A

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

IN EPITOME,

BY
DR. ALBERT SCHWEGLER.

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GERMAN,

BY
JULIUS H. SEELYE.

THIRD EDITION.

NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
443 & 445 BROADWAY.
LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN.
1864.

Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1856,
By Julius H. Seelye,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of New York.

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INTRODUCTORY NOTE

BY HENRY B. SMITH, D. D.

The History of Philosophy, by Dr. Albert Schwegler, is considered in Germany as the best concise manual upon the subject from the school of Hegel. Its account of the Greek and of the German systems, is of especial value and importance. It presents the whole history of speculation in its consecutive order. Though following the method of Hegel’s more extended lectures upon the progress of philosophy, and though it makes the system of Hegel to be the ripest product of philosophy, yet it also rests upon independent investigations. It will well reward diligent study, and is one of the best works for a text-book in our colleges, upon this neglected branch of scientific investigation. The translation is made by a competent person, and gives, I doubt not, a faithful rendering of the original.

Henry B. Smith.

Union Theological Seminary, New York, Nov. 6, 1855.

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TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.

Schwegler’s History of Philosophy originally appeared in the “Neue Encyklopädie für Wissenschaften und Künste.” Its great value soon awakened a call for its separate issue, in which form it has attained a very wide circulation in Germany. It is found in the hands of almost every student in the philosophical department of a German university, and is highly esteemed for its clearness, conciseness, and comprehensiveness.

The present translation was commenced in Germany three years ago, and has been carefully finished. It was undertaken with the conviction that the work would not lose its interest or its value in an English dress, and with the hope that it might be of wider service in such a form to students of philosophy here. It was thought especially, that a proper translation of this manual would supply a want for a suitable text-book on this branch of study, long felt by both teachers and students in our American colleges.

The effort has been made to translate, and not to paraphrase the author’s meaning. Many of his statements might have been amplified without diffuseness, and made more perceptible to the superficial reader without losing their interest to the more profound student, but he has so happily seized upon the germs of the different systems, that they neither need, nor would be improved by any farther development, and has, moreover, presented them so clearly, that no student need have any difficulty in apprehending them as they are. The translator has therefore endeavored to represent faithfully and clearly the original history. As such, he offers his work to the American public, indulging no hope, and making no efforts for its success beyond that which its own merits shall ensure.

J. H. S.

Schenectady, N. Y., January, 1856.

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CONTENTS.

      PAGE INTRODUCTORY NOTE, by Henry B. SMITH, D. D. iii TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii Section I.— WHAT IS MEANT BY THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 11 II.— CLASSIFICATION 16 III.— GENERAL VIEW OF THE PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY 17   1. The Ionics 17   2. The Pythagoreans 18   3. The Eleatics 18   4. Heraclitus 18   5. The Atomists 19   6. Anaxagoras 19   7. The Sophists 20 IV.—  THE IONIC PHILOSOPHERS 21   1. Thales 21   2. Anaximander 22   3. Anaximenes 23   4. Retrospect 23 V.— PYTHAGOREANISM 23   1. Its Relative Position 23   2. Historical and Chronological 23   3. The Pythagorean Principle 24   4. Carrying out of this Principle 25 VI.— THE ELEATICS 27   1. The Relation of the Eleatic Principle to the Pythagorean 27   2. Xenophanes 28   3. Parmenides 28   4. Zeno 30 VII.— HERACLITUS 31   1. Relation of the Heraclitic Principle to the Eleatic 31   2. Historical and Chronological 32   3. The Principle of the Becoming 32   4. The Principle of Fire 33   5. Transition to the Atomists 33 VIII.— EMPEDOCLES 35   1. General View 35   2. The Four Elements 35   3. The Two Powers 36   4. Relation of the Empedoclean to the Eleatic and Heraclitic Philosophy 36 IX.— THE ATOMISTIC PHILOSOPHY 37   1. Its Propounders 37   2. The Atoms 37   3. The Fulness and the Void 38   4. The Atomistic Necessity

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@41412@[email protected]#Page_38" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">38   5. Relative Position of the Atomistic Philosophy 39 X.— ANAXAGORAS 40   1. His Personal History 40   2. His Relation to his Predecessors 41   3. The Principle of the νοῦς  41   4. Anaxagoras as the close of the Pre-Socratic Realism 42 XI.— THE SOPHISTIC PHILOSOPHY 43   1. The Relation of the Sophistic Philosophy to the Anaxagorean Principle 43   2. Relation of the Sophistic Philosophy to the Universal Life of that Age 44   3. Tendencies of the Sophistic Philosophy 46   4. Significance of the Sophistic Philosophy from its relation to the Culture of the Age 47   5. Individual Sophists  48   6. Transition to Socrates, and characteristic of the following Period 51 XII.— SOCRATES 52   1. His Personal Character 52   2. Socrates and Aristophanes 55   3. The Condemnation of Socrates 57   4. The Genius of Socrates 60   5. Sources of the Philosophy of Socrates 61   6. Universal Character of the Philosophizing of Socrates 62   7. The Socratic Method 64   8. The Socratic Doctrine concerning Virtue 66 XIII.— THE PARTIAL DISCIPLES OF SOCRATES 67   1. Their Relation to the Socratic Philosophy 67   2. Antisthenes and the Cynics 68   3. Aristippus and the Cyrenians 69   4. Euclid and the Megarians 70   5. Plato as the complete Socraticist 71 XIV.— PLATO 72   I. Plato’s Life 72  

