAII our present-day "literary England, in response to an invitation from the
Su'iss-boni Jeaii-Jaci/iies Rotissean was one of the grecitesi intellectual.") He was even British philosopher David Hume, who was
Eiirojiecm thinkers of the 18th centnty. His work ijispired
the leaders of the French Revolution and influenced
invited to contribute to personally known, loved, and revered b)' many
what became known as the Romantic generation. the Encyclopedia himself. of the leading philosophes. But in England he had
126
ROUSSEAU
Madame de
Pompadour
Born Jecnnic-
Antoinette Foisso)i
(1721-64). the future
Madame de
Pompadour Ixcame
the mistress ofl.ouis
XV after she met him
at a ball in 1 745- She
was installed at
Versailles, made the
officially recognized
mistress to the king.
and ennobled as
Marquise de
Pompadour. A great
influence on the
king s policies, she
was also a great
supporter of the arts.
She founded the F.cole
Militaire, the porcelain
1^^
some sort of paranoid breakdown, denounced by the experience of growing up in society.
Hume as seeking his undoing, and fled in panic Because he believed that our natural instincts are
back to France - where eventually he died in 1778. good, his view of the state of nature was the direct
Rousseau introduced three revolutionary ideas opposite of Hobbes": man in a state of nature is a
into the mainstream of Western philosophical "noble savage," according to Rousseau. But a child
j
thought which have played a role of immense growing up in a so-called civilized society is taught
j
importance ever since. The first is that civilization to curb and frustrate his natural instincts, repress
[is not a good thing, as everyone had always his true feelings, impose the artificial categories
i
assumed; and not even a value-neutral thing; but of conceptual thinking on his emotions, and
I
positively a bad thing. The second is that we should pretend not to think and feel all sorts of things that
PhRsUCI TED R(_)l>SE.Ui
I
ask of everything in our lives, whether our private he does think and feel, while pretending to think Emile and
Kous.scau'.s
or public lives, that it meet the requirements not of and feel all sorts of things that he does not think Ihe Social Contract were
condemned by the
,
reason but of feeling and natural instincts: in other or feel. The result is alienation from his true self Parlement of Pari.s in
j words, feeling should replace reason as our guide to (the term "alienation" was not coined until later, June 1762 as contriir>' to
the government and
life and our judge. The third is that a human society by Hegel), and all-pervading falsehood and religion. Rous.seau had to
flee to Switzerland, btit
'
is a collective being with a will of its own that is hypocrisy. Thus civilization is the corrupter and
he and hi^
there, too,
: different from the sum of the wills of its individual destroyer of true values - not, as people seem works were banned.
t members, and that the citizen should be entirely always to assume, their creator and propagator He defended himself in
his Letters Wiittoi from
j
subordinate to this "general will." However, once having taken the step into the .Mountain ( 17(w ).
127
REVOLUTIONARY FRENCH THINKERS
innocetice of childhood. " all fife of his children, the result of an association
actually desired by any individual
with an illiterate maidsen'cint. were abandoned to foundling hospitals.
(as, for example, when the society
were, to civilize civilization - we must change it demanded painful and dangerous sacrifices from
in ways that allow our natural instincts and our everyone). The sovereign people were then free
feelings fuller and freer expression. The outstanding to give the task of putting these laws into effect ;
novel in which Rousseau elevated and glorified the to whoever they chose - a monarch, perhaps; or I
claims of sentiment and emotion above those of perhaps a group of politicians or officials - it made j
reason and self-restraint was La Nouvelle Heloise. no difference in principle, because the law, having
Rousseau advocated fundamental changes in been made by all the people acting together was ,
education to free the individual from the now absolutely binding on everyone. No defalcation!
psychological shackles of civilization. His central was to be allowed. Rousseau acknowledged that a
point here is that education should not aim, as it population at large might constitute an ill-informed,
did in his day, to repress and discipline a child's undisciplined and short-sighted legislative body: his
natural tendencies, but, on the contrary, to solution to this problem lay in special individuals
Emile encourage their expression and development. whom he referred to as "Legislators," charismatic
Completed in 1762, Emile:
Ou de I Education wa.s The main vehicle of instruction should not be leaders who instinctively understood the general
one of Rousseau's greatest
verbal instruction, still less books, but practice will and drafted legislation themselves, and then
projects. It tells the story,
in novel form, of a child and example, in other words direct experience of persuaded the people to accept it.
128
.
ROUSSEAU
the forcible imposition of the general will, whereas emotion, Rousseau was the acknowledged
forerunner of the Romantic movement, which soon
after him was to supersede the classicism of the
Now that
often has powerftil appeal for the
it has
as a part of Western sensibility
become centrally established
it is unlikely to
He
virtue
from the
thought, like
Rou.s.seau. that
was
moral
in.separable
exerci.se of
sovereignty. Althoiigh his
disappear in the foreseeable future. Its dangers are adherence to this won
the mainspring of the Locke model is the obvious, but we must find ways of living with them. the approval of the
French people, his belief
protection and preservation of individual freedom. in coercion in order to
The two are very different, in fact they save the republic cost
hini his life.
are potentially opposite.
With Rousseau the individual has no
,
right at all to deviate from the
general will, so this concept of
democracy is compatible with a
complete absence of personal
freedom. Here was the first
^^Man is
I
which likewise claimed to
;
represent the people, and to have
I
mass support, and even to be
j
democratic, while denying
j
individual rights; and which also
'
allotted a key role to charismatic
j
leaders; and which waged both hot
Europe's cities
war and cold war against the Anglo
During the 18th
Saxon democracies who based century the great
themselves on Lockean principles. of Europe were
cities
expanding as iwver
before. By the J 750s
Passion rules Londo)! and Paris
had developed into
Rousseau's work was the first
i
refected Ihe
Enlightenment, above all on its riseof the middle
class whose lives were
'
129
Golden Century
German
Philosophy
Between the 1780s and the 1880s a
flowemng of philosophy occurred in the
German-speaking world such as had not
BEEN seen since THE TIME OF THE ANCIENT
Greeks. It began with Kant. His work was
enriched and extended by Schopenhauer.
FiCHTE and Schelling also took off from
Kant as their point of departure.
newest developments.
Kant
Key works
Critique of
RATIONALISM AND EMPIRICISM
Pure Reason
(1781)
COME TOGETHER
Prolegomena
(I7S3> Our experience is informs determined by our bodily apparatus, and
The Fundamental only in those forms can we imagine anything s specific existence.
Principles
of the
Metaphysics
of Ethics
(1785) IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) is Critique of Pure Reason (1781).
Critique of
commonly regarded by devotees There followed the Critique of
Practical Reastjn of philosophy as the outstanding Practical Reason in 1788, and the
(1 788)
figure to have emerged in the Critique ofJudgment in 1790.
Critique of subject since the ancient Meanwhile, in 1785, he brought
Judgment
(1790) Greeks. He was born in the out an unusually short book
provincial town of Konigsberg, with an unusually long title,
published one of the great books of all time. in the end there is nothing left to find out. Kant,
132
..U
KAN r
developing a line of thought inaugurated by Locke, the sum total of what they are able to deal with is
insisted that in addition to this our knowledge is the sum total of what we can apprehend. This is ^^Oiit of the
also subject to another limitation of an entirely not to say that nothing else can exist. As far as our
crooked timber
different sort. Everything we apprehend in any way knowledge goes, anything may exist. But if
else
at all - whether it is a perception, a feeling, a memory, anything else exists, whatever it may be, we have of humanity no
a thought, or whatever it may be - is apprehended no way of apprehending it.
straight thing
by us through our bodily apparatus, namely our five So there are two different sorts of limitation on
senses, our brains, and our central nervous systems. what we can know, and not just one. The first is
can ever
Therefore anything that this apparatus can deal with what exists. The sum of everything there is - be made
is capable of being experience for us. But anything whether or not it includes a God or immortal souls Immanuel Kant
it cannot deal with can never be experience for us, or anything else - makes up total reality. But we
for we have no way of apprehending it.
"THE TERM
'WHOLE' IS
ALWAYS ONLY
COMPARATIVE"
IMMANUEL Kant
133
A GOLDKN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
aspects of it, as our bodily apparatus is able to deal as such, are subject-dependent. They give us
with. So on the one hand there is what exists, information, often of minute accuracy, but they
independently of us and our capacity for do so as gauges, not pictures. To w/5take them
The enlightenment experience, and on the other hand there is what as pictures is like mistaking a patient's temperature
Tlie European we have the means of experiencing; and there for his portrait.
ijUeUectiicil movement
knoivn as the could never be good reason for believing that these
Enlighleiiiiiciil are the same. The latter is almost certainly (,(,
reached its high poiiil
ui the ItSlh LL'iilitry
Enhghkniiiicul ihiiikeis
beUeved in the
narrower than the former, and
meager indeed compared to it.
likely to be very
TIS
The two are more radically different than our
liberating possibilities
of human reason unci
social progress, ciucl
investigation
When we were
up to this point has
beings,
PHILOSOPHY
animals,
photograph
and all
is
sorts of other things, but the
134
KANT
This means that what things are independently of perceive, and those categories of understanding are
our modes of perception and thought is something of the frameworks within which we make intelligible
which we cannot form any conception. On the one to ourselves whatever it is that our senses pick up.
side we have the world of things as they appear to All these things are features of how we function as
us - what Kant calls the world of phenomena. This experiencing subjects, beings in the world. But they
is the world of possible knowledge for us. But all are characteristics of experience, not characteristics
the forms this knowledge takes are subject- of things as they exist in themselves independently
dependent. On the other side there is the world of of being experienced.
''it is
things as they are in themselves, what Kant calls the
noumenal world. Its mode of existence has nothing Familiar idea thoroughly
to do with the particular ways in which we register These ideas would be much more difficult for us to necessary to be
things. But to this realm, for that very reason, we grasp than they are if they were not already familiar
convinced of
have no means of access. Everything about this to us in a different context, namely a religious
noumenal world is what Kant calls "transcendental," context. Adherents of most of the world's great God's existence,
by which he means that it exists but cannot be religions believe that this world of material objects
it is not quite
registered in experience. in space and time is not the whole of reality, that
135
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY'
that part of reality to which scientific laws apply, are meaningless. Words like duty, right, ought, and
but in the other part, the part to which scientific all the rest of them, never apply. For us to
understanding cannot reach, the noumenal world. recommend one course of action rather than
His actual demonstration was another to anyone is pointless. The whole vocabulary
not so much that we have free of praise and blame, admiration and condemnation,
^vill as that we find it impossible approval and disapproval, needs to be expunged
to believe that we do not. It is an from our language and our thoughts, for neither in
empirical fact that we have moral our private lives nor our social lives does any space
concepts such as good and ought exist for such notions to occupy. There would be
and right, and it is an empirical no point in our complaining if others treated us
fact that we have moral convictions with vicious brutality, because it would have been
about what is good (or not), what impossible for them ever to do anything else.
we ought or ought not to do, and It would be wrong of us to say that they ought not to
so on. It is also an empirical fact have done it, because they would have had no choice.
that nearly all of us are not able
wholly to disregard these The of ethics
basis
convictions of ours even when Anyone who genuinely believes in determinism
we try to, or wish that we could. as applied to human beings is committed to these
Now, says Kant, for these concepts consequences. However, there seem to be no such
to have any content at all, and for people. It appears to be a fact that for us to think
our moral convictions to have like that is impossible. Even those of us who are
any meaning or application at all, rascals and criminals, and even those of us who are
Moral convictions it must at least sometimes be psychopaths, even those who believe themselves
moral concepts
KcDil cirgued that in order for the case that we have a choice to be determinists, seem to object and be outraged
such as whether we ought to care for the sick, to
have meaning, we must have free ivill. We must
whether to do or not do something. when they are treated brutally, and to think that
have the choice to do or not do something. If we never have that choice, then whoever did it ought not to have done it. So it
136
..^4
-
KANT
appears that we cannot but believe that there is be right for anyone else in the same position. This
such a thing as free choice, at least sometimes. means that, just as the empirical world is governed
But the fact that we believe this means that we by scientific laws that have universal application, so
cannot help believing that some of the movements the moral world is governed by moral laws that
JOHANN HERDER
of material objects in space are not determined have universal application. And it means that morality
The main foiDuler of
wholly by the laws of science: some of them are is founded on reason, as science is founded on reason. the doctrine of
romantic natiotialism.
decided by the free operations of our will - and These considerations led Kant to formulate his
fohann Gottfried
"free" in this context means not impersonally famous Categorical Imperative as the fundamental Herder (1744-1803).
maxims studied under Kant at
determined, not governed by scientific laws. rule of morality: 'Act only according to
Konigsbergfrom 1762.
So, says Kant - and whether we like to admit it or which you can will also to be universal laws." In 1771 he began to
not - we do in fact believe that it is not the empirical produce ivorks that
were fundamental to
world alone that exists. We believe that there is a No "proof" for god the Sturm und
nonempirical realm in which decisions are made What a philosophy rules out is always a matter of Drang movement
articulating his belief
that affect the movements of our bodies; and also importance. Kant's doctrine that we can never
that the medium of
that to the choices thus taken the vocabulary of know for certain that anything exists of which our thought is feeling,
ASTOUNDING
is
room for faith. This aspect of his philosophy has In his later years
Herder attacked Kant
been of historic importance: he demolished so-
because he saiv him
much
God, and
of the philosophizing of
in doing as a threat to his own
world view.
TnK Openinc. Words of Schopenhauer's First Book centuries, if not of millennia. Since Kant it has been
accepted almost universally by serious thinkers that
praise and blame can be applied. The whole of Kant's the existence of God is not something that can
philosophy can be seen as an attempt to understand be proved - or, for that matter, disproved.
how this is possible - how morality and
free will can exist in a world that is
137
A GOLDHN CENTHKY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
Schopenhauer
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY LINKS UP WITH
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
Schopenhauer believed he had corrected and completed the work
^0^1 of Kant, leaving not a Kantian philosophy and then,
An early manuscript
Schopenhauer's separately, a Schopenhauerian philosophy, but a single
nictapliysical theory is
summarized in the title Kantian-Schopenhauerian philosophy.
of his major work,
The World as Will and
Representation, which he
first ptiblished in 1818
and expanded upon in
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860) was born 1818. He believed that this book solved the enigma
1844. Within its two in what was then the free German-speaking city of of the universe, and he was greatly taken aback
volumes he argued that
the empirical world exists,
Danzig but is now Gdansk, in Poland. His family when no-one took much notice of it. It left him not
for the experiencing were rich merchants. They intended that Arthur knowing what to do. After a long silence
subject, only as
representation. The should go into the family business, but he rebelled, he produced a little book, On the Will in Nature
search for the "thing-in- and instead he used his private income to finance a (1836), designed to show that the ongoing progress
itself behind the
representation is futile
lifetime of private study and writing. His doctorate of science was supporting the arguments of his
if we turn our thoughts thesis, which had the off-putting title On the main work. Then he produced two short and
to the natural world.
But we, too, are the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason excellent books on ethics. The Freedom of the Will
"thing-in-itself," and it is
(1813), has become a minor classic. While still in his (1841), and The Foundations of Morality (1841).
this dual nature that gives
us the key to the nature twenties he wrote his masterpiece. The World as
of all reality
Will and Representation, which was published in Fame at last
In 1844 came a revised edition of The World as Will
inclinleil science. the first. After this there was only one new
journiilisiii. drama.
poetry, and natural publication, a two-volume collection of essays.
pl.nlosoph Y Goethe With his flair for unattractive titles Schopenhauer
was injhtenced by
Herder the pioneer of
called it Parerga and Paralipomena, from the
German Romanticism. ancient Greek words meaning additions and
and was friends with
omissions (the reference being to his main work).
Schiller iilmm he
nil/')
138
^L
S CHOPHNHA 1 1 KR
UP TO THE
THRONG OF Differentiation
can he ^^Man
DESIRES WITH Ajijhirciillv ideiiliccil objects
but each one
space.
is dijferent because
reproc/iiceci niniiy limes.
it exists separately in
Schopenhauer said that for one object to he difj'ereiit a wolf
is
man V
from another object they have to be distinct in eitlK'r space
Arthur Schopenhauer
He saw no
had
OR PEACE"
Arthur Schopenhauer
^
point of Schopenhauer's philosophy
his critique of Kant.
is therefore
JtrM*
BiM«
eAflp.Tibaoic,
tai t»frfi:
unconceptualizably and unimaginably different Schopenhauer believed that Kant was right to ts>s.
from anything we could apprehend; that time, divide total reality into the phenomenal and the
A minor classic
space, and causally interconnected material objects noumenal, but that the noumenal could not possibly It was Schopenhauer's
thesis On the Fourfold
were features of this world of experience only, the consist of things (in the plural) as they are in
Root of the Principle of
empirical world, and could have no being outside themselves. This is because for different things Reason 1813)
Sufficient (
it; that the key to the understanding of this world to exist, differentiation has to be possible, and it
which earned him his
doctor of phiiosophs
was science, but that science too could have no is possible only in a realm in which there are time degree from the
University of jena.
purchase outside the empirical world. These and space. If one object is to be different from
He paid to have it
propounded by Kant, were seen by
doctrines, another they have to be distinct in either time or published and the work
has become a minor
Schopenhauer as being basically right, and so space, otherwise they are the same object. Even for
cla.ssic. His first book.
fimdamental that "the effect his words produce in one abstract object such as a natural number or an it considers the nature
of explanation and the
the mind to which they really speak is very like alphabetical letter to differ from another the notion
structure of our
that of an operation for cataract on a blind man." of sequence has to have some content, and again experience as a whole.
139
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY'
Johanna Schopenhauer
acts of will, which inhabit the noumenal realm,
Following her husband's are the causes of our "free" bodily movements; but
death, Schopenhauer's
Schopenhauer said this was impossible. The truth
mother, Johanna moved
to 'Weimar, where she of the matter, he said, is that an act of will and the
kept a literary .salon at
bodilymovements associated with it are one and
which she entertained
such figures as Goethe the same event apprehended in tw^o different ways,
and the Brothers Grimm. in one case experienced from inside, in the other
She herself achieved
fame a.s a romantic observed from outside. "Motives are causes
noxeli.st, and one of experienced from within." The phenomenal is not
her poems was set to
music li\ .Schubert.
a different reality from the noumenal but the same
reality known in a different way. Field of force
/'or Schopciihditcr. the vast scale and the phoioincuat
The whole noumenal realm, thought encrg)' of the unirci'se has no cotiiiectiun with the mind
Schopenhauer, has the character of will, though (ir consciousness - ii is an utterly impersonal J'orcc.
without any purposes or goals.
not as this word is usually understood. The entire
Schopenhauer AND
WAGNER
1)1 1854 Richard
Wagner (1813-83)
sent Schopenhauer the
libretto of his opera
cycle. The Ring of tlie
Nibelung. i)iscrihed
"With reverence and
gratitude. " Wagners
discoveiy of
Schopenhauer's book
The 'World as 'Will
and Representation i)!
1854 was one of the
most important events
of the composer's life.
140
SCHOFENHAliF.K
cosmos instantiates energy in quantities that numb first of all calling it "force," but then reflected that
the imagination - whole galaxies of stars and suns this word has special associations with science,
hurtling through space, expanding, exploding, and science can apply only within the world of
heating, cooling, rotating on their axes... All this phenomena. So, as a second thought, he decided
phenomenal energy, drive, go, on a scale so vast as to call it "will," on the ground that the nearest
to be inconceivable by us, has nothing whatsoever we can ever come to having direct experience
of one of its manifestations is our own acts of will,
a in which we experience from within the otherwise
W'ilhelm
among
of Jacob and
Grimm arc
the greatest
examples of German
WITHIN"
literature. De.scribed as
collection of folktales,
perfectly with his philosophy.
their famous book
Arthur Schopenhauer Grimm s Faiiyliik's
(1812-14) was firmly
The ETHICS of compassion rooted in the oral
to do with mind or consciousness. It is a wholly As physical objects in space and time, our human tradition of folklore.
Jacob (1785-1863) also
mindless phenomenon, blind, without personality bodies are manifestations of the undifferentiated produced book.s on
or intelligence, and therefore without purposes One that is the noumenal. This fact, if it is a fact, is and grammar.
lingui.stics
HI
A GOLDEN CENTURY OE GERMAN PHILOSCJPHY
cities, (ill (if irbich Kant mistakenly believed, physics was the key to
were ifiirlk'il
rationality - that is the understanding the
Scbopcnhdiici'. iibo
had Ik'cii liriiiii in
foundation of ethics. It is empirical world, but had
Franb/iirl since /.s'-JJ, also the foundation of
The QUALITY UE COMPASSlo.N not believed that the
ciiiulciiiiicil Ihc In Schopenhauer's noumenal world ire arc all
uprising as primitive.
interpersonal relationships one- this is why we can idenlify with one another empirical world was all
and communication, to and share each other's feelings. Schopenhauer belieivd there is. However, they had
thai this compassion is Ihc basis of our relationships
which the decoding by and Ihc fotindaiion of elbics and lotv kept their religion, if they
eye and ear of messages had any out of their
transmitted between our material bodies makes philosophy, and tried to pursue their philosophical
a lesser contribution. Compassion is the true investigations on the basis of rational argument alone.
foundation both of ethics and of love. Eastern philosophy, as Schopenhauer discovered,
was unlike this. It was not science-based but
East meets west religion-based - so much so that religion dominated
Schopenhauer tells us that it was only after he had philosophy. Yet in this entirely different intellectual
worked out these ideas that he discovered Eastern context, and in societies completely different from
philosophy. Before his time the classic texts of Europe's, with different languages and cultures
Hinduism and Buddhism were virtually unknown altogether - and in different historical ages,
in Europe, so Western philosophy had developed sometimes thousands of years apart - serious
up to that point in ignorance of them. Not until thinkers had arrived at many of the same conclusions
the 1 9th century did they begin to be translated as the most advanced and recent Western
in any significant number into European languages. philosophers. This is a subject of such interest that
The pioneer of this development as far as the the next section of this book will be devoted to it.
142
.SC.IlOl'FMlAriR
bring an awareness of the serious intellectual let become involved in its ways - that we
ourselves
content of those religions to his readers. And to this should repudiate it. He called this the turning away
day he remains the only major Western philosopher of the human will from the world, and he saw it
to have had a genuinely deep knowledge and as the end result of philosophical understanding.
understanding of Eastern philosophy. All this, again, is astonishingly similar to certain William blake
Besides being the first great Western Buddhist teachings - but these ideas were, again, '/he pod and
engraver William
philosopher to draw connections between Western arrived at independently of any knowledge of Blake (1757- 1827)
and Eastern thought, Schopenhauer was also the Buddhism on his part. was also krioivti as a
political and religions
first to be openly and explicitly atheist. Hobbes and dissenter. I/is work
The HORROR of existence ranged from jtrophelic
narrative poems, such
In Schopenhauer's case there was an active dislike
Arthur Schopenhauer tooth and claw" is literal bloody reality. His view of
realities beyond the
the human world was very much the same. Violence prison of the .H'nses.
Hume may well have been atheists in fact, but they and injustice are rife on every side. Each individual
lived at times when to publish in print a denial of life is a meaningless tragedy ending in inevitable
God's existence was a criminal offence; so they death. Throughout the whole of the time we are
avoided the issue. Schopenhauer regarded the alive in this world we are the slaves of our desires,
idea of a personal God as conceptually muddled, no sooner satisfying one than another takes its
The nothingness
of the world
Schopenhauer believed that the
empirical world was without
meaning or purpose, and was
ultimately, in itself, nothing at all.
should hold it of no concern, and not human condition - a world of violence and injuslicc. ending in death.
143
A GOLDEN CENTURY OE GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
place, so that we are perpetually in an unsatisfied doing this he deals with the individual arts more
state, and our very existence itself is a source of extensively, and more insightfully, than any other
suffering to us. Schopenhauer has come to be major philosopher He also accords the arts in
thought of as the supreme pessimist among general a more important place in the overall
philosophers, in the same way as Spinoza is scheme of things than any other major philosophetj
thought of as the supreme pantheist, or Locke as (The only one who vies with him in this respect is
the supreme liberal. He took the blackest view of Schelling.) He regarded music as a sort of super-art,
our existence it seems possible for anyone to take transcending all the others in metaphysical
and still remain sane. Indeed, as one might expect, significance. Some of the greatest composers since
Leo TOLSTOY he derived a certain grim pleasure from it. his day, for instance Wagner and Mahler, have
Tilt; great Russian
regarded his writings on music as being the
novelist Leo Tolstoy
(1828-1910), the son of The value of art profoundest that there are.
a family of the landed
However, in Schopenhauer's view there is one way Schopenhauer has had a greater influence on
aristocracy, is famous for
his epic novels such as in which we can find momentary release from our creative artists of the front rank than any other
War and Peace (1869).
set during the
imprisonment in the dark dungeon of this world, philosopher of recent centuries - more even than
Napoleonic wars, and and that is through the arts. In painting, sculpture, Marx. Novelists in particular have come under his
Anna Kare)iina (1877).
As soon as Tolstoy had
poetry, drama, and above all music, the otherwise spell: Tolstoy and Turgenev, Maupassant, Zola,
finishedWar and Peace relentless rack of willing on which we are stretched Proust, Hardy and Conrad, Thomas Mann - all of
he started to read
Schopenhauer, and he out throughout life is relaxed, and suddenly we fmd these absorbed his work into their own. He was
came to the conclusion ourselves free from the tortures of our existence. the most important nonmusical influence in
that Schopenhauer
takes us as far as For a moment we are in touch with something Wagner's life. And aside from the arts, he was a
philosophy can. outside the empirical realm, a different order of formative influence on some of the outstanding
being: we literally have the experience of being philosophers since his time, in particular
taken out of time and space altogether, and also out Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Popper - Nietzsche
of ourselves, even out of the material object that is wrote a short book called Schopenhauer as
our body. Schopenhauer goes at great length into Educator (1874). Freud acknowledged that the
how this occurs, and why it is so. In the course of mechanism of repression had been fully explained
before him by Schopenhauer, and ;
Stylish
The interest of all this is greatly
144
SCHOPENHAUER
The Legacy of
Schopenhauer
A n unusual thing about their reading of Schopenhauer. in more than one of Chekhov's
/ % Schopenhauer is the scale The philosopher is even mentioned plays, and after Chekhov his
JL JL. and quality of the by name in some of their novels, influence is felt in the plays of
influence he had on people who for instance in Tolstoy's Anna Bernard Shaw, Pirandello, and
were themselves famous, or about Karenina ( 1877), and in Hardy's Samuel Beckett. It brushed the wings
to become famous, in most cases of even the greatest of 20th-century
outside philosophy. The composer poets, Rilke, and T S. Eliot.
and
partly
T anything like
here
effect
successor, Jung.
Depth of Insight philosopher.
first
And
part of the 20th century
in the
P
influence
extensive field in
which Schopenhauer's
made itself felt
Human Condition
philosophizing from a
starting point
him by Schopenhauer.
provided to
was that of the novel. The supreme Tess of the D Vrbervilles ( 1891 ).
Russian ncweli.sts
Turgenev; the great French writers
Proust and Zola; perhaps the
greatest of
Thomas Mann; and
all
Tolstoy and
German novelists,
in English, the
What may be claimed
all - Maupassant.
short-story writers
Chekhov, Maugham, and Borges -
reveal similar influence.
extraordinary effect of
as the best of
And this
T
chief
I he reasons for
range of influence are
and complex, but perhaps
among them
Schopenhauer's combination of an
are
his unicjue
many
145
A GOLUKN CENTUKY OF GERMAN 1' 11 1 l.OSO I' HY
Confucianism
Derived from the
leacbitigs of K'uiig
(5S 1-479 lie),
Fii-tzii
Some Comparisons of
Confucianism is the
main philosophical
and ethical injlnence
on Chinese society.
East and West
ne foutidalions of its
social philosophy are
and respect
filial piety
A CONVERGENCE OF TWO GREAT TRADITIONS
for tradition, and the
most important rule is
Eastern philosophy has been in some ways profounder than
"what yon do not
want done to yon. Western philosophy for much of the past, but in the last two hundred
do not do to others ".
official texts. about two thousand years ago - that God came and "historical," than Christianity.
lived on earth as a man, was crucified, and after Perhaps partly for this reason, philosophy has
three days rose again from the dead, and so on. In developed in a more consistently symbiotic
this important sense Christianity is a history-based relationship with religion in the East than in the
^^The man who, religion: it centrally involves believing that certain West. And, since the religions themselves are more
casting off all things happened. The great religions of the East,
such as Hinduism and Buddhism, do not share this
44 T k
desires, lives
characteristic to anything like the same extent. siEFFABLE
free from
attachment...
They too have their stories to
AND BEYOND
obtains
tranquillity
religions is not believing in the truth of these
it is
stories,
vSciiNi-s oi' iiii: sioin' oi- christ they arrive at many of the same conclusions. There
Christianity is a histoiy-lxiscd religion. Its folloivers. if they arc In call thcinseh'es
are obvious similarities between many of the
Christians, must I'diei-e that certain events in the life of Christ - such as iho.w depicted
on this 14th-century altarpiicce - really took place. doctrines of Hinduism and Buddhism, on the one
146
SOMF, COMPARISONS Ol I:asT \\1) WKST
hand, and Kantian-Schopenhauerian philosophy same One. When a person dies he is like a raindrop
on the other. The chief difficulty in making falling into the ocean: his brief individual existence
comparisons is due to the fact that there are so ceases, and he becomes one again with the great
many different schools of thought within the ocean of being.
