History of Philosophy

Johannes Hirschberger

Description

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. IS the history of philosophy only a history of error? The history of philosophy is also a true and real philosophy. It is not, as some uninformed individuals have incorrectly supposed, a history of errors. Rightfully and manfully did Hegel refute a conception of the history of philosophy that made of it a disorderly aggregation of opinions. Profound thinkers are fully aware that the history 'of philosophy is an arduous and honorable search for truth. Not only is it an honorable search, but it is a constant one as well, possessing inner continuity. Or the truth in its entirety? But neither is it true that such a history is, as Hegel, who falls into an error at the other extreme, so boldly states, a system in evolution. It is not a presentation of the gradual and progressive self-revelation of the mind and of truth, in which everything follows so logically that we may anticipate the shape of things to come from what has gone before, just as in a textbook of geometry one proposition is developed from the preceding.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Forgotten Books
• Date de parution: 27 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780243638376
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

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HI S TR Y P H IL S H Y AHITIALS IN history of philosophy is both a science of history and philos it links two di erentfields of endeavorhistoa science of ry it seeks to acquaint us with the wealth of thought bequea hed by philosophers of the past and of the presentForthis reason it pr vides us with whateveris known of heirlives theirworks and heirnot only poso doing it systems In rtrays what once actually existed but also by developing the notio s and the thoughts that have been orare current seeks to make accessible to us a knowledge of thisrich heritage his is accomplished by examining the origins of both men and theirworks by placing them in their proper relation to greaterpherehought by es of with ot correlating hem r contrall pei utions and with rvading spiritual and cultral cur rents among peoples ofvarious eras andfinally by unfolding forus the fundamental suppositions and the ultimate ass mptions from which the concepts the prthe teachings of philosophyoblems and have originally sprung as from a marix hould the history of philosophy attempt to present things as they were inreality it would by thatvery fact determine foritself a definite method on the one hand a continuous use of sources and on the otherectivity oa demand for obj rfreedom frThe use ofom bias sour e is a spe ial achievement of the modern ience of history ntiquity and the iddle ges had to be content with only second orthird hand reports Today howeverwe not only consult the sourwe also ascertain with cce but ritical and painstaking diligence hetherthe writings which appear under the name of a certain philosopher actually stem from him whether his manuscripts have been preserved without falsfiin which pecation and riod of his creative abiliythey were wrcriticism and chronologyitten textual history of philosophy is therefore an introduction to the works of the philosophers themselves strive to be obj ectivour

REF A CE presentation by t king great pains toreport what was a tually said and in what sense is a tually to be understood without viewing the matterntective viewpo olored spectacles of a subj through the may not foror intoa Kantianism into lato example read ristotle a blossoming cholasticism ithout a doubt an absolutely unprej udiced state of mind probably has neverexisted and probably will neverexist sin e every scientific hinkeris a produ t of his ti es and he perplay fast and loose with thesonally annot tions of his own age In particularhe will j udge everything brought into his purview by his own philosophy of life by his own peculiar evaluations and by his own assumptions of whi h he himself is perhaps not consciously aware his fa t does not howeverlead us to conclusion that we must forego all imparti ities in thought all freedom from bias as an impossibility must ratherhold to objbe ee tivity as an ideal of which we rwe are of everytain as ideal that it can neverbe fully realized we must be determined to keep this ideal always before us and almly strive after it in fa t we should onsiderit our neverending task to achieve it and we approach itsrealization more closely by being ever ready both to learn and to dis uss thefindings of our investigations hoever seeks after the truth and does not spare himself in its pursui t ertainly expe t to dis overit HI S TR Y P H IL S H Y A S P H IL H Y I S his oronly a y hilosophy srhistoryy of error of philosophy is also a true and real philosophy It is not as some uninformed individuals have in orre tly supposed a history of errors ightfully and manfully did egel refute a on eption of history of philosophy t at made of it a disorderly aggregation of opinio s rofound thinkers are fully aware that history of philosophy is an aronly is it anh for truth duous and honorable sear honorit is a constant one as well possessing innerable sear h but ont nu ty rh enre y neither is it true hat su h a history is as egel who falls into an errorextreme soat other boldly st tes a system in evolution It is a presentation of gradual and progressive selfrevelation of the mind and of truth in which evpate theally that we may ant erything follows so logi shape of hings to come from what has gone bef re j ust as in a text ook of geometryone proposition is developed from pre eding

