Intuitive Basis of Knowledge

O. Lossky N.

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. Galicz, Dawydow, Bjelinsky and Strachow among them - Who had succeeded more or less in familiaris ing those of their countrymen interested in philosophy with the post-kantian forms of idealism. Then, again, somewhat later, the doctrines of the English empiricists and of the French positivists found ad herents and gave rise to a considerable amount of intellectual activity. The writings of Roberty, for instance, most of which also appeared in French, had not an inconsiderable circulation both in France and in England. Professor Lossky draws special atten tion (p. 216 sqq.) to a rationalistic movement that, in contrast to the movement which emanated from Schelling and Hegel, took its rise from the thought of Leibniz. I suspect that the influence of Leibniz dates back to the middle of the eighteenth century, and began to be felt in Russia owing to the importa tion of the treatises of Wolff and his followers, which were for a time used as text-books. Be that as it may, it is instructive to note that in Russia, as in Eng land, there is now a growing school of philosophical inquirers who are seeking to discover a mode of recon oiling to some extent the individualism of Leibniz with a spiritual monism more or less of the Hegelian type.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Forgotten Books
• Date de parution: 27 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780243692729
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

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I YI to the re e of my r e ud ng ton that I r e such words of introduction as are needf to the ng sh version of r o e o r o r Y et in re e that taskher of I am e r the re er of what o have been to far more usef F an intimateor has acquaintance with the o e calof philosoph that have become prevalent in her native land and co d have de ineated the intel ectual e r o e in the of which her former teacher s thought has taken shape and reached its present outlook I am o e er orded the opportu thus a ty of congratulatin g ud ngton the compleup on tion of an arduo s andfiThiscu t undertak ng is the rst ussian philosoph cal book that has been translated into nglish The translator had there o re no precedent to follow in the attempt to give a rendering of the original w ch sho d b e as faithfu to the sense and as close to the author s mode of ex pression as consistent with luci ty and oreover ussian philosop cal writers of the present day are lab ouring under a disadvantage similar to that under which the philosop cal writers of G s time theermany laboured in Kant advantage namely havi g to a large extent to coin the r tech cal terms as they go along a con equence shades of me ning for w ch we have

P RE F A C E defibe gatherednite forms of expression must often rather from the con xt than the actual phraseology and it is no easy matter to decide such ca es how far one is entitled to depart from a literal rendering P rofessor is fortunate in having secured for his book a translator who add tion to her other qualifiof nglishcat ons possesses a wide knowledge p osophical writ ngs and who is herself an earnest worker in thefithephilosophy That elds of tion w ch was made from a copy of the text S pecially revised by the author has been executed with con care and with a h gh measure of success will I believe be generally acknowledged The ubstance of the b ookfiight in arst saw the series of art cles in the for the years and These were subsequently publ shed in a more elaborate form and with many ad tions in a volume entitled G erman translation appeared in It I am sure super uous for me to assure the author that work w ll meet with cordial recog ition and welcome from ng sh students of p losophy is by no means a stranger to us are already acquainted w th contribution to the volume P e ted by H ones ondonen y llan and udd ngton has herself trans lated an interest ng essay of his P vol xiv pp in w ch the contention of two or t ee of the follow ing chapters are concisely epitomised and stated H theto lay ere however an attempt made N ha a u h Ha A V a N m y

P RE F C E tions of a theory of knowledge by a deta led co sidera t on of various ssues and even who are unable to accept all conclusions the b ook wi prove a stimulating and enlightening one f l of quiet and acute analys s It will I hope speedily win for itself a place in ngl sh ph l sophical terature H itherto u ortunately little has been known in t s country of uss an spec ation Y et as far back as the sixteenth century the scholastic metaphysic had uss a students and representat ves par in the theolog cal se naries and academies when the universities one after another came nto being thefithe versityrst to be opened of oscow in p losophy began to b e studied as an independent branch of lear ng the present day all the universities have their p lo sop cal professors and lect ers many of whom are well known in G ermany if mennot in ngland as have contributed to the advance of their science aturally at the end of the e ghteenth and the begin ng of the neteenth centuries the Kant an philosophy found its way from to the centres of cu ture in ussia and with it apparently ocke s managed to secure a certa n amount of attention But is explicable that to the mystical ussian temperament the writings of chell ng and H egel would make a more d and thatrect appea the bold construct ons of these t nkers met with eager acceptance in the chools of P etrograd and oscow P rofessor himself refers to the predo nant in uence exe ted by the r modes of thought and singles out as the leader the movement rior however to there had been a number of teachers and literary men