Eastern religions, especially within Buddhism, that
exceptions can be registered against almost any Noble truths
generalization. Nevertheless, certain broad Buddhism, unlike Hinduism, derives very much
similarities are unmistakable. from the teachings of a single historical individual,
The Upanishads, the most metaphysical of the an Indian prince who lived mostly in the 6th TlIilHAN in DUilISM
The form of" Bucklliisni
orthodox Hindu scriptural texts, were written in century bc and died at the age of about 80. His that developed in Tibet
India in the period between the 8th and 5th original name was Siddhartha Gautama, but as i.s a combination of
central concern is with the nature of total reality, man he experienced a recognition in the 7th
century ad and continued
and they present a picture of it as divided into two to develop in the llih
century when many
realms of unequal significance. There is the world
Tibetans traveled to
as presented to our senses, the world of experience; India to bring back
translated texts. By the
and then, "behind" this, there is another world
]4th century .separate
that is not directly accessible to us because the orders of monks were
* established, and rivalries
first one is screening it off from us.
arose culminating in the
defeat of the Gtsangs by
Mongol forces who were
The veil of illusion
supporting the Dalai
Everything about the first world, the Lama. The Dalai Lama
and the Dge-lug.s-pa sect
one we experience, is dependent in
ruled Tibet from 16-42
the form it takes for us on the bodily until the Chinese
communist invasion in
apparatus we have for experiencing it,
19S1. The photograph
and it exists in that form only for as ah()\e is of a Tibetan
"rock" Buddha.
long as we are experiencing it. But in
any case both our senses and our
mental operations constantly mislead
us in all sorts of different ways; so
147
A GOLDEN CENTURY OE GERMAN 1' II 1 1.< )N< ) 1' 1 1 ^
revelation concerning the true nature of things, unsatisfactory and a burden, an experience
and after this he was known as "the awakened of inevitable suffering; two, that at bottom this
one" or "the enlightened one," this being what suffering is caused by our endlessly grabbing
"the Buddha" means. He spent the rest of his long at things, grasping, wanting, craving; three, that
life trying to share his enlightenment through a cessation can be found of this suffering through
teaching. But - like Socrates and Jesus after him - ceasing to crave or want; and four, that this
The bodhisattvas he never wrote anything. His teachings were cessation of craving or wanting can be achieved by
An advanced transmitted orally by his disciples. what the Buddha spelled out as the Noble Eightfold
spiritual being who
has chosen not to After his death this led almost inevitably to Path. There then follows an eightfold set of precepts.
pass into nirvana, disputes about whose version of the teaching was Although the Buddha believed that human
but to continue in the
cycle of rebirth to
the authentic one. These disputes went on over beings lived through a series of lives he did not
help others is known literally centuries, and no fewer than three councils believe that they possessed immortal souls. On the
as a bodhisattva
were held to try to settle the question. It was not contrary, because he regarded life as inherently
The career of a
bodhisattva ii'ill last until the 1st century w that an agreed version of unsatisfactory and burdensome he thought that
3. or 33 eons,
7,
the Buddha's doctrines was reduced to writing,
during which time
he traverses 10
stages (spiritual
levels) and perfects
the language of those writings
being Pali. They constitute "HAPPY IS HE
his generosity.
morality, patience.
vigor meditation.
and wisdom. Once
what is known asTheravada
Buddhism, and claim to
represent the Buddha's
WHO HAS
a bodhisattva has
reached the final
stage he will become
original teaching in
148
SOMH COMl'AKISONS Ol i;,\ST AM) W isl
Beliefs in common
Both also believed that permanent reality,
out, over a series of lives, and not as necessarily evidence. So to most Westerners it gives the Gai'tama Bi ddha
149
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOIMn'
of thought dereloped.
seems quite possible that there
including the Nyaya
school that argued may have been some, but it
makes Buddhism seem to them unquestionably from outside during this very long period came
a religion in spite of its lack of assertion of a belief from the Arab world, and occurred during the
in God or of a soul. Middle Ages (see p. 54). After Platonism had worked
There have, of course, been great philosophers itself out in neo-Platonism it was not until Kant that
in the West also who believed that human beings
live a succession of lives. Pythagoras and Plato are
obvious examples. In Plato's case
a significant role in his epistemology. But
had no notable successors
this belief
in this respect
played
he has
among
"FOR I
with it,
firmly for
things
and was ambivalent, but never plumped
it, and at most he says contradictory
on the subject. Apart from him, there has
DEATH EOR
The
Hindu
tliree
goixs
main Hindu
been no Western philosopher of name since the
ancient world of
claimed that he believed
whom it could even plausibly be
it.
THE BORN,
gods arc Urahnia (who
creates the uni\ crse
the Ix'ginning of each
cycle of time), Vishnu
(who preserves it), and
at
Because of
question is
all
raised:
these considerations,
"To what extent has Eastern
philosophy influenced Western philosophy? the
if the
"
AND CERTAIN
Shiva (who
De'.'otees of
destroys
Vishnu as
Ishvara, the supreine
being, are known
it).
as
answer has to be either "Very
depending on whether
so during the very earliest stages of the
it
little " or "Not at
can be said to have done
latter's
all,"
IS BIRTH FO
\aishnavites and images
of the god are found
on many temple wall
car\ings. Vishnu's
preserving and
development. The Upanishcicis were mostly written
before Western philosophy was born. Throughout
the centuries during which ancient Greek
THE DEAD'" Tun Bh.a(;.\\ad Gin
protecting powers are
philosophy was forming, Hinduism and Buddhism
repre.sented in ten earthly
incarnations, known as were intellectually lively and were spreading across mainstream Western philosophy was to find itself
ai'atars.The image
vast areas of Asia. This being so, there have for a once more close in fundamentals to Eastern
above shows Shiva the
destroyer riding on the long time now been scholars to whom it seemed philosophy. And it is almost certain that Kant
back of Nandi the Ikill,
self-evident that influences from east of the Middle himself was unaware of this. For it was not until the
The bull is said to
embody sexual energy. East must inevitably have made themselves felt on years immediately after his death that important
150
'
SOMi: COMPARISONS OF FAST AND W'HST
translations of basic Hindu and Buddhist texts single mind. When he differs from Kant on essential The upanishads
began to appear in European languages in any points it is usually in the direction of Buddhism. sacred wriliiigs of
'/he
Hinduism, called the
significant numbers. Even then these translations It is possible to see his philosophy as a more or less
Veda.s (knowledge),
were often at one or even two removes. For seamless fusion of Kantianism and Buddhism were whiten between
J 500 and 700 hc: the
instance, the edition of the Upanishads that expressed in the vocabulary of mainstream Western
Upani.shads, writte>i
Schopenhauer dipped into every night before going philosophy. To someone who looks at it in this light between 800-^00 in:,
to sleep was a Latin translation of a Persian Eastern philosophy might appear to have been sum up the content of
these teachings.
translation of the original. This sort of thing came metaphysically more profound and philosophically Within the Upanishads
about because Europe at that time contained so few more advanced than Western philosophy until the there is a discussion
of the nature q/'atman
scholars in Sanskrit or Pali. In any case, translations Kantian revolution, but to have lost its advantage
(the personal soul)
at two removes may not be as odd or rare as might at that point, when Western philosophy caught and Brahman (the
Universal soul).
be supposed: later in the 19th century the first up with it in metaphysics, and had itself then
The search for self
performances of Ibsen's plays in London were of the immense advantage of having got there identity is never-
English translations of German translations of the independently of religion, and with a tradition ending and all reality
is Brahman while
original Norwegian. of tighter logical rigour behind it, and also a eveiything that is
After Plato, then, there is only one great Western symbiotic relationship with both mathematical individual is atman -
in fact -Mmim is
philosopher of whom it could even plausibly be physics and (newly with Schopenhauer) the arts.
Brahman.
claimed that he was materially influenced by
Hinduism or Buddhism, and that is Schopenhauer. From west to east
Characteristically, Schopenhauer himself says Some other important advances that had by that
contradictory things on the subject: usually he time become incorporated into Western philosophy
claims that he worked out all his ideas on the basis had never been made in the East - for example the g)tpt()olc9ifd;tg Sciicon
of Kant's philosophy before discovering Hinduism distinction between the roles played by reason and
eiltf xbt«(
and Buddhism; but he did once remark that his experience in the acquisition of knowledge, and
work had become possible only now that Plato, the distinction between contingent and necessary
Kant, and the Upanishads were all accessible to a truths. Since the middle of the 19th century the 5 r i ( 6 t i.rt) 2H fl J e r.
M-iTHOLOaiCAI. LEXICON
It was not until the early
lyth century that many
German translations of
classic Hindu and
Buddhist .sacred texts
began to appear,
Friedrich Majer's
Mythological Le.xicou
was published in 1S()4.
151
A GOLDEN CENTUKV OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
least as
power
much
as it
to do with the realities of political
does with intellectual considerations.
BREEDS
Imperialism in ideas
Throughout the 1 9th century, and for the first half
HATRED,
of the 20th, the entire Indian subcontinent
governed by
Western powers
Britain. Britain
-
and other imperialist
the Americans, the French, the
was
FOR THE
Dutch - were also aggressively active in
the overthrow of the English became the language of their own common
Ch'ing dynasty and culture, all-pervading in Indian intellectual life. philosophy most fashionable in Britain itself was i
provincial President of In the late 19th century the first English-type a form of Hegelianism; but it was usual for colonies I
the utilitarian philosophies of Jeremy Bentham and It was in the early 20th century that the
John Stuart Mill (see pp. 182-85). By that time the teaching of philosophy at postgraduate level
Lord curzon
III IH98 Ck'di-^e
Ncllhcniicl (jirzoi!
(7.S'5<^/9_'5; hcciiiiie
the ri>iiii,iii'sl ever
\ 'iceroy oj Iiiclui.
I)iiiiii}> his early
)'tY//> ;;/ Iiuliti he
iiilriKhiced iiuiiiy
re/onus, iiic/iuhiig ihe
/)cir/ili()ii 1)/ Beiinal.
His ti/>/»>iiiliiieiit of
Luiil Kill Ih-iier as
ciiiiiiiiaiulci -Ill-chief
Ciii-zoit s resignation.
152
SOMH COMPARISONS OF KAST AND WFST
scholars. An approach to Western philosophy first began to he studied its influence has been felt, Republic Ixtween
seriously in India in the ecn1y 2()tb century. 1949 and 1976,
post-Kantian philosophy the traditional patterns of
arguing the need for
"
developed in India that has thought and custom have 'peipetual revolution.
In the mid-1960s a
flourished there ever since, the study and teaching inevitably been brought into question, especially
Cultural Rcrolutio))
of it by scholars whose frame of reference is as in its earlier and more idealistic phases. At a purely was tlux'Cled uiiaiitsl
and away the biggest bureaucracy and
much, if not more, to Eastern as to Western thought. intellectual level it is far single
intellectuals with
instance of cross-fertilization between Western and the iuteuliou of
Western ideas come to power Eastern thought. Belief in the validity of Marxist pi rf\ 'iiig ('h iiiese
I
Communism.
But it was with Marxism that a truly apocalyptic intellectual and ideational content has withered
impact of Western on Eastern thought occurred, away in recent years, not least within the Marxist
[f one separates philosophic-type thought from parties themselves, yet they continue to govern
politics and administration, science, technology, where they have achieved power, and to pay lip-
trade, and fighting, it was the greatest influence of service to many of Marx's ideas. It is an astounding
West on East that there has ever been, greater even influence for an individual European thinker to
than Christianity. Again, the decisive causal factors have had in Asia.
were political, above all the Russian Revolution of
1917, which aimed to transform society in accordance
153
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN I'HILOSOPHY
Fichte
THE OUT-AND'OUT
IDEALIST
Jena UNivERsi'n
The University of Jena, Far from human knowledge being
situated in east Germany,
was founded in 1548 derived from empirical reality,
as an academy and
raised to university status
in 1S77. Perhaps its
Fichte taught the opposite, namely
most lirilliant period
was from 1787-1806 that the empirical world is the
when the philosophers
Fichte, Hegel, and creation of the knowing mind.
Schelling,and the writers
Schlegel and Schiller
were all on its
teaching staff.
JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE (1762-1814) was
born in humble circumstances in rural Germany.
As a small boy he tended geese. One Sunday a local
nobleman who had missed the sermon was advised JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE
Fichte. theson of a ribbon iveaver, was educated
thatlittle Fichte would be able to repeat it to him at the universities ofJena and Leipzig, where he came
more or less word for word, which he did. The into contact with the rising first wave of German
Romanticism. Fichte went on to formulate a philosophy
nobleman took the boy under his wing and of absolute idealism based on Kant's ethical concepts.
((
I am secured him a good education, first privately from
a Lutheran pastor, then at a famous school, Pforta,
a living
followed by a famous university, Jena. After intended this to happen. In any case, made
seeing
V finishing his university studies, Fichte experienced his name, and in 1794 he became Professor of
it
JoHANN Gottlieb great poverty, his patron having died. His first Philosophy at Jena. One of his colleagues there,
Fichte
philosophical work, Critique of All Revelation, a Professor of History, was the poet Schiller, who
was published anonymously in 1792, and was became a friend. So did Goethe.
mistakenly supposed by the reading public to Fichte was a brilliant lecturer, and at first had
be a fourth Critique by Kant - and was acclaimed great success. But he was afflicted with a troublesome
accordingly. Opinions differ as to whether Fichte personality - stern and unbending, he was a harsh
teacher and a difficult colleague - and over time he
alienated the people around him. His career became
a patchwork of quarrels and resignations. Most of
his writings were extremely obscure; but at one
point, when he thought he was going to have to
earn his living as a freelance writer outside the
university, he wrote a short, clear and attractive
To BE IS TO ACT
Fichte had learned from Kant, who in turn had got
it from Hume, that our scientific knowledge of the
world cannot be accoimted for by a combination
of observation and logic: from no number of
observations can a scientific law be logically
Empirical observations versus scientific laws derived. What struck Fichte, though, was that there
Fichte had learned from Kant that scientific laws cannot be deduced from eiiij)irical
observations. Hoivever, based on a belief that Scwtonian physics was tinielcssly iriic.
is a deductive logical relationship running in the
Fichte thought that empirical observations could he deduced from scieutifc laws. opposite direction: although scientific laws cannot
154
FlCllTF
be deduced from empirical observations, empirical moral in its nature makes it possible for the empirical
observations can be deduced from scientific laws. world to be a creation of moral factors - indeed
Fichte believed, as had everyone else since Newton, would make it impossible for it to be ultimately
that the laws of classical physics were completely anything else. So the ego, which is the willing self,
objective and timelessly true: given a scientific law, creates the empirical world, which is the realm of
it follows with absolute logical necessity that
specific events in the empirical world must be such
and so; and they invariably
point Fichte evolved the doctrine that the universe
are. From this starting
"WHAT SORT
is the creation of the subject; that
ourselves an ordered conception of the universe,
we carry within
OF PHILOSOPHY Ke-^' works
and that the universe
accordance with logical necessity.
is derived from this in
ONE CHOOSES Critique of
All Revelation
( 1 792)
DEPENDS ON
This teaching of Fichte swas sustained by two The Vocation
He accepted Hume's of the Scholar
other important doctrines.
(1794)
argument that we find it impossible to locate the
self as
we
an object of knowledge, but he claimed that
nevertheless have direct experience of the
WHAT SORT OF The Science of
(1796)
The Science of Ethics
as Based on the
RighLs
And because we know ourselves to bear moral fulfilment for what is essentially a moral being.
responsibility for our actions we know our selves This philosophy has always held a quasi-religious
to persist over time. attraction for certain people. Some have combined
it with a belief in God, others have found in it a
Morality is ultimate reality way of being thoroughgoing moral idealists without
Fichte believed that the primary and fundamental believing in God. Quite apart from this side of it,
nature of all reality consists in its moral character. Fichte was the first philosopher to account for
In accordance with this, he believed that the scientific knowledge as a free creation on the part
primary and fundamental nature of human beings of human beings, and this view of the nature of
lies not in their being consciously in receipt of science was to acquire widespread support in the
experience, and therefore "knowing beings," but late 20th century.
in their being conscious
agents, and therefore "moral
beings." It is the moral will,
not the knowing mind, that is
155
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
Key works
Of the Ego
Principle of Philosophy
(179'S>
as
SCHELLING
Ideas Toward
Philosophy
a
PHILOSOPHER OF NATURE
of Nature
(17971
System of
Man is part of Nature. Therefore human creativity is pan of Nature's
Transcendental productivity. In man, Nature has arrived at self-awareness.
Idealism
( WOO)
of Human Freedom
(J 809)
FRIEDRICH SCHELLING (1775-1854) was born
in Germany, the son of a Lutheran minister who,
and lecture; and, like Kant, he went as animals too, and finally in human form. There
on working until not far short of are several points to stress about this picture. First,
his death at an age of nearly 80. Nature is a unity. Second, Nature is not a state of
affairs but a process, always on-going. Third, human
Spirit from matter beings have emerged within this process as an
Of Schelling s various integral part of it. Life is not separate from matter,
philosophies, the best known expressive of some principle that is in opposition
and most influential was his to it: the two are continuous with one another,
so-called Philosophy of Nature. different aspects of a single process. Thus man does
It was partly a reaction against not exist outside the world, as if somehow standing
Fichte. Fichte had posited a against Nature, which is how the Enlightenment
universe of lifeless matter as the had tended to see him: he is simply a part of
separate creation of a living self; Nature. Man is matter spiritualized. But to say this
but Schelling said that on the is to say that matter by itself is potential spirit,
Naturi- is a i'R(u i;ss contrary, all life was a creation latent spirit, and this is how Schelling saw it.
This print, published ni /<S'<SYA ilhislnilcs the
Jninicilioii if rocks and the evuliiluni aj life an
I
of Nature, which had at one time Given all this, Schelling believed that Nature,
earth. Before Dani'in had even begun to ante been a world of lifeless matter in other words total reality', can be understood
nhout evohilion, Schelling had proposed his
I'hilo.'iophy of S'dturc in which he explained
Schelling put forward a picture only in terms of the direction taken by its ongoing
nature as an ongoing process. in which Nature was total reality. development. Its most impressive characteristic is
156
S ( : H H 1. 1, 1 N c,
its profligate creativity. In every second millions In the later part of Schelling's career, when he was
- Einieituug
of new living things are coming into existence lecturing in Berlin to an audience of the highest
what Spinoza had called Natiira tiatiirans. Nature distinction - it included Marx's collaborator
creating Nature. Nature's highest creation of all, Friedrich Engels, the anarchist Bakunin, the great Naturphilosophie.
human beings, are themselves creative too, in all historian Burckhardt, and the Danish philosopher
sorts of ways.The most spiritually advanced and Kierkegaard - he posed what he himself described
der «pec«Uiiven Physik
significant of theseways are the creative arts. as "the final desperate question: why is there
However, there is a crucial difference between anything at all? Why not nothing? " This can be
this creativity inman and creativity in the rest thought of as the ultimate question for anyone who
of Nature in that in man the process is self-aware. does not believe in God. The way that Schelling
In the best of his art man is exploring and getting explained what he was now doing was to say that
to understand the innermost depths of his own in his youth he had opened new page in the
a
being. But since man is an integral part of Nature history of philosophy, and now in his maturity he
Philosophy of natijRk
this means that in creative art Nature is attaining wanted to turn that page and begin on another new Wliilc a professor at the
University of Jena.
profound self-awareness. Schelling believes that one. In the late 20th century those Berlin lectures
Schelling wrote a number
this is what the whole process has been working were still being treated as an important source of of hooks through v\hieh
he developed his
up towards: that the whole vast on-going active stimulation by existentialist philosophers.
Philo.sophy of Nature.
phenomenon of Nature has been a development The question "Why does anything exist at all?" is one His aim was to show that
Nature displays an aeti\e
towards self-awareness; and therefore that the that fascinates many nonreligious philosophers today. development towards the
spirit, a notion popular
very raison d'etre of reality is
within the circles of
achieved in creative art. This the Romantics.
means that the creative artist
is summit of existence,
the very
the embodiment of the reason
why anything exists at all.
Architecture
Why is there anything?
The Romantic Movement,
is frozen
which was contemporary with music
Schelling, found in his writings Friedrich Schellinc,
several of its own deepest
convictions expressed in
philosophical terms: the all-
157
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
Hegel
Ciicit ^i-Ofln. CiU&Kdi Ijt^d't
33 1 ( ( ( li n9 1 r.
then a headmaster, and finally a professor of being the achievement of self-recognition and self-
misconception
History (1818), and The Philosophy of Right (1821).
FINITE
of already
knowing before HAS NO
you know
Ge()R(.
Friedrich Hegel
Wilhklm
GENUINE
BEING"
Ge()R(. 'Wilhelm Friedrich Hec.el
(1818) Hegel'sacademic career was inlerniplecl in 1800 ubcii ibc On this point, Hegel presents his non-German
The Philosophy of Right university al Jena was shut down after Napoleon's victor]'.
readers with a difficulty in translation. What this
(1821) He worked as a newspaper editor and a headmaster Ixfore
he resumed his university work at Heidelberg in l8/(> whole process of historical change is seen as
138
HEGEL
!
happening to is something that Hegel achieve resolution, and this will
calls, in German, Geist. What Geist then constitute a new situation -
j
work was sirongly
entire historical process it made up of three
as injluenced by Hcgcl
this state is reached, all the thesis. The reaction into conceptual truth.
Contrary to Hegel,
that exists will be that this always provokes,
however he did not
harmoniously at one with the countervailing forces, consider religious truth
inadequate to
itself. Hegel called this the conflicting elements,
philosophical truth.
self-aware oneness of are described by him
; everything "the Absolute." as the antithesis of the
Because he viewed the thesis. The conflict
j
understanding in any broad area of reality always The TIDE OF HISTORY folktales.
\
involves understanding a process of change. He Because change is a product of the operation of
!went on to claim that change is always intelligible, historical forces, the individual caught up in it has
!
never merely arbitrary. Every complex situation no real power to direct it. He is swept along in it.
contains within itself conflicting elements, he Even in matters of individual creativity a person is
believed, and these are destabilizing. Therefore no enveloped in the spirit of his time (what Hegel
such situation can just continue indefinitely. The called the Zeitgeist, Zeit being the German word
conflicts have to work themselves out, until they for time). If a great genius in the year 2000 tried to
159
A GOLDEN CENTliR\' OF t", KK M A N PHILOSOPHY'
160
H E G K 1.
OWES HIS By alienation Hegel meant the idea that something which
is in fact part of ourselves
In both the spiritual
world of work),
and
seems to us foreign and
the material world (such as the
this state of alienation provides the motive
EXISTENCE
feels,
know itself as the ultimate reality, and realizes that
TO THE ??
it.
will
But until
himself,
still
this situation
be free.
The individual
know
This state of alienation
until
the
he
same time
is at
above and
STATE
Georg Wilhelm Friedrjch Hegel
will continue to provide the
a whole, this will happen when a conflict-free the realization that it itself is the ultimate reality?"
society is achieved. The ideal state of affairs will the answer can only be, "With Hegel's philosophy."
then have been reached, and further change will be Thus Hegel is unique among the great philosophers
neither necessary nor desirable. Hegel conceives of in that he regarded himself as not just supplying
this situation as an organic society in which every the rest of us with the key to understanding reality - Napoleonic empire
Napoleon Bonapaile
individual is a harmoniously functioning part of the many philosophers have done that - but as being
(1769-1821)
whole, freely serving the interests of a totality very himself the culmination of the world-historical declared himself
much greater than himself. He believed that such a process, the embodiment of reality's purposes emperor of the Fre)ich
in 1804. By 1810 he
I society altogether transcended the values of liberal as regards understanding, the very incarnation had succeeded in
individualism. If, however, what we are talking of our enlightenment. consolidating most of
Europe as his empire.
about is the development of ideas, a conflict-free
His downfall Iwgaii
The worship of the state wilt his disastrous
invasion of Russia in
If one considers Hegel's thought at the political
1812. In 1815 he was
Beethoven: THE spirit of the age and social level and asks, "At what point in the finally beaten by the
I'di- Hegel, the work
of a creative individual is enveloped British (under the
III the spirit of his time- the Zeitgeist. The work
of a great
development of society is a conflict-free situation
Duke of Wellington)
cdiiiposer such as Lndwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). achieved? the answer is less obvious. Hegel himself
"
and the Prussians at
irhose career spanned the transition from Classicism to Waterloo and was
Romanticism, could not have been produced during any
seemed to think it was already embodied in the
exiled to St. Helena.
iilher period, it is fixed in time, part of the process ofhislory. constitutional monarchy of the Prussia of his day.
161
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
Prussia
The former north and
cenlral German state
of Prussia existed
from 1618-1945.
It was an independent
Frederick WILLIAM III. mm, of Prussia, givinc; uniforms as presfnis m iiis sons, cukistmas eve, 1803
Hegel's thought ivas very injhiential in a number offields. political philosophy to mean that a state based on Frussuin
not Just in J)hilosophy. but also in histoiy and politics. lines, with a constitutional monarchy, was the type of stale
After Hegel's death the conserfiitii'e Right Hegelians took his to he desired, and that there nets no need for ftirther change.
Devotees of that state seized on this aspect of his other words, can be understood only in the
thought and made it the philosophical basis of a categories of historical explanation. It may seem
recognizably German form of state-worship which incredible now, but this historical dimension had
had a long subsequent history. For some time these been absent from previous philosophy. Before Hegel,
people were known as Right Hegelians, and through philosophers had thought of reality as a highly
them Hegel came to be seen as the founding complex but given state of affairs which they were
philosopher of the sort of right-wing German called on to explain. Since Hegel, however, historical
nationalism that culminated in Hitler However, awareness has entered into the way we look at
there were other followers of Hegel, known as almost everything. Two figures emerged after him
CllARLES DARWIN
The English n.ituralist Left Hegelians, who saw the Prussia of 1830 as self- who were destined to be the most influential
Charles Danvin ( 1809-82) evidently far from ideal, and believed that radical thinkers of the 19th century, Marx and Darwin, and
is best known for his
documentation of if not revolutionary further change was necessary both of them made this concept of peq>etually
evolution antl for a before the ideal society could be achieved. The most ongoing development central to their thinking. In
theory of its operation
ealletl n.itural selection. important of the Left Hegelians was Karl Marx. the case of Marx it was taken directly from Hegel.
He began to formulate
The split between Right and Left Hegelians explains Another idea introduced by Hegel was that the
his idea.s while working
as a naturalist aboard the a factwhich has puzzled many people, namely that history of the world has a rational structure, and
HMS Beagle, on a five-
the same philosopher, Hegel, was the intellectual that the key to understanding the structure is the
year voyage around South
America and the Pacific grandfather of both Nazism and Communism. law of change, in other words the dialectic. This also
islands. It was, however,
was taken over by Marx: we shall have more to say
a further 20 years before
he actually began to Three key ideas about it when we come to consider Marx directly.
write about evolution.
Certain ideas are associated with Hegel which have A third idea of Hegel's that has been highly
played an important role in Western thinking ever influential is that of alienation. The point here is
since. One is that reality is a historical process, that man, in the process of building his own
which therefore can be understood only in terms civilization, creates all sorts of institutions and rules
of how it came to be what it is, and also how, at this and ideas that then become constraints on him,
very moment, it is becoming something else - in external to himself, despite the fact that they are
162
HEGHl.
his own invention. He may even not understand philosophical element in Marxism developed
them. For instance, v^^hen it comes to religion, many directly out of Hegel's ideas, and always retained
people project the qualities they most desire for Hegel's vocabulary. During the second half of the
themselves on to a God whom they then see as 19th century Hegelianism became high fashion
perfect, omniscient, and omnipotent, while thinking almost everywhere in the West, including the
of themselves by contrast as base, ignorant, and English-speaking world. The British philosophers
powerless. The unhappy soul who does this fails Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore were brought up
to realize that it is, at least in part, human in it - and then, in a very pointed and specific way,
characteristics that he is projecting on to a being reacted against it; and it was this militant reaction
other than himself. He sees God as being quite that launched the analytical tradition that
German nationalism
proceeded to dominate English-language philosophy
Hcgds idealization of
for most of the 20th century. The development of
"THE REAL these four broad philosophical approaches -
Hegelianism, Marxism, Existentialism, and Analytic
the Prussian state of his
time has
some
made him
the intellectual
founder of the kind of
for
THE IS
Philosophy - does indeed account for
of the history of philosophy since Hegel.
a good deal
Germa n state-\v( )rsh
which culminated in
Hitler. This photograph
in the Hitler Youth, an
i
p
is
AND THE
propaganda. Membership
right-wing political thinking that developed of the Hitler Youth was
made compulsory
affinities with Fascism. Hegel is altogether the most in 1939.
THE REAL"
Gf.orc; Wilhf.lm Friedrich H, .el
freedom are limited and shallow, because only when
the individual
does it become
is absorbed into an organic society
possible for him to achieve self-
realization: for as long as he remains a self-centered
different from, indeed opposite to, himself, when individual unit it is not possible for him to do so.
in reality he and God share the same spiritual LUDWIG FEUERBACH
existence. One of Hegel's followers, Feuerbach, The German
philosopher and
thought that God and gods were solely human moralist Ludwig
creations, and were entirely to be understood Feuerbach (1804-72)
studied for two years
in this way. That idea of Feuerbach s was widely under Hegel.
influential in the 19th century. eventually reacting
against his idealism in
favour of naturalism.
Hegel's legacy His most famous
It has been said that the history of philosophy since work, The Essence of
Chri.stianiry (1841).
Hegel is made up of the successive and varying attacked coiwentional
reactions to his work. This is an exaggeration, Christianity by
describing religion as
needless to say, but it contains a grain of interesting "the dream of the
truth. There is a sense in which the founder of human mind.
/>roJecting on to God
.nodern existentialism, the Danish philosopher
our own human
(Cierkegaard (1813-55), wrote his philosophy ideals and nature.
163
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
The
Key works
P()\frty of
Philosophy
Marx
Communist
Manifesto (with
HISTORY TRIES TO BECOME A SCIENCE
Friedrich Eiigels)
(1848) Marx believed that he had put the explanation of historical
The Class Struggles in
France, 1848 to 1850 development on a scientific footing, thus enabling mankind to predict
(1850)
A Contributitin the future development of society with scientific accuracy.
to the Critique of
Political Economy
(1859)
Das Kapital
(7567;
KARL MARX (1818-83) was born in the German
town of Trier. His parents were Jews who converted
to Lutheranism when he was six; but he himself
and displayed exceptional was duly expelled from Brussels in the same year,
Marx and engels at the second communist congress
111 June 1847 a secret political society, the League talent in these roles: but and after some fitftil and abortive wanderings he
of the Just, made up mainly oj' emigrant Germans, Marx had genius, and was ended up in London in 1849. He spent the rest of
met in London. Marx and Engels joined the League.
unquestionably the dominant his life there, which was to be another 34 years.
which became known as the Communist League, and
wrote its manifesto - the Communist Manifesto. partner intellectually. Most of his writings consisted of brilliant pamphlets
164
\l A kX
and articles, but there was one full-length book, any force at work promoting change; eight, that Das Kapital.