1. His Youth

72  

2. His Years of Discipline

73  

3. His Years of Travel

73  

4. His Years of Instruction

74   II. The Inner Development of the Platonic Philosophy and Writings 75   III. Classification of the Platonic System 82   IV. The Platonic Dialectics 83  

1. Conception of Dialectics

83  

2. What is Science?

84   (1.) As opposed to Sensation 84   (2.) The Relation of Knowing to Opinion 86   (3.) The Relation of Science to Thinking 86  

3. The Doctrine of Ideas in its Genesis

87  

4. Positive Exposition of the Doctrine of Ideas

91  

5. The Relation of Ideas to the Phenomenal World

93  

6. The Idea of the Good and the Deity

95   V. The Platonic Physics 96  

1. Nature

96  

2. The Soul

98   VI. The Platonic Ethics 100  

1. Good and Pleasure

100  

2. Virtue

102  

3. The State

102 XV.— THE OLD ACADEMY 107 XVI.— ARISTOTLE 108   I. Life and Writings of Aristotle

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@41412@[email protected]#Page_108" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">108   II. Universal Character and Division of the Aristotelian Philosophy 109   III. Logic and Metaphysics 112  

1. Conception and Relation of the Two

112  

2. Logic

113  

3. Metaphysics

115   (1.) The Aristotelian Criticism of the Platonic Doctrine of Ideas 116   (2.) The Four Aristotelian Principles, or Causes, and the Relation of Form and Matter 120   (3.) Potentiality and Actuality 123   (4.) The Absolute Divine Spirit 124   IV. The Aristotelian Physics 127  

1. Motion, Matter, Space, and Time

127  

2. The Collective Universe

128  

3. Nature

129  

4. Man

129   V. The Aristotelian Ethics 131  

1. Relation of Ethics to Physics

131  

2. The Highest Good

132  

3. Conception of Virtue

134  

4. The State

135   VI. The Peripatetic School 136   VII. Transition To the Post-aristotelian Philosophy 137 XVII.— STOICISM 138  

1. Logic

139  

2. Physics

140  

3. Ethics

142   (1.) Respecting the Relation of Virtue to Pleasure 142   (2.) The View of the Stoics concerning External Good 142   (3.) Farther Verification of this View 143   (4.) Impossibility of furnishing a System of Concrete Moral Duties from this Standpoint 143 XVIII.— EPICUREANISM 145 XIX.— SCEPTICISM AND THE NEW ACADEMY 148   1. The Old Scepticism 149   2. The New Academy 150   3. The Later Scepticism 151 XX.— THE ROMANS 152 XXI.— NEW PLATONISM 154   1. Ecstasy as a Subjective State 154   2. The Cosmical Principles 154   3. The Emanation Theory of the New Platonists 155 XXII.— CHRISTIANITY AND SCHOLASTICISM 157   1. The Christian Idea 157   2. Scholasticism 159   3. Nominalism and Realism 160 XXIII.— TRANSITION TO THE MODERN PHILOSOPHY 161   1. Fall of Scholasticism 161   2. The Results of Scholasticism 162   3. The Revival of Letters 163   4. The German Reformation 164   5. The Advancement of the Natural Sciences 165   6. Bacon of Verulam 166   7. The Italian Philosophers of the Transition Epoch 167   8. Jacob Boehme 169 XXIV.— DESCARTES 172   1. The Beginning of Philosophy with Doubt 173   2. Cogito ergo sum 173   3. The Nature of Mind deduced from this Principle

