History of Philosophy
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http://www.archive.org/stream/windelbandsphilo00winduoft/windelbandsphi lo00winduoft_djvu.txt HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ITS PROBLEMS AND CONCEPTIONS BY DR. W. WINDELBAND PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF STRASSBUI AUTHORISED TRANSLATION BY JAMES H. TUFTS, PH.D., PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Second Edition, Revised and EnlarQ Nefo THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1914 All rights reserved COPYRIGHT, 1893, 1901. BY MACMILLAN AND CO. Set up and electrotyped September, 1893. Reprinted January. 1895; January, 1896; November, 1898 ; September, 1901; July, 1905; July. 1907; July, 1910; July, 1914. J. S. Gushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. REGARDED simply as a historical discipline, the history of thought might fairly claim a prominent place in education, and an equal share of the attention now given to comparative and historical studies. The evolution of an idea is in itself as interesting and valuable an object of study as the evolution of a word, of an insti tution, of a state, or of a vegetable or animal form. But aside from this interest which it has in common with other historical sciences, the history of philosophy has a peculiar value of its own. For the moment we attempt any serious thinking in any field, natural science, history, literature, ethics, theology, or any other, we find ourselves at the outset quite at the mercy of the words and ideas which form at once our intellectual atmosphere and the instruments with which we must work. We cannot speak, for example, of mind or matter, of cause or force, of species or indi vidual, of universe or God, of freedom or necessity, of substance or evolution, of science or law, of good or true or real, without involv ing a host of assumptions. And the assumptions are there, even though we may be unconscious of them, or ignore them in an effort to dispense with metaphysics. To dispense with these conceptions is impossible. Our only recourse, if we would not beg our questions in advance, or remain in unconscious bondage to the instruments of our thought, or be slaves to the thinking of the past generations that have forged out our ideas for us, is to " criticise our categories." And one of the most important, if not the only successful, means to this end is a study of the origin and development of these categories. We can free ourselves from the past only by mastering it. We may not hope to see beyond Aristotle or Kant until we have stood vi Translator s Preface. on their shoulders. We study the history of philosophy, not so much to learn what other men have thought, as to learn to think. For an adequate study of the history of thought, the main requi sites are a careful study of the works of the great thinkers a requisite that need not be enlarged on here, although such study is a comparatively recent matter in both Britain and America, with a few notable exceptions and a text-book to aid us in singling out the important problems, tracing their development, disentangling their complications, and sifting out what is of permanent value. To meet this second need is the especial aim of the present work, and, with all the excellencies of the three chief manuals already in use, it can scarcely be questioned that the need is a real one. Those acquainted with the work here translated (W. Windelband s Ge- schichte der Philosophic, Freiburg i. B., 1892) have no hesitation in thinking that it is an extremely valuable contribution toward just this end. The originality of its conception and treatment awaken an interest that is greater in proportion to the reader s acquaintance with other works on the subject. The author shows not only historical learning and vision, but philosophical insight ; and in his hands the comparative treatment of the history of thought proves as suggestive and fruitful as the same method applied to other subjects in recent times. A work like the present could only have been written with some such preparation as has come in this case from the previous treatment of Greek and Modern Philosophy at greater length, and in presenting it to English readers I am confident that it will meet the wants, not only of special students of philosophy, but also of all who wish to understand the development of thought. Teachers will, I think, find it very valuable in connection with lecture courses. As regards the work of the Translator, little need be said. He has tried like many others to make a faithful translation into intelligible English, and is fully conscious that it has been with varying success. Of course translation in the strict sense is often impossible, and I cannot hope to have adopted the happiest com promise or found the most felicitous rendering in all cases. "Being" (spelled with a capital) is used for " Sein." Where the German " Form " seemed to differ enough from the ordinary English Translator s Preface. vii sense of the word to make "form" misleading, I have spelled it "Form," and the same course has been taken with "Real," " Re- alitat," where the German seemed to desire to distinguish them from "wirklich," which has been translated sometimes by "real," some times by "actual." " Vorstellung" is usually rendered by "idea," following Locke s usage, except in connection with the system of Leibniz, where "representation " is necessary to bring out his thought. "Idee," in the Platonic and Kantian use, is rendered "Idea" (spelled with a capital). The convenient word "Geschehen" has no exact counterpart, and has been variously rendered, most frequently per haps by "cosmic processes." In the additions made to the bibliog raphy, no attempt has been made to be exhaustive ; I have simply tried to indicate some works that might aid the student. It is scarcely necessary to say that any corrections or suggestions will be gratefully received and utilised if possible. Material in square brackets is added by the translator. In conclusion, I desire to express my indebtedness to my col leagues, Professors Shorey, Strong, and Cutting, and Dr. Schwill for helpful suggestions. My chief indebtedness, however, is to the critical taste and unwearied assistance of my wife. If I have in any degree succeeded in avoiding German idioms, it is largely due to her. JAMES H. TUFTS. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, July, 1893. TRANSLATOR S NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. IN preparing this second edition all changes made by the author in the second German edition have been incorporated either in the text or in the appendix at the close. In addition, I have included a brief notice (pp. 663-670) of certain aspects of recent English thought, which naturally have more interest for the readers of this translation than for those of the original. & JAMES H. TUFTS. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, May, 1901. AUTHOR’S PREFACE. AFTER many painful delays and interruptions I now present at last the conclusion of the work whose first sheets appeared two years ago. The reader will not confuse this with the compendiums which have very likely sometimes been prepared by dressing out lecture notes on the general history of philosophy. What I offer is a serious text-book, which is intended to portray in comprehensive and compressed exposition the evolution of the ideas of European philosophy, with the aim of showing through what motives the principles, by which we to-day scientifically conceive and judge the universe and human life, have been brought to consciousness and developed in the course of the movements of history. This end has determined the whole form of the book. The literary-historical basis of research, the biographical and biblio graphical material, were on this account necessarily restricted to the smallest space and limited to a selection that should open the way to the best sources for the reader desiring to work farther. The philosophers own expositions, too, have been referred to in the main, only where they afford a permanently valuable formulation or rationale of thoughts. Aside from this there is only an occa sional citation of passages on which the author supports an inter- . pretation differing from that ordinarily adopted. The choice of material has fallen everywhere on what individual thinkers have produced that was new and fruitful, while purely individual turns of thought, which may indeed be a welcome object for learned research, but afford no philosophical interest, have found at most a brief mention. ix x Author s Preface. As is shown even by the external form of the exposition, chief emphasis has been laid upon the development of what is weightiest from a philosophical standpoint: the history of problems and concep tions. To understand this as a connected and interrelated whole lias been my chief purpose. The historical interweaving of the various lines of thought, out of which our theory of the world and life has grown, forms the especial object of my work, and I am convinced that this problem is to be solved, not by any a priori logical construction, but only by an all-sided, unprejudiced investi gation of the facts. If in this exposition a relatively large part of the whole seems to be devoted to antiquity, this rests upon the conviction that for a historical understanding of our intellectual existence, the forging out of the conceptions which the Greek mind wrested from the concrete reality found in Nature and human life, is more important than all that has since been thought the Kantian philosophy excepted. The task thus set required, however, a renunciation which no one can regret more than myself.