}
his masterpiece. Das Kapital, (which means simply when this conflict-free situation is reached, human Krilik <lrl' |«l|i||s,||r|| U,.|.„
Capital), published in 1867. It is, beyond any beings will no longer be swept along by forces
j
question, one of the most influential books in the outside their control, but will be able for the first
I
history of the world. Marx died in London in 1883, time to take their destiny into their own hands, and
I and lies buried in Highgate Cemetery. will become themselves the arbiters of change;
nine, that this will for the first make human
time
Child of hegel freedom and self-fulfilment possible for human
Onereason why Marxism was to prove such a rich beings; ten, that the form of society within which
system of thought was that it fused together three this freedom will be exercised, and self-fulfilment
Das KAPiTAi.
intellectual traditions that were each already highly achieved, will not be the atomized society of Described a.s the "Bible
normal sense. Nevertheless it contained a major ismuch bigger, and therefore more fulfilling, than Berlin in 1867. In what
was one of the most
philosopliical dimension, and was to exercise an their own separate lives. influential works of the
immense influence on a great deal of subsequent But after these ten great similarities with Hegel 19th century. Marx
predicted tlie supersession
philosophical thinking. So no history of philosophy comes the big difference, which is something Marx of capitalism by sociali.sni.
modern era could possibly disregard Only the fir.st volume was
in the it. took from his near-contemporary, another German
completed and published
The philosophical element in in Marx's lifetime, the
.second and third vokimes,
Marxism was nearly all taken from
edited by Fngels, were
Hegel, and has continued from that published after his death.
^zr:^ ^
thus described will continue until ^^
- cities. Britain led this
-^^C- am w. tiiiiii la^a.
revolution and by the
a situation is reached in which all
18th century it bad
165
A GOLDKN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
his way of life, and is also his social change is the development of the means
contribution to society as of production. Riding forward on the back of this,
a whole. It determines who and being both made and unmade by it, comes
else's interest in the division the development of social classes and the conflict
of the social product is the between classes. Then above tliis comes what
same as his own, and whose Marx calls "the superstructure": social and political
The means of subsistence
order Ui achieve a level of subsistence, hti/nnii
/;/
is in conflict with it. Tliis gives institutions, religions, philosophies, the arts, ideas;
heings t)iiist meet their most basic needs. Marx's rise to the existence of socio- all such things, he says, grow up on the basis of
theories describe how the means of production
develop that meet these needs. This illustration
economic classes, and also to the economic substructure, and are ultimately
shows a slum divclliiig in /.(melon's I'ust I'.nd in IH~2 the conflict between classes. determined by it.
166
MAKX
"the
philosophers
have only
interpreted
the world Till, I.DWliK MIUDLE CLAS.S
of the
POINT IS TO ??
development of cities
and to a more complex
.society. In the picture
above, a typical English
I
boat, and when mills and factories were still
;
chief markets. Here is an outstanding example
j
great illumination when Marx pointed out these
things, because no one had consciously perceived
them before: it permanently changed the way
historical development was viewed. Like so many
i
good ideas, it seems obvious once somebody has The development of transportation during the industrial revolution
s
actually had the idea, and then it becomes Demand for reliable and cheap access lo raw materials and markets resulted in major
improvements to Britain's transportation Jdcilities. Initially, this derelopment took the form o/'
difficult to understand how people previously improred roads and canals. later on. railroads became the preferred means oftranspoitation.
failed to think of it. seen here is an earl)' steam train ill Ikilon (.'ollieiy. (bounty Durham, in the earlv 1820s.
167
A GOLDEN CEMIK^' OK CHR.MAN 1' 1 1 I LOSO IM H'
Protection of
working children
By Ihc begiuui)!;^ of
the 19lh coiliirv III
pcirliculaiiy o/ ii(»iK')i
and chiUlivii. het^dii la
cause l>iihIiL com cm
One of /he iiiosl
iiii/xirliiiil /ik'ccs of
le;j,islciliou passed to
developments. The arts are seen by them as serving to grow ever more bitter until the workers, in their
the interests of the ruling class, by putting across overwhelming superiority of numbers, would rise
ideas and values that promote those interests, or up against the capitalists and overthrow them,
display their wealth and power, or glamorize their taking the means of production into their own
achievements, or divert the attention of other
from
classes
by religion, "the
analysis of society
politics. Similar functions are
and
A whole
opium of the
grown up on
its
people."
history has
served
"WHAT THE
the basis of this way of seeing things. And although
scarcely any serious thinkers nowadays would
BOURGEOISIE
accept the validity of the analysis as a whole, there
can be no doubt that much of it is insightful, and PRODUCES...1S it;
has made
called the
a major contribution to what might be
modern outlook. OWN
OmMliNIST MAMFESTO
l>ubli.shed in I848, the
Communist Manifesto
The revolution
Marx saw the Industrialist Capitalist society of his
GRAVEDIGGERS.I
liccame the most
celebrated work
history of the Socialist
in the
day as the last-but-one stage of historical development
He
before the advent of the conflict-free society.
ITS FALL AND TH
VICTORY OF TH
movement. Written by thought that the relentless development of modern
Marx and Engels.
it argued that all history
technology was bound to go on putting more and
had hitherto been a more people out of work, with the result that the
histoiy of class stRiggles.
The manifesto ends
\\ ith famous call
its
masses would become more numerous, more
alienated from the means of production, and more
PROLETARIAT
to the workers of all
lands to unite.
impoverished, while ow^nership and control of the
means of production would become concentrated
ARE EQUALLY
into fewer and fewer hands. This would increasingly
polarize society into two classes, the capitalists and INEVITABLE"
the workers. The conflict between them was bound KiVRL Marx
168
\IAKX
I
class-free, would be conflict-free. As Engels once
expressed it, there would be no more need for the
.False prophet
I The future that lay immediately ahead of the time
I
when Marx was writing did not at all develop in the Russian dissidents
Marxists irere intolerant of alternative views. Some
I
way he said it was bound to. This is partly because di.'isidenis were imprisoned and others ivere executed. This
[he was mistaken as to the nature of his theory. He c. I 9.t2 photograph of a Russian labour camp shows
detainees being forced to work on the construction of a caned.
I
believed it to be scientific, in the same sort of way
las Newton's physics is scientific. If we have the
^^Religion is
right information about the current state of any physical system of objects in motion, then with
the aid of Newton's laws we can predict accurately the opium of
.-<^ PoccgftcKag CoHHangCTHHecKaH ^eaepaTHBHaa CoBeTCKaa Pecny6;iBngflk
what the state of that system will be at any future the people
V
time. Marx believed that he had uncovered the
Karl Marx
economic laws of motion of society in precisely
ilAPb, non H BorAH to account for an important part of its appeal until Completed
liuiit
in 1857,
to give "all
it
studious
was
HA nnEMAX y TPYAOBOrO HAPOAA. quite late in the 20th century. Marxists tended to and curious persons"
aeee.ss to the collections.
regard their beliefs not just as personal opinions
D Brsa o> man jBSoua u
Many great intellectuals
but as scientific knowledge, and therefore as have used the room,
lUkuo piuae ?au«i Tunfi p
including George Bernard
"known" with absolute certainty. This gave them
Shaw. Mahatma Gandhi,
enormous confidence and made them famously and Marx himself.
^ 169
A GOLDEN CFN'rURV OF CHKMAN IM 1 1 LOS< ) 1' ?1 Y
workers, and peasants Powerful appeal was becoming evident that events
were set up all over
This combination of ideas - were not turning out as Marx's
Russia. The Tsar
abdicated and a provisional "science," "modernization," theories said they must. Nowhere
government was set up.
In the summer of that year "being on the side of the future" - in the world, in fact, was there
Aleksandr Fydorovich
had almost hypnotic appeal for a society where changes were
Kerensky (1881-1970)
became the chief minister, large numbers of intellectuals happening in accordance with
but the Petrograd Soviet Russian futurist architecture
in underdeveloped countries. Marx's so-called "scientific laws
was controlled by Lenin's The poverty ciiid social cbcios of the eiiiiy
Bolsheviks. 7-8 On So did the economic side of revolutionary! years propelled artists and of historical development."
November Kerensky architects towards ever-more radical
Marxism, which called for the This gave rise to something
was ousted in a coup
solutions - such as Georgy Tikhonovich
led by Lenin. centralized planning and control
Krutikov's vision of a flying city (1928).
that became known as
solution" seemed to be just what rationality itself thinkers started trying to revise Marx's theories so
called for. Just as in the 18th century Locke's theories as to fit in with the contrary evidence - and also
had played a crucial role in helping to bring about started to reinterpret the evidence to fit in with
the American and French revolutions, so in the 20th Marx's theories. Out of this grew a plurality of
differing Marxist schools of thought, at odds with
one another, sometimes violently so. What led in the
"THE end to the withering
A
Leon trotsky
leader
Revolution of 1917 and
in Russia's
HAVE NOTHING a society not in the least like the
(
Army, Leon Trotsky
1879-1940) was also
Stalin's chief rival for
TO LOSE BUT the economies of such societies failed, so instead
of prospering they became impoverished. Marxist
government, then, gave people both poverty
power following
death
Lenin's
in 1924. Stalin
defeated him, and in
THEIR CHAINS" and tyranny. In the long nm this caused all
handful of people to conclude that there must be
but a
Karl Marx
1929 Trotsky was
something wrong with Marxist theory. But by this
deported. He settled in
Mexico, where he was century Marx's theories played a significant role in time the indirect influence of Marx's ideas had
assassinated in 1940
helping to bring about the largest-scale revolutions spread throughout modern culture; so although
by a StalinLst agent.
of all time, the Communist revolutions in Russia Marxism now retains few wholehearted adherents
(1917) and China (1948-19). Throughout the it nevertheless remains a significant element in the
period following World War 11, Communist worlds of what are generally thought to be "modern"
movements declaring their allegiance to Marx's ideas, including not least literature and the arts.
170
MARX
The Power
^/ Ideas
can seriously be claimed for Many leading figures on the stage Jean-Paul Sartre (who was also a
ItKarl Marx that his ideas had a of recent history have been guided leading novelist and philosopher)
greater influence in a shorter by Marxism. In Russia there was and Bertolt Brecht (who was also
time than those of any other Lenin, followed by Trotsky and a major poet) - or among poets,
thinker in history. During his Stalin. In Yugoslavia there was Tito; Pablo Neruda; or, among painters,
lifetime he was a little-known, and there was Mao Zedong in Pablo Picasso - regarded themselves
impoverished intellectual, living on as Marxists or Communists; and
the charity of friends and spending some of their work is almost bound
his days reading and writing, often survive.
was
1883
living
that called
name -
M ore generally, there
is a specifically
Marxist view of the
role of art in society that
remains widely held and is
phenomenon, more so in view China, Ho Chi-minh in Viet Nam, existing society, and tries to lull or
of the fact that on a practical level Fidel Castro in Cuba. These were deceive people into accepting those
the record of Marxism was one people who changed the world. values. This view of the role of art,
of persistent failure: the ideas During its period of ideological which was not at all widely held
conquered, yet the societies triumph Marxism had a global before Marx, comes close to being
to which they gave rise either influence on the arts as well as the prevailing orthodoxy in today's
collapsed or detached themselves on politics. World-famous figures world. It may be the last bastion of
from Marxist policies. in the arts such as the playwrights Mai-xism to fall.
171
A GOLDEN CENTLIRV OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
The
Key works
Birth of Tra>jcd>-
(
(1881)
Beyond Gcxid The morals and values of Western man derive from religious beliefs
and Evil ( l8Sb>
The Gay Seience
that he is ceasing to hold. He therefore needs to reevaluate his values.
(1887)
The Genealogy
of Morals (1887)
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844-1900) came from a
Thus Spake
Zarathustra (1891) line of Protestant churchmen: his father and both his
There are What turned him into a philosopher was the reading
of Schopenhauer In imitation of Schopenhauer he
no facts, only
gave up an academic career and lived a life of
interpretations
.)r
solitude and simplicity, much of it spent wandering
Friedrich Nietzsche in Switzerland and Italy. Over a 1 6-year period he
poured out his writings in comparative obscurit}'.
Nietzsche eventually established his independence solitude and liiing fntgally. In 1889. he suffered ci menial
collapse and wrote nothing in his last 11 years.
by rebelling against both Wagner and Schopenhauer,
and he produced some famous anti-Wagner polemics
Richard wagner in two books, The Case of Wagner (1888), and to be the whole. Above all, Nietzsche rejected
After beginning his career
as a conductor in Riga,
Nietzsche versus Wagner (1895). Tragically, when he Schopenhauer's conclusion that we should turn
Wagner traveled was still only in his middle forties he collapsed into away in disgust from such a world, reject it, and
throughout Europe but
did not meet with much mental illness, an illness almost certainly brought withdraw from it. On the contrary, he believed that
success until he came on by tertiary syphilis. He was to remain hopelessly we should live our lives to the full in it, and get
under the patronage of
Ludwig II of Bavaria. insane until his death in 1900; so although his everything we can out of it. The central question
After an affair with
reputation became international during the course posed by Nietzsche's philosophy is how best to
Cosima von Bulow
Wagner was forced to of the 1890s he himself was oblivious of the fact. do this in a godless, meaningless world.
flee Munich, and settled
Nietzsche agreed with Schopenhauer that
in Switzerland. It was
here that he wrote his there is no God, and that we do not have immortal The need for new values
most famous works,
souls. He also agreed that this life of ours is a largely Nietzsche begins by mounting an onslaught on
including The Ring.
which was not meaningless business of suffering and striving, our attachment to existing morals and values.
performed imtil 1S76.
driven along by an irrational force that we can These derive very largely from ancient Greece
call will. But he rejected Schopenhauer's view that plus the Judeo-Christian tradition, he says, which
this world is only a part, and what is more an means they come from societies quite unlike any
unimportant part, of total reality: he believed it that exist today and from religions in which many
172
NIETZSCHE
Fulfillment
Nietzsche's next step is to attack our
everything we mean by the word culture, Mount olympus, home of the greek god.s
Accurdhig to Nietzsche, our existing morals derire largely from ancient
was the perpetual elimination of the Greece and the Jiideo-Christian tradition. He argued, however that
weak by the strong, the incompetent by in a godless world we cannot base our lives on societies that no longer
exist and on religions that many no longer believe in.
the competent, the stupid by the clever
Only because these processes carried on
over countless ages did the things that we most that has produced culture and civilization. If it is
value about our human existence come into being. allowed to go on, it will put an end to everything
But then along came the so-called moralists like that we value most in our world. We must on no
Socrates and Jesus and said that these values were account continue with these slave-moralities.
allwrong - that there should be laws to protect
"w^jpsppwsgg
the weak against the strong, and that justice should
reign, not strength; and that the meek, not the Orro VON bismarck
The Prussian statesma)i
Otto von Bismarck
(1815-98). thefint
HEAD WHEN
(1871-90), was in
agreement with
Nietzsche in several
areas, stating that "It is
Successful
j
terms with the mediocre mass of mankind.
The typical characteristics of slaves were hailed
ias virtues: a life of service to others, self-denial,
i self-sacrifice. Even gifted individuals were what Shackled by value systems
Nietzsche calls "un-selfed" by this. And it was all Nietzsche believed that innovators were constrained - in the
name of morality - by values that set them on equal terms
done in the name of morality! It is all, says Nietzsche,
with the >7iass of mankind. Vols German illustration of 1895
the worst possible decadence, a denial of everything shows Sunday tied by the value systems of Church and State.
173
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
our interests to have. And these are surely the "Dare to become what you are." This is how all
values that have led us out of the animal kingdom living creatures behave spontaneously in nature,
174
NIKTZSCIIK
I
Of course the weak will go under, but that is to be to eternal life as it is possible to get in a world that
'
would be to want to abolish bad weather. distinction has to be made between the challenge
it presents and Nietzsche's own answer to that
i
Nietzsche judges all other values by this yardstick legitimate and exceedingly powerful while rejecting
I
of life-assertion. "Good" is that which asserts life or
assists life-assertion. Even "true" is that which is on
,
the side of life, and not against life. A critic might
say to Nietzsche: "But what is the point of it all?
"THE
BITE OF
DNSCIENCE
S INDECENT"
Friedrich Nietzsche
175
A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
Zoroaster
ALso known as
Zarathustra, Zoroaster
was the founder in the
sixth century bc of a pre-
Lslamic Persian religion.
He modified the Aryan
f()li< religion with his idea
of eternal punishment
according to the balance
between good and evil
deeds on earth. Nietzsche
used Zarathustra as a
mouthpiece for his own
theorieson Chri.stianity -
which he despised -
and to expound on other
areas including the death
of God and the necessity
for conflict in society.
the book introduces The Austrian painter Gustciu Klinil (1862-1918), whu was conventions. The sensual, erulic LjualUy of his work, as seen iu
Nietzsche's concept familiar with Nietzsche's writings, challenged the prudish The Kiss (1907-08), ivas deemed hy some to be pornographic
of the "superman." conventions of turn-of-the-century Vienna, where a social but it was a perfect expression of Nietzsche's belief that we
epoch was coming to an end. and with it ceilain artistic are under an obligation to reappraise our morals and values
lie
NIETZSCHE
Nietzsche's own response to it. Tlie challenge is Mussolini a present of the collected works of
that if we no longer hold traditional religious beliefs Nietzsche at their historic meeting on the Brenner
it is illegitimate for us to go on embracing a Pass in 1938. The Nazis themselves, in their
morality and values that derive their justification propaganda, made repeated use of Nietzsche's
from those beliefs. Our whole position, if we do words, such as "superman and "the will to power."
"
that, is phony, false. We are imder an obligation to, as His came to be regarded as the representative voice
Nietzsche puts it, reevaluate our values. In other of Fascist philosophy by both Fascists and their
words we need, from the bottom up, to carry out opponents. For several generations, subsequently,
a radical reappraisal of our morals and our values this got in the way of his philosophy being taken
on the basis of beliefs that we do really genuinely at its true value by those people who hated Fascism.
hold. This is a hair-raising challenge, and one of
Lou SALOME
fundamental urgency in an increasingly irreligious Influence of the arts In 1873 Nictz.schc mcl
I'aul Kct*. fclkns
world. Ever since Nietzsche put it before us, it has In the late 1 9th and early 20th centuries Nietzsche 11
" vlAN IS
L ROPE, TIED
BETWEEN
BEAST AND
UPERMAN-
ROPE OVER Cesare lombroso
Nietzsche's idea cf
and
?? the "superman.
AN
"
ABYSS of an aristocracy cf
superior indiiidiials.
ivas reinforced
other theoties
by
Friedrk'.h Nietzsche
circulating at the
time. Cesare Lombroso
n the opinion of many it is the most important ( UV6-I909). an
Italia)! professor of
iliilosophical question that confronts us today. medicine, psychiatiy.
or this alone, Nietzsche stands at or near the head and criminal
anthropology.
)f those philosophers whom we ourselves have postulated one such
o come to terms with. thcoiy: he believed
that memlx'rs of the
He does not hold that position because of his The triumph of the will criminal underclass
positive views, the doctrines he put forward in Phrases from Sietzsche's work, such as "Ihc will lo /Hnrcr". were distinguishable
were used in the Fascist propaganda of both Mussolini and by their physical
inswer to his own challenge. Nevertheless, these J/itler. But Xietzsche was neither a tiationalisl nor an appearance -
lid have a considerable influence for something anti-Semite, and the association of Nietzsche's Superman including the shape
with the Nazi cotiception of the pure Aryan is mistaken. of the skull, nose.
ike half a century. Mussolini, the founder of
The photograph above shows a rally held by the Nazis and broir ridges.
ascism, read Nietzsche extensively: Hitler gave in .September 1934 at Nuremberg. Germany.
177
A GOLDEN CENTURY OE GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
George Bernard whole of Nietzsche was expressed in three lines (1896) which is still frequently performed and
SHAW that Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Richard III: recorded. So Nietzsche penetrated widely as well
'Ihc Irish dniDuilist
Conscience is but a word that cowards use as deeply into the culture of the late 19th and
Ck'orge Ih'rminl Shtiir
(l,S5(y-l'>=S()l is niosi Devised at first to keep the strong in awe. early 20th centuries. I
on European writers of the front rank than any His own heroism in pursuit of this path was
other philosopher after Karl Marx - if indeed Marx beyond question. Sigmimd Freud, the founder
can be satisfactorily thought of as a philosopher of psychoanalysis, said of him: "In my youth he
More surprisingly, since one does not easily signified a nobility which I could not attain."
expect a philosopher to be taken up by composers, Freud also, according to his leading biographer,
Mahler, Delius, and Schoenberg all set Nietzsche's "several times said of Nietzsche that he had a I
words to music, and Richard Strauss wrote an more penetrating knowledge of himself than any
orchestral tone-poem called Also Sprach Zarathiistra other man who ever lived or was ever likely to live."
a complex relationship
with his country. After
falling in love with the
political activist Maud
Gonne, ^'eats became
passionate about Irish
nationalism. Yeats first
Fascism
Many elements of
Niet'sche s philosophy
were iiusappropnaled
by the l-'ascists and
iVr/r/.s hefire World
178
NIETZSCfll-.
The Philosopher
Artist
Nietzsche is one of the insights, which often come at the desire not to be understood."
supreme literary artists reader like flashes of lightning But usually they are more
among philosophers. followed by thunderbolts. philosophically deep than that.
Many Germans regard him as the Sometimes they take the More characteristic are: "A thinker
greatest of all writers of German familiar form of epigrams, such as: finds it a drawback always to be
prose. One reason why Nietzsche "If married couples did not live tied to one person," and "If you
has been able to speak to so many look for too long into the abyss,
creative artists is that he was himself the abyss will look into you;" and
something of an artist among "The day after tomorrow belongs to
philosophers. He wrote good me. Some are born posthumously."
poetry, composed music (which
was perhaps not so good), and n view of the fact that
Semitism, he considered
implication, but have to be inferred involuntary inclination to set their tendency towards anti-
from the metaphors. Primarily, this oneself up as an individual without Semitism. His final words on the
mode of presentation is designed really being one," or "A stubborn subject were: "I am just having all
to put forward not arguments but avoidance of convention means a anti-Semites shot." He was no Nazi.
179
1
J^ WLWT'*—
I
MflWt^iJtW""* '
W T«<»W—
I! IHIil. HI
l I m 'lt Jwl t.V.X,K
f Mi l
m il 11 .
1
J X '
.-mil. I
» III ii ii M- «
iMMMiMMBMHhi^ilMtaii^ n il iiM
'
dlr T i
'^"
n I V i I Yi T ir
i
fT
•mmmmmm ^^ V^'T'tWnapVP ipwaw^i
f"T— " " - " «
. I »
^m
immmKF^mm^ffi^
[''-••;'•
-."i ll Ij \
Democracy
Philosophy
After the fall of the ciTi' states of ancient
United nations
The association of stales for international peace, security,
and cooferation has its heacUjuarters in .\eit' York City.
DEMOCRACY AND PHILOSOPHY-
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Although
presumed
LONDON
il is
thai Jeremy
often
The Utilitarians
Beiitham established
University College THE EMPIRICISTS CONCENTRATE ON
London, ivas
actually founded by
an association of
liberals including
Heniy Brougham. "Everybody to count for one, and nobody for more than one'
Isaac Goldsmidt.
James Mill, and the
was made in metaphysics and theory of knowledge. on after him to the emergence of British socialism
The great advances came in moral and later in the 1 9th century. Bentham and his
Panopticon
Left agenda London, founded in 1826.
in "morals reformed,
health preserved, indiistry
Hume, was Jeremy
after entrance hall, in a glass '
of Legislation (1 789) as the Philosophical Radicals who spearheaded the the intervention of friends that his writings were
Con.stitutional Code
movement for liberal reform of prisons, censorship, published many of them after his death.
at all,
(1830)
education, the laws governing sexual activity. In fact what made his name most widely known
182
THE UTILITARIANS
I
was a French translation by an admirer, published in philosophy, which held that the rightness or WESTMINSTEK REVIEW.
I
Paris in 1802. And by this time he had already been wrongness of an action was to be judged entirely
made a citizen of the new French republic, in 1792, in terms of its consequences (so that motives, for
and had acquired some influence in Continental instance, were irrelevant); that good consequences
Europe and the United Bentham was a late
States. were those that gave pleasure to someone, while
j
developer, and unlike most people he became more bad consequences were those that gave pain to
radical as he grew older In 1824, only a few years someone; and therefore that in any situation the
before his death at the age of 84, he founded, at right course of action to pursue was the one that
I
his own expense, the Westminster Review, which would maximize the excess of pleasure over pain,
THF. ViESTMINSTER RF.VIEK
;
was to be for many years an exceedingly effective or else minimize the excess of pain over pleasure.
Much of Jeremy
forum for "advanced" ideas. It was, for instance, the This philosophy became known as Bentham's work wa.s
aimed ac .securing
Westminster Review, nearly three decades later, Utilitarianism, because it meant judging each
parliamentary reform,
that drew the world's attention to Schopenhauer's action by its utility, that is to say its usefulness and in order to .spread
I
I
took a maxim that had been enunciated early in the greatest number entered
" the English language covered education, art,
and .science, and was
j
18th century by a Scots-Irish philosopher called as a catchphrase familiar to everyone. generally well recei\ed.
Francis Hutcheson: "That action is best which Once this principle was accepted, the only
procures the greatest happiness for the greatest difficulty involved in making decisions was the
numbers." Bentham evolved this into a moral difficulty of calculating consequences. In making
183
DEMOCRACY AND P H LOSCJ IMl \'
I
snlplciuciilnii^
wages Willi /iiihlic
"OVER HIMSELF,
idea oj each jxirish
mem her conlnbuling
to u IX fur he local
1 1 I
INDIVIDUAL
II
agciinsi ibis social the Creek word agnpe, meaning lore of a spiritual kind) in
background that Ihe 1840s. Based at a spacious Somerset mansion (above),
Benlham formulated Ihe cult soon acquired a reputation for practicing free love.
his liberal lbciiru_-< for
a heller sociely
any such calculation another important principle
IS SOVEREIGN"!
John Stcart Mill
was brought into play: "Everybody is to count for
one, and nobody for more than one." The attitudes institutions of government and administration
to which these principles gave rise were very in Britain, where they have retained a powerful
different from traditional ones. For instance, forms influence ever since. To some extent this marks
of sexual activity which brought no suffering to a difference between Britain and the United States,
where the emphasis has always been more heavily
on individual rights, with a correspondingly greater
reluctance to sacrifice the individual to the welfare
of the majority, and a lower readiness to accept
government intervention. i
Infant prodigy
The man who did more than anyone else to
184
THE UTILITARIANS
I
At the age of 17 he started work significant harm to anyone else - for
JOHN" STliAKT'Mll.I..
I
with the East India Company, in which at that point, as a judge once remarked
I his father was one of the most senior Ilia defendant: "Your liberty to swing
officials, and he remained with them your arm ends where my nose
until the Company ceased to exist begins." Mill's book remains
35 years later, in 1858. This the classic exposition of
j
overwhelming domination by the case for this conception On unnan
The most popiiliir of all
'
his father in everything to do of the freedom of the John Stuart Mill'.s work.s,
with his life up to the age of individual, and is still widely On Liberty was written
with help from his wife,
20 precipitated a breakdown read as such. Harriet, and published
The Subjection of Women her death. The book
after
into serious depression at that
defines and defends tlie
age, which caused him to feel is even more remarkable. freedom of the individual
against social and
the need for more personal John stuart mill After Plato, who advocated
political control.
outlets. He came out of the The British philosopher and economist John that girls should be brought
j
1858. During the years 1865-1868 MUl was a in view of Plato's incomparable prestige for long The Subjection of
Women (1869)
Member of Parliament, where he distinguished periods during those two thousand years. The
Principles of Political
himself by proposing votes for women. Subjection of Women was the first book devoted Economy (1848)
by any well known thinker to arguing the case Utilitarianism (1863)
Equality for women for sexual equality - and this it did with all of Mill's Three Es.says on
Religion (1874)
Mill's first book made him famous: it was A System characteristic cogency and attractiveness. For this
of Logic, a. two-volume work published in 1843. reason, as one might expect, it continues to be held
In spite of its title it was a general system of in high esteem by feminists everywhere.
philosophy as a whole, bringing
together and up to date the
jempiricist philosophy developed by
Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Bentham -
185
DKMOCRACV AND P H I LC)S( ) I' 1 1 ^
Charles sanders
key works
peirce's
Photometric
Researches - Harvard
The American
Pragmatists
Obsei"vatory Annais
(1878)
"How to Make our
Ideas Clear"
(1878)
of the Logic
"Illustrations
of Science" - Popular
KNOWLEDGE AS A FORM OF
Science IVIonthly
(1877-78)
PRACTICAL INVOLVEMENT
Collected Papers
( 1931-58) Knowing is something we do, and is best seen as a practical activity.
Questions of meaning and truth are also best understood in this context.
original was Charles Sanders Peirce; the For example, much tvas learned about the construction
and design of bridges after the collapse of the Tay Bridge
most enjoyable to read was William in Scotland in 1880: the picture above shoivs divers
James; and the most widely preparing to inspect the submerged remains.
186
THE AMERICAN FRAGMATISTS
Fallibilism
A great deal of originality is
This means
improve it, or perhaps even
that scientific knowledge is
re}iatned Cambridge),
Massachusetts.
The institution was
IS THAT WHICH
not a body of certainties but a body of explanations.
named after John
And the growth of our scientific knowledge does Haward, a Puritan
minister, and was
not consist in adding new certainties to a body of
A
LATER, little earlier in the century a philosopher in
Cambridge, England, called William Whewell had
clerical and political
control and earned
a reputation as a
had some of these but Peirce developed
INFORMATION insights;
many scientists
187
DEMOCRACY AND PHILOSOPfH'
^fct'i mWL
W Hill IMI^n II I \
corrigible. In the
knowledge is
course of the 20th century,
however, people came to realize that none of our
certain, not even our science; that
(Jni. cjt tliL mcjst am i7ing
.scientific advances of the all of it is fallible, and in principle improvable,
late 19th century was even replaceable. The history of knowledge
tiie discovery by Wiihelm
Rontgen (1845-1923)
so obviously bears this out that it may be
of X-rays. The.se considered surprising that no one had realized
electromagnetic rays
that before. Comparatively little that is "known"
enabled doctors to see
inside the human body in any one age continues to be regarded as
without recourse to
unquestionable by later generations. It is
surgery and had an
enormous effect on virtually certain that our own age will be
people's perception no exception to this.
of science.
Another general characteristic of 20th-
century thought that was prefigured by Peirce
concerns man's existential relationship to his
William james' knowledge, the fact that he is not outside the
key works
world looking at it but is a part of it, a participant
The Principles of
Psychology (1890)
in it whose knowledge and understanding of
The Varieties of it have above all else to meet urgent needs that
Religious Experience he has. This view came to be held in common
(1902)
by several later schools of thought that were
Pragmati.sm: A New
Name Old Ways
for accustomed to thinking of themselves William james
of Thinking (1907) example The American psychologist and philosopher William James, brothei
as opposed to one another: for
The Meaning of Truth of the novelist Henry James, was for most of his adult life associated
Heidegger and the modern form of
(1909) with Harvard University, where he graduated in medicine, and
existentialism that developed out of him. taught successively physiology, philo.mphy. and psychology'.
