Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-12-18

to solve all the mysteries of knowledge by the ana
ysis of thought 1t would, perhaps be difficult Il
exaggerate the sensation created in the learned
world by the publication of the "Dissertatio do
Methodo," and the "Meditationes de Prima Philo
sophia" The merely literary. reader encounters
Cartesanism in nearly every production of contem
poraneous authors, from the chatty letters of the
charming Madame de Seyigne to the formidable and
forgotten tones Of Arnold Geulincx. We quote
from Nj. Cousin
For many reasons which it would require too much
time to develop the result OF the Cartesian revolution
the radical destruction of the perpatetc form of
schoastcsm. Des Cares penetrated into the celebrated
school of Port Royal and his influence was felt by the
learned clergy Arnauld and Pascal Fenelon and Bos-
suet. Cartesans well Malebranche. More and
Clark introduced Cartesansm into England Spinosa and
Cauberg into Holland Lebnitz into Germany. lalyand
/ Spain played at that time part in philosophy The
French literature of the seventeenth century so powerful
in Europe propagated the Caresian spirit and towards the
opening Of the eighteenth this spirit was dominant among
| the aristocracy of thinkers in Europe
| 1t can be easily apprehended by the reader that
the principles and method of Bacon if rgidly trans
ferred to the province of metaphysics, would give
rise to a system quite different from that of Des
Cartes, who resembled Bacon merely in employing
analysis as the great interpreter of truth The prn
cpes OF Bacon tend to what is convertibly called in
philosophy Sensatonalism, Sensualism, or Empiri-
cism. The principles of Des Cartes conduct to
ldealism. Now, in Locke we find Bacon of the
mind: The great Essay on the Human Under
standing is thoroughly mbued with the Baconian
spirit, perhaps we should better say the Baconian
matter. The materialistic side of human knowledge
is unduly exalted, and the mind itself is resolved
into complex of the senses.
After the first fervor of Cartesianism had cooled
in France, the philosophy of Locke began to work a
new fermentation of thought the French, by virtue
of that formulating principle of their genius upon
which NJ. Guizot SO much loves to descant did for
Locke what they before had done for Bacon, and
what they since have done for Bentham; they car
ried his principles to their full development Con-
diac was the first and greatest of his French ex-
Founders. From the Statueman, he rose in his
hypothetical analyses to the Machine and from
the Machineman to the Plant-nan, and from the
Plant-man to the Biped-man, with bundle of
senses. To him succeeded Bonnet, who begat Hell
yetius, who begat ST. Lambert, who begat d Hol-
bach, who begat Alembert, and Diderot, and Du-
puts, and the whole tribe of the Encyclopedias,
who begat the French Revolution. During the
Reign of Terror that ensued, philosophy, like reli-
| gion and society, stood aghast. 1t was not until
that stupendous catacysm had spent its force that
the study of intellectual philosophy was resumed
where il had been broken off by the "hubbub Wild
| of Robespierre, Danton and an Anacharss
Cloots
Not far from Paris, at the little town of Auteuil,
the scattered disciples of Condillac rallied their
forces to make stand in favor of the empirical
or sensational philosophy. Here was gathered Ca
bans, who taught that the nerves. were :" the
| whole man, lies nerfs, VOLTA tout Thomme, and
that the gangia and the brain as regularly secretcd
thought, morals, religion, &c. as the gastric juice
did chyle, or the ears wax. Here too was Carat,
the eloquent lecturer; Voney, the moralist of the
cotere, as Cabans has been called its Psychologist
Destutt de Tracy, the ideologue, from whom the
school has gotten its name of aeoIogtSts; and Maine
de Biran the thinker par ercellence who was rather
In the school than of it. These and others revived
1 the teachings of Condllac, and pushed them to
their last conclusions. 4 revulson, reaction, was
the natural and inevitable result of this logic run
mad. The popular mind slowly but surely swayed
back to its moorings. Instead of blank atheism
and the cold negations of ideology it began to de-
mand the symbols of religion and the sublime spe
culations of philosophical spiritualism. Whel
Napoleon reorganized the Institute, he excluded tn
study of theology from its curriculum ST. Pierr
had already opened in the hearts Of the people, b
his sentimental writings, class of emotions whicl
protested against the reigning materialism Cha
teaubrand followed in his wake with the more stir
ring doctrines of feryid and profound religionsm
: while Madame de Stael, from her literary retrea
(or exile, shall say y of Coppet, sent forth, un
der the inspiration of her guide, philosopher anc
friend Benjamin Constant succession of fictitious
and moral works, which contributed more thar
aught else to accelerate the social and philosophical
reaction.
The first who gave expression to this nascentp phi
losophism, though 'unconsciously, was NJ. Laromi
/ guiere. To him succeeded NJ Royer-Collard, VIII,
made the first decided breach in the defence o
! ideology, in which he was ably seconded by tn,
brilliant genius Of Maine de Brian, unquestionabl
' the most original, as Cousin observes, of all tn
l masters Of French philosophy Maine de Bran
after his short and splendid career was followed b
!, NJ Cousin himself, under whose teachings Eclecti
5 cism has assumed the shape and structure Of
il great and symmetrical system. Having thus ascer
tanned the relations and traced the rise of the eclec
: tic philosophy, we shall proceed briefly to sum u,
IS its heads which perhaps be best done by com
pact statement Of Nj. Cousins philosophical biog
raphy, which, revealing it does the gradual for
nation of his opinions under the successive phase
which preceded their final full-orbed outline vii
! furnish at once summary of his life and Of hi
philosophy. Our biographical details we shall
chiefly borrow from Mr.. MorelPs oompendious nara
tive of Cousins life and studies.
Victor Cousin child Of Paris" was born ii
the year 1892, or, accounts state, in 1871
His early education was prosecuted at the Lyceun
, Of Charlemagne, from which he was subsequent
removed TO the normal school in order to uualif
himself to be in turn the instructor of his country
Z men. In 1911 he directed his attention to tn
l L 4 l. Il 4