Rationalism in E Ip E
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153 . ئ ل ح س ش م ع ي ئ ر RATIONALISM IN E I P E VOL. I. WORKS BY w. E. H. LECKY. HISTORY of ENGLAND in the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Library Edition. Svo. Vols. Land II. 1700.1760. 36s. Vols. .and VI. 1784-1793 ..'١ .Vols . 36؟. .ز.III. and IV. 1760-178 د٠ ١١II.' anti V III. 1793-1800. 36 .Vols .^36 net ئ٠ Cabinet Edition. ENGLAND. 7 vols. Crown Svo. 5 .net each ادeach. liEAXU. 3 vols. Crown Svo. 3 The HISTORY of EUROPEAN MORALS from A U G U ST U S to C H A R L E M A G N E . .١vn Svo. ICJ. net vols. C ro 2 HISTORY of the .RISE and INELUENCE of tlie S P IR IT of R A T IO N A L IS M in EUROPE. .net .vols. Crown Svo. I0i٠ 2 DEMOCRACY and LIBERTY. .؛Library Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. 36 .net .ل0ل .0’Cabinet Edition. 2 vols. crown 8١ TI'IE MAR OF LIFE : Conduct and Character. .net .ﺀCrown Svo. 5 LEADERS of PUBLIC OPINIONin IRELAND : FLOOD— GRATTAN—O’CONNELL. .net .ﺋﻖvols. 8vo. 2 2 .ئPOE^IS. Fcp. Svo. 5 A SURYEY of ENGLISH ETHICS: being the '.History of European Morals ﺀ First Chap.ter of the ١v . A . H irst ith Introduction and Notes, by'١١ ,E dited Principal of Gujarat College, Ahmedabad, sometime .yd) ئ٠ Scliolar of Worcester College, Oxford. Crown Svo. 3 LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. .London, and Bombay ١v٠ Paternoster R o 39 HISTOEY OF THE RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT OF RATIONALISM IN EUROPE WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE 'LECKY NEW IMPRESSION IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON AND BOMBAY 1904 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ^OTE Reprinted ١ذ$$٠ rots. $1.0. January دء ,First printed July 1865, March 1866. Reprinted .٩١$$iS'en Edition,^ rols. eroieir $ro. Cctoter A ٦٦١$\December August 1$٦٠١ ١(?July l$T ٦ثﺀ١ $\ February A pril 1882, September 1884, September ,A pril 188٠ 1887, March 1890, November 1892, February 1897. ٠$ﻷ $\ rots, crown $ro. December دﺀ ,Cheaper Edition Reprinted April 1900, February 1904. Add ,to L ib Gin 1 1 INTRODUCTION. D u r i n g the fieiee theological controversies tliat accompanied and followed the Reformation, while a judicial spil.it was as yet unknown, while each party imagined itself tlie representative of akso- lute andnecessai.y truth in opposition to absolute and fa.tal error, and while tlie fluctuations of -١vere usually attributed to direct miracu belief lous agency, it was natural that all tlie causes of theological changes sliould liave been souglit ex- clusively within tlie circle of theology. Eacli theologian imagined tliat tlie existence of tlie opinions Ire denounced was fully accounted for by the exertions of certain evil-minded men, who had triumphed by means of sopliistical arguments, rided by a judicial blindness that had been cast؛ upon the deluded. His own opinions, on tire other liand, liad lieen sustained or revived by apostles raised for the purpose, illuminated by special inspiration, and triumphing by the foi.ce of theological arguments. As long as this point of view continued, the positions of the theologian 80-1 ١ .vi PRODUCTION ٦vere nearly the and of the ecclesiastical historian same. Eacli was confined to a single province, and each l.ecognising a primitive faith as his ideal, had to indicate the successive innovations upon its purity. But wlien towards the close of tire eighteenth century the dee.line of tlieological passions enabled men t.o discuss these mattere ١vhen increased knowledge in a calmer spirit, and produced more comprehensive views, the his. .١vas materially altered torieal standing-point It was observed that every great change of belief had been preceded by a great change in the in- tellectual condition of Europe, that the success of any opinion depended mucli less upon the force of its ai.guments, or upon the abilit.y of its advocates, than upon the predisposition of society to receive it, and that that predisposition resulted from the intellectual type of the age. As men advance from an imperfect t,0 a higher civilisa- tion, they gradually sublimate and refine tlieir creed. Their imaginations insensibly detach themselves from those grosser conceptions and ١vere formerly most powerful, and doctrines that later l.educe all their opinions into they sooner 01١ -٦vith the moi.al and intellectual stan conformity dards which the new civilisation produces. Thus, long before the Reformation, the tendencies of tlie Reformat.ion were manifest. The revival of Grecian learning, the developement of art, the reaction against tlie schoolmen, liad raised INTRODUCTION. ١vhich a more refined society to an elevation in ١vas absolutely essential and less oppressive creed to its well-being. Lutber and Calvin only re- presented tlie prevailing wants, and embodied them in a definite form. The pressure of tlie general intellectual