188
nil-: AMI-RICAN I'KACMATISTS
A THEORY OF TRUTH
Wliereas Peirce had put forward pragmatism as a
theory of meaning, James treated it as a theory of
"NOTHING
IS VITAL FOR
SCIENCE;
NOTHING ??
CAN BE Charles Sanders Peirce
^
This was a view that was to become more closely eventually tired of what came to seem endless and
associated with the name Jung. Peirce retained good often repetitive controversy surrounding pragmatism,
personal relations with James, and was, needless to and moved the focus of his work on to other
^=
189
DEMOCRACY AND PHILOSOPHY
theories he was always involved in a wide range The School and Society (1899).
of practical activities, for instance with scientific
groups, and political groups, and in the founding Learning by doing
of new kinds of school. He was always trying to Dewey saw it as an inescapable fact that for
propagate his ideas to a wider audience, and several hundred years now, far and away our
produced a lot of high-quality journalism as well greatest successes in the acquisition of knowledge
''what is
as many books. He became internationally known have been in the sciences. Two features of this
sometimes called and influential. He lectured in Tokyo, Beijing, and knowledge struck him forcefully: it is more reliable
190
rm; ami' hi can pragmatists
we
our solution "THE MORE...
is refuted by tests shall have to think again: but
if it is experimentally confirmed
the problem, and can move on.
we will have solved INTERACTIONS
Dewey came
underlying pattern for
to see this as the desirable
grow
how our knowledge and our competence
in all areas - though of course the particular
could
THE MORE SCHOOL
procedures used, type of evidence, testing methods,
and so on, would differ in different fields.
BEINCTBIUSSLBCTVMXS
y
inescapably social activity.
democracy, to which he was deeply committed, and QUESTION" THE ONIVEItSnYOF CHICAGO PRESS
l|HCCLUBE.rMlLLlPS 8.C0IIPANy|
1^ (^
about which he wrote a good deal. He advocated John Dewey
that the education of children should be based on
this problem-solving approach - what he called competence in all fields of human activity. His ideas Thv. school and soar.TY
In his most notable
"learning by doing" - because it combined being about education were influential worldwide. At the writing on education,
practical with taking full account of the importance time when he began writing about it education The School and Sociely
(1899). Dewey pre.scnted
of theory, and encouraged children to be imaginative was thought of almost everywhere as something the underlying tenets that
at both levels, and above all because it would train imposed by strict discipline on a recalcitrant child, formed his philosoplu'
of education. These
them in a general against his will. Dewey's proposed methods of included the role of the
enlisting the child's natural energies to drive the teacher as guide and co-
worker, and the belief
education process along had extraordinary that the educational
proce.ss must begin
effects. He was one of the first great
with, and build on, the
modernists in education theory, intere.sts of the child.
John dewey's
key works
The School and
Society (1899)
Studies in Logical
Theory (190.=i)
Recon.strtiction in
Phikwophy (1920)
The Quest for
Certainty (1929)
Practical learning
—
k'lrcy (idrocalcil a hy ch)in}>" apjirocich In
lci(niiii;j, traclilioiml llwoiy work In ll>is p/jiiliifiiriph. Ilea leu~vc(tr-oUI
tliu Ilium. nniiiil(iniii!i> llxil children k'cint more itiwii ll)cy hoys, ivcitchcci hy ii teacher, e.xperiiiieni lo deleriiiine wh(tl
irc I'licoii railed lo he inniiiintilire in holh J>r(iclical and liapliens lo air when il /\ healed and cooled.
-
i
191
1 m IP ,_>a 1
k ^^^^^^^^
1
I'aHiK"^
r s
rm
r^.^^jl i
t "jHH
.^^^^^^^1
^^ 1
^^B ^^H
'..1
-
^^^P 1_ f
G
1
J
^1 !- ---"^^'^^*^
H^^B^^^
^^^^p- ,M
ENTURY
Philosophy
The 20th century was the first since
Key works
BegrifFschi-ift
^Concept Scripts
( 1879)
AND
The Founciations
of Arithmetic
(1884)
^.OGIC
Basic
of Arithmetic
Laws LOGIC MOVES TO CENTER STAGE
(1S93)
In the early 20th century breakthroughs occurred in logic which
Logical
In\'estigations
affected the whole of the rest ofphilosophy.
f J 91 9-23)
THE SYSTEM OF LOGIC laid down by When this insight was applied to general
Aristotle remained unaltered in its philosophy it had momentous
essentials until the 19th century. consequences. Since Descartes,
Giuseppe peano
By that time logic had come to Western philosophy had been
Many of Fregc s ideas
were first Iraiisinillec/ be thought of as consisting of dominated by the question
l?y olher people.
the laws that govern thought. "What can I know?" Theory
iucliidiuf> the Ilalian
mathematician As Schopenhauer put it, we of knowledge, epistemology,
Giuseppe Feauo. were no more able to think had been at the center; and
As the founder <f
symbolic logic. I'eami coherently without obeying this was taken to mean that
created his mm logic these laws than we were what went on in people's
notdlioii I CIS did
Fregel. and able to bend our limbs minds was the main subject
established the basic against our joints. However, of investigation. But Frege s
elements of geometric
calculus. Peano also
in the later part of the 1 9th insight had the consequence
inrented his oivn century a German called of de-psychologizing
international
Gottlob Frege (1848-1925) philosophy. If what is the case,
aiixiliaiy language.
"Interlingua. " which had an insight whose and what follows from what,
teas a fusion of consequences were to are both independent of the
I 'oca biliary from
Latin. Fivncb, overthrow this conception human mind, then our attempts
German, and Fnglisb. of logic and bring about to understand the world cannot
revolutionary developments legitimately center on
Gottlob frege
in the subject. The German malhemalician and philosopher epistemology. The clear
Gottlob Frege ivas the founder of modern
implication is that philosophy
imithenuitical logic and laid the foundations
-7-7/'-i'-'-^- Logic is objective for aiutlytic philosophy. It teas not until after his ought to be logic-based, not
W/- Like so many ideas of major death that he became ividely knoirii. epistemology-based; and
importance, it appears obvious Frege's work precipitated
once it is stated, but had never been obvious changes in that direction which continued
before. It is this: something either does in fact, or unabated in many of the main areas of philosophy
does not, in fact, follow from something else, and throughout the 20th century.
whether it does or not cannot possibly depend
— y?_ /.A,/iJ .^<ai. ^-j<i on anything to do with the psychology of human Maths is logic
beings. In other words, logic is not "laws of Frege's other great achievement concerned our
thought" at all, or indeed anything to do with understanding of mathematics. Mathematics, of
Letter to husserl
Frcge perceived a thought. Logical relationships are independent of course, consists almost entirely of what follows
difference between his human thought. Of course, we human beings can from what. And mathematical arguments and
views on the relationship
between words and their know them, learn them, overlook them, demonstrations, like all other arguments and
and those that
significance
misunderstand them, and so on and so demonstrations, have to start from somewhere, from
forth, but
Husserl expresses in his
Fhilosophy of Arithmetic we can do these things with much else that exists some premises; and they must also have at least one
(1891). In the letter
above. Frege explains the
independently of us. The point is that logical rule of procedure if they are to move beyond their
difference, and sets out propositions are objective truths. We may grasp premises. As has been said before, it is not possible
his distinction between
the sense and the
them, or fail to grasp them, but their existence has for a demonstration to prove the validity of its own
reference of expressions. nothing to do with any feature of human thinking. premises, or of its own rules of procedure, for if it
194
l-KHC.i: \\I) MODEKN l.OCilC
tried to do that it would be moving in a vicious technical field overlapping with mathematics, QUANTlFlCAnON
circle; for it would already have assumed what it set and is now taught and researched as such in THEORY
The grcciU'si
out to prove. This means that every mathematical every major university in the world.
cotitrihiitio)! thai
demonstration starts from unproven premises, and Tlie other great side-effect was that if Frege made to logic
ivas his
uses rules of procedure whose validity it does not mathematics was coextensive with logic, then itii'eiitioii of
c/uantificatioi! theory.
establish. So what a valid mathematical "proof" the de-psychologization of logic automatically This ivas a method
actually proves is that, given those rules of procedure, involved the de-psychologization of mathematics. of symbolizing and
displaying those
these conclusions follow from those premises. It does Throughout the history of mathematics a dispute
iii/ereiices that depetid
not prove that the conclusions are true, because it about its fundamental nature had been going on for their i>alidity on
expressions such as
cannot prove that the premises are true. Since this between those who saw it as a product of the
"all" or "some. " For
applies to all mathematical arguments and human mind, like language, and those who saw the fiiyt time, formal
logic could hatidle
demonstrations without exception, the whole of it as having an independent existence of its own.
aigtiments that
mathematics has to be seen as somehow free-floating If Frege "s program could be carried through involved sentences
without any visible means of support. successfully, their dispute would be settled in ivitb multiple
in mid-air,
quantification, such
Starting with arithmetic, what Frege aimed to favor of the latter option. as "nobody knotvs
"
show was that all the unproven assumptions and everybody.
"THERE IS which at
idealism, with
the time
its
were
committed
firmly in the grip of
belief in the view of
German
0{A
r <;»(>! +b) -0{A) Stic
!>)-<HA) <.v.
done
to the
though not before Russell had
a great deal of hard
world
work
at large
-*
S
LAWS OF
> (c + b) (c) <; I
on his own
and reinventing things
account re-discovering
that Frege
'W A
-
^i
>0
-n >0
-A ^t
9 ^ !>
IL
i
h
B
9
^ B
??
ARITHMETIC had already done.
Before turning to philosophy,
Russell had been trained in
Wcnn
crschcint, so
Fonnel im Vcrglcich mit dem Wonausdruck umfangreich
hicr die
iitimcr zu bedenken, dass Erstcre die Dcttnition des Be-
ist
griffcs gibi, den Lctzterc nur nennt. Trotzdcin mochtc cine Zahlung dcr
einzelnen Zcichcn, die hicr und da crfordcrlich sind, nicht zu Ungunslen
der Formcl ausfallcn.
= A,y = B
GOTTLOl! FRECiE 15) <t> {x,y) ist cine reelle, itir x stetigc Function von x undy.
: b :^ S
truths derived from purely logical premises. The aim And having, as an infant, had a '
9 >
was to set mathematics on solid foundations; but this German-speaking nurse he had 16) A ist der Grcnzwcrt der mit B anfangcnden «.Reihe (vergl. Bcgrilfcchrift
26, 29).
program was to have two sets of side-effects which been able to speak German before §§ 9, 10,
.<+ni:il^/4-n
^VT^^^T^^^-
were each of historic importance. he knew any English. All this Li0(b,, a,)
195
20TH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
KEY WORKS
Principles of
Mathematics
(J 903)
Russell
Principia
Mathematica
(1910-13)
Analytic P
The Prolilenis
of Piiilosophy
(1912)
PHILOSOPHY TURNS ITS SPOTLIGHT
Otir Knowledge
the External World
of ON LANGUAGE
as a Field for
Scientific Method Bertrand Russell used the new logic to analyze statements in
in Philosophy
(1914) ordinary language. This inaugurated a whole new way
A Histoiy
of Western of doing ph ilosophy.
Philosophy
(1946)
BERTRAND RUSSELL (1872-1970) had It was the only book he ever wrote
one of the most interesting lives about another philosopher -
is seen by
Prime Minister of Great Pioneer in logic
Britain. Both of young Russell engaged with life
two minds Bertie's parents died on a broad front. As a
196
Rl SSFI.I, AM) ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY'
TO FACE IS
Philosophy, published in
1914. Other important books
and educational
HORRIBLE, social,
197
iOTH-CENTIRY PHILOSOPHY"
As a general philosopher Russell felt himself to be French throne, and consequently no heir to it, so
in a direct line of succession of well-known British there is no one and nothing to whom the statement
empiricists of whom
the leading figures were refers. So how could it be said to be either true or
Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Mill. (Mill was in fact false? In fact, does it even mean anything?
Russell's godfather) He believed that all our As soon as Russell subjected our ordinary way
knowledge of the external world - both our of talking about things to this kind of logical analysis
everyday commonsense knowledge and our he exposed it as a minefield of problems and traps.
(
Harvard Uni\
192-4-37). His
include Priucipia
ersity
works
to the
he, Whitehead, and Frege had developed between
that
TRUTH, BUT
Mcithcmalica (1910-13). them. Just as previously he had tried to provide
u rilten with Rtissell, and
Ihc Coiicepl of Saliin'
( 1920). In his "thcorv-
mathematics with watertight logical foundations,
so now he tried to provide our knowledge of the
BEAUTY-
of the organism" he
attemiited a synthesis of
metaiihysics and science.
external world, including our scientific knowledge,
with watertight logical foundations, in both cases
A BEAUTY
SECTION C|
= .}(,f,j| = j,^;)
CLAS3E.S KlJ
the aim being to establish
human knowledge with
absolute certainty. In neither
COLD AND
[.20 13 .10 32]
AUSTERE, LIKE
.
.2023
.2024,
!:?(*')
t/."
[.20-21-221
[.20-21-22]
achieved great things in the
course of trying.
TLiATOF
!(X2)
.2026.
I-..101
Dem.
.
:. a = 2 (*£)
1-
=. a = J (^rs) = 2 (0j) = S (^3)
.
DI-:.a = S(.^i).=..a=.S(^2):D:
. : .
.203 h JeS(.fr2l.a.ifrT
.
16 =
1-
::
[(.20 02)]
2 (.(^Jl . :. (a*) :. '/-y .
a :. (a*) :• -(-y =, * y * I :.
.
s,
« y I f (* 2) .
.
!
!
:
: !
! :.
concerning meaning and true logical nature, which may be highly problematic.
[.10 43] =:.(a*):.Vy-s,.*!y:^i:. truth in even apparently
[•10 35] 5:. (3*): V-y •=,.«! y i.'f'x:.
[.121] =:.-^i::3l-.Prop simple statements. If we The BIRTH OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
This pr oposition shows that x is a member of the class determined by +
when, and only when, x satisfies ^. say "The heir to the British This pioneering work of Russell's launched a
.2031 1- .2(+z) = 2(;(j).= :xe2(,fT).E..ie2(xJ) [•2015 3]
.2032 h J!it2(*i)|=2(*«) [.2031.'i] throne is bald the meaning
" development in philosophy which became known
.2033 h .« = 2(,^z). = :ifa.s,.*x
Dem. of our statement seems as "analytic philosophy", and which was to come
I-..2031 . 3^..a^^^<t,^).^ .xta.=,.xtH<l>i) (11
I-. (1)..203. DI-. Prop obvious; and if we try to close to dominating philosophy in the English-
Here a is written in place of some expression of the form 2 [^i The
use of the single Greelt letter is more convenient whenever the deterrnining establish its truth by speaking world for most of the 20th century.
function is irrelevants
checking the facts we find In the course of this time it took different forms,
that it is false. But suppose but common to them all was the close analysis
Mathematical logic we change the statement of propositions, or of the individual terms and
/// seminal work. Principia Mathematica. Russell
llH'tr
only ever so slightly to one concepts they employed, or of their logical
mill W'hilehead alleiuplcci to show- using a cliJJ'crcul
uoliition from Frege's- ihcil the whole of arithmetic that seems of exactly the implications both internal and external, with a view
could be derived simply front logical truths. The page same form: "The heir to the to bringing everything that was hidden in them
shown aboi'e is part of an hypothesis of classification.
from the section <f the hook dealing with
French throne is bald." Is this to the surface. The overall question always was:
iiiiithcmaliccil logic true or false? There is no ""What are we really saying when we say so-and-so?
198
Kl ssri.l. \\1) WAI.VTK I'll II.OSOIMI^-
Founded by the
dennaii philosopher
Moritz Schlick
(/882-J9.KyJ. this
g roi ip o/' .sc/c'/ lists.
philosophers, and
mathenuilicians was
formed in the 192()s
and met in Vienna to
iurestigate scientific
language and
methodology. 7he
group's work was
marked by its concern
with the form of
scientific theories:
and they ako
formiilaled a principle
of rcrifiabilily - the
claim that the
meaningfulness of a
proposil iodepends
11
on experience and
ol}serralion.
Triniti' coi.lhc.e,
cambridcf.
Foundud in 1^46 by
Ilcnry \II. Trinits' is the
largest of the colleges
.U Cambridge University.
0\er the years it has
produced 20 Nobel Prize
\\ inner.s, six British prime
mini.sters. and .several
poets, inckiding Byron
.md TennNson Kiisscll
chief concern was to establish the philosophical words, what observable difference does its truth
foundations of a scientific worldview. Theirs was or falsehood make to the way things actually are?
199
20TH-CENTUUY PHILOSOPHY
Common sense
Meanwhile, in Britain, a near-contemporary and
lifelong friend of Russell's called G. E. Moore had
Bloomsbury group been pursuing the analysis of statements in
The group of English ordinary language using neither science nor
II Tilers. l>h ilosophers.
(iroii/i lii/hieuced
/>)' (/ /; Moore's "linguistic analysis," and its criterion was the
Fnncipia Etliica
ordinary use of language. The Logical Positivists had
(I'M) i) unci on very
friendly terms with NEW POWER-FORMULA ESSO EXTRA BOOSTS POWER THREE WAYS... been mistaken, said the linguistic analysts, in trying
Bert rand Russell. 1. QUICK STARTING. New Huo Extra giv<.-^ quick >moo(hly and cRicicnily to force the straightjacket of scientific standards
!.ia(iing.iniuiiim<:iandwimcr.and»noo(/;i™/r.>/W 3. HIGH QUALITY. New Esso Exira has ihc high
they met to discuss (KnecT will) thai txira acolcraiion when you necdil. modem cars n«ij for peak pcrformancr
forms of utterance. Umpteen different sorts
quaiiiy ihui
aesthetic and 2. SMOOTH FIRING. \:vm Extra') new Power- So call Jl tlie tiito tigntuidfill uptuuhncvi E*u> Hitra
on all
funnula improves ignmon. hdps your engine to tire -^nd/eet the dtlffrentc. fUT a tiufs is vtvti takk
/>hilosophical of spontaneous discourse go to make up human
cjueslKins The group
included such notable
life, and each one has its own logic. Philosophical
^afifiy/tfoiSuKf/ rSSSO
figures as the norelist problems are conceptual confusions that arise
\'irginia Wool/', the
i's.sr/17^/ I.Ylton
when a form of utterance appropriate to one mode
.Stracher. the art critic Verifiable statements
Roger h'ry. the pauilcr Logical Posilii'ists held that statements that make no
Duncan (,'rant. {nut difference In anylhitig have no content. Only ivrifiable riS^«i7.SSri<>::-S^s^S?*"''> .f.y^
the economist folni statenienis are nwaningf'iil. The advertising slogan "I'ut a
Maynard Keynes. tiger in your tank" is an effectii'e metaphor, hut has no
nwaning empirically.
ttchsatbett^tenll
A
whose
statement that puq^orts to be about reality but
truth or falsehood
difference to anything has
makes no observable
no content, no meaning -
iftf (
Rrbats^ienftfiirMe
1
it is not saying anything. In this belief they had
loeibltche Juocnl) ift |\
mutterDicnft,
something fundamentally in common with the
American Pragmatists, but their formulation of
WUn 15 B« mon(»-ftilfn'-5trI5^'lDien,1.6i3.,n'cnt>DrfcT|YT.6-Ctn3.BnKfcnrr(lT.«»Sol3bur»,*oiflorrc 12
.
JnnsbnicK Bienerrtr.6
'
•"ftlOflmfiiTi, 5t. Dcitrr- hiii© f • 3t.pA»n\. flrfm5tT-ton6ftr."&ra3,notbouj •
200
^L
KI'SSKLl. AM) ANAI.VTK; P H I l.O SO I' 1
1
'i
G. E. MOORE
TIk' British philosopher
George Edward Moore
(1873-1958) was
professor of philosophy
at Cambridge
University from
1925-39. In his most
famous book,
Principia Ethica
(1903). which was
particularly
itijluenlial on
members of the
Bloomsbury Group,
he analyzes the moral
question "What is
good"? Moore's
analytic approach
to ethical J>roblems
of discourse is mistakenly used in the wrong Russell himself, however, came more and more to
context. The task of the philosopher is to unpick feel that philosophers after him were declining into
such confusions, employing as his criterion the what was essentiaUy a decadent activity of analysis for
ordinary uses of language. When he has shown how its own sake - they had come to think of philosophy
any such confusion has arisen he will have not so
much solved the problem as dissolved U Russell's influence
Bertrand Russell
THE
it - all will
was o)w of the
have been made clear, and there will be seen to be most influential
no longer a problem. intellectual figures
of the 20th centuiy.
He published books
j
Understanding the world
The
its
attractiveness of linguistic philosophy received
greatest boost of all from the later work of
SENSE OF on a wide range of
subjects, i)icluding
philosophy, science.
mathematics, ethics.
sociology, education.
Wittgenstein, a pupil of Russell's, whom we shall
I
consider in the next chapter But just as Logical
Positivism eventually ran
fashionable philosophy
its
among
course as the most
the Second World
REALITY histoiy. religion,
politics.
logic
His works on
mathematics and
profoundly
and
]
affected Western
IS VITAL
j
War generation in the English-speaking world, so philosophy, hi the last
decades of his life
I
linguistic philosophy ran its course among the Russellwas active in
generation after that, above all in Britain. Since the campaign against
??
IN LOGIC
nuclear weapons and
then, philosophy in both countries has been less
the Vietnam War.
fashion-bound, and has taken its problems from an
increasingly wide range of subject matter, by no
means confined to the sciences. But the prevailing Bertrand Russell
view of philosophy's task has continued to be the as being analysis - when what he had intended
logical analysis of formulations in language, with was to apply the new logic of the 20th century
a view to bringing hidden implications to light - to philosophy's traditional task of understanding
and that is a task that was inaugurated by Russell. the nature of the reality external to ourselves.
201
20TH-CENTURY PHILOSOPin'
Manchester
university
Fonndcil iit 1851.
Manchester I 'iiiversily
Wittgenstein .
Linguistic Philosophy
cjiiickly grew lu be one
of Great Britain s
largest imitx'rsities.
At the time that
Wittgenstein attended
the n niters I IV.
the U'orid center Jar
it was A PHILOSOPHY THAT DOES NOT GO
resetnrh mi ihc
structure
'ihis
itf the
resciux'h irtis
iilt>))i
BEYOND LANGUAGE AND LOGIC
headed by Ihc Uritish
/>ln'sicisl I'.IIICSt
Wittgenstein produced two philosophies, both of them influential.
Rullwr/ord ( IS^I-
19^^) ui.io iron the
In the later one linguistic analysis achieved its ultimate
Nolx'l prize Jiir
Cheitiislry in l')()S and degree of refinement.
disccrcred llw (limine
nucleus in 1909.
(1889-1951) was born in Vienna, and under Russell - who later wrote:
wrote in German, he spent most of "Getting to know Wittgenstein was
his career as a philosopher in Britain, one of the most exciting intellectual
202
\X ITTGKXSTF.IN
describable in language, and thus to explain the sociology to literary criticism, and has made him Key works
relationship between language and reality. And, as a one of the intellectual icons of the age. Wittgenstein, Tractatu.s Logito-
Philo.sophicu.s
next step, this would make it possible for us to map then, produced two different philosophies in the
(1921)
out in principle what the limits were to what could course of his life, each of which had great influence.
Philosopliical
intelligibly be expressed in language - and therefore Invcstigalion.s
(1953)
what the limits were to intelligible conceptual
thouglit.
right,"
Given that Schopenhauer was "fundamentally
these were the only important tasks
philosophy to perform. Wittgenstein's early
left for
"NAMING Kemark.s on ihc
FoLindalion.s of
Matlifiiiatics
( 1950
philosophy, then,
the Kantian-Schopenhauerian
was based on a revised version of
program of trying to
IS
establish the limits of
human
through
what
beings. Wittgenstein set out to
it again in terms of the
is apprehensible to
new
work
20th-century
SOMETHING
developments in logic and the analysis of language. Tractatus
Logical form
LIKE Logico-Philosophicus
him by
ATTACHING A
G. E. Moore, and seems to have been an allusion
to Spinoza's Tractatus theologica-politiciis.
all the outstanding problems that remained to be LUDWKi WiTTCiFN.STEIN Wittgen.stcin wrote down
Ills thoughts on logic and
dealt with in philosophy, so he turned away and
]ihilns()pii\ in notebooks
did other things. His book became the bible of the Tliey are usually referred to as "the early Wittgenstein carricti in his rucksack.
The resulting book.
"Vienna Circle, and powerfully influenced a whole and "the later Wittgenstein.'"What he himself came
fracUitiis. was eventually
generation in philosophy. However, while it was to feel was most wrong with his early philosophy published in 1921.
.•Mthotigh only 75 pages
doing this, Wittgenstein himself was coming to was its so-called picture theory
long, it covers a \asl
[the conclusion that it was importantly mistaken. of meaning. This term range of topics, niosl
notably the conception
I So, with some reluctance at first, rested on an analogy of the limits of language.
the returned to the world of
Cambridge philosophy in 1929
[and remained there until his
death in 1951.
h=
203
2()TH-CENTllRV PHILOSOPHY
204
W iriCHNSTFIN
with painting. A small piece of canvas is a meaning: there is nothing else left over, so to speak.
totally different sort of object from an expanse Such an account rejects two traditional theories of
of countryside, yet a painter is able to make the meaning. One is that specific words stand for
former represent the latter with immediate specific things, and have fixed meanings: the true
recognizability by placing certain patches of color situation is far more protean and fluid than that.
on it in the same relationship to one another as The other is that words derive their meanings from
corresponding elements are related to one another the intentions of their users, so that to understand
in the landscape. To this set of internal relationships what someone says you need to know what is in
was able
form was the same
to represent the other. Similarly,
in both cases that the one
he argued,
"THE philosopher Rudolph
Carnap (1891-1970)
was one of the leadi>ig
figures of the Logical
we are able to assemble words,
things, into sentences that have the same logical form
as the states of affairs that the
which stand
sentences describe,
for
MEANING OF Positiinst
thought.
school of
He made
important
A WORD IS
contributions to the
and are thus able to represent reality accurately philosophy of science.
(or of course inaccurately) in language. So it is logic, and the theory of
probability. In 1926 he
logical form that enables us to talk about the world. was i>wited by Moritz
Forms of
Later, Wittgenstein
life
came to feel that he had picked
ITS USE IN Schlick to join the
Vienna Circle - a
group who met to
discuss philosophical
;
on one of a great many tasks that language
to perform,
meaning from
and generalized
it.
a whole theory of
Language can do so many other
is able
LANGUAGE" LuDWKi Wittgenstein
issues, in particular
the writings of
Wittgenslein - and he
became one of its more
influential figures.
things besides the picturing of reality: it can give Carnap's most
orders (this was his own first counter-example) his mind. Language is public, Wittgenstein insisted. important ivork is
1
account of what can be done with it
^holh share the same logical /orni. use it. from social silualicnis - like the crowd gathered around this orator at Speakers Corner, London
205
J_
: I ) I' H C E N T U m' PHILOSOPHY'
-
never developed a
anthropologists, and was taken up by some of them.
systematic theory of
aesthetics, and the
i
house was not meant to
be a representation of
Philosophy AS language
his philosophical ideas. There was a period in the middle third of the 20th t
He said: "My ideal is
a certai>i coolness.
century when Wittgenstein dominated philosophy
A temple providing in Cambridge, and J. L.Austin dominated it in The meaning of words
a setting for the Wittgenstein believed that words derive their meanings froi
Oxford, and their methods overlapped. Both saw
passions without the worlds in which they are used. What
apparently the
is
interfering in them.
"
philosophical problems not as presented to us by same concept in the world of opera may function very
differently in the ivorlds of business, religion, or science.
the fundamental mysteries of the world in which
we find ourselves - time, space, matter, causal
connection, and so on - but as confusions into for this. Empirical problems, it said, were to be
which we stumble as a result of our misuse of tackled by empirical methods, whether those of
language - as it might be, say, using the term common sense, the appropriate science, politics, the
"evidence" in one context in a way that would judicial system, or whatever. Contrary to what so
have been appropriate only in another, and many people had believed in the past, philosophy
thereby getting ourselves into a logical muddle. had nothing to contribute at this level. Its task was
The example is a very simple one, to make the to sort out conceptual problems, to analyze and
point: the kind of confusions clarify concepts and their use. On this basis, much
philosophers concerned philosophy in the English-speaking world came
themselves with were on the to be involved solely with language, its particular
whole much subtler than this. concerns being problems concerning meaning,
The philosopher's task, they references, and truth.
The analysis of language people doing it. But the whole philosophers is increasingly to apply their
Wittgenstein saw philusophical problems as Ihe approach looked no further formidable techniques of analysis to problems
of confusions caused by the misuse of
result
language. The soldiers above are learning lo
than language and logic for its outside the confines of logic and language -
defuse bombs- any ambiguity here could Iw fatal. problems. It offered a rationale in fact across a whole range of subject matter that
206
W ri IC, KNSI KIN
Austin's name, however, has not entered the general Philosophy at the
Unixersity of O.xford.
culture, whereas Wittgenstein's has. The ingenuity trom 1952-1960. and the
dominating figure in
and subtlety of Wittgenstein's analyses of linguistic
Oxford philo.sophy.
meanings endeared him to a number of literary AListin was a pioneer in
the investigation of liow
critics, just as his ultimate location of these meanings
words are used by
in forms of life endeared him to sociologists and ordinary' speakers,and
his thinking had a great
anthropologists. For reasons that extend far beyond inHuenee in the period
philosophy, and which affect all the arts and all following World War II.
partieularl)' his notion of
academic subjects, the 20th century has been more speech as heha\ior.
concerned with language, and more self-conscious
philosophers have rarely considered in the past, about its use, than any century before. This being
including music, sex, and social policies on matters so, the linguistic philosophy that developed during
concerning race and gender, in addition to the more the 20th century found itself in keeping with the
traditional kinds of problem which continue to temper of its time, and
be pursued. The approach, however, is still through received a readier acceptance
the analysis of concepts and modes of utterance from the intellectual
A LION "IF
and note believed
subject matter proper to
philosophy was
that the
linguistic,
HIM"
LUDWK. WlTTCiENSTEIN
declared himself
that anyone could consider
dumfounded
it an adequate conception
something: describing, denying, encouraging, of philosophy; and there
ordering, asking, suggesting, explaining, warning, were other major figures,
Saying a.nd doing
and so on and so forth. may well be impossible
It their methods quite One category of speech thai Austin dijferetitiated was
to talk at all without doing some such thing; and different from Russell's, what he called performative utterances. " These were
usually utterances the veiy making of which
'Austin claimed to be able to distinguish a thousand who were pursuing
perforDieci the act they designated. Common
different actions that people perform by their quite different paths. e.xdDiples are 7 thank you. " or "I congratulate you.
