The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of Modern Philosophy, by Alfred William Benn

Title: History of Modern Philosophy

Author: Alfred William Benn

Release Date: November 11, 2010 [eBook #34283]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY***

E-text prepared by Steven Gibbs, Keith Edkins,
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Giordano Bruno.

From the Statue in the Campo dei Fiori, Rome.

HISTORY OF

MODERN

PHILOSOPHY

BY

A. W. BENN,

AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH RATIONALISM IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY," ETC.

[ISSUED FOR THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED]

London:

WATTS & CO.,

17 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.

1912

PRINTED BY WATTS AND CO.,
JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET,
LONDON, E.C.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Chapter I.

THE PHILOSOPHICAL RENAISSANCE

For a thousand years after the schools of Athens were closed by Justinian philosophy made no real advance; no essentially new ideas about the constitution of nature, the workings of mind, or the ends of life were put forward. It would be false to say that during this period no progress was made. The civilisation of the Roman Empire was extended far beyond its ancient frontiers; and, although much ground was lost in Asia and Africa, more than the equivalent was gained in Northern Europe. Within Europe also the gradual abolition of slavery and the increasing dignity of peaceful labour gave a wider diffusion to culture, combined with a larger sense of human fellowship than any but the best minds of Greece and Rome had felt. Whether the status of women was really raised may be doubted; but the ideas and sentiments of women began to exercise an influence on