The Portland daily press., 1885-12-03
MODERN PHILOSOPHY.
Rev. Or. DaIton's Fourth Wednesday
Lecture.

Rev Dr. Dalton delivered the fourth in the
course of Wednesday lectures to a large and ap-
preciatiye audience at Y. NJ. C. A. Hall yesterday
afternoon. There was a good sized audience
present. The speaker said that the middle
ages furnish men Of much philosophical
acumen, but their speculations were with
out results as they followed vicious methods OF
investigation. Such were Scotus Erigena in the
ninth century, Anseln and Abelard in the
eleventh. Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus in
the thirteenth. Their system is known as
sehoasticism, and was undermined in the four
teenth century by William of Ocean. What
chiefly engaged the attention of these men was
the question of universals viz: Whether our
general conception of q man e. &. has any realty
beyond the notion in our own minds. Those VINO
said it had were called realists; those VINO de-
MED it, nOminaliStS.
Modern philosophy dates from the publication
of BaconS "NOYum OrganOn," in which he IN
sisted on Observation and EXPERIMENT. as sne
only royal road to discoveries In science Whether
Bacon was the first to announce TINS prlnclpie Is
immateria Suffice it TO say, that he was tne
first to secure its general recognition. bacon
himself made no great discoveries, but he showed
others how to make them. He was followed by
Locke in the seventeenth century, who applied
Bacon's method to the mind, ''the human under
standing" as others did to matter Locke's essay
proved one OF the most fruitful works ever witt
ten and still remains the greatest English contrl-
bution to mental science. For several genera
tions, it was the standard work on that subject,
studied in both the great qnyersites, anu Is l9
day an Indispensable aid IN the proseenIt'Ssn s VI
these studies. 1t is the leading lanonaIk iIVnl V
which we easily trace all the routes wmch later
Iocke's fundamental principle was, that sen
satiOn and reflection, experience, is the source
Of all our knowledge In ihe nahas oi nd mnT, IL
Berkeley's to idealiSm 1T we know, ana can
know nothing beyond our own sensations, berke-
ley argued that we can have no certainty OF any
thing ont of ourselves, and Hume, that we can De
certain of nothing, not even ourselves,
The French Encyclopedias OF the eighteenth
century adopted Locke's priAciple and proved
from it, that 'sense perceptions reveal only q
world of sense, or OF matter, nwnlch tnere Is no
place for spiritual forces. Ihistheory ended IN
French materialism, atheism, and the worship OF
a harlot as the true goddess OF reason. The worst
crimes of the French Revolution were unquestlon-
ably tbe mmediate fruit of this system Of sensual
istic philosophy, nor was order restored, or human
life held sacred till the whole system was repudla-
claimed. In France, DescarteS was the hrSt, as
he was the greatest OF the ideal philosophers
whose dictum "cogito, ergo sum-" Qthink, there
fore | am) is the base of ideallsm. .
The celebrated Spinoza accepting DescarteS die,
tum proceeded to build on it the most radical and
thorough system OF pantheism by arguing lnat
there is but one true selfeXistence with two attr-
butes, viz: thought and extension, which we know
as mind and matter. go
in England it had with Bacon. LelbnltZ ayoldeu
Locke's error, and his system was the nrst OF a
series of ideal schools which have nourlShed IN
| Germany to the present day. Ins ldealsm 0l
| the German schools has its weak Slde, Dut ~ IS
precisely opposite to the ,materlalsm Of the
French. Wolf classified, and Kant continued 10
enlarge, the contents of previous systems YET ne
reached no conclusion more satisfactory than
this that the reality Of our knowledge OF the
outer world depends entirely upon the veraelty OF
our faculties Fichte followed Kant, and de-
yeloped what is called su9leetlYe laeahsniiL
the EGO" viz, ourselves. Schelnng, at hrst the
disciple and follower of Fichte, finally abandoned
his masters position, and assumed an opposite
one. viz: that existence out of the mind is the
only true and fundamental Being, OF which we
are but the echo and shadow. Finally, hegel pc
came the author of system which aims TO unite
these two by a common relation, without when
each is nothing" or neither anything. IhlS IS
known as Absolute Ideallsm, the last word OF
Philosophy-an analysis and synthesis beyond
which we can proceed no farther ON the road OF
philosophical evolution.
: But after all has been said OF these lofty ana
| symmetrical systems the most important single
| contribution ever made to philosophy was given
by Reid. the founder of the Scotch school, when
he rejected entirely the whole system of ideas
and argued in favor of knowledge as Immediate
l. e., derived directly from the objects when tne
mind lays hold of, without any intervening I'M
age" or idea. Reid was followed in Scotland by
| Dugald Stewart and Sir William Hamilton, wht
| continued the good work so well begun by theiI
| Coming down to our day, we find these new
| schools in France. England and Germany, al
| notifications Of old ones, and nearly related U
| these schools Auguste COInte was the
| founder. His principle was, III u we can know
nothing but OF phenomena a ana ther laws ,i ans
really revival OF the old French materiallsm anC
| atheism, and is doubtless prime cause OF the low
/ moral tone which characterlZes the French litera
ture, art and life OF tOday-the lowest morally il
Europe, and subversiye Of all that is high in the
history of that or any other nation.
In England, Herbert Spencer is the author OF 1
/ somewhat similar SYSTEM though toned down L
suit the better state of society there Less often
| sve in formal statement, Herbert Speneer's views
| of morals and religion as rotten and unsafe al
| those of COmte, of Coudillae and Of Condoreet.
| But it is TO Germany, we must always look,
| we would see system carried out TO its l0giea
| conclusions. There SchOpenhOuer and Won Hart
man, accepting these materialiStic ideas of philos
| Ophy sink to the lowest levels of peSsimism AM
atheism, declaring that existence is curse
and 'life is not worth living" Such is the logica
| result OF materallsm and the last word Of athe
ism not as alleged by its opponents, but as pro
| nOunced by its ableSt advocates.
| But there is a more excellent way, the way mrs
| opened by AnaXagOreS, entered on Dy socrates
| Plato, and Aristotle. and which has been uoudel
by the greatest and best of Philosophers or lover
| of wisdom, such as those VINO nave Deen mention
| ed, and equally by their successors IN the sehool
| of true wisdom, Bacon Newton ana Locke
| England Reid, Stewart and Hamilton IN Scot
| land; Berkeley and Hutchinson in Ireland; Des
| cartes Malbranche. Chateaubriand and Cousin Il
| France lei uitZ, Wolf, Kant, and host OF 9th
| ers in Germany.
| of successive schools of Modern Philosophy, elias
| siled nationally and chronOlOgically. But il W
| classify them logically, the same divisions will al
| pear as in the Greek schools, VIZ: the sensations
| or nateriastic the ideal OF spiritual and tn
dream of the eloquent French philosopher Cousi
| to combine intO one grand system Which shOul
| harmOuize and reconcile them all. His success
was not equal to his ambition. Nevertheless,
''Doubt not that through the ages one increasin
| purpose runs,
Aud the thoughts Of men are widened with Il
process of the suns"