207
2 r H C E N T II K Y
- I' H I L O S O 1^1 ^•
Kierkegaard's
key works
Either/Or:
A Eragment of Life
Existentialism
(1843)
Eear and Trembling
FROM KIERKEGAARD TO HEIDEGGER
( 1843)
The Coneept of fJread The individual finds his own identity a problem, and hopes to
(1844)
Philosophical uncover meaning in life through investigating the mystery
Fragments
(1844)
of his own existence.
Stages on Life's Way
( I8~/ 5)
THE MOST FASHIONABLE philosophy in Europe individual entities, are not even so much as
during the period immediately following World mentioned, whereas the fact is it is only individual
War II was existentialism. It flourished not only things that exist. Abstractions, generalizations, do
in universities but in the worlds of quality not exist in the same sense: they are helps that we
journalism and cafe intellectuals, in poems, novels, invent for ourselves in order to be able to think and
^^Life can
plays, and films, even in cabarets and nightclubs.
only be Itwas unquestionably one of the outstanding
understood intellectual movements of the 20th century, and 1 1 1 L
remains a significant element in contemporary
backwards,
but it must
thinking, in addition to leaving behind
of long-lasting plays and novels.
it a number
SUPREME
be lived
^^
One curious thing about this
came an unusually long time after the
is that the fashion
philosophy.
PARADOX OF
forwards
S0REN
Kierkegaard
The leading existentialist philosopher
20th century, Martin Heidegger, had produced
his most important work during the 1920s; and
of the
ALLTHOUGHTIS
the thinkers next to
were very much
him in the line of influence
fact
1940s and
rooted in
TEiAT THOUGH'
a process of reaction against
the experience of Nazi
CANNOT
domination and occupation,
from which Europe w^as THINK"
SOREN Kierkegaard
beginning to emerge.
The founder of existentialism what does exist we have to find some way of
is generally held to be a coming to terms with uniquely individual entities,
Danish thinker called Soren because that is all there is. This is especially true '
208
HXIS TF.NTI ALISM
Tainted by Nazism
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was born in
Baden, Germany, in the year Wittgenstein was born Karl barth
One of the most
in Vienna. He lived in Germany all his life, and also influential theologians
of the 2()th century.
was an academic all his life. As a student at Freiburg
Svvis.s-born Karl Barth
he studied under the renowned Edmund Husserl ( 1886-1968) initiated
a radical change in
(1859-1938), and was trained in Husserl's special
Protestant thought.
method, which we moment.
shall outline in a He held chairs of
theology in Germany
He made method in his
central use of this
at G<)ttingen, Munster,
masterpiece Being and Time, which was and Bonn, vigorousK
opposing the rise of
published in 1927 and dedicated to Husserl.
National .Socialism,
Heidegger joined the Nazi party, and when I5arth drafted the Barmen
Declaration, which
the Nazis came to power in 1933 he became the became the doctrinal
first National Socialist rector of the University basis of the anti-Na/i
Confessing Church.
of Freiburg. Husserl, however, was a Jew, or at least His Church Dogmatics
partly Jewish; so at that stage Heidegger publicly (1932-62) makes Jesus-
resurrection the focal
repudiated his connection with Husserl. This action point of Christianity.
Decision-makinc, blotted his personal reputation for the rest of his
The couple ciborc have decided lo gel iiutrhed. one of I he
niosl siguificciiil personal decisions uiaiiy peojtle hare la life. He resigned as rector a year later; but when the
make. Kierkegaard proposed that it is the individual that Germans were defeated at the end of the World War
IS ihc supreme moral entity and thai decision-making is
II he was forbidden to
Man alone
the most important Innuan aclirilv- through maki)!g
choices ice create our own lii'es. teach for six years of all beings,
because of his Nazi
when addressed
most important human activity is decision-making: past. This has
it is through the choices we make that we create been controversial by the voice
our lives and become ourselves. For Kierkegaard ever since, and is
of Being,
all this had religious implications: he believed, in much used against
experiences the
the central tradition of Protestant Christianity, that him by people
what mattered more than anything else was the who disagree with marvel of all
relationship of the individual soul to God. his philosophy.
marvels: that
But in truth being
^^
Two EXISTENTIALISMS a Nazi no more what-is is
Many thinkers have gone along with Kierkegaard disqualified him from Martin Heidegc.kr
existentialism, except to remark that some of the Kant and the Problem
of Metaphysics
most original theologians of the 20th century have
( 1929)
M.\KII\ liFlDlX.C.ER
been in a significant sense existentialist thinkers A leading exponent of existentialism. Heidegger remains a What is Metaphysics?
who felt themselves indebted to Kierkegaard. continuing injhience on intellectual Ihoiighl. lie originally ( P)29)
trained to be a Jesuit before studying with Husserl and What is Philosophy?
These include Karl Barth, PaulTillich, and Rudolf
becoming his successor al the I'nirersily of Freiburg. (1956)
iBultmann. Our concern in this book is with the His support fir .\azism damaged his icpiitalion.
209
20TH-CENT(IRV IM 1 II.OSC^ P Fl Y
it seriously.
NOT'I IS MERE
@
Being and time
Examine only experience
Being and Time presented itself as volume one
PHENOMENON
Hard to penetrate
because of its diFficull
style, Being and Time
of what was to be a two-volume work, but
never finished. Instead, Heidegger's philosophy
it was
DISSOLVING
( 1927) is
which
greatest work, in
Heidegger's
Rene magritte, the tiredness of life, 1927 consciousness for us, whatever
Hiisserl agreed when one looks at an object, a table for example, one is aware of the object
ivilb Iliiiue that other existential status they may
and not of oneself He proposed that philosophy should base itself on the method of examining what is
.
210
i:xis-ii;\ riAi.isM
I
consciousness and its objects. It was a systematic
analysis of experience, and became known as
211
2 OTH -CENTURY PHILOSOPHY'
Nazi control of
U
INTELLECT!
Typically nf
c/ictalorships. the
Nazis alU'mpled
lALS
to
ARE
OURSELVES
coiilrol all inlclk'cliial
thoughl. Tin- Mniisiiy
of Public
E)ilighleiiiiiciil and
Propaga in la exercised
control over all aspects
of (,'enihiii culture
including schools.
colleges, cinema. Awareness of existence.
THE
fine the // ivas Heidegger s belief that we all have iniineduite
ENTITIES
arts, /)ress,
and the church aivctreiiess of our (nvii e.xistcnce. He then suggested that we
Many nilelleclual could iiul have this conscious aivareness unless there ivere
"
Ji.i^ures hail either some sphere of activity for it to be happening in. "Being.
and some
TO BE
III Jlee deniicniy or sort of "world, " are therefore inseparable.
face benig seiU to
concentration camps.
exist? How is it that anything exists at all? Why is on our consciousness; it must needs
there not simply nothing? concern us in some way, at least
212
HXISTFNTl AI.ISM
Becoming ourselves
From these beginnings Heidegger
goes on to analyze the human
situation. Far from us starting out as
isolated individuals who then face the
problem of making contact with other
people, our existence from the
beginning is a shared and social one,
and our problem is that of becoming
individuals, finding an authentic mode
of personal existence. We are all the
time pressing into an imknowable
future, and having to make choices
without any certainty about their
outcomes. Guilt and anxiety fall to our
lot, especially anxiety in the face of
I death. We long for our lives to have
I
some metaphysical ground or
!
foundation, and also to have some
meaning; yet we have no assurance
that any of these things actually exists
objectively; and if they do not exist,
any objective significance, and without any goals moving on now from Heidegger, were French.
or purj:)oses of its own. It tried to find ways of The one who made existentialism known all over
discovering or creating meaning in the fleeting lives the world was Jean-Paul Sartre, who was not a
of individuals who had no afterlife. After World War philosopher alone but also a novelist and playwright
II these ideas were popularized to a degree that of international standing. We shall continue the story
rarely happens with any philosophy. By that time of existentialism with him in the next chapter
213
iOTH -CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
Bergson's
kev' works
Time and Free Will:
An Essay on the
Bergson and
Immediate Data
of Conseiousness
(1889)
KtlNi^ii 1 oil
Matter and Memory
(]896)
Creative Evolution
PHILOSOPHY AS A BRANCH OF LITERATURE
(1907)
The Two Sources of In France, philosophy has developed in the 20th century as part of
Morality and Religion
(1932) the general literary culture, without so much specialist interest
214
hi:k(>s()n and khcfnt rRi-.NCii imiilosoimi^
Reality flows
What our intellect provides us with are Mana(,eable units
son helictvcl IhiU our intellect presents lis with a world we can
always the materials required for action, contoul u •ith. one oj separate objects in marked-off measures of space
and what we want to do is to be able ami lime However, this manageable world does not show us reality.
.
maker will represent a living landscape in terms In his own day Bergson had some very
of a squared-off geometrical grid. It is undeniably among contemporaries such
distinguished critics
Marcel proust
useful, prodigiously so, and enables us to do all sorts as Bertrand Russell. Their chief complaintwas that During his student
of practical things that we want to do; but it does although Bergson made his ideas attractive with days the French
novelist, Marcel
not show us reality. Reality is a continuum. In real vivid analogies and poetic metaphors he did not
Proust (1871-1922).
time there are no instants. Real time is a continuous was directly
flow, without separable units, not marked off in *^^%> "^ influenced by the
work of Henri
measurable lengths. Similarly with space: in real Bergson. Proust's most
space there are no points, and no separate and famous novel, the
autobiographical
specific places. All these are devices of the mind. Remembrance of
Things Past
(1913-27). is an
Being and time exploration of the
So we live simultaneously two worlds. In the in nature of time, and
also a refection of
iimer world of our immediate knowledge all is
French provincial
continuum, and all is flux, perpetual flow. In the life at the end of the
outer world presented to us by our intellects 19th century.
The book presents
there are separate objects occupying determinate human experience
positions in space for measurable periods of time. not as chronological
nairative. but through
But of course that outer time, the time of clocks Reality is a continuous flow
thought associations
Bergson concluded that the separate objects, or units, of the
and calculation, is an intellectual construct, and and the realization
outer world are devices of the mind, and that "real time"
of memory.
is not at all the same as the "real" time of whose is in fact a continuous flow with no separate units.
215
2()TH -CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
support them with much in the way of rational The end of the war found him famous, partly as
argument. He left them to commend themselves a philosopher but more for his two plays Flies
to the reader's intuitions. Furthermore, his critics and No Exit. His 1945 lecture Existentialism
complained, his ideas did not stand up very well and Humanism launched existentialism on its
to logical analysis. His defenders replied by saying legendary career of fashionability in postwar
that he possessed all these characteristics in
common with the best creative writers, and that ((
SlMONE DE BEAUVOIR
this was because he was
than logical arguments. In either case,
that his thought
offering insights rather
PEOPLE"
characteristics
founders of modern
feminist philosophy. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80), who possessed them in
She is best known for
greater abundance. Not only was Sartre a brilliant
her book The Second Sex
Jean-Paui. Sartre
(1949), in which she writer, he was internationally famous as a playwright
pleas for the abolition
of the myth of the
and novelist, something no other philosopher has Europe. At this point he renounced his academic
"eternal feminine." achieved: those who came closest were Rousseau, career and became a full-time writer. His partner,
who wrote two highly successftil novels, and Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, was the first internationally
whom we shall come to in a moment. In 1964 acclaimed feminist writer, with her book The
Sartre's Sartre was offered the Nobel Prize for Literature, Second Sex (1949). His other closest associates
key books
but turned it down. It may be that his fame as a included the writer Albert Camus, who was
Nausea (1938)
creative writer will outlive his fame as a philosopher. awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957,
The Psychology of
Imagination (1940) Sartre was born in Paris and grew up as an and a fine philosopher called Maurice Merleau-
Being and exceedingly bookish child - he called an Ponty, with whom Sartre founded the journal Les
Nothingness (1943)
autobiographical volume about his childhood Temps Modernes. Sartre became deeply involved
Existentialism and
Humanism
Words (1963). Unsurprisingly, perhaps, in revolutionary left-wing politics, often acting
JKAN-PAUL SARTRE
work of directly written unfinished, but a single
philosophy. The French volume of it was published.
LA ^ALSE^]
title means The Imaginary, Sartre's history as a
w ritten in the form of a first play. On his release he JliAN-l'AlI. SAIMKi: (1939). Heidegger dominates
diary and narrates the Stiilrc lids (iiic leading l>n>lii>iiciils
<i/ /lie
lived in occupied Paris, where the second, which was
feelings of revulsion of c.xislciiluilisni I Ic helieved thai Jicajilc s
experienced by the main he wrote his most important (iivdrcncss nf Ihcir mrii frcriloni uiiliiccs in Sartre's own most influential
protagonist when faced ihfiii iiii.xicly. mill ihiil Ihcy liihc rc/ii^m- Jnnii
philosophical work, Being period, seeing the publication
\\ iih the world of matter - this iiiixui)' III
'
216
HKRGSON AND KF.CENT FRENCH F H I l.( ) so 1' [H'
We create ourselves
Sartre's most significant personal
The Myth of
develop: we are creating ourselves. Sisyphus
Many people find this freedom and this or is not worth living amounts to answering the (1942)
responsibility too terrifying to face, so they run fundamental question of philosophy." He concludes The Stranger
(1942)
away from it by pretending that they are bound that to destroy oneself is a kind of capitulation.
The Plague
by already existing norms and rules. But this is In an open appeal to pride - "there is nothing equal (1947)
what Sartre calls "bad faith." One really does have, to the spectacle of human pride - he calls
"
The Rebel
(1951)
he says, "total choice of oneself "; and living to the for a life of stoic refusal to accommodate
The Fall
j
full means making that choice, and then living in oneself to cosmic meaninglessness, a life (1956)
! accordance with it: "commitment," as he called this. which in that sense is a form of rebellion
j
Many young people found these ideas thrilling, as against one's cosmic circumstances.
i
also did large numbers of dissidents who longed Apart from The Myth of Sisyphus and
to opt out of society for whatever reason. However, a book caUed The Rebel (1951) he
more Marxist phase, Sartre said that he
in his later, developed these ideas chiefly in a series
had exaggerated the extent to which the individual of novels: The Stranger (1942), The
could free himself from the pressures of the Plague (1947), and The Fall (1956).
society in which he lived. In I960 he was killed in a car crash.
The novel he was working on at the
The absurd time, The First Man, was published,
Sartre's friend Albert Camus (1913-60) was the unfinished, in 1994.
writer who coined the description "absurd" or "the Camus, an unusually
j
absurd" for the situation in which human beings attractive character, has
! demand that their lives should have significance been described as "a saint
I
meaninglessness of human life has been fully support Algeria's National
i understood and assimilated? He famously opened Liberation Front his reply Albert camis
\ his essay The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) with the was: " I believe in justice, Camus' irritings reflect the alienatmn and
disillnsionmeut of the postivar intellectual, and owe
words: "There is but one truly serious philosophical but I will defend my a great deal to existentialist thought. In 1957. at the
problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is mother before justice." age of 44, Camus received the Nobel Prize for Literature
217
20TH-CENTIJRY PHILOSOPHY
had tended to write as if what each human being object in the world, and yet it is not an object
is, above aU else, is a center of conscious awareness, in the world just like all the other material objects,
and therefore sometliing that can be thought of for it is a self-aware subject having experiences.
as abstract or immaterial, though of course none Merleau-Ponty wrote with great penetration
of them actually said that. Merleau-Ponty insisted and insight about the deep philosophical problems
involved in subjectivity, including its inescapably
perspectival and therefore inherently incomplete
character These problems present profound
difficulties, and so his writings inevitably make
serious demands on the reader. This has prevented
lasting quality.
Enter structuralism
NXTien Jean-Paul Sartre died in 1980 more than
50,000 people attended his funeral. He had become
that rare thing, a philosopher with a mass audience.
But by that time he was no longer at the cutting
edge of intellectual advance: the avant-garde had
moved on. In the late 1960s structuralism had
become fashionable in Paris, part of a more general
approach to philosophy that has been called "the
linguistic turn "
Put at its simplest, structuralism
is the view that any discourse of any kind,
philosophical or otherwise, is a structure in
A Myl
I AllON IN SPACE AND TIME
L U)( language and that is all. The text does not present
Merleau-Ponty was responsible for bringing to 20th-century philosophy a)i acknowledgment
us with anything other than itself: there is nothing
of the importance of the human body. In Berth e Mo risot's Woman and Child in a Garden
(1883-84) the tivo figures appear lost in their own unique location in time and space. "beyond' the language. This led devotees of
218
HF.KGSON AND RF.CF.NT FRENCH PHILOSOPHY
219
2()TH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
Popper's
key works
The Logic
of Scientific
Popper
Discovery
C 1934) FROM SCIENCE
The Open Society
and Its Enemies
n945)
TO POLITICS
The Poverty
of Hist(5ricism
Scientific knowledge has turned
(1957)
out to be conjectural, permanently
Unended Quest
(1976J
open to revision in the light of
experience. The same principle
seems also to apply to politics.
with the ideas of Locke and best know for are his contributions to relativity
Hume realized that scientific theory: his Special Theory of Relativity, published
laws had not been proved in 1905, and his General Theory of Relativity, made
conclusively; but in view of the public in 1915. Not surprisingly, these theories were
apparently unbroken success highly controversial at first; but virtually nobody who
of their application over long was knowledgeable in the field could deny that they
periods of time, such people were deserving of the most serious consideration.
tended to regard them as what And that fact in itself had disconcerting implications,
one might call infinitely because if Einstein was right then Newton was
probable, that is to say as near wrong - and in that case we had not "known" the
to being certain as makes no contents of Newtonian science all along.
difference for practical purposes. And so it was to prove. Crucial experiments
were devised to adjudicate between the two sets
At the turn of the 20th century unmistakably favoured Einstein. The consequences
a scientific genius came on the of this for philosophy were earthquake-like. Ever
scene who was comparable to since Descartes, the search for certainty had been at
Newton, a German Jew called or near the center of Western philosophy; and with
Albert einstein
The Gertuan horn physicist Albert Einstein did iiui Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Newtonian science Western man believed he had
do well at school, but achieved recognition in his and he produced theories uncovered a vast body of reliable knowledge about
own lifetime as a genius who changed the face of
history. His theories of relativity revolutionized
incompatible with Newton's. his world and beyond, knowledge of fundamental
both the study of science and philosophy. Like Newton, Einstein was significance and enormous practical usefulness.
220
I'fJI'l'HR
A MANY-SIDED UPBRINGING
We have seen how Locke spelled out the
implications that the Newtonian revolution in
science had possessed for philosophy, and how Alfred adler
The Austrian
some of the most important consequences of his psychoanalyist Alfred
ideas then turned out to be in political and social Adler (1K7()-1937) wa.s a
member of the Freudian
theory. The 20th-century philosopher who carried eireie of doctors based
in Vienna from
out this task for the Einsteinian revolution was Karl 190().
However, by 1911 lie had
Popper (1902-94). Popper was born in Vienna in parted company with
Freud, as he saw the
1902, the son of a prosperous lawyer His parents
"will to power" as more
had converted from Judaism to Christianity, so he influential in accounting
for human behavior than
himself received a Lutheran upbringing. In his early
the sexLial drive. His
and middle teens he was a Marxist, but he grew books include Organic
Inferioiitv and Psycliic
disgusted with the Communists' willingness to let
Coinl>e>isatio>i ( 1907), and
ordinary people be killed if it happened to suit V)iderstandi)ig Unman
Nature 1927). One of his
(
knowledge had been gathered had been closely led by Schoenberg, and formed a friendship with
considered and carefully codified, and were the composer Webern. For holidays he was addicted
thought to guarantee its certainty, to validate it as to mountaineering. He married one of the student
sure knowledge. And yet now it turned out not beauties of his generation. Altogether his life in
to have been "knowledge " at all. What was it, then? Vienna was exceptionally rich and many-sided, full
Its use had led to immense progress in our of enthusiastic commitments and exciting activities.
SPECULATION .Songs
violins. After early
romantic works .such as
ofGurra 1900-1 1 (
OF FACTS"Alhf.rt Einstein
and ediicaled in Vien)ia. He was naluralized British in
1945. he/ore becoming Professor of Logic and Scienlific
Method at the London School of Economics.
include Five Orchestral
Pieces.
and the
Opus .%
Opus 16 (1909),
Violin Concerto.
( 193-1-36 ).
u=
221
2nTH-CKN'rURV I>HIL()S()IM1>'
produce
ACTIVITY
London school of
economics and
political science
his writings, which covered an exceptionally
wide range of subjects. He was still publishing
IN WHICH
I
London
Part of
London
Inivcrsity, the
School of F.conomics and
worthwhile new ideas at the age of 92, when he died.
ERRORS ARE
Political Science was There certainty in science
founded 1895 by the
in
222
\'()\'\'¥.\<
you enlarge the house you will done much to aid the
treatment of nervous
need to drive the piles down diseases In 196.^ he
p. 11 5) although no number of
observations of white swans,
however large, will ever prove the
truth of the statement "All swans God's existence can never be a scientific fact
Although a general theory cannot be proved, it takes only one contrary
are white," a single observation of
instance in order to disprove it. A declaration such as "God exists"- although
a black swan is enough to disprove it may be be true- is one that cannot be falsified, and therefore cannot
regarded as evidence for it. A good example would the promptest cause of their modification or
be the statement "God exists": it has meaning, and abandonment after they have been implemented.
might be true, but no intellectually
UIUR
in 1945, in
223
20TH -CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
physical will almost certainly be more effective at solving been published when something like a third
the practical problems of its policy-makers than one of the human race lived under governments that
engineering in
that does not. Progress will be quicker and less costly. called themselves Marxist, and this fact alone
regarding the And all this is true regardless of moral considerations. gave the ideas of that book a global relevance.
In politics, as in science, we are continually That aspect of it may be less urgent now, but the
ends as beyond
replacing established ideas with what we hope are book's positive case for democratic openness and
the province of better ideas. Society too is in a state of perpetual tolerance remains probably the most compelling
^^ change, and the pace of that change increasingly that anyone has produced.
technology is
Karl Popper
11^
F ( ) P 1' HK
ri^ElNSTEINIAN
Revolution
Upheavals in modern possible for both theories to be accurate results. This led to the
science have changed correct, indeed it is likely that both realization that even the best
our understanding of what are incorrect, yet both are in of our knowledge consists of
knowledge is, and have therefore everyday use and give minutely man-made theories that are fallible
changed philosophy. Because and corrigible - theories that
scientific knowledge is the most we ourselves hope and expect
practically reliable and useful to replace with better theories
philosophy investigations
into the nature of knowledge ot only have the
have been science-led. This
has been especially true during
the last four hundred years.
Ni scientists radically
altered our
conception of what knowledge
is. They have done more than the
the 20th centuiy in particular, philosophers of their day to change
Inprofound changes took place our understanding of concepts
which was found
in science, which are utterly fundamental to
to be something our experience of the
radically different from world, concepts such as
what had previously Scientific "time," "space," "matter,"
been supposed. In and "physical object."
physics alone, two great
upheavals occurred.
Knowledge is So it may be that
Einstein's theories of
relativity superseded
THE Most Reliable look back at our age
they will see the path-
traditional science.
relativity
yet produced
theory and
results
Human Beings the most to change
peoples' philosophical
that were every bit understanding of
as accurate. It is not Possess the world.
225
20TH-CENT1IUY PHILOSOPHY'
The Future of
Philosophy
INCREASING
ENLIGHTENMENT ON A
QUEST TO WHICH
THERE MAY BE NO END
NEARLY ALL PHILOSOPHERS who are famous in
significant figure in our culture than he was in his lifetime, What will be new? Presumably philosophers who change
or looked like ever becoming. the subject irreversibly will continue to emerge in the
future just as they have in the past - figures like Descartes
THESE FACTS NATURALLY us lead to suppose that and Kant, after whom nothing in philosophy was ever
the of philosophy
short-run future is likely to see the same again. Because our historical past is so short,
the full impact of the most recently dead of the and the future before us indefinitely long, the chances
great figures. There is a rich seam to be worked out of are that the biggest and most illuminating innovations ever
Heidegger in response to the existential challenges posed to occur in philosophy lie ahead of us rather than behind
to us by Nietzsche. And there are rich seams to be worked us. Unfortunately, such subject-changing insights cannot
out of Popper in response to the challenges posed to us by be predicted: if we could predict them now we would have
226
Ill 1 11 Kl Ol IMIILOSOI'll Y
ii
SUPERSTITION SETS THE
WHOLE WORLD
IN FLAMES; PHILOSOPHY
??
QUENCHES THEM Voltaire
them now, and they would not be future. But this means this book has tried to show, we can make such worthwhile
that we can no more predict the most important future progress in our understanding of the human situation that
developments in philosophy than anyone before Kant even if we never reach any ultimate goal in that respect we
could have predicted Kant. Difficult though it might be shall find that the journey is a hugely enriching experience
for us to accept, the fact is that the future of philosophy that is worth undertaking for its own sake. There may be
is closed to us in its most important aspects. no final answers, but there is a wonderful lot to learn.
227
THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
Glossary
A Anthropomorphism The Corroboration Evidence that lends
the Absolute Ultimate reality attribution of human characteristics support to a conclusion without
conceived of as a single, all- to something that is not human, for necessarily proving it.
have identified this with God; others Cosmology Study of the whole
have believed in it but not in God; Antinomy Contradictory universe, the cosmos. Questions raised
others have not believed in it. The conclusions from equally good in cosmology can be philosophical,
philosopher most closely associated premises. but they can also be scientific.
beauty. posteriori, which is something "If all men are mortal then Socrates,
the Aesthetic attitude Contemplating only by experience. universally agreed that deduction
something for its own sake, regardless is valid. The opposite process
of any use that can be made of it. of reasoning from the particular to
Category One of our basic the general is called Induction.
Agent The doing self, as distinct from conceptions. Categories are the An example would be "Socrates died,
the knowing self; the self that decides broadest classes into which things Plato died, Aristotle died, and taking
or chooses or acts. can be divided, v^xistotle and Kant them one by one each other
each tried to provide a complete list individual man who was born more
Agnostic Neither believing nor of them, but philosophers no longer than 130 years ago has died, therefore
disbelieving, but suspending attempt to do this. all men are mortal." It is agreed that
judgement. induction does not necessarily yield
Cognition Any kind of knowing or results that are true. It is therefore
case, things could be either way. can happen other than what does
Analytic philosophy A view of The opposite is Necessary. happen, because every event is the
philosophy that sees its aim as necessary outcome of causes
clarification - for instance the Contradictory Two statements preceding it - which themselves
clarification of concepts, statements, are contradictory if one must be true were the necessary outcome of
methods, arguments, and theories and the other false: they cannot both causes preceding them. The opposite
by carefully taking them apart. be true, nor can they both be false. is Indeterminism. Dispute between
The opposite is Noncontradictory, the two is still very alive.
Synthetic statement, which has Contrary Two statements are the idea that any assertion, whether
to be set against facts outside itself contrary if they cannot both be true in word or deed, evokes opposition,
for its truth to be determined. but may both be false. the two of which then become
228
(>l.<)ss.\KY
reconciled in a synthesis that includes whether unicorns exist. They do not, and mental contents, or spirits, or one
elements of both. of course - so essence does not spirit. The opposite is Materialism.
imply existence. This distinction is
of bodies and minds, the two being on questions of right and wrong, a form of knowledge that makes no
radically unlike. good and bad, ought and ought not, use of reasoning.
duty, and other such concepts.
Elan vital The driving principle Existentialism A philosophy that Linguistic philosophy Also known
of the evolutionary process, the life begins with the contingent existence as Linguistic analysis. The view that
force; that which distinguishes the of the individual human being and philosophical problems arise from
living from the nonliving. regards that as the primary enigma. a muddled use of language, and are
exists must be derived from experience. Falsifiability Property of a statement, that are meaningful are those that
Thus: Empirical world The world or set of statements, namely that they are verifiable.
as revealed to us
or possible experience.
by our actual
of the empirical world. science from non-science. all real existence is ultimately of
knowledge, that branch of philosophy knowledge of a supernatural world, It questions the natural world "from
concerned with what sort of thing, if if any such ^vorld exists. "The proper outside," as it were, and its questions
anything, we can know, and how, and study of mankind is man" (Pope) is the can therefore not be dealt with by
what knowledge is. In practice it is best-known encapsulation of this view. the methods of science. Philosophers
the dominant branch of philosophy. who take the natural world to be all
Hypothesis A theory whose truth is there is use the term metaphysics for
Essence The essence of a thing is assumed for the time being. the broadest, most general possible
what makes it what it is, that which is frameworks of human thinking.
distinctive about it. For instance, the I
essence of a unicorn is that it is a Idealism The view that reality Methodology The study of methods
horse with a single horn on its head. consists ultimately of something non- of enquiry and argument - these
This leaves open the question material, whether mind, our minds being different in different fields, as
229
THE STORY OF PHIIOSOIMIV
for example in physics, psychology, consciousness, the latter being understanding of things. Philosophy
history, and law. known as Phenomenon. A thing as an educational subject provides
as it is in itself independently of training in the disciplined analysis
formed by a single element; for the noumenon. "The noumenal" methods, arguments, and utterances
example, of human beings, the view has therefore become a term of all kinds, and the concepts of
that they do not consist of elements for the ultimate nature of reality. which they make use.
that are ultimately separable, like The German for thing-in-itself, Traditionally, the ultimate aim of
a body and a soul, but are unitary, Ding-an-sich, has also frequently all this has been to attain a better
of one single substance. been used in EngUsh, and means understanding of the world, though
the same as the noumenon. in the 20th century a good deal of
Mysticism Intuitive knowledge that philosophy became devoted to
transcends the natural world. Numinous (Not to be confused with attaining a better understanding
prompts us
accurately describes a situation,
to anticipate experiences
explicable without reference to that asks what actually exists, as correctly, fits in with already well-
anything outside the natural world. distinct from the nature of our attested statements, and so on.
that has been upheld by many an object, the object as experienced own premises. A valid argument
philosophers since. by me is a phenomenon. Kant proves that its conclusions follow
distinguished this from the object from its premises - but this is
Necessary and sufficient as it is in itself independently of not the same as proving that its
conditions For X to be a husband it being experienced: this he called conclusions are true, which is
230
(.loss \K\
Primary and secondary qualities Solipsism The belief that only more than a word, a name, were
Locke divided the properties of a oneself exists. called "nominalists."
by the object independently of being Sophist Someone whose aim in Utilitarianism A theory of ethics
experienced, such as its location, argument is not to seek the truth and politics that judges the morality
dimensions, velocity, mass, and so on, but to win the argument. In ancient of actions by their consequences,
and those that involve the reactions Greece a sophist was a teacher who that regards the most desirable
of an experiencing observer, such as trained young men aspiring to consequence as the greatest good
the object's color, taste, and smell. The public life in the various methods of the greatest number, and that
former he called Primary qualities, the of winning arguments. defines "good" in terms of pleasure
about by factors that explain it, conclusion follows from its premises.
whether we manage to discover Theology Enquiry into scholarly This does not necessarily mean that
these factors or not. Leibniz declared and intellectual questions the conclusion is true: it may be
this principle fundamental to all concerning the nature of God. false if one of the premises is false,
reasoning. Schopenhauer wrote Philosophy by contrast, does not though the argument itself is
his first book about it. posit the existence of God. still valid.
