An Introduction to Philosophy. George Stuart Fullerton

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      CHAPTER XV

      RATIONALISM, EMPIRICISM, CRITICISM, AND CRITICAL EMPIRICISM

      60. Rationalism. 61. Empiricism. 62. Criticism. 63. Critical Empiricism. 64. Pragmatism.

      PART V

      THE PHILOSOPHICAL SCIENCES

      CHAPTER XVI

      LOGIC

      65. Introductory; the Philosophical Sciences. 66. The Traditional Logic. 67. The "Modern" Logic. 68. Logic and Philosophy.

      CHAPTER XVII

      PSYCHOLOGY

      69. Psychology and Philosophy. 70. The Double Affiliation of Psychology.

      CHAPTER XVIII

      ETHICS AND AESTHETICS

      71. Common Sense Ethics. 72. Ethics and Philosophy. 73. Aesthetics.

      CHAPTER XIX

      METAPHYSICS

      74. What is Metaphysics? 75. Epistemology.

      CHAPTER XX

      THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

      76. Religion and Reflection. 77. The Philosophy of Religion.

      CHAPTER XXI

      PHILOSOPHY AND THE OTHER SCIENCES

      78. The Philosophical and the Non-philosophical Sciences. 79. The study of Scientific Principles and Methods.

      PART VI

      ON THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY

      CHAPTER XXII

      THE VALUE OF THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY

      80. The Question of Practical Utility. 81. Why Philosophical Studies are Useful. 82. Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Religion.

      CHAPTER XXIII

      WHY WE SHOULD STUDY THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

      83. The Prominence given to the Subject. 84. The Especial Importance of Historical Studies to Reflective Thought. 85. The Value of Different Points of View. 86. Philosophy as Poetry and Philosophy as Science. 87. How to read the History of Philosophy.

      CHAPTER XXIV

      SOME PRACTICAL ADMONITIONS

      88. Be prepared to enter upon a New Way of Looking at Things.

       89. Be willing to consider Possibilities which at first strike one

       as Absurd.

       90. Do not have too much Respect for Authority.

       91. Remember that Ordinary Rules of Evidence Apply.

       92. Aim at Clearness and Simplicity.

       93. Do not hastily accept a Doctrine.

      NOTES

      AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

       Table of Contents

      I. INTRODUCTORY

      CHAPTER I

      THE MEANING OF THE WORD "PHILOSOPHY" IN THE PAST AND IN THE PRESENT

      I must warn the reader at the outset that the title of this chapter seems to promise a great deal more than he will find carried out in the chapter itself. To tell all that philosophy has meant in the past, and all that it means to various classes of men in the present, would be a task of no small magnitude, and one quite beyond the scope of such a volume as this. But it is not impossible to give within small compass a brief indication, at least, of what the word once signified, to show how its signification has undergone changes, and to point out to what sort of a discipline or group of disciplines educated men are apt to apply the word, notwithstanding their differences of opinion as to the truth or falsity of this or that particular doctrine. Why certain subjects of investigation have come to be grouped together and to be regarded as falling within the province of the philosopher, rather than certain other subjects, will, I hope, be made clear in the body of the work. Only an indication can be given in this chapter.

      1. THE BEGINNINGS OF PHILOSOPHY.—The Greek historian Herodotus (484–424 B.C.) appears to have been the first to use the verb "to philosophize." He makes Croesus tell Solon how he has heard that he "from a desire of knowledge has, philosophizing, journeyed through many lands." The word "philosophizing" seems to indicate that Solon pursued knowledge for its own sake, and was what we call an investigator. As for the word "philosopher" (etymologically, a lover of wisdom), a certain somewhat unreliable tradition traces it back to Pythagoras (about 582–500 B.C.). As told by Cicero, the story is that, in a conversation with Leon, the ruler of Phlius, in the Peloponnesus, he described himself as a philosopher, and said that his business was an investigation into the nature of things.

      At any rate, both the words "philosopher" and "philosophy" are freely used in the writings of the disciples of Socrates (470–399 B.C.), and it is possible that he was the first to make use of them. The seeming modesty of the title philosopher—for etymologically it is a modest one, though it has managed to gather a very different signification with the lapse of time—the modesty of the title would naturally appeal to a man who claimed so much ignorance, as Socrates; and Plato represents him as distinguishing between the lover of wisdom and the wise, on the ground that God alone may be called wise. From that date to this the word "philosopher" has remained with us, and it has meant many things to many men. But for centuries the philosopher has not been simply the investigator, nor has he been simply the lover of wisdom.

      An investigation into the origin of words, however interesting in itself, can tell us little of the uses to which words are put after they have come into being. If we turn from etymology to history, and review the labors of the men whom the world has agreed to call philosophers, we are struck by the fact that those who head the list chronologically appear to have been occupied with crude physical speculations, with attempts to guess what the world is made out of, rather than with that somewhat vague something that we call philosophy to-day.

      Students of the history of philosophy usually begin their studies with the speculations of the Greek philosopher Thales (b. 624 B.C.). We are told that he assumed water to be the universal principle out of which all things are made, and that he maintained that "all things are full of gods." We find that Anaximander, the next in the list, assumed as the source out of which all things proceed and that to which they all return "the infinite and indeterminate"; and that СКАЧАТЬ