P REF A CE and thus page by page geometrical truth unfolds for our delight history of philosophy is indeed both a growth of spirit and a piercing of its se rets but the way it takes to rea h this goal is neitherdire t e tively nor always logical and not always obj deter mined longside the milestone truth there are detours of misunderstanding wrof error and the disturbingong road rossroads of han e Just as political history is not always a histori al pro ess of obj ectivbut a narely necessary actions rhative in whi a dictator s will to power or the capri e a mistress has described its courchance pl se so ys a role in the history of philosophy as does everything irrh springs from the subj ectivity and fational whi rom the frwho philosophi es eedom of the hatever kind of a philosophy a man proposes depends as Fichte has said to a great extent upon the kind of a man he is a few philosophical prob lems shown to trace theirorigin to the personal contradictions manifest in the life of the philosopher or in therivlry of the schools then in existence Just as we cannot boldly state that the history of philosophy is a history of errors so we may not maintain that it is truth itself u h a statement would not be true even if in a modern variation of the egelian on ept we interpreted the totality of tru h as philosophi al existence Up to the present philosophy has not considered itself merely as an a tive existen e but has always purposed to discovittruth and al truths not simply er theoreti must continue to do so in the future e evind matteris somewhat dif when we inquire into the nature of precisely what the history of philosop y adds to a tual philosophy nce we pass barriers of personal temporlimitations by means of knowledgeal patial that we have acquired of opinions of others we are liberated from the thraldom of many subj e tive presumptions and approa h more and more closely to consideration of tru h u der the app arance of eternity i kert says nly through the study of history can we rid ourThrough the histoselves of history ry of philosophy we arrive at a historically grounded critical analysis of human r asonIits methods ofnstruments of the human spirit

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v P REF A CE appraisal its notions the tenden y of its ideas proble s the hypo heses and theories reveal its essence and its capabilities only af er centuries havften man has we passed restled with problems for decades in fact for centuries only to discoverat last that they have in theirfundamental notions been in orrectly propounded from theverthe basis of many such fa tualy beginning we must alwaysrhat false peckon with the possibility remises have obtruded themselves in ourthinking otions such as repose and motion continuity and discretion matterand form sensuality and pirituality body and soul to mention only relativtodayely few have developed into subj ect matterforthe most su tle discussion we always conscious of the fact hat in the gray dawn of antiquity t ese problems werefirst discussed and developed on the basis of material that today can no longerprove what it had proved then Y retain theiet these notions rmeaning oincar

In enera wekn w t at a ski f arran ement ers f r s skmatte disr ani n rt e et es en in s a ears at rema ns a fra i e and rna enta tiss e s i es In rea ity t ese are n t in re t an a si i e s materia w at is st inter stin is f r w i t i materia w d never ave en a e nderstand it wekn wn ivin s n e w i i rinted n it re ise y t is f r s it is wit an ient int itive n ti ns f re ears w i even t we a and n t e ave im rinted t eir f r s n i a fra ew rkwe ave ideas w i eir a ted in t s stit evoting ourselves to history of philosophy we are enabled to delve to theroot of purpose and the worth ofhings relating to ourthinking faculties notions are eing purified problems are cor stated way to the heart of the matteris being cleared ith this advance the historecomes of itself ay of philosophy riti ism of knowledge and hereby onstitutes philosophy in the full meaning of the term is ori ismForthisreason the history of philosophy need not fear therof h eproa h storIn past decades it may have beenc sm guilty of what the learned designated as lexandrianism the bringing togetherof museum pieces of thought which originallyrepresented knowledge but not wisdom because such a collection merely meant stoking the mind with histori al ballast the results for systemati philosophical knowledge of problems were not evaluated owever

P REF A CE if we considerthe history of philosophy as the self of the human mind this danger no longer exists and we are actually brought fa e to fa e with true philosophy for we are hen enabled to advance to the obj e tive systemati solution of philosophical prob lems themselvupon such a solution without thees embarking foundation of sound historical philosophy is not seldom red u ed to a mere tilting with windmills uixote fashion

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PART IA N CIE N TPHI L OSOPHY k rloso hytic h P H IL S H IALPRID hilosophy and yth F R M IL S IAN S EATI S I ilesians and the ythagoreans II eraclitus and the leatics F R M H ANI S T S S H I S T S I e hanists and naxagoras II ophists

tic hilo phy SRAT S AND CIRL Knowledge and Val e PLAT G D ood rue PLATII

epubli orld God ademy ARI S T TLI K NL DG ritings Knowledge and ien e

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