R (e.g. Wittgenstein) who believes that were verifiable. Hume and Popper
Rationalism The view that we ethics are transcendental believes pointed out that scientific laws
can gain knowledge of the world that ethics have their source outside were unverifiable.
impossible to know anything for universals have an existence of their all there is, but some other kinds
certain. own. Does "redness" exist, or are of philosopher believe that the
there only individual red objects? world does not account for total
Semantics The study of meanings In the Middle Ages philosophers reality. Such philosophers believe
in linguistic expressions. who believed that "redness" that there is a transcendental realm
Semiotics The study of signs and called "realists," while philosophers and they may believe that both
231
THi: STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
series title Past Masters, that contains books about most of the
philosophers discussed in The Story of Philosophy They are . The great empiricists
written for the general reader, and each one contains suggestions By Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
for further reading. Another series of short paperbacks with the (Prometheus Books), Two Treatises of Government (Cambridge
series title The Great Philosophers is published by Harcourt University Press).
Brace and World. Readers who would more introductions
like By Berkeley The Principles of Human Knowledge and Three
by the author of The Story of Philosophy are recommended to Dialogues (Oxford University Press).
try: Confessions of a Philosopher: a Journey Through Western By Hume A Treatise of Human Nature and Dialogues
Philosophy (Random House); The Great Philosophers: an Concerning Natural Religion (Penguin USA).
Introduction to Western Philosophy and The Philosophy of By Burke A Philosophical Enquiry (Oxford LJniversity Press),
Schopenhauer (Oxford University Press). Reflections on the Revolution in France (Penguin Books).
Coming now to the philosophers themselves, the following
books are recommended, bearing in mind their accessibility: Revolutionary french thinkers
By Voltaire Candide (Penguin USA), Philosophical Dictionary
The greeks and their world (Penguin Books).
On the pre-Socratics Early Greek Philosophy edited by By Rousseau The Social Contract (Penguin USA).
Jonathan Barnes (Penguin USA).
On Socrates The Last Days of Socrates, four dialogues by Plato A GOLDEN CENTURY OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
(Penguin USA). By Kant Prolegomena (Open Court Publishing Company),
By Plato The Symposium and The Republic (Penguin USA). Critique of Pure Reason (Prometheus Books), The Moral Law
By Aristotle A New Aristotle Reader (Princeton University Press), (Routledge).
The Nicomachean Ethics and Politics (Oxford University Press). By Schopenhauer On the Fourfold Root of the Principle
On Epicureanism On the Nature of the Universe by Lucretius of Sufficient Reason (Open Court Publishing Company),
(Penguin USA). The World as Will and Representation (Dover Publications).
On Stoicism Letters from a Stoic by Seneca and Meditations On comparisons of East with West Presuppositions of
by Marcus Aurelius (Viking Press). Lndia 's Philosophies by Karl Potter (Motilal Banarsidass
On Neo-Platonism Enneads by Plotinus (Penguin USA). Publishers), WTyat the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
(Grove Press), The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra (Shambhala
Christianity and philosophy Publications).
By St. Augustine Confessions (Oxford University Press), The By Fichte The Vocation of Man (Hackett Publishing
City of God (Penguin). Company).
By Boethius The Consolation of Philosophy (Penguin Books). By Schelling Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature (Cambridge
By Abelard and Heloise Letters (Penguin). University Press).
By Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed (Dover On Hegel Hegel by Peter Singer (Oxford University Press),
Publications). Hegel: an Introduction by Raymond Plant (Cambridge
University Press).
The beginnings of modern science By Hegel Phenomenology of Spirit (Oxford University Press).
The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler (Arkana). On Marxism To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson
By Machiavelli The Portable Machiavelli (Penguin Books). (Buccaneer Books).
By Francis Bacon Novum Organum; with Other Parts of the By Marx Capital (Das Kapital) (Penguin USA).
Great Instauration (Open Court Publishing Company), By Marx and Engels The Communist Manifesto
Advancement of Learning (Kessinger Publishing Company), (Bantam Books).
Essays (Penguin Books). By Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil and Ecce Homo (Penguin
By Hobbes Leviathan (Penguin Books). USA), Twilight of the Idols and Anti-Christ (Viking Press).
232
criDi; TO FURTHER READING INDEX
Democracy AND philosophy By Sartre Being and Nothingness (Washington Square Press),
By Jeremy Bentham Introduction to the Principles of Morals Essays in Existentialism (Citadel Press), No Exit and Three
and Legislation (Prometheus Books). other Plays (Vintage Books).
By John Stuart Mill On Liberty (Viking Press). By Camus The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel (Vintage Books).
On the American Pragmatists America's Philosophical By Merleau-Ponty f^ewomewo/o^j)' of Perception (Routledge).
Vision by John E. Smith (University of Chicago Press). By Althusser For Marx (Verso Books).
By William James The Varieties of Religions Experience By Lacan The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis
(Macmillan Publishing Company). (WW. Norton and Company).
By Foucault Madness and Civilization: a History of Insanity
20th-century philosophy in the Age of Reason (Vintage Books).
On Frege The Lnterpretation of Frege's Philosophy by Michael By Popper The Open Society and Its Enemies (five vols..
Dummett (Harvard University Press). Princeton University Press), Conjectures and Refutations: The
By Bertrand Russell The Problems of Philosophy (Prometheus Growth of Scientific Knowledge; In Search of a Better World;
Books), Our Knowledge of the External World (Routledge), Lectures and Essays frotn Thirty Years (Routledge).
My Philosophical Development (Unwin Hyman). On Relativity Theory ^« Equation That Changed the World:
By Wittgenstein Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Routledge Newton, Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity by Harald
Kegan and Paul), Philosophical Investigations (Prentice Hall). Fritzsch (The University of Chicago Press).
On Heidegger Heidegger by George Steiner (University of On Quantum Theory In Search of Schrodinger's Cat by John
Chicago Press). Gribbin (Bantam Doubleday Dell).
By Heidegger Being and Time (State University of By Werner Heisenberg Encounters with Einstein (Princeton
New York Press). University Press).
By Bergson Creative Evolution (Dover Publications), iVf«/?er By Erwin Schrodinger What is Life? and Mind and Matter
and Memory (Zone Publications). (Cambridge University Press).
Index
A
Ahclarci. I'cter S6-JH, %
analysi.s see linguistic analy.sis;
logical analysis
Christianity
Augustine,
44
St. 30. 50-2, 50,
Beckett, Samuel 145
Beethoven, Ltidwig van 160.
Absolute klL-alism ISy analytic piiiio.sophy 163, doctrine of four elements 56, 144 161
.ilisolute power 81 198-200 18 The City of God 51. 51. 53 Bentham, Jeremy 80, 117,
"ab.surd" 217 analytic .statements 97-8, 116 Ethics 32, 33 The Confessions 50, 51, 52 152, 182-4, 182, 185
Academy. Plato's 27. I'A. 32. analytical geometry 84 four causes 36—7 Aurelius, Marcus 46, 46. 47 Berg.son, Henri 214-16, 214.
Adam and E\e 52 animaKs 143 Physics 35 200 Berkeley, George 61, 110-11,
Adler, Alfred 221, 221 An,selm, St. 56, 57, 60 and Plato 30. 32 110, 112, 113, 185
Ae,schylu,s 29 anti-Semitism 179 Poetics 39 An Essay Towards a New
Agapemone cult 1^4 Anti.sthenes 4O-I Politics 39 B Theoty of Vision 110
A^athon 26 antithesis, law of change Rhetoric 36 Bacchus 44 A Rejection cf .Material
Age of the Siitnis ISd 159, 165 arithmetic 195. 197 Bacon, Francis 73, 74-7, Substance 1 1
Alaric. Kin.y ti Antony, Mark 50 Arjuna 151 74-5 78, 124 Three Dialogues hetireoi
Alcibiades 2(i .Aphrodite 28 Arnold, MatthevV 70 The Advanceinoit of Hylas and Philonons 110
Alexander \'I. Pope 73. 7J .Aquinas, Thomas 30, 49, 56, Arthurian legen ds 58, 58 Learning 74 A Treatise Concerning the
Alexander the Great 32. 32. 58-61. 59, 70 arts 8, 9 Essayes 74, 74 Principles of Huimni
to. -t()-l, 4l. 42. 42. 46. 54 Suinma Contra Gentiles 59 Marxism and 168, 171 Not'um Organiim 74 Knowledge 110
Alexandri.i 40. -iO. 64 Suninui Theologine 59 Nietzsche's in Huence Bacon, Sir Nicholas 74, 76 Berlin 165
Alhambra, Ciranada 5/ Arab world 34, 55, 58, 150 177-8, 179 Bacon, Roger 56, 58 Bernini, Giovanni 85
alienation 12^, 161, /6/, Arcesilaus 42-3 Plato's ho.stilit y to 29 Bakunin, Mikhail 157 Bhagai 'ad Gita 1 46, 151. 7 5/
162-3, 165 Archimedes 38 Schopenhauc and l44, l45 Barbarians 52, 55, 55 Bible 51, 65, 90, 91
alternative possible worlds architecture, Greek 17 Ascham, Roger 36 Baroda State University 153 Bi.smarck, Otto von 173, 174
98 Aristophanes 22 Asia, Commimi Mil 153 Barth, Karl 209, 209 Blake, William 143
Althusser, Louis 219. 219 ne Clouds 22, 22 a.stronomy, 63, 64-6 Basavanagudi Temple, The Ancient of Days 8
American Prai;matists .Aristotelian rules" 39 atheism I43 Bangalore 147 blood, circulation of 76
186-91. 200. 211 Aristotle 11, J 6. 20. 22. Athens 18, 20-1 . 26, 32, 37, Bastille, Paris 123, 123 Bloom.sbury Group 200. 201
•American Revolution (1776) 32-9, 32-7. 59. 142, 150 39 Beauvoir, Simone de 216, bodhisattvas I48
lOS, FO, 181 Bacon's hostility to 74, 75 "Atomlsts" 18, 44 216. 219 Boethius 54. 55. 56
233
THF STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
rbc Consolation of certainty 43. 87-9, 222-3 philo.sophy 159. 161 Ihe World 87 Berkeley Uo-U
Philosophy 54. 55 Chalenas 12 Marxism and 165, 166, 168 determinism 136-7 Burke 118-19
bolsheviks 7 70 chan.ge: Aristotle's in Nietzsche's philosophy Dewey. John 186. 190-1. P)0 Hume 112-r
Book of Kelts 56 philosophy 3~ 175 logic Ihe theory if Locke 102-9
Borges, Jorge Luis 1^5 Bergson s philosophy Contuci.mism I46 liujuu-Y 190 RLissell 198
Borgia, Cesare 73, 73 214-15 Conrad, Joseph l44, l45 Reconstruction lu Thomism 59-60
Borgia, Luerezia 73 in Hegel's philosophy 159-61 consciousness 210-11, Philosophy 190 William of Ockham 61
Bo.svveli, James \\1. 1 1(> Marxism and 165, 166, 212-13, 218 'Ihe School a)id .Society I9t). Encyclopedia 121. 124-5. 12-i.
Brahe. T>cho 66. 66 in Poppers philosophy 224 Copernicus, Nicolaus 64—6, dialectic 23, 159-61. 165 Encyclopedists 7(i, lOK. 125.
Brahma 150, 151 pre-.Socratic philosophy 64-5 91 dialectical materialism 166 125
Breeht, Bertok 171 14-15 On the Refolutions if the dictatorships 81, 170 energy 99
BritLsh Library, London 769 Charlemagne, Emperor 58 Celestial Spheres 65 Diderot, Denis 119, 124-5, Engelmann, Paul 206
Brougham. Henry 182 Charles I, King of England c( )sm< )1< )gical argument, 12-^. 128 Engels, Friedrich 157, 164,
Bruekner, Max 17S 78, <S7 pro\ing the existence of God D'Alembert s Dream 125 I6~i. 166. /66. 169
5""
Bruno, Giordano 37 Charles II, King of England Encyclopedia 121, 121. English Ci\il War 78. 81
Buddha 147-8, 148. 152 68, 7-1. 78, 7,5", 79, 81, 81. cralt gtiilds 60 124-5, 12-i. 126 Enlightenment 115, 119. 123.
Buddhi.sm 51, l-i2, 1 13, 102 creati\ity 15", 159-61 Ihe Midi 125 129, 134. 156
146-50. 149. 151. 171 Chateaubriand. X'icomte de criticism, .social policy 223 — Philosophical Thoughts 124 Ephesus I4
Bultmann, Rudolf 209 127 Croesus. King 13 Rameau's Nephew 125 Epictelus 46, 47
Burekhardt, Jaeoh Chaucer, Geoffrey 26 Cromwell, Oliver ~». 81 differentiation 139-iO, 139 Epicureans 40, 44-5
Christopher 15^ Chekhov, .^nton l45 Crusades 56 Diogenes 40, 41, 41 Epicurus 44-5. 44, 185
Burke, Edmund llS-19, / /,S' child labor 168 Cuba I" Dionysos 29. 44 epistemology 8. 89. 194. 198.
A Philosophical hujuirv China: Confucianism I46 Cur/on, Lord 152, 152 Disraeli. Benjamin 119 211-12
inlo the Origin of on?' Communism 153. 153. 170, Cynics 40- doubt, Descartes and 81 see also know ledge
Ideas of the Sublime and r\ drama, Greek .V) Erigena, John .Scotus 56
Christ
d\nast\'. 54, 55
caleulators HI. 99 and existentialism 209 David, Jacques Louis, Tlie Euclid. Flements9^
caleulus 15, 96, 97, 98 medie\'al philosophy 55-61 Death of Socrates 23 Furipitles 29
Calvin, John 52, 65 and Platonism 29. 30. 51-2 death: Epicureanism 44 Eakins, Thomas, The Biglin Europe. Dark Ages 54-6
Cambridge LIniversity 58, 74, Plotinus and 3o and formation of societies Brothers Racing 140 Everything is Flux" 14-15
153, 182, /99, 202, 203, Stoicism and 4^ 80-1 earth: Copernicus' theor\- evolution 21 1, 215
206. 219 Thomism 59-61 •Stoicism 46, 47, 47 64-5, 64-5 existence 7, 8. 61
Camus. Albert UH. 216. Trinity 58 decision-making, pre-Socratic philosophy 13 Descartes and 87
21~-18, _'/" 219 Christina, Queen of Sweden existentialism 209 Ptolemaic system 64 empiricism 104-5
Ihe Fall 21^ 84, 85, 85. 89 Declaration of the Rights of Ea.stern philo.sophy 142-3, in Fichte's philosophy 155
rhe First Man 217 Church of England 123 Man l2<-> 146-53 in Hegel's philo.sophy 159
The Myth cf Sisyphus 217 Cicero 37. ,39. 50 decon.slruction 219 Eccles, Sir John 223 Hu.sserl's method 210-11
Ihe J'laiiue 2\7 Cimabue 58 deduction "6, 88. 106, 154-5 economics: Hume II4 K.mt s pliilos( iphy ol
The Rebel n^ civilization 127-8. 129, 17,^-4 definitions, Bacon on ^5 Marxism I6fi-9, 170 knowleilge 133-5
Ihe Stranger 217 Clarke Plato 27 Delius. Frederick 1~8 Edinburgh 1 15 phenomenology 21 1-13,
eapitalism 108, 168-9 class conflict 166, 168 Delphi 20. 20 education: ancient Greece 38 212
Carnap, Rudolph 205 classicism 119, 129 democracy 181 Locke and 104, 105, 109 Thomism 60-1
Carneades 42. 43 coffeehou.ses 128 Locke's political philosopln pra.gmatisni 191 existentialism 15". 163. 177,
Caroline of An.sbaeh, Queen coins 15 108. 129 Rou.s.seau and 128 188, 208-13. 2K1-17
9fi Coleridge. Sanuiel I'aylor 95, pragmatism 191 Einstein. Albert 16. 17, 61, experience: empiricism 111.
Carroll, Lewis 107" 157, 15^ RoLisseau and 126, 128-9 71, "?6. 95. 220-1. 220. 223, 113
Cartesian coordinates 84 Collin, Andre, Poor People 21 Democritus 18. 44 225, 225 Hinduism 1 i''
Cartesian dualism 88, 95 Colophon 16 Derrida. Jacques 219, 219 elan rital 214. 215 Kant's philo.sophy of
Castelvetro 39 Communism I64 Descartes, Rene 78. 84-9, elements, pre-Socratic knowledge 13.3-6. 139
Castro, Fidel PI Hegel's influence 162, 163 84-5. 88-9. 91. 102. I44 philo.sophy 17-18, 17 phenomenology 21
Categorical Imperative 137 and indi\'idual rights 129 Augu.stine anticipates 50 Eliot, George 95, 95
cathedrals, Gothic 5A' influence on East 153 Discourse on Method 84. 89 Eliot, T. S. 145
Catholic Church .see Rom.iii Plato and 30 exi.stence of God 87-8, 92 Elizabeth I, Queen of
Catholic Church Popper and 221 inathematics 15, 83, 84-6, 95 England 74, 75 76, 77, 78, Fabricius. Hieroiiymus 76
cau.sality 113-16, 140 Sartre and 216. 218 Meditations 84, 89. 89 105, 110 Factory Act (1833) I68
causes, Aristotle's philosophy see also Marxism Principles of Philosophy 89 Emer.son, Ralph 'W'aldo 47 Fa.sci.sm 123, 129, 163, 177,
36-7 compa,ssion 142 theory ot knowledge 8<)-7, emotions. Stoicism 4(5-7 178
-Cave. Myth of 31, 77 compo.ssibilities 98 88-9. 105 Empedocles 17 fear. Epicurcanisin 44
Celts 56. 56 conflict: in Hegel's Treatise on Mem 85. 86. 87 empirici.sm 38, 87. 101-19 feminism 185
234
1 \ I ) i: X
Fcrmat's Last Theorem 19 "general will" 127. 128, 129 gravity 6''-8, 61S' Hinduism 1 i2. / /_'. l4()-7. intuition 8, 215
Feiicrbach, Uidwijj 163, l(i(i geometr\ 15. 8 i Greece, ancient 1 1— )5, 150, 149, 150. 1 50. 151 Ireland 55-6
Fichtc, Johann Gotllicli 93, George 1, King of England 172 Hirsch, Samuel 159 Islam 54, 55. 58. 171
131, 1S4-S, l>-j-5. 1S6, ISH 96, 97 Ari.stotle 32-9 historical change. Marxism
Criliijiic (>/ till Ret'cUilioii 13^ George, Stefan 1~8 coins /5 and 165. 168-9
The \\>C(ilii>ii iiJMiiii 154 German Academ\ of Cyiiics 40- historic.il materialism 166
Sciences 96 Epicureans 4 4—5 historical process, reality as
J
tonii. Aristotle's pliilosophy Jainas 147
3^-(->, 3"^ German language 96 Plato 24-31 162 James 1. King of England
sec iilsd kleal Forms German nationalism 179 pre-,Socratic philosophers Hitler. Ack>ll ^2-3, 162, 177, 74, 77
Foucault, Michel 219, JI9 German philosophy 131 —15, 11-18, 20 /77 200 James II, King of England
Four Noble Truths 1-iS 154-~9 Sceptics 42-3 Hitler Youth 163 102, 103. 103. 104
Fragonard, jean-Honore, Fiehte 154-5 Socrates 20-3 Ho Chi-minh 171 James, Henry 188
rIk- Bolt ll(>-n Hegel 158-63 "Greek ideal" 28 Hobbes, Thomas 78-81, 78. James, William 186, 188-90,
France, 2()th-eentiiry Kant 132-7 Gregory, St 43 88, 89, 91, 107, 127, 143 IHH
philo.sophy 214-19 Marx 164-71 Gresham, Sir Thomas 74 ne Elements of Law. Pragmatism 189
Franeo-Pru.s.sian War 174 Niet7.,sche 172-9 Gresham College 74 Natural and Politic 78 Ihe Principles of
Frederick 1, Kin>^ of Pru.ssia 97 ,Sclielling 15()-~ Grimm, lacob and Wilhelm LerialhanlH, 80-1. 80 Psychology 189
Frederick II, King ol Sehopenhatier 138 — 15 l4(l, /// H<>lderiin. Friedrich 15". 159 Ihe \'arielies of Religions
Dentnark 6ft Germanic tribes 55 guilds, medieval 60 Hooke. Robert "^5. 105 E.xperience 189
Frederick Willi.im 111, King of Gcstalt p,sychology 212 Micrographia 91 Jansen, Cornelius Otto 52
Prii.s,sia
freethinkers 1H2
IbJ
Soiree 144
A .Musical
IM^l. 14(), 215 Giotto 58 Hardy. 'Fhomas I44. l45 humani.st existentialism 209 Jena, Battle of (18061 175
freedom of the indi\ idtial Glad.stone, William 107. 173 Harvard. John 18" Hume, David 61, 103, Jena University 154, 1 5-i.
18S, 21" Glorious Re\()lulion (1688) Harvard University 186. 187 112-1", 112. U2. I43, 185 156. 195
freedom of speech 94. 95 102, 104. 107 Harvey. William 76, 76 causality 113-16 Jesuits 84. 122. 124
Frege, Gottloh 97, 194-5, God: and alienation 163 Heemskerk, Egbert van, Tl.ie Dialogues coiicerning lesus Chri.st 23. 51, 51. 146.
I9-J. 19~, 198, 202 .itheism l43 Election in the Ciuihlhall. Natural Religion 1 1 159. 173
Be^hffschrifl /95 in Berkeley s philosophv O.xford 77 An Etiijiiiiy concerning Jews 90, 90. 1"9. 209, 2l4
French Revolution ( P89) 111 Hegel, Georg Wilhelm LliiDian I'nderslanding 112 John the Baptist, St 5/
108, 118. 121-9, 123. 170, Buddhi.sm and l49. 150 Friedrich 95, 127, 131, 154, A)i E)iqniry concerning the John the Evangeli,st, St 30
181, 185 Chri.stianity 30. 51 158-63, 158, 208 Principles of Morals 112 John the Scot .see Erigena.
Freud, .Sigmund 14. 93-4. 95, creation of the world 60 Ea.stern interest in 152, 153 on exi,stence 112-13, 155 ,|ohn ,Scotus
129. 144, 145, 178, 203. doctrine of predestination Geisi 159-61 on God 44, 113 Johnson, Samuel 116
219. 221 52 influence of 163, 217 History t>f England 112 Judaeo-Chri.stian tradition
Friedrieli, Caspar David: Erigena's philosophy 56 law of change 159 and the philosophes 126-7 16, 29, 1~2
Ritni in Riesoibirge 92-3 existence of 57, 60, (i9, and Marxism 165 I'olilicitl Discourses 1 14 Jtidaism 159
Two Men by the Sea 87-8, 137. 223 pantheism 93, 159 scepticism 43. 116 Jung, Carl Gu.stav 145. 189
looking at the Moon rising and exi.stentialism 209, 213 The Phenomenology of A Treatise of Human justice, in Scx'ratic
13=i Hobbes' materialism 79 Mind l=>i^ Nature 112, //_' philo.sophy 21-2, 23
Fry, Roger 200 in Humes philo.sophv- 1 13 The Philosophy of llislory Hus.seri, Edmund /9^, 209, justificationism 222-3
Fulbert, Canon 56 Kant demolishes "proofs" 158. /5.V 210-11, 211. 216
future of philosophy 22(i-7 of exi,stence of 137 The Philosophy of Right 158 Hutchcson, Francis 183
Leibniz and 99 political philosophy 161-2. Hutton, James 115
of 172, 213
163
Tl}e Science of Logic 158
Hegelianism 152. 162. 163. I
K
Kant, Immanuel 9, .W, 57,
World 111 pantheism 93 165 Ibsen, Henrik 151 8", 103, 119, 131, 132-7,
j
Ciainsborough, Thomas, possible worlds 98 Heidegger. Martin 188. 208. Ideal Forms, theory of 12. l.U. U2
Mr and Mrs Atidreifs 110 Ptolemaic .system 64 209-10. 209. 211-13, 216, 11. 29. 30. 32. 58. 60 Augustine anticipates 50
Galileo 88, 91, 105 reconciling with .science 71 226 ideali.sm 119, 200 Critique offudgement 132
Dialogue On the Two Rous.seau and 128 Being and Time 209, 210, ideas, in Locke's philosophy Critujue (f I'raclical
Chief World Systems 67, 6~ Spinoza and 91-3 210, 212, 212, 215 lO.^-r Reason 132
Discourses ii/)oii the Neir Stoicism 46 Heidelberg University 90, 9/ idols. Bacon's philosophy Critit/ue of Pure Reason
Sciences 67 gods: Epicureanism 44—5 hell, doctrine of 76-7 76, 132, l49, 182
llobbes and ~8, 79-80 Hindu 150 predestination 52 imperialism 152 Ea.stern interest in 152,
scientific achiev ements Goethe, Johann Wolfgang son Hellenistic age 29, 4(). 43. 44 India 147. 152-3 153
6f)-^ 95. 1,^8. l4(), 154, 15^. 174 Hcloise 56. 56 individuals: exi,stenti:ilism free will 1,36-7
trial 66, 67 (iH "golden mean" ,-^8 Henr>' \'ll. King of England 208-9, 217 ne Fundamental
Gandhi, Mahatma 169 Goldsmidt, Isaac 182 105, 199 phenomenology 213 Principles of the
Gassendi, Pierre 78, 88, 89, Gombrich, Sir Ernst 224 Heraclilus 14-15. /•/. 159 induction "6, 106, 1 16-17 Metaphysics of Ethics 132
KP Gothic style 58 Herder Johann Gottfried 137. Indu.strial Re\olution 69, "1, influences on 109, 117
235
THE STOin" OF I'HlLOSOP?lY
ttieory of knowledge Russell's study of 196 On the Nature of Tilings Descartes and 87. 88 TI.W Holy Family 104
132-6. 138-9. 167 Tlocodicy 9(i 45. 45 Leibniz and 99 mu.sic 144, 144, 178, 221
Kepler, Johannes 66. 66, Leibniz-Haus, Hanover 99 Ludw ig II. King of Bavaria Manichaeism 50 Mussini, Tfce Death ofAtala
(id Leo XIII, Pope 59 Lyceum. Athens il Maugham. W. .Somerset l45 "The Myth of the Cave" 31,
Fydorovich HO
Keynes, John Maynard 200
Leucippus 18
liberalism 108, 123
life: in Nietz.sche's
M
Macauley. Thomas Babington
meaning: linguistic
philo.sophy 205-6
picture theory of 203-5. N
Kierkegaard. .Soren H7, philo.sophy 172-3, 17-4-5 112 204 Napoleon I, Emperor 161,
163. 208-9. 208 in .Schelling's philosophy Machiavelli, Niccolo 72-3. mechanistic psychology 79 174. 174
kinetic energy 99 156 72-3 medieval philosophy 54-61 Napoleonic wars 142, 155.
Kitchener, Lord 152 "life force" 2l4, 215 Discourses 73 Mendel.sson, Moses 136 101
Klei.st, Heinrich von 1S9 linguistic analysis 193. 203-7 ne Prince 12. 73 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice 216, nationalism: German 76J,
Klimt, Gu.stav 203 literary critics 95 Magritte. Rene, 7he Tiredness 218. 218 179
The Kiss 1 76 literature: existentialism 216 of Life 2W The Phenomenology of Hegel's influence 163
knowledge 8 German romanticism 159 Mahler. Gusta\- l44, 178 Percept io) I 218 romantic 137
Hacon on 75-6 Nietzsche's influence Mainionides. Moses 92 Tlie Structure (f Behtuiour natural philosophy 68-9
Cartesian approach 211 177-8. 179 Majer. Friedrich 142, 151 218 Nature: pantheism 93
Descartes and 8(5-7, 88-9, Schopenhauer's influence Maloiy, Sir Thomas, Morte Mersenne, Marin 88, 89 in Schelling's philosophy
105 144. l45 d'Arthur 58 metaphysics 34, 77 156-7, 158
empiricism 87 Locke. John 59, 01, 102-9, Malraux, Andre 178 Michelangelo. Tlie Stoicism 46
epistemolog)' 8, 89, 194, 102. 106. 110, l42, 185 Manchester Uni\ersity 202 Awakening Slave 36 Nazis 102, 177. 7 77. 178,
fallibility 187-8, 225 Understandi)ig 102. 102. Manichaeism 50 Middle Ages 34, 54-61, 70 200, 200. 208. 209-10. 212.
Hume's philosophy of 103 Mann, Thomas 144. 145, 178 Milesian school 13 214
112-13 freedom of speech 95 Mansion House, London 118 Miletus 13 Neo-Platonism 30, 50. 52.
intuition 215 influence of 122-3. 12-t. Mao Zedong 153, HI Mill. James 182. I84 56. 150
Kant's theory of 132-6, 170. 226 Marston Moor, battle of Mill. John StLiart IT. 152, Neruda. Pablo 171
138-9, 1()7 A Letter coiiceniiiig (1644) 81 184-5, 185. 198 New Lanark 183
Locke's theoiy of 103-6, Toleratio}! 102 Marx, Kari 90, 131, 144, On Liberty 185, 185 New Testament 29. 30. 40
133 material substance lOd, 111 164--1. l6-i-6. 168. ri. The Subjection of W'onien Newton, Isaac 17, 68. 75,
logical analysis 198 political philo.sophy 10(i-8. 178 185 109, 122. 124
Popper's theory of 222-3 109 C'omiiuinist Manifesto I64. A System if Logic 185 achievements 67-9, 71
pragmatism 186-8, 190-1 and .science 105-6. 221 168 Millais. John F\crett. [he calculus 67, 9(5, 97 98. 98
rationalism 87, 88 So)ne noughts concerning economic theory 166-9 Blind airl 133 on God 91
s)'nthctic st,itcments 98 Education 102 Hegels influence 159. 162. mind: Descartes and 88 laws of physics 08-9. 71.