influences of the time de.ter- ٠ -mines the predispositions which ultimately regu late the details of belief; and thougli all men do ؛not yield to tliat pressure with the same facility all large bodies are at last controlled. A change of speculative opinions does not imply an increase of the data upon which those opinions rest, but a change of the habits of thouglit and mind which they reflect. Definite arguments are the symp- toms and pretexts, but seldom tlie causes, of the change. Their cliief merit is to accelerate the inevit-able crisis. Tliey derive their force, and efficacy from their conformity with the mental habits of those to whom they are addressed. ‘ Reasoning which in one age would make no im- إ, pression whatever, in the next age is received with entliusiastic applause. It is one thing to understand its natui.e, but quite anotlier to ap- preciate its force. And this standard of belief, t.liis tone and habit of thought, whicl'i is the supi.eme arbiter of tlie opinions of successive periods, is created, not by the influences ai.ising out of any one depai't- ment of intellect, but by tlie combination of all the intellectual and even social tendencies of the VIII INTRODUCTION. ١vho contribute most largely to its age. Those formation are* I believe* the philosophers. Men like Bacon* Descartes* and Locke have probably done more t.han any others to set tlie current of their age. Tliey have formed a certain cast and tone of mind. They have introduced pe. culiar habits of thought* new modes of rea-soning, new tendencies of enquiry.- The impulse tliey have given to the higher literature* lias lieen by that literature communicated to the more popular writers ; and the impress of tliese master-minds is clearly visilile in tlie writings of mult'itudes ivho are totally unacquainted nvith tlieir works. But philosophical metliods* great and unquestion- able as is theii. power* foi.111 but one of tlie many influences that contribute to the mental lialiits of society. Thus tlie discoveries of physical science* enti.enching upon the domain of the anomalous and the incomprehensible* enlarging OUI. conceptions of the range of law* and reveal- ing tlie connection of phenomena that liad foi.- merly appeared altogether isolated* form a habit of mind which is carried fai. lieyond the limits of physics. Tlius tlie asti.onomical discovery* tlia.t our world is not tlie centre and axis of tlie material universe* but is an inconsiderable planet occupying to all appearance an altogether insig- nificant and subordinate position* and revolving with ma.ny others around a sun ivhich is itself but an infinitesimal point in creation* in as far as INTRODUCTI.. it is realised by the imagination has a vast and palpable influence upon our theological concep- tions. Thus the commercial or municipal spirit exhibits certain habits of thought, certain modes of reasoning, certain repugnances and attractions, which make it invariably tend to one class of opinions. To encourage the occupations that produce this spirit, is to encoui.age the opinions that are most congenial to it. It is impossible to lay down a railway without creating an intel- lectual influence. It is pi.obable that Watt and Stephenson will event'ually modify .the opinions of mankind almost as pi.ofoundly as Luther or Voltaire. I f these vie١vs be correct, they establisli at once a broad distinction between the pi.ovince of the theologian and that of the historian of opinions. The first confines his attention to the question of the truth or falsehood of particular doctrines, which he ascertains by examining the arguments -the second should en ذ upon which they rest deavour to trace the causes of the rise and fall of those doctrines which are to be found in the general intellectual condition of the age. Tlie first is restricted to a single department of men- tal phenomena, and to those logical connec- tions which determine the opinions of the severe reasoner; the second is obliged to take a wide survey of the intellectual influences of the period he is describing, and to trace that connection of INTRODUCTION. congruity which has a much greater iuflueuce upon the sequence of' opinions than logical argu- ments. .١ve are con Although in tlie present work cerned only with the last of these t١vo points of view, it, will be necessary to consider briefly tlie for this question ؤ possibility oftlieii. coexistence involves one of the most important problems in Iristory— the posit'ion reserved for the individual will and the individual judgment in the great current of general causes. It was a saying of Locke, that we should not ask whether our will is free, but whether "WE are free ; for our conception of freedom is the power of acting accoi.ding to our w ill or, in other woi.ds, the consciousness, when pursuing a certain course of action, tliat we miglit, if we had cliosen, have pursued a different one.