History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume II (of 2)

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Draper John William. History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume II (of 2)

CHAPTER I. THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST. THE THREE ATTACKS: NORTHERN OR MORAL; WESTERN OR INTELLECTUAL; EASTERN OR MILITARY. THE NORTHERN OR MORAL ATTACK ON THE ITALIAN SYSTEM, AND ITS TEMPORARY REPULSE

CHAPTER II. THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST – (Continued) THE WESTERN OR INTELLECTUAL ATTACK ON THE ITALIAN SYSTEM

CHAPTER III. THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST – (Continued) OVERTHROW OF THE ITALIAN SYSTEM BY THE COMBINED INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL ATTACK

CHAPTER IV. THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST – (Concluded) EFFECT OF THE EASTERN OR MILITARY ATTACK. – GENERAL REVIEW OF THE AGE OF FAITH

CHAPTER V. APPROACH OF THE AGE OF REASON IN EUROPE. IT IS PRECEDED BY MARITIME DISCOVERY

CHAPTER VI. APPROACH OF THE AGE OF REASON IN EUROPE. IT IS PRECEDED BY THE RISE OF CRITICISM

CHAPTER VII. DIGRESSION ON THE CONDITION OF ENGLAND AT THE END OF THE AGE OF FAITH. RESULTS PRODUCED BY THE AGE OF FAITH

CHAPTER VIII. THE EUROPEAN AGE OF REASON. REJECTION OF AUTHORITY AND TRADITION, AND ADOPTION OF SCIENTIFIC TRUTH. – DISCOVERY OF THE TRUE POSITION OF THE EARTH IN THE UNIVERSE

CHAPTER IX. THE EUROPEAN AGE OF REASON – (Continued) HISTORY OF THE EARTH. – HER SUCCESSIVE CHANGES IN THE COURSE OF TIME

CHAPTER X. THE EUROPEAN AGE OF REASON – (Continued) THE NATURE AND RELATIONS OF MAN

CHAPTER XI. THE EUROPEAN AGE OF REASON – (Continued) THE UNION OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

CHAPTER XII. CONCLUSION. – THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

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The pressure from the West upon Rome. A pressure upon the Italian system had meantime been arising in the West. It was due to the presence of the Arabs in Spain. It is necessary, therefore, to relate the circumstances of their invasion and conquest of that country, and to compare their social and intellectual condition with the contemporary state of Christendom.

Barbarism of Europe. From the barbarism of the native people of Europe, who could scarcely be said to have emerged from the savage state, unclean in person, benighted in mind, inhabiting huts in which it was a mark of wealth if there were bulrushes on the floor and straw mats against the wall; miserably fed on beans, vetches, roots, and even the bark of trees; clad in garments of untanned skin, or at the best of leather – perennial in durability, but not conducive to personal purity – a state in which the pomp of royalty was sufficiently and satisfactorily manifested in the equipage of the sovereign, an ox-cart, drawn by not less than two yokes of cattle, quickened in their movements by the goads of pedestrian serfs, whose legs were wrapped in wisps of straw; from a people, devout believers in all the wild fictions of shrine-miracles and preposterous relics; from the degradation of a base theology, and from the disputes of ambitious ecclesiastics for power, it is pleasant to turn to the south-west corner of the continent, where, under auspices of a very different kind, the irradiations of light were to break forth. The crescent in the West was soon to pass eastward to its full.

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It would not be possible to find in any European work a clearer statement of the scepticism to which philosophy leads than what is thus given by this Arabian. Indeed, it is not possible to put the argument in a more effective way. His perspicuity is in singular contrast with the obscurity of many metaphysical writers.

Intellectual despair. "Reflecting on my situation, I found myself bound to this world by a thousand ties, temptations assailing me on all sides. I then examined my actions. The best were those relating to instruction and education, and even there I saw myself given up to unimportant sciences, all useless in another world. Reflecting on the aim of my teaching, I found it was not pure in the sight of the Lord. I saw that all my efforts were directed toward the acquisition of glory to myself. Having, therefore, distributed my wealth, I left Bagdad and retired into Syria, where I remained two years in solitary struggle with my soul, combating my passions, and exercising myself, in the purification of my heart and in preparation for the other world."

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