Thomism 59-60 theor\' of knowledge 163, 165 empiricism 101. 104-5 169
William of Ockham 61 103-0. 133 influence of l45. ni, 217, in Hegel's philo.sophy Opticks 69
see also science Tivo Treatises of llh 158-9 Principia 68, 69. 69
Krishna 151 Government 102 Das Kapital 105, 165. 169 Spinoza and 91. 92 relativity theory and 220-1
Kriitiko\', Gcorgy logic: "Achilles and the Marxism 52, 164-71 Mohammed. Prophet 54 telescope 65
Tikhonovich 170 Tortoi.se" 19 Hegel's influence 163 monads 99 Nicholas II. Tsar 169
K'ung Fu-tzu 1h(-> analytical statements 98 influence on East 153 Monet. Claude. Kouoi Nietzsche. Friedrich 131.
Aristotle and 34 Popper's critique of 224 Cathedral 86 172-9. 1 72, 1 76, 226
causality 115 Sartre and 210 Montesquieu. Charle.s-Louis Beyond Good and Evil 111
Frege and 194-5 and structuralism 219 de .Sccondat 108, 12=i Llie Birth of Tragedy 111
9""
La Fleche 84 Leibniz and see also ComniLinism Moore. G. E. 103. 199. 200. Lhe Case of Wagner 111
Lacan, Jacques 219, J19 logical anah'sis 193. 198. Mary II, Queen of Fngl.md 201. 203 and existentialism 177, 208.
mathematics 15, 83. 96, 97, 222 Pythagoras 15 Child in a Gardeji 218 Nietzsche vei'sus Wagner
97 Loos, Adolf 206 and rationalism 83 motion 66-7. 79-80, 99 172
The Monadology 96 Louis XV, King of France and universe I'i-Ki .Munch. Edvard. Tlie Scream Tlius Spake Zarathustra
principle of sufficient 126. 127 matter: Aristotle's philosophy 213 \~1. 176
reason 98-9 Lucretiirs 17 35 Murillo, Bartolome Estcban, Nirvana I48
236
1\I)KX
"noble savage" 127, 127 Pirandello, Luigi 145. 177 property, Locke's political relativity theory 220, 225 An Enquiry hilo Meaning
nominalism 58 planets 64-6. 64-6. 68 philo.sophy 108 religion 7, 8 and 'I'rulh 19"
Norfolk, Duke of 182 Plato 11, l4, 16, 20. 22. Protagoras 18 and alienation 163 llislory of Western
noumenal world 135, 139-41 24-31, 2-i-7. 29. ^9. l42, Protestantism 209 atheism 143 Philosophy 190, 196
Novalis 157, 159, 210 l44 Prouclhon, Pierre Joseph 129 Ea.stern philosophy l42, Human Knowledge - lis
Nyaya school 150 Academy 27, 28, 52. 42. 50 Proust, Marcel I44, l45. 215 146 Scope and limils 197
Apology 26 Pru.ssia 161-2. 163. 174 and exi.stentialism 209 intluence of 201
o
objectivity, in science 67
and Ari.stotle 32
belief in reincarnation 150
observation, Descartes and 51-2 64 and Nietz.sche's philcsophy mathematical logic 97. 197
S()-7, ,S'6. 88 Ciito 26 Ptolemy, Claudius 64, 64 177 My l'lnlosoJ)hical
Ockham, William of 56, 61 dialogues 24—5. 26 Almagest 64 pragmatism 189 Development 197
Ockham's razor 61 Enthyphro 26 Pyrrho 42, 43 Rousseau and 128 Our Knoivledge of Ihe
Octavian 50 hostility to the arts 29 Pythagoras 15-16. 15. 76. see also individual religions External World... 197
Old Testament 90, 91 Uiches 26 27. 29, 68. 150 Rembrandt: Jews i>i the The Philosophy of logical
Olympus, Mount 173 "The Myth of the Cave" 31, Synagogue 90 Atomism 197
Omphalos stone 20 77 The Tii'o Philosophers 6 Principia .Mathematica 196.
ontology 8
proving the exi.stence of
and Parmenides
I'haedo 26. 29
17. 26
Q^
quantification theory 195
Renaissance 70, 72, 73
revisioni,sm, Marxist 170
197, /97,
The Principles of
198
God 57, 87-8 Republic 26. 28. 31 quantum theory 225 revolutions 123, 165. 169 Mathematics 197. 202
opposites, unity of 14 .Symposium 26 questioning, Socratic 20-2. see also American 'Ihe Problems of
optics 91 'Iheaeletus 26 23, 27 Revolution; French Philosophy 197
orreries 63. 68-9 theory of Ideal Forms 22. Re\okition: Russian on Spinoza 90, 95
Orwell, George,
Eighly-Four 223
Owen. Robert 183
.Xiiietccii 11. 29. .30,
T'imaeu.s 26,
Platonism 29,
52. 58,
33
,30, .38.
60
50.
R
Raleigh. Sir Walter 77
Revolution
Rilke, Rainer Maria l45, l^s
196
John, 1st Earl 196,
Oxford University 58, 74, 51-2 Rameau. Jean-Philippe 122 Rockingham. Marquess of Ru.ssia 171
102, 107. 153. 182. 206 Plotinus ,30, ,^a 50 Ram.say. Allan //_' 1 18 lUrssian Rexolution (1917)
poetry 17 Raoux. Jean, .4 Liidy cit her Rodin. Auguste. The Thinker 153, 170, 170
Poitiers. llni\ersity of 84 Mirror 1 13 7 Rutherford, Ernest 202
political philosoph)' 6 Raphael, The .School of Roman Catholic Church 70 Ryckaert, David. 'Tlie ArlisTs
pacifism 197 Ari.stotle 39 Alhens 20- and Aquinas 59 Workshop 106-7
painting. Gothic .style 58 Burke 118-19 rationalism 12, 38. 8.3-99, 101 Berg.son and 214 Ryle. Gilbert 19
pantheism 93. 95. 159 Locke 103, 106-8. 109 Stoicism 46-7 54 St Peter's in the Wardrobe.
paradoxes, "Achilles and the Machia\elli 72-3 realism, Platonism 58 Romantic Movement 93, 95, London 79
Tortoi.se" 19 Marxism 164-^1 reality: Ari.stotle 32, .34-8 119, 129. 15^, 159 Sainte-Chapelle. Paris 58
Paris 129, 213, 218, 219 Popper 223, 224 Berg.son 215, 215 romantic nation.ilism 1,37 Salome, Lou 7 77
Parmenides 1", 18, 19. l40 Rousseau 128-9 existentialism 163 Rome 55 Samos 15
Pascal. Blaise 81. 99 Spinoza 94 Fichle 155 Rontgen, Wilhelm 188 .Sartre, Jean-Paul 216-17,
Peano. Gitiseppe 194 Pompadour. Madame de 127 Hegel 161, 162, 165 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 125. 216. 219
Peirce, Charles Sanders 61, Poor Laws I84 Hindtiism 14", l49 12(>-9. 126-8. 144, 216 Being a)id Molhingness 216
186-8, 186. 189 Pope, Alexander 71, 75 Kant's philosophy of Co)ifessions 126 Critique of Dialectical
//ow Id Make Our h/ccis I Popper, Karl ^6, 103, 188, knowledge 13,3-6, 1,38-9, Di!;course on Ihe Origin of Reason 216
Clfiir 186-7 221-4, 221. 226 149 /nei/uatily 126 exi.stentialism 213, 217
pendulum clocks 67 Schopenhauer's intluence Marxism and 165 Discourse on Science and E.\istenlialtsm and
Pep\s, Samuel 108 l44 met.iphysics 34 Ihe Arts 126 Humanism 216. 21"
perform.itive utterances 207, 'Ihe Logic of Scieulific pantheism 93 Emile 126, 127. 128, 128 funeral 218. .2/9
20- Discovety 223 Platonic philosophy 28. 31. la Noui'elle Ilelo'ise 126. influences on 1"'8. 210, 218
pessimism l44 Ihe Open Society and Its 32 128 S'ausea 216. 216
phenomenal world 135, Enemies 223, 224 and reinc.irnation 149-50 Ihe Social ContracI 126. 12^ 'Ihe Psychology of
1.39—12. 202 theory ol knowledge 16. Spinoza 91-3 Rowley. John 68-9 Imaginalion 216
phenomenology 211, 212-13. 222-5 Wittgen.stein 202 Royal Observatory. Sketch for a Iheory of the
218 liieucletl (Juesl 17 reason: Erigena 56 Greenwich 68 Emotions 210
Philip II. King of .\1acedon 32 possible worlds 98 in Hume's philosophy 116 Ro\al Societx ~4. 7-/, 75. 98, Scarlatti, Ale.s.sandro 85
jtbilosophcs 126. 128 post-structuralism 219 and morality 137 99, 106, 108 .Sceptics 40. 42-3, 50-1
Philosophical Kadicals 182, power, absolute 81 pre-S( )cratic phil< )s( iphers Rirssell. Bertrand 103. 19fi-8. .Schelling. Friedrich \on 93.
18h pragm.itism 186-91, 200, 211 12 y96-,S' 131. l44. 154. 156--. 156.
physics: Fpicure.inism 44 pre-Socratic philosophers ration.ilism 88 'Ihe Analysis of Mailer 197 158
l.iws of OS. 155. 109 11-18. 20. 89. 210 Rous.seau and 127 The Analysis of Mind 197 Philosophy tfXalure 156.
Platonic philosophy 27-8 predestination, doctrine of 52 Stoicism 46-7 analytical philo.sophy 756. /?7
Pica.sso. Pablo ri Prince, Re\ . Heniy lames Ree, Paul / 77 198-200 .Schiller, lohann 132. 1.38. 154
picture theory of meaning 18^ Reformation 70 criticism of Bergson 215-10 Schlegel. Friedrich von 154
203-5. 204 proofs, scepticism and 43 reincarnation 29. 149-50 "discovers" Frege 195 Schlick. Moritz 199. 205
237
THK STOKY OF PHILOSOPHY
Schocnhcrg. Arnold 178, 221, social policies 223-4 Sutras 150 American Revolution 108, Westminster School 102, 105
221 socialism: British 182 Swift, Jonathan 1 10 170, 181 Wheel of Life 149
Scliopcnluiuer. Arthur 88, Marxism 164, 169, 170 synthesis, law of change 159, con.stitution 108 Whevvell, William 187
10.^, 131. 132, 138-hS, Popper and 221 165 unity of opposites 14 Whigs 118, 119
/.>.^9, 149, 183 society: "general will" 127, .synthetic .statements 97-8, 1 16 unity of time, place, and Whitehead, Alfred North 196,
Augustine anticipates 50 128, 129 action 39 197, 198, /gs, 199
The Foundations of
Morality 138
Marxi.sm 166
Socrates 11, 17, 20-3, 2(}-3,
40, 173
T
tabula rasa 59, 105
univensals 5(>-H. 61
universe NO-
Copernicus' theory 64—6
Wilhelm
Wilhelm
131
I.
I,
Kai.ser 174
King of Prussia
The Freedom of the Will 138 Plato and 24, 26 Tang dyna.sty 54, 55 Descartes and 87 will, in Schopenhauer's
innuence of l44, l-i5, 172 questions 20-2, 15, 27 Taormina 39 Epicureanism 44 philo.sophy I4I
innuences on 95. 117 .sceptici.sm 42 Taylor, Harriet 185, /iS'5 in Fichte's philosophy 155 "will to power" 174, 177, 221
interest in Eastern as superman 174 teleological argument, Hobbes' materialism 78-9 William III, King (if England
philo.sophy 142-3, 151 trial and death 22. 23, 26 proving the exi.stence of Manichaeism 50 102, 102. 103. 104
on lot^ic 194 Socratic method 23 God 57 as mathematical construct Wittgenstein, Ludwig 103,
(.)!! the Fourfold Root of the Solar Sy.stem 63 telescopes 65, 66 15-16 188, 199, 202-7, 202
Principle of Sufficient Solon 27 Thales 13, 13. 30 natural philosophy 68-9 influence of 226
Reason 138, 139 Sophia Charlotte. Queen of Theodoric 55 orreries 63. 68-9 lin,guistic analysis 201,
On the Will in Nature 138 Prussia 96-7, 97 Theravada Buddhism 1 48 pre-Socratic philo.sophy n, 203-6. 20~
I'arerga and Paralipoinena Sophists 18 thesis, law of change 159, 165 18 / '/) ilosoph ical liu vsl igalioi is
138 Sophocles 29 Third World countries 170 proving the existence of 203
and reincarnation 150 soul: in Buddhism 1 48 Thomism 59 God 57 Schopenhauer's intluence
Wittgenstein and 202, 203 doctrine of predestination 52 Thornhill, Sir James, An Ptolemaic system 64 l44, l45
I he World as Will and Nietz.sche denies existence Allegory of the Protesta)it Spinoza and 92-3 I'ractatus
Representation 138, 7J<^, IMi of 172 Succession 103 Llniversity College, London I.ogico-Philosophicus94.
Schopenliauer, Johanna 14U Platonic philo.sophy 26. 29 Tibetan Buddhism 147. 150 182 203. 203
science 9, 63-71 Schopenhauer and l43 Tillich. Paul 209 Upanishads 146. l47, 150. 151 Wittgeastein, Paul 202, 202
astronomy 64—6 in Socratic philosophy 12 time 7 Urban VI, Pope 9/ Wol.sey, Thomas 107
Bacon and 74-7 Spinoza and 93 in Augu.stine's philosophy Utilitarians 80, in, 152, 182-5 wonten, Vjc Sub/ xtioii of
cairsality 114-15 space 7, 135, 140, I48, 215 50 utopianism 30 Women and 185
Descartes and 88-9 Spain 52, 54 Bergsons philo.sophy 215 Woolf, Virginia 200
Einsteinian revolution 220-1,
225
in Fichte's philosophy
Sparta 27
speech, freedom of 94. 95
"speech-act" 207
Buddhi.sm I48
Kant's philo.sophy 135, I4O
Nietz.sche's philosophy 175
V
values: existentialism 217
Word.sworth, William 69
working
168-9
cla.ss, Marxi.sm
154-5 Speke, John 174 phemimenology 212, 213 in Nietz.sche's philosophy Worid War 1 19^
Galileos discoveries 66-7 Spinoza, Benedict 83, 87, 88, Timon of Phlius 42 172-7 World War II 216, 111
hiws of 222 90-5, 90, 95, 97, 157 Tito, Marshal 171 Vandals 52, 55 Wren, Sir Chri.stopher 68, 75,
lingui.stic philo.sophy 206 Ethics 90, 92, 94-5, 95 tolerance, Locke's political Vaux-le-Vicomtc 70 79, 79, 105, 107
Locke and 105-fi, 221 'fractal us Theologico- philo.sophy 108 Vedas 151 Wright brothers 188
Marxism as 169, 170 Politicus 92, 94, 203 Tol.stoy. Leo I44, l-i4, l45 Venus de Milo 28 Wright of Derby, A
natLir.il philosophy 08-9 Stalm, Joseph 72-3. 170, 171 Toryism 119 Vienna Circle 199, 199. 200, Philo.sopher l.ecluniig 115
Newton's importance to Steen, Jan: Musical Company totalitarianism 30, 129, 223 203, 205 wrong, in Socratic
67-9, 71 tragedy. Greek 29. 39 Viet Nam 153, 171 philo.sophy 22-3
pragmatism 187-8, 190-1 A School for Hoys and (lirls Traini, Francesco, ne violence 123. l4.3—
.Spinoza
self-awarene.ss 159
Vishnu I5il
Visigoths 55
X
Xenophanes l(->-17, 42
,sen.s()ry experience: Stoics 22, 40, 44, 46-7 135 Viviani, Vicenzo 67, 67
empiricism 101, 104-5,
110-11, 113
Hinduism 147
.Stt>nborough-Wittgen.stein,
Trinity College,
Trinity College.
Cambridge
Dublin IK).
l<)0
Voltaire 44, 121, 122-3, 122.
124, 125, ir
Caiidide^h. 98, 98
Y
Yale University 110, 110- 1 1
j
Kant's philosophy of Strindberg, Augu.st 177 118 innuences on 76, 108, 109 Yeats, William Butler 178,
knowledge 133-5. 139 .structuralism 218-19 Trotsky, Leon HO, 170. VI. libenilism 122-3 178
Sephardim 90 Stubhs, George, t/orse 190 Yoga school 150
Sextus Empiricus 43
I'yrrhoniarum 43
.sexuality, fall from grace 52
Attacked by a Lion 143
Sturm iind Prang movement
137
truth: Leibniz and 97
logical propositions 194
in mathematics 195
w
Wagner, Richard l40, l44,
Yugoslavia 171
Shaftesbury, Earl of 102, 103 subjectivity 218 pragmatism 189 145. 172. 172. 178. 179
Shakespeare, 'William l4, 1^. sufficient reason, principle of and .scientific laws 222 water. pre-,Socratic Zarathustra 1 76
39, 73, 74, 159, 161, 178 98-9 Tubal 37 philo.sophy 13. 14 Zeitgeist l59-(i\.
Shaw, George Bernard 122, suffragettes 185 Turgenev, han I44, 145 Watt, James 112 Zeno of Citium 46, 46
145, 169, 177-8, 196 Sui dynasty 55 Webb, Beatrice 221 Zeno of Elea 17, 19
Shi\-a
Smith,
/sc;
Zoroaster i70
social clas.ses, Marxism 166, Sun Yat-.sen 152, 153 Ariieriem Pragmatists Tin- West 111 luster Reriew
I6Cy-7, 168-9 superman 174, 177 18()-iM 183. 183
238
I'K 11 Kl INhOKMATiON
Picture Information
|i I: Raphael, 'Ihe
star cluster p.2; Pompeii, c.32()i« detail, mo.saic copy
, pp. 76-77: arms and crest of Bacon A Bird's En' ViewofSinilliJield.Markiel. Schopenhauer's On Ihe f'onifold Root
\Lho()l of Alhms. 16th-C, detail, fresco, of Greek painting, c.4th-C iii It./ , family, existence of valves in veins, 1811, aquatint, Eng. /detail, see p. 105 of Ihe /'rinciple of Su/ficienI Reason.
II. p,3: detail, .see p,W p.4t: .see p.2011. Alexander directing the building of from William Haney's /)e Molii Cordis pp.1 10-11: Bell Tower Tnnity College, 1813. title page. Ger pp. 140-41:
4c: .see p. 20 4b: see pp ()S-69 p.Stl; a wall of fire against Gog and el Sanguinis. 1628, engr, Eng, Dublin/John Smibert (attr 1, Ceorge Johanna Schopenhauer. 1835. engr.
detail, see p.Kit. 5tr; see p. 18Stl. 51c: Magog, c.l6()(), Ms., India, Pyrrhos Egbert \an Heemskerk, '/he /'leclion Berkeley, e.iHy l8tli-(^, ,Anglo-.\meric.in Cier 'Thomas l-'akins, 'Hie /itglin
see p.l02r Sec: see p.l2.-il Scr: see I7th-G, title page,
Se.xti limpirici. ill t/ie Cuildhall. Oxford, 1637. Sthool/C^harles Jenas, /')ean Sirifl, Brotheis Racing, c.1873, USA/
|i JKihr. Sb: see p.l.iS p,6: Fng. pp. 44-45: Fpicurus, bust/ pp. 78-79: Sir Godfrey Kneller, eady IHIh-C, detail, Eng Doolitlle, Dwingeloo (iaiaxy. from Isaac
I
Keniiirandl. The Tiro /'hilosojthciy. Bacchus and Maenad, fresco. It,/ '//lomas l/ohlx's. mid 17th-C, Eng,/ A View of the Buildings if )ale Newton Telescope. Canary Islands,
Hi2«, detail, Neth. p. 7: .Auguste Epicurean symbols. Pompeii, c lOOm .
William Dobson, Charles 1/ as /'rince College at :\etv / /areii. c 1910, etching. composite visible light image.
Kodin, /he Ihiukvi: IHW), bronze, Fr mtisait. It. Lucretius. /)e Renini ofWalesii'itha/'age. mid 17ih-C. USA Italian School. Clulh /)yeis Dwingeloo Obscured Galaxy Survey
p.8: William lilake, Ihc Ancieiil of Mitnra. Ms pp.4647: Zeno of Citium, detail, Eng. Sir Christopher Wren, St, L')emonslraling Iheir '/'ratle and Skills. V. P Molin. Hansel and Crelel, from
Iknx 179-*, detail, mi,\ed media, Hng bust Mino da Eiesole, Marcus Peter's in theWardrobe, London, late 1522, Berkeley's '/'reali.\e
It./ Crimiiis '/'ales. 1892. book cover,
p. 9: Salvador Dali, //onuific to NcuioH. Atireliii.^. late 15th-C, marble relief. It,/ 17th-C, Eng. pp.80-81: Hendrik iomerning the Principles of //iinian c:;er pp. 142-43: C. Muller, Krishna.
1969, bronze, Sp. pp. 10-11: galaxy Joos van Gent. Seneca, c.1475. panel. Steenwyck, \'ieii' of a .Marl^el-/tlace. Knoivledge. 1710, title page, Ir. from Friedrich Majer's .Mythological
.M51 .Aphrodite, 2nd-C ii< bronze, , Neth. /Leonardo Alenz.a y Nicto, T/ie late 16th-C, Belgium/.Abraham Bo.s.sc pp.1 12-13: Hume's l realise of Lexicon, v. 2, I8O4. engr.. Ger., (ieorg
<ir pp. 12-13: scene depicting /iomanlic Suicide, early 19th-C. Sp. (attr), llobbes' /.evialhaii. 1651, l/iiman iSaliire, 17.39, title page, Emanuel Opiz, A //iingarian
di\ination, bearing the name of pp. 48-49: intage of Christ, flagia engr, page, Eng. /execution of
title Eng,/ Allan Ramsay, David //iime. Nobleman with a Pupil of l/ie K K
(^h.ilenas, a Oeek sooth.sayer, early Sophia, Istanbul, I2th-C, mosaic, the regicides, 1660, detail, woodcut, 1766, Scotland/James Tassie, Adam '/'heresianKnight .\cadeiny in Vienna.
ilh-C H< , bronze mirror back, Thaies Turkev the .Archangel Michael, from Eng. Abraham Cooper, Battle of Smith. 1787, detail, pa,ste med;illion, C.1810. aqu;ilint. /\ustria, (icorge
of Miletus, l«2l), engr, Ger, olive Pala d'Oro (High Altar), San Marco. Maisloii Moor, 1819, Eng. p.82-83: Scotland/ Jean Raoux, .-1 /.ady at her Stubbs, Lion /k'voiiriiig a //orse.
h.ir\est, c.Stli-C i« , black-figure Venice. c.ad98(). detail, enamel and Sebastien Leclerc, A Ceometer s .Mirror 172(ls, Fr pp.1 14-15: James 1769. enamel, Fng. pp. 144-45:
.iiiiphora, Cir Anaximander, c,ai)20(), precious materials. It. pp. 50-51: St. Cahniel, 1714, print, Fr, Blaise Pascals Glllray, Billiards 18th-C, print, Eng Sikolaevicb 'I'olstoy mi the 'Terrace.
mosaic. pp.i4-lS: detail, see p-2 Augustine, from his City (>/ (lod. calculator, 1642, pp. 84-85: alter Frans Joseph >Xright ol Derby, ,-1 1905, panel, Russ, Etienne Je;iurat,
fxekias, '/'he ,Scv/ X'oydfic of Dioni'sos. early 15th-C, Ms. detail baptism of Hals, Ihnie Descartes. 18th-C, detail/ Philosopher /ecliiiing. c.1766, Fng. A .Miv-ical Soiive 18th-C, Frdelail, see
t.S-iOiK, black-figure bowl, Gr Christ, Baptistry of .Arians, Ravenna, F. de Gaigneres. College des Jesuites pp.1 16-17: George Willi.son. /((we.s p.l42r pp. 146-47: Guariento de Arpo,
I'ylhagoras, marble/.silver tetradrachm 5th-C, mosaic. It. pp. 52-53: Adam de la Fleche. 1655, detail, pen and Boswell. 1765. Scotland,'Jean-Honore Scenes from IheLifeofChri.st. lith-C,
of Athens, c,445l«:. coin, Gr pp. 16-17: and E\e, from .Speculum l/nmanae wash. Fr/Pierre-Louis Dumesnil the Fragonard, Le Verrou ( 7he Boll). altarpiece, It./Basavanagudi Temple,
Biagio d'Antonio da Firenze, A//c!>oiy Sali'attoiiis. C.1360, Ms,, Westphalia/ '^'ounger. Christina of Sweden and c 1777. Fr pp. 118-19: CJ. Staniland, Bangalore, mid 16th-C, India Buddha,
oj iIk- Lilicnil Arts, late ISth-C, It. Spanish Inquisition burning heretics, /ler Court, 18th-C. detail. FrdiLigram Edmund Biirhe supporting the painted rock relief, Tibet pp. 148-49:
Flements from .Aristotle's I'hysics. 18i9, engr. Ger, Hell, from from Descartes' Treatise on .Man, /'(iiiiamenlaiy Motion fir the .]holilioii the Buddha SIddhartha Gautama.
tth-C, Ms. Temple of Olympian
I Augustine's Ctly of Cod. 15th-C, Ms,. IbTl, print. Amsterdam pp. 8687: oj Slaveiy, (.1880, engr, l-'ng. James 1.3th-C, gilt copper, Nepal, thatig-ka,
/eus, Athens pp. 18-19: Giovanni da Fr pp. 54-55: Patio de Los Leones. Claude Monet. (1. to rl Rouen Northcote, Edmund Burke, late 18th- c 1900, detail, painting on cloth
Pnnte. '/'hi- Sl'I'ch / ilh'nil Arts, earh Alhamlira. Granada. 12.38-1358. Cal/iedral Portal. .Morning Sun C, detail. Fng. Mansion House. pp, 150-51: Shiva dancing on Nandi.
ISth-C, panel. It. panathenaic Sp /ioethitts li.-itens to the /n.stmction (//armoiiy in Blue). 1892; /'orlal London, 1739, print, Fr. Thomas 12th-C-I.-ith-C, stone, India Tibetan
footrace, c.Sth-C m , blaik-figure ol /'hilosiphy. from 'Ihe Consolatimi and Alhan s '/'over /'nil Sunlight. (i;ilnsborough. Mr and .Mis burial ground. Sichuan Province.
amphora, Gr. pp. 20-21: alter Lysippe, of /'hilosophy. 15th-C, Ms. Angelo 189.3-94; Sun's Effect, /uvning, 1893. Andrews, c.1749, Eng, Burke's .1 Chin-.y. ^r/una with Krishna, Irom the
Soijrdles/Scboii/ (if Athens, see p.2 Falcone, Battle of the /^otnans and Fr, diagrams from Descartes' '/'realise /'hilosophical Enciuiiy into the Bbcigavciil Cita, 18th-C. miniature,
Omphalos stone. Gr/tholos in the Barbarians. 17th-C. It. pp. 56-57: on Man. 1664, print. Fr./diagram from Origins of our Ideas of I lye Sublime India Friedrich Majer's Mythological
Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia. Delphi crucifixion plaque. Hth-C. bronze Descartes' Treatise on Man, 1662, and Beautiful. 1757. title page, Eng. Lexicon, 1804. title page, Ger
Andre Castaigne, Soci'ates ircill^.iu^ open-work. Ir.'Pernottin. 1/eloise print. Fr, Descartes' universe, from pp. 120-21: '/'akiugof Ihe Bastille, late pp, 152-53: Sun Vat Sen, boni Je ,Sais
l/vough the .Streets of Athens, from receieiiig Ahelard's Veil, 18th-C, print, 'fhe World, 1668, print, Amsterdam 18th-C, watercolour, Fr. first edn. of 'Tout magazine, 1912, print, Fr.
/he Century. 1897. engr. Fr Eng. Fr 7he Creation. 12th-C, detail, pp.88-89: Descartes' skull (alleged)/ Diderot's Encyclopedia, 1751-72, Fr George Curzon, Viceroy of India.
Socrates, Ist-C ad, fresco. Fphesus, tapestry, Sp. pp. 58-59: '/he '/'rinily. C P. Marillier Events of Descartes' life, pp. 122-23: Jean Huber, Le L.ever de C.1900 Indian philosophy .students.
Lirkey. pp. 22-23: .scene from
1 1-1 70, stained glass, Ger. interior. La 18th-C, engr, Fr Descartes' Voltaire, late 18th-C, Vr. Voltaire in Baroda State University. 1947/riots
Ari.stophanes' play '/he (,/oitds. 19th-C, Sainte Chapelle, Paris, 1.3th-C, Fr/ .Medilalions. I64I, title page, Fr his Study, late 18th-C, fr. '/'he in Sh;inghai, 1948, press photograph
engr, Ger/Socrates, Aristotle. Plato, The Return of /ixcalihur. from Im pp,90-91: Benedict Slnnoza. I7th-C, /'easani weighed down by Ihe pp. 154-55: Jena University, c.1900.
and Seneca, l4th-C, Ms., It. Morte d'Arthnr. c.1316, Ms, Fr, detail, Rembrandt, Jens in the .Nobility and (.'lergy. late 18th-C, Ger. Friedrich Jiigel, Johann I'ichte,
.Aristophanes, I5th-C. detail Jacques Francesco Traini, The '/'riunij>h of SI Synagogue. I648, etching, Neth etching, Fr. Jean-Pierre Houel. \'iew 1808, aquatint. Cier Nicholls and
Louis Da\id, /)eath of Socrates. 178^, '/'/lonias Aquina.y Santa Caterina, Robert Hooke s microscope and of a Cell in Ihe Ba.stille at the Moment AUanson, l.iehigs Laboratory at
Fr pp, 24-25: Plato, marble School of Prsa, l4th-C, panel. pp.60-61: 'Ihe
It. condenser, from his Mtcrographia. ofreleiLiing /'ri.soners. /-4 7 /7,V.y, late Ciessen. 1845, engr, Eng.. Arthur
Plato, clOOiH.. mosaic, Rome, pp.26- Microcosm, Ms. tapestry, see p 57 1665, engr, Eng,/ Heidelberg 18th-C. watercolour, Fr pp. 124-25: Kampf, Fichte Addresses Ibe Cerman
27: garden mural. Villa of Livia, late Johannes Scotus Erigena. engr. The University, 1900. engr. after a Carle \an Loo. Denis /)iderol, mid Nation, c.1913, fresco, Ger pp 156-
Ist-C AD, fresco, Rome U, Feuerbach, Lady and Ihe Unicorn: Si/>hl, c.1500. photograph. Ger. pp 92-93: statue 18th-C. Fr Robert Benard. (1. to r) 57: geology and palaeontology chart,
scene from the Symposium in Creeee detail, tapestry. Fr. p. 62-63: Camille of Moses Maimonides in Cordoba, /'ercussion /nslriimenls. Cross-section C.1880. print, Eng. Friedrich Schelling,
(Old fiinne. 19th-C, engr., Gcr.'John Flammarion, The Heavens, from bronze, Sp. /Caspar Da\ id Friedrich, oj a Mine, I'apermal^ing, Irom late I9lh-C, engr, Cier/Samuel
the calligrapher C.'liirke /'Into. ad895, /. 'Atmosphere Meteorologie Populaire, Ruin in Riesengehirge. 1815-20, Ger Diderot's Encyclopedia, late I8th-C, Palmer, the Magic Ap/tle 'Tree. IK30,
tlelail Plato, Pylh.tgoras, .ind Solon. 1888 in the style of c,1520, woodcut, pp. 94-95: Jan Ha\icksz Steen, Musical engr., Fr alter M Meissonier ink and watercolour Eng. Schelling's
pp.28-29:
l(ith-C„ fresco.' Kom.ini.i Fr cirrery, early l')th-C. Fng pp.64- Company, the )oung Suitor mid 17th- Diderot discussing the Encyclopedia Philosophy of Nalitre. n99. title
.ilhlete cleaning himsell with stngil. 65: Andrea Pisano, /'lolemv, c,1335, C. Neth Jean Charles Francois de la with Colleague.''. I9th-C, engr, Sp.. page. Cier E. Finden. Samuel Taylor
Sth-C H( red-hgure .uni^hor.i. Gr.
