Читать книгу A Beginner's History of Philosophy, Vol. 1: Ancient and Mediæval Philosophy - Herbert Ernest Cushman - Страница 4
ОглавлениеILLUSTRATIONS
Socrates, Frontispiece
Map showing where the Cosmologists lived, 21
The Empire of Alexander, 205
Map of Athens showing the Location of the Four Schools, 219
Ptolemaic Cosmography showing the Division of the Universe into Spheres, 323
Ptolemaic Cosmography showing the Epicyclic Movements of the Planets, 325
Mediæval Geography. The Cosmas Map, A.D.547, 335
Growth of Mohammedanism during the Middle Ages, showing its Contact with Christian Civilization, 370
Diagram of Dante’s Poetic Conception of the Universe, 376
A BEGINNER’S HISTORY OFPHILOSOPHY
INTRODUCTION
THE THREE GENERAL PERIODS OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
The Comparative Lengths of the Three General Periods:
Ancient Philosophy, 625 B. C.–476 A. D.
Mediæval Philosophy, 476 A. D.–1453 A. D.
Modern Philosophy, 1453 A. D.–the present time.
These are the three general periods into which the history of philosophy naturally falls. The two dates that form the dividing lines between these three periods are 476, the fall of old Rome, and 1453, the fall of new Rome (Constantinople). From this it will be seen that 1000 years of mediæval life lie between antiquity on the one side and 450 years of modern times on the other. Whatever value may be put upon the respective intellectual products of these three periods, it is important to note the great difference in their time-lengths. It is 2500 years since philosophical reflection began in Europe. Only 450 of these years belong to modern times. In other words, after the European man grew to reflective manhood, two fifths of his life belong to what is known as ancient civilization, two fifths to mediæval, and only one fifth to modern civilization.
The Real Differences of the Three General Periods. The differences between these three periods of the reflective life of the European have been very real. They are not to be explained by merely political shiftings or economic changes; nor are they fully expressed as differences in literary or artistic productions. Their differences lie deeper, for they are differences of mental attitude. The history of philosophy is more profound, more difficult, and more human than any other history, because it is the record of human points of view. A good deal of sympathetic appreciation is demanded if the student takes on the attitude of mind of ancient and mediæval times. One cannot expect to be possessed of such appreciation until one has traversed the history of thought through its entire length.
The history of philosophy is an organic development from an objective to a subjective view of life, with a traditional middle period in which subjective and objective mingle. Ancient thought is properly called objective, the mediæval traditional, the modern subjective. Can we briefly suggest what these abstract terms mean? By the objectivity of ancient thought is meant that the ancient, in making his reflections upon life, starts from the universe as a whole. From this outer point of view he tries to see the interconnections between things. Nature is reality; men and gods are a part of nature. Man’s mental processes even are a part of the totality of things. Even ethically man is not an independent individual, but the member of a state. When the ancient came to make distinctions between mind and matter, he did not think of man as the knower in antithesis to matter as the object known, but he thought of mind and matter as parts of one cosmos. The antithesis in ancient thought is rather between appearances and essence, between non-realities and realities with differing emphasis. The ancient attempts speculatively to reconstruct his world, but it is always from the point of view of the world.
By the traditionalism of mediæval thought is meant that men are controlled in their thinking by a set of authoritative doctrines from the past. In the Middle Ages, as the mediæval period is called, the independent thinking of antiquity had ceased. Men reflected and reflected deeply, but they were constrained by a set of religious traditions. Authority was placed above them and censored their thinking. The objective Christian church and its authority took the place of the objective Greek cosmos. That church had certain infallible dogma, and thinking was allowed only in so far as it clarified dogma.
On the other hand, when we say that modern thought is subjective, we refer to an entire change in the centre of intellectual gravity. The starting-point is not the world, but the individual. The universe is set over against mind (dualism), or is the creation of mind (idealism). In any case the modern man looks upon the universe as his servant, the standard of truth to be found in himself and not in something external. The subject as knower is now placed in antithesis to the object as known, and the object is not independent of the human thinking process. Reality is man rather than the cosmos. The political state is justifiable so long as it enforces the rights of the individual; religious authority is the expression of the individual conscience; physical nature is a human interpretation.1
Plato, Dante, and Goethe are good representatives of these three different historical periods of the human mind. How can they be understood without a philosophical appreciation of the periods in which they lived?
| Table of the Subdivisions of the Three General Periods ofPhilosophy | ||||
| 1. Ancient 625 B.C.–476 A.D. | Greek, 625–322 B.C. (to death of Aristotle). | Cosmological, 625–480 (to Persian Wars). | ||
| Anthropological, 480–399 (to death of Socrates). | ||||
| Systematic, 399–322 (to death of Aristotle). | ||||
| Hellenic-Roman 322 B.C.–476 A.D. (from death of Aristotle to fall of old Rome). | Ethical, 322 B.C.–1 A.D. (to beginning of Christian era). | |||
| Religious, 100 B.C.–476 A.D. | ||||
| 2. Mediæval 476–1453 | Early Mediæval, 476–1000 (from the fall of old Rome to the beginnings of modern Europe). | |||
| Transitional Mediæval (1000–1200), (from beginnings of modern Europe to Crusades). | ||||
| Classic Mediæval, 1200–1453 (from the Crusades to the fall of new Rome or Constantinople). | ||||
| 3. Modern 1453–modern times | Renaissance, 1453–1690 (to Locke’s Essay and the English Revolution). | Humanistic, 1453–1600. | ||
| Natural Science, 1600–1690. | ||||
| Enlightenment, 1690–1781 (from Locke’s Essay to Kant’s Critique). | ||||
| German Idealism, 1781–1831 (from Kant’s Critique to the death of Hegel). | ||||
| Evolution, 1820 to the present time. |
