CHAPTER XXIII, sections 83-87.  There is a rather brief but good and thoughtful discussion of the importance of historical study to the comprehension of philosophical doctrines in Falckenberg’s “History of Modern Philosophy” (English translation, N.Y., 1893); see the Introduction.

We have a good illustration of the fact that there may be parallel streams of philosophic thought (section 87) when we turn to the Stoics and the Epicureans.  Zeno and Epicurus were contemporaries, but they were men of very dissimilar character, and the schools they founded differed widely in spirit.  Zeno went back for his view of the physical world to Heraclitus, and for his ethics to the Cynics.  Epicurus borrowed his fundamental thoughts from Democritus.

On the other hand, philosophers may sometimes be regarded as links in the one chain.  Witness the series of German thinkers:  Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer; or the series of British thinkers:  Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Mill.  Herbert Spencer represents a confluence of the streams.  The spirit of his doctrine is predominantly British; but he got his “Unknowable” from Kant, through Hamilton and Mansel.

At any point in a given stream there may be a division.  Thus, Kant was awakened to his creative effort by Hume.  But Mill is also the successor of Hume, and more truly the successor, for he carries on the traditional way of approaching philosophical problems, while Kant rebels against it, and heads a new line.

CHAPTER XXIV, sections 88-93.  I hardly think it is necessary for me to comment upon this chapter.  The recommendations amount to this:  that a man should be fair-minded and reasonable, free from partisanship, cautious, and able to suspend judgment where the evidence is not clear; also that where the light of reason does not seem to him to shine brightly and to illumine his path as he could wish, he should be influenced in his actions by the reflection that he has his place in the social order, and must meet the obligations laid upon him by this fact.  When the pragmatist emphasizes the necessity of accepting ideals and living by them, he is doing us a service.  But we must see to it that he does not lead us into making arbitrary decisions and feeling that we are released from the duty of seeking for evidence.  Read together sections 64, 91, and 93.

INDEX

  Absolute, The:  Spencer’s doctrine of, 70;
    Bradley’s, 191-192;
    meanings of the word, 201;
    reference, 312. 
  Activity and Passivity:  meaning of, 159-161;
    confused with cause and effect, 159-161;
    activity of mind, 162-163. 
  Aesthetics:  a philosophical discipline, 242-243. 
  Agnosticism:  202. 
  Aikins:  314. 
  Albert the Great:  scope of his labors, 9. 
  Analytical Judgments:  defined, 178. 
  Anaxagoras:  his doctrine, 4; on the soul, 101.