. relict. It. Andreas Cellarius. Hay, Baruch .Spinoza. 1762. crayon. Daumont, /x' Grand i'.afe d'Ale.xandre. (Coleridge. 1837. detail, engr Eng ,
.\ristotle and .Alexander, I-itii-C, bt)ok 1602, engr explanation ot the planets, 1849. engr Ger pp.98-99: Charles
. page. Fr L L de BoilK Ma.ximilien .
and Charles Danvm 19th-c:. Eng
Fry.
Loxer, detail, ivorv det.ul, see p.2. trom Kepler s Harmony oj the \Korld. Jer\as. (Caroline oJ .-Xnshach, \~1'^. Roheslncrre. late 18th-C, Fr alter Richard Knotel. Christmas /ire.
pp 34-35: Domenico di Michelino, 1619. en^r. /Trial of Galilm. 16.-!2/ Fng /G Adcock, Dr /'aitghss. Dc'clciratton des Droits de 17/omnie. /HtH Vilttam //I giving I'niforms to
Dante reading from T/ie /Miine Vicenzo Viviani, Galileo's |Tendulum played iiy Mr Harlev in a stage late IKlh-C, detail, panel, Fr pp. 1.30- bis Sons. Irom /'tfly Pictures oj Queen
Comedy. 1465, panel, detail, It,, G,B. design, eaHy 17ih-C. drawinft. pp.68- version of (^andute. c.WOO. en^r.. 51: Cari Fnedrich Lessing. The <Jas/ie Louise. 1896, chrtjmotype, Ger, Hider
tlelLi Porta, .Ari.stotlc. from Book of 69: Ro\al <ireenwich ( )bsen.itory, Hng.'i.eibniz s house. Mano\er T}tt Ihe Rocl' /^nniantiL /xindscafK'. ^oulh, c 1938. Ger Heinmh Olivier,
/'/nsioi>nomy. 1616, engr. It, from O
M. MitcheH's The Planctarv (jer./Leibniz s calcuiafing machine, ' 1828 detail. Ger amis of the King }outtg Vi'Oiiuin at a /^rte-tiieu. 1824.
Philosopher po,ss. Ari.stotlc and and .stellar Worlds. 1859, engr,, F-ng. Irom Histoiiv der /-eihnilzisthen ol Prussia, Wilhelni I. late I9th-C, Gei pp. 164-65: H Mocznay. Karl
lollowers, 4th-C ad, fresco, It. pp.3(v Camille Flammarion, Seivton /'hiUKioj)hie Uy CaH (iunther Ludovici, <iictail, l">ook, Cier pp 132-33: Anton Marx and Friedrich Engets at the 2nd
37: Ari.stotle's K/wtoric. Ms. disiorers Ihe /.tiw of Cratily. from 173^, engr cier pp 100-01 V-baslian Grail, lohann von Schiller 1786. Communist Party Congress, london
.Michelangelo, '/'/ye Awa/^vninii. Sltire. AstrontHHw Puptdatre. 1^81. «i)4r., Frj SkiKkoptl, Ifie Five Senses (Stt*nmeri, Gotdld^ Doebler. Immanuel
.isw«t/../ 11H-I~I, 1961. Ger, Kari Marx. 1880.
1528. W. /jifiic tf Aristotle. /^I'wlont of John Rowley, orieiv. ]~12. Fng Isaac carlv nih-t . tletail Fr \iijj d amore. Kant. fOl, Ger John F\crell Mill.iis. tinted photograph Marx s Ikis Ka/iitiil.
Cieero and Music of'l'iil>al. I5th-c;, Newton s PnncifMM McUheKuUtui, i77«ipp;li02-O3: Jolin Locke s .<Jeke Bluid t.Url. 1856, Eng pp. 134-35: 18(r, tide (>age, Cier., 'IhtMuh Hurms
liesco. Fr. pp. 38-39: Archimedes 17th-C, title page, R<ig pp.7ft-7I: PHin^^phicetl Fs.v^ys concerning Vflliam Henry Fox Talbot. Fox '/'alboi and plunders Ihe ArsemiUm ttefiiti.
ille.lsuring the purity of the gold in Chiiteau and panerre, Vaux-le- l/unian I 'nderstanding, U-\H. title at his E\tcihli\hment near Reading. /-i /line Ifi-iK 19th-C. lithograph. c,er
tile crown of Heiron II of Syracuse, Vicomte, nr Pans, 17th-C, Fr library, page. Eng Irom .i painting by Sir c 18 15, calotvpe, Eng. Caspar Da\id pp.l66-C>^: Engels. Marx and Mar^ s
liom an edition of Vitruvius, 1511, I8th-C, print, FY/ detail, see p.68bl, Godfrey Kneller ./rJ'i; /.ocfa', 19th-(/ Fnedrich, Two .Men by the .Sea daughters, I864, Fng. LiJe in Coldeii
woodcut copy/after Douris, Yonnn pp, 72-7.3: Ltirenzo Bartolini, illustration/Sir Godfrey Kneller (attr ), looking at Ihe .Moon risin,(i. 1817. Ixine. London. 1872, engr. Eng. Sir
Creeles at School. 5th-C He. detail, Machittrelli. early 19th-C, sculpture. Viilliani III if England, late 17th-t„ Ger pp.l3<v3"': Moses Mendelssohn. Henn c;ole. /he Dinner Party, c 1805
red-figure vessel. Gr/Graeco-Roman It. Santi di Tito. Niccoio .Uac'htapeili. fing /Sir James Thornhill. Viilliam laTc- IRth-C, Ger, Phiz. Fooi/iads watercolour F.ng, family outside their
theatre, Taormina, Sicily, Francesco late llith-C, detail. It.. Nmolo and Man m
Clon. ..eiling, P.unted allack a \icliiii. Irom Benson s house. Ilornsev. London, c 1890
de Ficoroni. Cree/e Actor and .\/a.\les Machiavellis The I'nnce. 1580. title Hall, Roval Naval College, Cireenwich, Hetnarkab/e '/'rials, mid 19th-C, /Letton (.ollierw Durham, from Lsaac
I nn Le Maschere Scenic/ie e /igiire
[ ( page, B;isel' Giuseppe-Lorenzo I no. det;iil. fresco. Fng pp 104-05 del, ill. en,gr fng ( leniens Kohl
.
Bucks liirlyRililliay Relics, c 1825.
Iomiche d'Antichi. 18th-C, It. pp.40- Gatteri, (^esare Borgia leaving the Bartolome Murillo, '/'he Holy l-atnily /kKlors visit a hospital. 1794. engr engr. Eng. pp.l(>H<>9: Marx s and
Rums of Ptolemv /iltiary at
I \'alican. mid 19th-C, It pp'"4"'5; llilh Ihe little Bird l~lh-(, Sp Jan Ger Pugin .ind Rowlandson, //oz/.sc Engels Coiiimiinist .Manifesto. 1848.
.\le.\-andria. c.1811, print. Fr Francis Bacons Essayes, 1597. «t(e .Sleen. A .School for Boys and (iiris, of Lords. 1809, drawing and engr., Eng., drawing room. Berkeley Castle,
Alexander the Great exploring under page, Fng. George Venue. Cresham C.1670. Neth pp. 106-0^: letter from Eng. pp. 138-39: Schopenhauer's '/'be 1890, C.1890. Fng. [^nsoners in Russian
water, 5th-C, Ms., Fr Diogenes and College, 1739. detail, engr, Fng,, Locke, with illustration of his World as W^ill and Representation, labour camp, c 1932 .Alexander
\lexander, relief, Gr. pp. 42-43: Paul van Somer Sir Francis Bacon, birthplace, 1699, Eng, David Rvckaert 1819, Ger/Angilbert Gobel, Arthur Petrovich Apsit, The Tsar Ihe Priest
I .irneadcs, 18th-C, engr '/'he eadv nth-C, Belgium lohn Betles, 111, /'he Artf.ls \\oii.-shoji. 1()3H, Neth, ScbojK'nbatier. 1859. Ger./halfpenny and the Rich .Man carried by Ibe
Alexander Mosctic. Casa del Fauno, FJi:ahclh /. late I6th-C, detail, Fng pp 108-09: Thomas RowLindson, postage stamps. 1880. GB. Working /'eople. 1918, poster Russ
239
J.i'W»""^"HWP|i
THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY'
Briliih Lihniry Raiding Room, c.1870, 1776. mid 19th-C, engr., I ISA I 'nited magazine illustration, pp. 190-91: MV\ D.urI li.mie and customer Beau\oir Now 1945, detail, Fr/Jean-
prim, Eng. pp. 170-71: soldiers and Nations Building, W\C. pp. 182-8.^: John Dewey, inid 20th-C, USA/John BH( '\'\'~,
.\iiluiiies Riuulshow. 1989, Paul Sartre's La Natisee. 1938,
workers on the streets of Petrograd, Rudolph Ackermann, Dartitiottr Dewey at the Convention for the GB W iitgenstcins Traclaliis Logico- facsimile of 1st edn., Fr/Sartre at his
Russia, November 1917/Georgy Prison. 1810, detail, print, Eng./'W.H. League for Independent Political I^hilosophiciis. 1922, title page, Eng. flat, 42 Rue Bonaparte, o\erlooking
Tikhonovitch Krutikov, Flying City, Worthington, feremy Bentham. 1823, Action, USA, 1936/elementary science pp. 204-05: Texas Tim painting desert the cafe Les Deux Magots, Paris,
1928, drawing, Russ./Leon Trotsky. detail, engr, Eng. M. Egerton. consultant Philip Blough watches an landscape. New Mexico, c.1995/ I950.s/Kellys Cellar Belfast, 1954
1917, Russ. /detail, see p.l6^r, Dancing the Quadrille at .School in experiment at a school in Winnetka, Speakers' Corner London, 1933. Albert Cainus at book-signing. 195".
pp. 172-73: H. Varges, Richard Robert Owen's Neir Lanark. Scotland. USA, 1947/Dewey's The School and pp. 206-07: British /Vrmy suitability test. Fr pp. 218-19: Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
WttgUL^r. C.1910, copper intaglio print 1825. detail, print. Eng./ 7/Te Society, 1900, title page,USA pp.192- 1942. Eng./Lotfi Mansouri directing 1950, Fr./Berthe Morisot, Woman
,ittcr 1S"1 photograph, Ger/Friedrich Westminster Review. 1824. title page, 93: rush hour Osaka. Japan, c.1989/ Margarita Lilova in La Gioconda. San and Child in a Garden. 1883-34, Fr
Nietzsche, c.1875, Ger. Mount Eng. pp. 184-85: T. Heaviside, 'the atcjmic explosion, Bikini Atoll, 1956. Francisco. 1979/Profe,ssor J. L. Austin Louis Althusser 1978, Fr, Jacques
Olympus, Gr./satire on .strict Sunday Agapemone. or Abode of Love, at pp. 194-95: letter from Gottlob Erege at joint session of the Ari.stotelian Lacan, 1950s, Fr/Michel Foucault,
observance, from l.uslige BIdller. 1895, Charlinch. Somenet. 1851, engr, Eng./ to Edmund Husserl, 1894. facsimile. Society and the Mind Association. 1970s, Fr/Jacques Derrida, 1993, Fr
magazine cover, Ger. pp.\74-75: T. H. Shepherd and H. Melville, Ger/Gottlob Frege, from Birmingham. Eng., Augu,st 1952/Ben Sartre's funeral, Paris, 1980, pp,220-21:
Richard Burton in cosaime he wore Central Criminal Court. Old Bailey. Nachgelassene Schriften. early 20th-C, Heatley of GB receiving silver medal astronomy lecture,
.Albert Einstein at
as a pilgrim to Mecca, mid 19th-C, 1840, engr, Eng./fohn Stuart Mill Ger/from Begriffschrifl (Concept for the Marathon, Tokyo Olympics, Pasadena. California. 1931/power
Job, Napoleon in the Royal
Fn,t;. 1873. engr, Eng./Mill's On Liberty. Script). 1879, Ger pp. 196-97: iMrd 1964 pp.208-09: Kierkegaard's station cooling towers, Eng./Kari
Mih/ary Acadeiny at Bricnne, c.191*). 1859. title page, Eng./suffragette John Russell, late 19th-C, engr, Eng./ cousin, S0ren Kierkegaard, c.1840, Popper, mid 20th-C, Eng., Alfred
watcrcolour, Fr./Edouard Detaille, demonstration, London, 1905 Harriet Bertrand Russell. 1950, Eng./A. N. drawing. Den. /bridal couple, 1920s, .\6\vT atan international conference
the 'trophy. 1898, Fr. pp. 176-77: Taylor, mid i9th-C, miniature, Eng. Whitehead and Bertrand Russell's F.ng Swiss Protestant theologian Karl for psychology, Berlin, Sept. 1930,
/iirncL'.ter, c,1900, print, Mahara.shtra, pp.186-87: C. S. Peirce, from Princijiia .Malhenuilica. Vol.1, 1935, Barth. c 196(1. drawing, Fr .Martin del.iilP. Gartmann, Arnold
Indi.iHenry van de Veldc, Nietzsche's Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Eng. Bertrand Russell at CND demo.. Heidegger 1050, Ger pp.210-11: Schoenberg, 1930. detail. Ger
Spake Zarathustra, 19118, title
Vhii.s Peirce, vol. 1, late 19th-C, \iSh/Tay Ministry of Defence, London, February Heidegger's Sein und Zeit. 1927, title pp,22 1-22: exterior London School
page, Ger./Gustav Klimt, 7he Ki.s.s. Bridge disa.ster. Diving Operation.'!. 1961. pp.198-99: A.N. Whitehead, page, Ger/Rene Magritte, La Fatigue of Economics and Political Sciences,
1908, detail, Au,stria/Leni Riefenstahl, January 1880, engr, Eng. /refuelling early 20th-C, Eng. /from Principia de Vine. 1927, Belg./Edmund Fng gfiss laboratory apparatus/
Triumph of the Will (Nuremberg a car early 20th-C, USA pp. 188-89: Mathematica Vol.1. 1935, Eng./ Husserl, early 20th-C, Ger/Andre |(is(.*ph Heinemann, Creation of the
Rally!). 1934, film still, Ger./Lou William Rontgen examining a Patient. College of Arms, London/ Trinity Collin, Poor I'eople. late 19th-C, Belg. '\\url,l Iroiii I'icture Bible. 1906, litho
Andreas-Salome, late 19th-C, Ger. 1896, book illustration, Ger/ Wright College, Cambridge, Eng. pp. 200-01: pp. 212-13: giving directions, 1950s, and pen, Freiburg 1984. 1955, film
pp. 178-79: William Butler Yeats, early Brothers' First Flight at Kitty Hawk. Put a Tiger in Your Tank. Es.so advert., Eng. /sundial, Berea, Kentucky, 1996 still, GB. pp,224-25: Anti-nuclear
2()th-C/Max Bruckner, .scenery design North Carolina. 1904. magazine 1960s. Eng. 7he Reich's Ujfxnir Seivice Edvard Munch, Ihe Scream. 1893, Nor march, Berkshire, Eng,, late 20th-C
for Wagner's Parsifal. 1896, Ger./ illu.stration, Er./Alice Boughton, Calls for You. 1930s, propaganda pp. 214-15: baby girl, 1989, Eng./ Ernst Hans Gombrich, mid 20th-C
detail,see p.l7(ir pp. 180-81: Nathaniel \Killuim lames, from Ihe Letters of poster Ger/stock trading floor Henri Bergson, late 19th-C, Fr/Grand demolition ot fiats, UK. late 20th-C
Currier after John 'Truinbull, .'Signing William lames, vol.1, 1907, USA,/A. E. Chicago pp. 202-03: Paul Wittgenstein Central Station. N^i'C Hood River detail, see p220bl pp. 226-2^: earth
the Declanilioii <f liidcpciuk-iicc. Enislie. .1 .Mother's Dream. 1891, in NYC. 1934. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Oregon pp. 216-1^: Simone tie in spjie
Picture Credits
Advertising Archives: Esso 200t, Agence 146. 148; Duomo. Florence 34; 209tr David King Collection: 170tr Ziihmer 1 3b, Robert Harding Picture Jonathan Kirn 201; Jeremy Walker
France Presse: 218t, Agence Nina Fitzwilliam Museum. University of Dorling Kindcrsley: 4b (& 68-69); Librar)':P Craven lioti; 181r Roger- 220-221; Jan Frederick 215b. Visual
Beskow: Gisele Freuncl 5cr & 216br Cambridge 15~bl, G.ilerie Daniel 43r; Linda Whitwam 54; 69r; Dave VioIIet: 208; Hariingue 216t Royal Arts Library: Artephot 4c (& 50); 77;
AKG, London: 5cc (& 123t); 13tl; 22tl; Malingue, Pans c s.iK .idor Dali, King 83r lOlr 2141; 961; 97r; 99b; Naval College, Greenwich: 103 Royal Oronoz. .Artephoto 921/British Libraiy
23; 281; 52b; 62-63; 66tr; 74t; 89r; Foundation G.iLi-s.iK.idnr Dali/DACS lllbn 112fi; 131r; 157tr; 1621; 182r Society: 74b- Scala: Accademia, 58b; Derby Art Gallery 115; Lou\re.
91b; 951; 96-97; 118bl; 132r; 136bl; 1998 9; Guildhall Art Gallery, 183b; 185tr; 1861; 188br; 191r 1941; Florence 36r; Biblioteca Laurenziana Paris .\, Lorenzini 4t (& 20tl); Musee
1.381;139b; 140tl; 154tr; 155; 158t; Corporation of London 98t, 108; 194r; 195 /British Museum 15r 19; 29b; Capitoline Museum, Rt^me 44t; Pans 82-83; Artephoto
C.irn.n alet.
158b, 160; l62r; l63t; l64r (& 171); Harold Samuel Collectkm, Corporation Science Museum/Clive Streeter 63r Delphi ,Museum 21bl; Metropolitan Nimat.illah 120-121; National Museum
lii^t 169b; l69bl; 170bl; 1721; 172r; of London 94; Harris Museum & Art E,T, Archive: 35t/Casa Goldini 39b; Museum of Art, N,Y, 26t; Mu,seo of Ireland, Dublin 56t; Prix ate
ril rir; 176bl; 1771; 185bl; 200b; Gallery, Lanes 81b; Library of Capitoline Museum, Rome 15tc; Gregoriano Profano, Vatican 30b; Collection 7, Tate Gallery l43, \'atic.in
2u2r Moritz Naehr; 203r; Fritz Eschen Congress, Washington D,C, 180-181; Musee Carnavalet, Paris 122r; Museo National Museum of Archaeology, 2(& 20-21).
209b; 21 Salomon 221tr; 221br;
It; Erich Louvre, Paris 22bl; Musee Carnavalet, Nazionale, Rome 32t; Sucevita Naples 45t; Vatican 33, Scala/Archivio .Iacket FRONT; The Bridgeman Art
223t/Badisches Uindcsmuseum. Paris 123b; Musee Cluny, Paris 6lb; Monastery, Romania 27b: Wagner Camera photo, Venice: 3 (& 59). Library .Scottish National Purti.ut
Karlesruhe 29t; Bibliotheque de Musee Conde, Chantilly' 16 (&22tr); Museum, Bayreuth 178. Editions Science Photo Library: Chris Butler Gallerx' tl; Mar}' Evans Picture Library
Sainte Genevieve 53; Birmingham Musee des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg Gallimard: 216b]. Fine Art 10-11; Dr Jeremy Burgess 871; 140- tc; Hulton Deutsch tr; Scala b. Front
City Museum & Art Gallery 133; 100-101; Musee des Beaux-Arts, Photographic Library: 144b Fotonias 1 4 1 Science & Society Picture Ftj\p; Visual Arts Library Louxre,
Hessian State Library, Darmstadt 52t; Tournai 211b; Musee Lambinet, Index: 102tl; 1 1 9r The Garden Library: Km.il Institution 5tl (& 84t). P;iris ,\ Lorenzini, Spinf.; (iiraudon.
Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf 130-131; Versailles 126; Museo Civico Picture Library: Erika Craddock 70t. Sonia Halliday Photographs: 21br; 48- Back, top 1. to r; AKG, London 1;
Louvre, Paris 116-117; Maerkisches Rivoltello, Trieste 73b; Museo Ccirrer, Giraudon: 90t; 124bc; 124bn 128b/ 49; 51; 58tr/l).irmst.idt Museum 58tl. AKG, London Staatl. .Antikenslg c>\
Museum, Berlin 136tl; Musee de Venice llltr; Museo Diocesano. Bibliotheque Nationale 84b, 1061; Spectrum Colour Library: 39t; 173t, Glyptothek, Munich Science 2; &
I'Annee, Paris 175; Musee Marmottan, Cortona 301; National Gallery of Musee Carnavalet, Paris 125b, 129b; Dallas & lohn Heaton iVb. 21br, Society Picture Library Royal
Paris 86tl; Museo Capitular de la Scotland 105 (& 109). 218b; National Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lille 129t; Stanley Gibbons Ltd: 139t. Still 3; Image Select/ Ann
Institution
Catedral, Gerona 57 (&
60r); Mu,seo Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne 6; Private Collection/© ADAGP, Paris Pictures: Catherine Piatt 150rSygma: Ronan E.TArchive Musee
i:
Romantico, Madrid 47; Mu.seum der Oriental Museum. Durham University and DAGS, London 1998 210b; 193r Jacques Pavkn.sky 2iyt; 5; bottom
Carnaxalei. Paris to r 1
Stadt, Greifswald 92-93; Museum fur 149; Philip Gale Fine Art, Chepstow Scottish Natkinal Portrait Gallery Guichard 219bl/Keystone Illustration I The BridgemanArt Library Prix ate
Deutsche Geschichte, Berlin 1641; 166-167; Philip Mould, Historical 102bl Hulton Getty: 661; 76t; 81t; 224bl. Telegraph Colour Library: Collection 1; Camera Pre.ss 2; .Scala 3;
Museum of Russian Art, Kiev 159; Portraits Ltd,. London liobl; Prado. 1.34, I52b; 15-itl; 156r; 166bl; 167b; Japack Photo Librar, I99r: Peter AKG, London 4, Back fl\P: Pictorialist t;
\.is]on.ili;.illiTiel Oslo < Ihc Munch Madrid 104; Private Collections 671. 168tr; 169br; 197b; 198t; BillBrandt Sherrard 226- IZ^ Tony Stone Images:
. Visual Arts Librarx Pnx.ite Collection b.
Museum Ilic Miinili-Hlinuscn Group 7S1. 80t. 114. 1321, 1,37; Royal Albert 2061; G. Douglas 207tr; John
D.XCS l'i'« Z\y N.iu.in.il <;.illcr>', Memorial Museum. E.xeter 118tr; Chillingworth 217t/Fox 212t; Keystone
London 1191; National Museum of
.Archaeology, Naples 42b (& 44b);
Scottish National Portrait Gallery 78b. 153b. Image Bank: Eric Meola 222b;
Author's Acknowledgments
112r 112bl. 1161; Stapleton Collection Frans Lemmens 2 1 5t. Image Select/
Nationalgalerie, Berlin 5b (St. 135); 124bl; State Russian Museum, St. Ann Ronan: 38t; 38b; 64-65; 65; 66br; 'Vastly more work goes into abook of thus kind than tile atithor
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence 73t; Staatl. Petersburg 144t: Vatican Museums 67r; 68d; 68bl (& 71); 76b; 891; 91t; realizes Vv'hen he begins to write it. The whole visual side of it
Antikenslg. & Glyptothek, Munich and Galleries, Rome 12t; Wallace 118tl; 1561; 1961/E.P Goldschmidt &
14-15; Staatl, Kun,stlg. Neuegalerie, Collection, London 5 ib, 113. The Co. Ltd. 87r Kobal Collection: 223b.
is the creation of others. My heartfelt thanks go to two people
Kas,sel 138b; Staatliche Galerie, Bridgeman Art Librar)7(;iraudon: Koninklijke Bibliotheek den Haag: in particular: Neil Lockley, who carried out the crucial task of
Dessau l63b, AKG, London/Archivio Louxre, Paris 46b British Library: Ms 95tr Magnum Photos Ltd.: Guy Le coordinating everyone's efforts, and who himself made ina]i ir
Camera photo, Venice: 49b. AKG, Roy.20. Bxx 4O-4I; .Ms .\M 11912
f,"^v Querrec 219br, Mary Evans Picture
contributions to the pictorial content of the book, and also to
London/Erich Lcssing: Bibliotheque f,245b; Ms Add, 10294 194 58h; l42l; Library: 5tr (& 185tl); 21tr 26b; 42t;
X.ition.ile I21r; Ch/iteauFerney- 15 Ir British Library of Political & 6 It; 95br; 98b; 125t; 136r; l4lbr; researching and writing captions and other bo,xed material; and
Voltaire 1221; Gallerie im Belvedere. Economic Science: National 154b; 157br; l67tn 170tl; 173b; 1821; R(5wena Afsey, the person chiefly responsible for the illustrations
Vienna 176r (& 179); Hislorische Westiuinskr b.ink i85br Cambridge 183t; 184t; 184b; 186r; 1881; 188tr;
and their layout, 'Various .sorts of help were prox ided by l.ita
Museum der Stadt Wien 142r (ik University Press: 197t; 198b. Camera 189; 209tl/Sigmund Freud Copyrights
145); Louvre. Paris 24; Musee des Press: |ohn Blair
147tr; Giancarlo 177r, Mary Evans Picture Library/ Maiklem. Jc'anna 'Warwick, Jo Houghton. Claire Legemah. and
Beaux-Arts, Dijon 106-107; Musee Botti 219c; Tom
Blau 221be. CM. Explorer: 7Sr, Marx Memorial Library: Tina 'Vaughan, all of whom merit iny thanks.
dOrsa\ P,iris 86tc, 86tr AKG London/ Dixon/Photore.sourccs: 176tl. Corbis: Michael Holford: 79/
,
165t; I66tl; 1681, The idea of writing the book in the first place xx.is brought
Orsi B;tttaglini: Duonio, Fkirence 64I. 99t; 110-111; 12^r; Bert Hardy 15,3t; British Museum llr; Lou\re, Paris
to me by Sean IMoore, who remained the person at Dorlmg
Ancient Art c& Architecture Collection: Michael "I'amashita 192-193; Adam 28r Musee de I'Homme: J Oster 88,
32b; 431; 1501/nie Cathedral at Le Dave G. Hou.ser 204; Ira
Woolfitt 1991; Museum het Rembrandthuis, Kindersley ultimately responsible for its dealings with me.
Puy ,37. Ann & Bury Peerless: 1511. Nowinski 206-207; Ke\in R. Morris Amsterdam: 90b, National Gallery of At various ,stage,s editorial assistance was given by Gwen
BBC Photo Archive:' 2031 Bildarchiv 212b; Sarah lackson 222t; David Art, Washington: Gift of Mr & Mrs, Edmonds. Anna Kruger, and Luci Collings, and I thank them
Preussischer Kulturbesitz: 210t. Reed 224t /llulton 1. ipK.il Press 205. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney/ Richard
Bodleian Library: Ms I/, D Clarke 39 i\ all, Dorling Kindersley is to be heartily congratulated mi helping
Corbis-Bettmann ^1. |ii2rl; 161; Carafclli l40b. National Gallery of
f-l()5\ 27t. The BridgemanArt Library: 1781; 187; 19Ut, lyoli, lyll Corbis- Ireland: llOtr Oronoz: 46tl/Escorial to bring philosophy to a new generation of readers.
1471/Accademia, Florence 72, 1271; Bettmann/UPI: 1911; 196r; 2i)21. Library, Madrid 361: National
Austrian National Library, Vienna, Ms. 207br; 220bl (& 225). Corbis/UPI: Archaeological Museum, Naples 25 Dorling Kindersley would like to thank the following pct)ple:
codex 12600 601; Bargello, Florence 217b. Jean-Loup Charmet: 17t; 56b; (& 31); Prado, Madrid 18, 55; Vatican Mandie Tsang for the illu.stration on p,12; Hilary Bird for the
46tr; British Library 8; Burghley 80b; 152t; 214r /Bibliotheque des Arts 14t; Villa Albani, Rome 4lb, Rex
index; Edda Bohn.sack; Edward Bunting; Michelle Fiedler; Jo
House. Lines, 78t; Catacomb della Decoratifs 401, 70b; Bibliotheque Features: 224br/Sipa Press/ Anne
via Latina, Rome 35b; Chateau de Nationale 85r 86b 128t; British Selders 2191x, Rlieinisches Houghton; Joanne Mitchell; Laura Strevens; Nichola Thoma.sson;
Versailles, Paris 851; Christie's Images Museum 13tr; Musee Calvin, Noyon Landesmuseum, Trier: Thomas Frances 'Vargo; Joanna 'Warwick,
240
TPf!'
PROFESSOR Bryan Magee was educated
atOxford University, where he received
degrees in history and also in philosophy,
politics, and economics. In 1956, after a
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