New-York daily tribune., 1859-08-06
ITALIAN LITERATURE SINCE lsis.
III.
PHILOSOPHY.

nb,,oSnulV-.fe pbIoc'thy Va ~NN "hN'S~NN -
.oA,yn ph,osopby, distinction sh.eh determines it'
,rogress The ancient va objective, the ''oaefl '
..h,e..ye; . c. the 10. Der sought the laws Of beng
..d of the external word; the later seeks ine laws
.f,sousht. the origin OF ideas; 70 other words, the
vrrncipa, object Of Greek phOsaphy was TO kho"
th. which is outside OF as, il order 10 place 1t IN
,.l.,ion 4h our.slve.: while the object OF modern
,bio,ophy il TO know that which Is within US, ID
,d., a, nacs |, in relation with that which Is Outside
# o,r,eves Both the one and the otaeT proceed TO
-.,d ,h. coeoiiion Of the Absolute, the Necessary
al. 1,s,.,.l the One, the ultimate scope OF phlos-
.,hv 18th ayainng themselves Of na:ursl facuIles-
econ oonsciousDsss sensation, intuition, ETC., as
.o,s criterion Of truth. Daring the interval thst
.n.r.tss these two phiosophies there arose sthri,
Known by the name of scholastic or dogmitic when
became the Official philosophy OF Catholicism. Ine
Sormss Of the Catholic creed derived from immedi-
ass d;vins revelation, constitute the foundation OF
certainty the criterion Of truth the point OF departure
from which that philosophy proceeds in its deductions
snd demonstrations. Consequently all that remains
for us TO seek, is according to dogmac pniiosopny
hsovp and declared; all that for the human intellect
10 bu. problem for dogmatic philosophy s an AXIOM
Thus, the principle Of infalhble and Absolute
satbori,y founded on the dogmas of the Cathohc
Church. takes the place Of the sovereignty OF reason
Doemstic philosophy consists in gymnastic e1ercse
Of the intellect which, starting from pr'or' principles
arises by means of syogisms at conformable concu-
sioss Realism Nominalism, Mysticism are the denom'
nations of the three schools into which dosmanc Phii-
esopby is divided. Aristotle supplied the materials
and the speculstive Instruments to each. Inc mot
eelebrsted Italian dogmatists were San BonAventura,
Petro Lombardo, and, greater than all bis predeces-
ssn or successors, San TommsSo dAqunio. The
frst Office Of modern philosophy was the demolition
Of dogmatisn, the emancipation of thought 1eleso,
Campanella, Pstriz Francis Bacon, commenced the'
demolition by means of Sensstionalsm and the In
asctve method Pomponazzi and Vanini by criticism'
asd Fcino and Bruno by Emanatsm and Panthelsm
They destroyed and constructed at the same time,
1epositng germs which were developed In successive
periods Descartes with his celebrated proposition
/ THINK THEREFORE l EXIST, gave the formula OF
modern philosophy. He fixed the immutsble bass oil
certainty in Thought hence the subjective character
Of modern philosophy Doubs carried To the extremes
Of Prrbonsm s mpotent to shake this foundation Tor
Ae Who doubts thinks and exists. But how do we
think I What is the origin Of our ideas What
are the relations between subject and object;
between thought and being These are the prob
lens that philosophy hss Get itself TO solve from Dss-
eartes day to our own.
In this new field philosophy opened ont two ps'hs'
On the one hand Locke maintained that ideas owe
their origin TO sensation that the me is pure thought
i no. sn nnste idea. Leibntz, on the contrary as
ssrte that sensation is insufficient that the intellect
contains in itself necessary and general ideas to pro
Suce which experience does not suffice, since II can
s,y fu,nish ms with contingent particular ideas Sen
sstouslsm and Idealism then the two great ram-
es.ons Of Modern Philosophy. Along these two
lverebg paths philosophers sought the relations thai
exist between thought and being. The Sensationshsts
arriving at skeptiesm with Hume, or at vaigS em-
p;rieism with Condilsc, soon lost all philosophical
valne The Ideaists arrived at an absolute idesh'm
vh Tchte-i. e., at subjective psntheism, which re-
auoee su that exists to the and ts notifications.
Bs, II 10 indisputabe that outside Of the thinking e
there is something real which philosophy ought to in
clud. in lie to place in its true re-
,ation. with the nc "Withou the thee, said Jscobi
very pertisently, "the ne is impossible
Tfessurirg up all the results of philosophy, and
especially those won from Kants time to his own,
Heee carried the scencs TO higher point than ii had
ever before attained. He formed logic and meta
physics into one insepsrsble science. According to
him the laws Of Thought and the lsws of Being are
ideu.;ca for him the Absolute consists in the lotest
conception Of Being. Schelng shows that Hegel puts
logical conception in the place Of living reality G..
TIA, from the purely logical ideas he preends TO educe
the real world, and this without adducing any proof
without demonstrating how the subjective idea passes
70 the real world what the actual relations be-
tween Thought and Being. BE that as IT may, to
Heeel belongs the great merit Of having carried his
specula.ions into the field Of Religion, Of Esthetcs
into the feid of Universal History, whose ascending
development he proved, and established the great
truth that liberty the substance and essence Of the
human mind; Of having demonstrated in his History OF
Philosophy the progressive continuity Of that science.
Thus Ideahsm assumed the true character Of Sci
epce-, gradually modified, became the genius of
the philosophy Of the nineteenth century. is now
acknowledged a. fundamental truth won TO phloso-
ply ths. we are incapable of kaovi ,g any being 10
ITSELF that idea. alone exist within us that ideas only
represent the attributes of being. Thus philosophy
confined within the mits of the possible, laying aside
a vain researches after substance, aims at becoming
TAs Seiesce Of Life ss Pierre Leroux defines It. The
philosophy Of the nineteenth century, to avoid being
eonfounded with measer systems which have assumed
the name Of Idealsm, while they are, in fact, mere
Ideoegies ssoto express by ts very title the anti
thesis of dosmste philosophy, has taken the denomi
nation Of Rstionatsm-opposng Reason to dogmas,
free examination to the principle of authority Ger
tainty and credibilty are the two pillars on which
Rstiopalism, in its most comprehensive sense, rests.
Analysis and induction, proceeding from the known to
the unknown in order 10 arrive at synthess, is the
method adopts. Reason and sediment are the two
functions which guide ratiopastc philosophy To the
knowledge Of that which is certain to the adoption of
that which 10 credible. And it is in this sense, in our
opinion, that Religion and Philosophy become one.
Between dogmstsm and rationalism there arose a
parasitica plant sort Of philosophical yase RiieW,