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">173   4. The Universal Rule of all Certainty follows from the same 174   5. The Existence of God 174   6. Results of this Fact in Philosophy 176   7. The Two Substances 177   8. The Anthropology of Descartes 177   9. Results of the Cartesian System 178 XXV.— GEULINCX AND MALEBRANCHE 180   1. Geulincx 180   2. Malebranche 182   3. The Defects of the Philosophy of Descartes 183 XXVI.— SPINOZA 184   1. The One Infinite Substance 185   2. The Two Attributes 186   3. The Modes 188   4. His Practical Philosophy 189 XXVII.— IDEALISM AND REALISM 192 XXVIII.— LOCKE 193 XXIX.— HUME 198 XXX.— CONDILLAC 201 XXXI.— HELVETIUS 203 XXXII.— THE FRENCH CLEARING UP AND MATERIALISM 205   1. The Common Character of the French Philosophers of this Age 205   2. Voltaire 206   3. Diderot 206   4. La Mettrie’s Materialism 207   5. Système de la Nature 208   (1.) The Materiality of Man 208   (2.) The Atheism of this System 209   (3.) Its Denial of Freedom and Immortality 210   (4.) The Practical Consequences of these Principles 210 XXXIII.— LEIBNITZ 211   1. The Doctrine of Monads 213   2. The Monads more accurately determined 214   3. The Pre-established Harmony 215   4. The Relation of the Deity to the Monads 216   5. The Relation of Soul and Body 217   6. The Theory of Knowledge 218   7. Leibnitz’s Théodicée 219 XXXIV.— BERKELEY 220 XXXV.— WOLFF 222   1. Ontology 224   2. Cosmology 225   3. Rational Psychology 225   4. Natural Theology 226 XXXVI.— THE GERMAN CLEARING UP 227 XXXVII.— TRANSITION TO KANT 229   1. Examination of the Faculty of Knowledge 230   2. Three Chief Principles of the Kantian Theory of Knowledge 232 XXXVIII.— KANT 235   I. Critick of Pure Reason 238   1. The Transcendental Æsthetics 238   (1.) The Metaphysical Discussion 239   (2.) The Transcendental Discussion 239   2. The Transcendental Analytic 241   3. The Transcendental Dialectics 246   (1.) The Psychological Ideas 247   (2.) The Antinomies of Cosmology 248   (3.) The Ideal of the Pure Reason 249  

class="left padl4">(a.) The Ontological Proof 249   (b.) The Cosmological Proof 250   (c.) The Physico-Theological Proof 250   II. Critick of the Practical Reason 252   (1.) The Analytic 254   (2.) The Dialectic: What is this Highest Good? 256   (a.) Perfect Virtue or Holiness 257   (b.) Perfect Happiness 258   (c.) Kant’s Views of Religion 259   III. Critick of the Faculty of Judgment 262   1. Critick of the Æsthetic Faculty of Judgment 263   (1.) Analytic 263   (2.) Dialectic 265   2. Critick of the Teleological Faculty of Judgment 266   (1.) Analytic of the Teleological Faculty of Judgment 267   (2.) Dialectic 267 XXXIX.— TRANSITION TO THE POST-KANTIAN PHILOSOPHY 268 XL.— JACOBI 271 XLI.— FICHTE 279   I. The Fichtian Philosophy in its Original Form 282   1. The Theoretical Philosophy of Fichte, his Wissenschaftslehre, or Theory of Science 282   2. Fichte’s Practical Philosophy 295   II. The Later Form of Fichte’s Philosophy 301 XLII.— HERBART 303   1. The Basis and Starting Point of Philosophy 304   2. The First Act of Philosophy 304   3. Remodelling the Conceptions of Experience 305   4. Herbart’s Reals 306   5. Psychology connected with Metaphysics 310   6. The Importance of Herbart’s Philosophy 311 XLIII.— SCHELLING 312   I. First Period: Schelling’s Procession from Fichte 314   II. Second Period: Standpoint of the distinguishing between the Philosophy of Nature and of Mind 318   1. Natural Philosophy 318   (1.) Organic Nature 319   (2.) Inorganic Nature 321   (3.) The Reciprocal Determination of the Organic and Inorganic World 321   2. Transcendental Philosophy 322   (1.) The Theoretical Philosophy 323   (2.) The Practical Philosophy 324   (3.) Philosophy of Art 324   III. Third Period: Period of Spinozism, or the Indifference of the Ideal and the Real 326   IV. Fourth Period: The Direction of Schelling’s Philosophy as Mystical, and Allied to New Platonism 333   V. Fifth Period: Attempt at a Theogony and Cosmogony, after the Manner of Jacob Boehme 335   (1.) The Progressive Development of Nature to Man 337   (2.) The Development of Mind in History 337   VI. Sixth Period 338 XLIV.— TRANSITION TO HEGEL 339 XLV.— HEGEL 343   I. Science OF Logic 346   1. The Doctrine of Being 347   (1.) Quality 347   (2.) Quantity 348   (3.) Measure 348   2. The Doctrine of Essence 349   (1.) The Essence as such

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">349   (2.) Essence and Phenomenon 350   (3.) Actuality 351   3. The Doctrine of the Conception 352   (1.) The Subjective Conception 352   (2.) Objectivity 353   (3.) The Idea 353   II. The Science of Nature 353   1. Mechanics 354   2. Physics 355   3. Organics 355   (1.) Geological Organism 355   (2.) Vegetable Organism 355   (3.) Animal Organism 356   III. Philosophy of Mind 356   1. The Subjective Mind 356   2. The Objective Mind 358   3. The Absolute Mind 362   (1.) Æsthetics 363   (a.) Architecture 363   (b.) Sculpture 363   (c.) Painting 364   (d.) Music 364   (e.) Poetry 364   (2.) Philosophy of Religion 364   (a.) The Natural Religion of the Oriental World 364   (b.) The Religion of Mental Individuality 364   (c.) Revealed, or the Christian Religion 365   (3.) Absolute Philosophy 365

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