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Maine De Biran°S Philosophy

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Maine De Biran°S Philosophy DSQ PH A TH E S IS TH E UN I VE R S I TY FACUL TY O F CORN E LL UNIVE RSITY TH E D E GRE E O F D OCTO R O F P H I L OS O P H Y L B E R T TR UM AN A M H A N E , . N em ¥u tk M A N E D E 8 RAN S P H LOSO PHY P W LL A TH E SI S P RE SE NTE D TO TH E UNIVE RSITY FACULTY OF CORN E LL U NIVE RS I TY FOR TH E D E GRE E OF D OCTOR OF P HILOS OPHY R M AN A M N ATH A N E L B E R T T U , . N ein ¥0 t k TH E MACMI LLAN COM PANY N M ACM L L AN CO . L TD . L ON D O ! I , 1 90 4 E PR FACE . ’ No special account of Maine de B iran s philosophy has before appeared in English , and the sources are rendered somewhat dif ’ fic u lt . by the author s highly involved style It has seemed , there fore , that a somewhat extended exposition of his work may prove useful . In the composition of this monograph my object has been ’ - ! n H m two fold to give a stateme t of ira s system , and to show his exact position in the history of speculative thought . As a result I of careful investigation , have found it necessary to call attention to the unitary character of the system , which , as a matter of fact, — centers around the single idea will . This conclusion is , of N aville course , opposed to the view of , who in his introduction ' ’ ’ to the aim /res znédztes divides B iran s work into three sharply I distinguished periods . am convinced , however, that this divi sion rests on insufficient grounds . For in the idea of activity is to be found the keynote of the entire philosophy . This idea is clearly evident in the writings assigned by N aville to the earlier and the later periods , as well as in the more important works that were written during the intervening years . I On the whole , it may seem surprising that have not emphasized ’ B iran s more strongly the importance of philosophy . It is per haps unusual in a work of this kind to minimize the Significance I of the subj ect . However that may be , have to confess that the find motive which led me to begin my study , the expectation of ’ ing elements of permanent value in B iran s philosophy based on ‘ ’ frequent references to him as the French Kant , has scarcely E been realized by my subsequent investigation . ven with the most sympathetic interpretation , Biran cannot be placed among ’ philosophers of the first rank . Kant s great significance does not consist merely in his emphasis on the activity of mind against the empiricists , but rather in the fact that he shows that the activity in which the nature of mind is expressed is universal and 'n objective in character. Bira , however, remains at the point of iii view of em piricIsm for his epistemology is developed from the su b ec tive . j psychological fact of will , and continues relative to the end The universal and necessary character of causality is left u nex plained . His psychology aims at being introspective and factual , I but is lost in a bewildering mass of abstractions . have shown that he stands for a position which is neither a third view correla tive with empiricism and rationalism nor a synthesis of these two o n — a rec g ized systems , but rather an extension of the former - development of the Locke Condillac school , yet a development i that is still on the same epistemolog cal plane . Finally it should be noted that my conclusions in regard to ’ B iran s relation to subsequent philos ophical positions refer excl u sivel y to the logical connection of his ideas , and not to his indirect r I influence , which was certainly ve y great, but which have made s no attempt to estimate . With this reservation , my result indicate f e that his ef ect on later thought, . g. , on that of Cousin or of i r R eno u v e . , was not extensive In working out this subject I have received most valuable ad E vice and suggestions from Professor J. Creighton , under whom I had been studying during the time devoted to the composition E of the monograph , and from Professor rnest Albee, who very kindly read my manuscript at an early stage . E N . T . B A B R D GE N Y IN I , . CONTENTS . S E CTI O N F AN D I . LI E WORKS ’ ’ C T N AVI L L E V W OF B I R AN s D E II . OBJE TIONS o S IE V E L OP M E N T . ’ B I R AN s T To E ! C III . RELA ION ARLIER THINKERS LO KE, C . CONDILLA , KANT, AND REID ’ IV C C OF B I R AN S . PSY HOLOGI AL BASIS PHILOSOPHY V C OF . DEDU TION THE CATEGORIES V I OF C . DIVISIONS THE PSY HOLOGY II F F C V . A E TIVE SYSTEM V III . SENSITIVE SYSTEM C T IX . PER EP IVE SYSTEM F C X . RE LE TIVE SYSTEM ’ ’ O F B I R AN s P s c ho/o ze W O N D I L XI . COMPARISON y g ITH C ’ ’ ‘ s o LAC S Trazzé des ensati ns . E C ZE S TH E TI CS XII . THI S AND XII I . RELIGION . ’ B I R AN S To RELATION SUBSEQUENT THINKERS COUSIN, R E N OUVI E R FOU I L L EE . COMTE , , AND o BIBLIOGRAPHY . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o I D X O O O O O N E Q Q Q Q O O O O Q O O O O O O O O O Q Q C Q O O O O O O O O O O O 0 0 . 0 . 0 1 SECTION . F LI E AND WORKS . Maine de Biran was regarded by Cousin as the first French 1 metaphysician of our time . Two reasons are su fficient to ex plain why this estimate was not made earlier or more generally accepted . Biran was not , like his great contemporary Kant , a teacher of philosophy . His career, as far as it was public , was almost entirely in the field of politics . To the men of his time he was better known as a statesman than as a philosopher . But the most important cause which contributed to his failure to gain u blish d e . early recognition was the fact that he p“ very little work —fl" m .. W R F ‘ h He was never quite satisfied with the form in which he had ex his w as pressed thought . The result that his principal writings v were left unfinished . Adequate material for estimatingthe alue of his system was provided only by post humous editions of his works The life of Biran was uneventful . He was born November o 66 died u l2 1 82 2 1 0 . 9 , 7 , and j y , 4 His father was a physician of the town of Bergerac , in the southwestern part of France . r He was educated in the neighboring town of Perigueux , whe e ’ he studied Co ndillac s philosophy under the direction of the 1 8 - In 7 5 he became a life guardsman , but early in October of that year was wounded in the arm . He then went to Grateloup and remained there during the Reign of Terror . Subsequently he held seve ral administrative offices in the prov 1 80 ince of Dordogne . But in 9 he was chosen a member of the legislative assembly ; and after 1 8 1 2 he established his residence permanently at Paris . He was a member of the commission which took advantage of the reverse that Napoleon had su s tained in Russia to demand guarantees of the peace of Europe and the liberties of the French citizens . After the Restoration , Biran was a member of the Chamber of Deputies until his death , ' 1 iran lI M aine d B CE m /re iloso fi z u e Vo . xi e s s s . , p q , , p ° 2 MAINE DE B I R AN S PHILOSOPHY 1 except in the Single session 1 8 7 . He voted at first with the liberals , but afterwards with their opponents . The change was due not to inconsistency , but to a desire to support the royal power which was in his opinion the only safeguard against anarchy or despotism . ’ ’ ‘ ’ 1 77 77 7 7 labizzza e 5 6 de fi Biran first philosophical work was the 7 777 , 1 80 2 f which , in , won for him the prize of ered by the Institute of n e Fra ce . Thr e years later he received another prize from the D éc om osztion de [a ensée 1 80 re same source, for his p p . In 7 he 5 c eived d m 1147 777 0 77 7 special mention by the Berlin Aca e yfor flhis ’ su r 1 a erc e tion 77775 7 777 In 1 8 1 I p p Finally , , he received ° ° the prize from the academy of Copenhagen for his M é 777 0 7re su r ls ra orts d77 lz si u e et 7177 777 0 77 7! de 1 770 777 77777 e pp p y q .
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