P RE F C E and trachow among them had succeeded more or less fa liar s ing those of their countrymen interested ph osophy with the post Kant an forms of idea sm Then again somewhat later the doctr nes of the glish empiricists and of the F vists foundrench posit and gave rise to a considerable amount of intellectual activity The writings of for instance most of w ch also appeared in F renc had not an inconsiderable circulat on b oth F rance and in ngland rofessor draws special atten t on p to a rational stic movement that in contrast to the movement wh ch ema ated from chelling and H egel took rise from the thought of eibniz I suspect that the i uence of eib z dates back to the dd e of the e ghteenth century and began to be felt in uss a owing to the importa t on of the treat ses of olf and his followers wh ch were for a time used as text books Be that as it may is instruct ve to not that in ussia as land there is now growing school of philosophical inq rers who are seek ng to scover a mode of recon iling to some extent the in vidualism of e bniz wit a sp ritual mo sm more or less of the H egelian type author sclaims any intent on of entering the volume before us upon the territory of meta physical controversy H e ns sts and I th k r ghtly that a theory of knowledge not called upon take its stand upon a specific metaphysical conception of the world but sho d on the contrary be regarded as a branch of p losop cal invest gation which prel m nary both to metaphys cs and to those depart ments of p losophy wh ch have do with the more concrete aspects of exper ence The bus ness of

P RE F C E epistemology as he conceives is confined to deter ing the cond t ons w ch render knowledg possible and to an examination of the elements and relations w ch knowledge is found to involve But it not easy under present conditio s even with the best intentions to keep rigi y wit n these limits and at more than of the stages of j ourney P us into his co rofessor takes dence and unburdens his so of the metaphysical secrets that lie concealed there and w ch ill I hope some day be f lly revealed and unfolded in another book F or instance in the conclu ng chapter after having urged that there is in truth no antithes s between the u versal and the in vidual that the true u versal is in fact according to the ph aseology wh ch has come into vogue amongst us the concrete u versal he proceeds to give sanction to the doctrine that a complete u ity of the world ntelligible o y if the world be thought of as grounded in an bsolute eason where n aspects are coord nated and teleolo ically related to one another another chapter he hints at the necessity of a transformation of or nary notions of t me and space ra cal pp that it wo d prob ably sat sfy Bra ey s req rement for a ph losophy of the lute namely that space and time must be de ed either to have or to belong to rea ty P it is tr rofessor has e own quarrel with post Kantian idealism but in regard to the larger and more fundamental issues he wo d appear to be substant ally in accord with that form of wh ch for example H enry ones has been develop ng in some recent pub cations the same time no countenance g ven to the v ew

P RE F C E thatfiare exclus subj ects ofvely connexions i e content ith n the bsolute The content known belongs is cons stently ma nta ned to the obj ect ve s de of knowledge wh le the mental l fe of thefite nd v dual cons sts of acts of knowing w ch are always psyc cal states of a subj ect and bear the character of events that is to are temporal occurrences each of w ch comes to pass at the moment which there a specific awareness In the cou se of the work many quest ons of logical and ep stemolog cal theo y are opened up and on all of them what the author has to deserves and ll repay attent on But the b ook has as a whole a dist nct aim and one very defiousthe var nite problem sides of w ch present themselves turn for con s deration It may perhaps be of some ass stance to the reader I try to sketch as conc se a way as I can the nature of the problem and to ndicate the rection w ch the author looks for solut on Thefirst P and is des t cal y cr art is ma gned to b ing into v ew the f l s gficance of the nq ry By or nary common sense ntel gence taken for granted that and through knowledge become acqua nted w th the facts and events of the world as they actually are The tendency of almost all the great stor cal systems of ph losophy has een however to cast d scred t upon th s bel ef and to lead when cons stently followed out to what seems to be a well founded doubt as to whether our or nary knowledge can be sa d to be knowledge of the real world at all rofessor thinks he can trace back t s tendency to a common assumpt on wh ch strange to say to be scerned underly ng the most vergent streams of ph losop cal

P RE F C E an assumption adopted in each case almost co ciously and certai y without scrutiny Brie y t s assumption may b e said to be that k ow ledge or more accurately the content known is a product or a con tructio a resultant brought ab out by the interact on of real factors that perform their part so to speak be nd the scenes ost perhaps the assumption can be detected in the cal procedure ocke F makes no secretor ocke of the fact of taking for granted that in external per the content known the idea has come about through a causal action exerted by some materi al entity upon the subj ect and can therefore be no more than an image or a copy of the real th ng an mage or copy ly with n the l mits of the nd that is aware of it P littlerofessor has trouble in showing what indeed has been very often shown that from ocke s pre sses the of H ume follows as an inevitable consequence because if ideas are the only obj ect imme ately apprehended the existence of their supposed arc e types can at the best be no more than hyp othetical But the assumpt on that the content known is in some se e a product was in truth no less characteristic of that mode of regar ng knowledge which is to be met with the rational st c systems of the pre Kant an period ven e b z who on metaphysical grounds had d scarded the not on of causal interaction between the mind and thi gs was still compelled to fall back upon the concept on of representat on by wh ch to in cate the relation between the content of knowledge and the real world without being able in the smallest measure to j ustify the contention that the former was representative the latter