A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY A HISTORY OF A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY by Frederick Copleston, S.J. VOLUME I: GREECE AND ROME From the Pre-Socratics to Plotinus PHILOSOPHY VOLUME II: MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY From Augustine to Duns Scotus VOLUME III: LATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE PHILOSOPHY Ockham, Francis Bacon, and the Beginning of the Modern World VOLUME VII VOLUME IV: MODERN PHILOSOPHY From Descartes to Leibniz Modern Philosophy: From VOLUME V: MODERN PHILOSOPHY The British Philosophers from Hobbes to Hume VOLUME VI: MODERN PHILOSOPHY the Post-Kantian Idealists From the French Enlightenment to Kant VOLUME VII: MODERN PHILOSOPHY to Marx, Kierkegaard, and From the Post-Kantian Idealists to Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche VOLUME VIII: MODERN PHILOSOPHY Empiricism, Idealism, and Pragmatism in Britain and America Nietzsche VOLUME IX: MODERN PHILOSOPHY From the French Revolution to Sartre, Camus, and Levi-Strauss Frederick Copleston, S.J. ~, == IMAGE BOOKS DOUBLEDAY New York London Toronto Sydney Auckland CONTENTS Pag' PREFACE ix AN IMAGE BOOK PART I PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY POST-KANTIAN IDEALIST SYSTEMS a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036 1. INTRODUCTION I Preliminary remarks-Kant's philosophy and idealist meta IMAGE, DOUBLEDAY, and the portrayal of a deer drinking from a stream are physics--The meaning of idealism, its insistence on system and trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell its confidence in the power and scope of philosophy-The Publishing Group, Inc. idealists and theology-The romantic movement and German idealism-The difficulty in fulfilling the idealist programme The anthropomorphic element in German idealism-Idealist First Image Books edition of Volume VII of A History of Philosophy published philosophies of man. 1965 by special arrangement with The Newman Press and Burns & Oates, Ltd. II. FICHTE (I) 32 This Image edition published March 1994. Life and writings--On looking for the fundamental principle of philosophy; the choice between idealism and dogmatism-The pure ego and intellectual intuition-Comments on the theory De Licentia Superiomm Ordinis: John Cobentry, S.J., Praep. Provo Angliae of the pure ego; phenomenology of consciousness and idealist Nihil Obstat: T. Gornall, S.J., Censor Deputatus metaphysics-The three fundamental principles of philosophy -Explanatory comments on Fichte's dialectical method-The Imprimatur: Franciscus, Archiepiscopus Birmingamiensis Birmingamiae die 26a theory of science and formal logic-The general idea of the two deductions of consciousness--The theoretical deduction-The Julii 1962 practical deduction-Comments on Fichte's deduction of consciousness. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data III. FICHTE (2) 59 Copleston, Frederick Charles. Introductory remarks--The common moral consciousness and A history of philosophy. the science of ethics-Man's moral nature-The supreme Includes bibliographical references and indexes. principle of morality and the formal condition of the morality of Contents: v.!. Greece and Rome-[etc.]- actions-Conscience as an unerring guide-The philosophical application of the formal moral law-The idea of moral vocation v. 7. From the post-Kantian idealists to Marx, and Fichte's general vision of reality-A community of selves Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche-v. 8. Empiricism, idealism, in a world as a condition of self-consciousness-The principle or and pragmatism in Britain and America-v. 9. From the rule of right-The deduction and nature of the State-The French Revolution to Sartre, Camus, and Levi-Strauss. closed commercial State-Fichte and nationalism. 1. Philosophy-History. I. Title. B72.C62 1993 190 92-34997 IV. FICHTE (3) Fichte's early ideas on religion-God in the first version of the ISBN 0-385-47044-4 theory of science-The charge of atheism and Fichte's reply Volume VII copyright © 1963 by Frederick Copleston The infinite Will in The Vocation of Man-The development of the philosophy of Being. I80I-5-The Doctrine of Religion All Rights Reserved Later writings--Explanatory and critical comments on Fichte's philosophy of Being. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 V. SCHELLING (I) 94 Life and writings--The successive phases in Schelling's thought -Early writings and the influence of Fichte. v vi CONTENTS CONTENTS vii Chapter Page Chapter Page VI. SCHELLING (2) 105 XIV. SCHOPENHAUER (2) 277 The possibility and metaphysical grounds of a philosophy of Aesthetic contemplation as a temporary escape from the Nature-The general outlines of Schelling's philosophy of slavery of the Will-The particular fine arts-Virtue and Nature-The system of transcendental idealism-The philo- renunciation: the way of salvation-Schopenhauer and meta- sophy of art-The Absolute as identity. physical idealism-The general influence of Schopenhjluer- Notes on Eduard von Hartmann's development of Schopen- VII. SCHELLING (3) 126 hauer's philosophy. The idea of the cosmic Fall-Personality and freedom in man . and God; good and evil-The distinction between .negative and XV. THE TRANSFORMATION OF IDEALISM (1) 293 positive philosophy-Mythology and. ~ev.elatJon-General Introductory remarks-Feuerbach and the transformation of remarks on Schelling-Notes on Schelling s mfluence and on theology into anthropology-Ruge's criticism of the Hegelian some kindred thinkers. attitude to history-Stirner's philosophy of the ego. VIII. SCHLEIERMACHER 149 XVI. THE TRANSFORMATION OF IDEALISM (2) 305 Life and writings-The basic reli~ious e?,perience and. its Introductory remarks-The lives and writings of Marx and interpretation-The moral and religIOUS life of man-Fmal Engels and the development of their thought-Materialism- remarks. Dialectical materialism-The materialist conception of history -Comments on the thought of Marx and Engels. IX. HEGEL (x) 159 Life and writings-Early theological writings-Hegel's relations XVII. KIERKEGAARD 335 to Fichte and Schelling-The life of the Absolute and the nature of philosophy-The phenomenology of consciousness. Introductory remarks-Life and writings-The individual and the crowd-The dialectic of the stages and truth as subjectivity X. HEGEL (2) x89 -oTf Khiee rikdeegaa oafr de.x istence-The concept of dread-The influence The logic of Hegel-The ontological status of the .Idea or Absolute in itself and the transition to Nature-The phllosophy of Nature-The Absolute as Spirit: subjective Spirit-The PART III concept of right-Morality-The family and civil society-The LATER CURRENTS OF THOUGHT State-Explanatory comments on Hegel's idea of political philosophy-The function of war-Philosophy of history- XVIII. NON-DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM 352 Some comments on Hegel's philosophy of history. Introductory remarks-The first phase of the materialist XI. HEGEL (3) 226 movement-Lange's criticism of materialism-Haeckel's monism-Ostwald's energeticism-Empirio-criticism con- The sphere of absolute Spirit-T~e philosophy of. ~rt-The sidered as an attempt to overcome the opposition between philosophy of religion-:-The relation J;>etween re~lglOn and materialism and idealism. philosophy-Hegel's philosophy .o~ ~he history of.phllos?phy- The influence of Hegel and the diVISion between nght-wmg and left-wing Hegelians. XIX. THE NEO-KANTIAN MOVEMENT 361 Introductory remarks-The Marburg School-The School of Baden-The pragmatist tendency-E, Cassirer; concluding PART II observations-Some notes on Dilthey. THE REACTION AGAINST METAPHYSICAL IDEALISM XX. THE REVIVAL OF METAPHYSICS 374 XII. EARLIER OPPONENTS AND CRITICS 248 Remarks on inductive metaphysics-Fechner's inductive metaphysics-The teleological idealism of Lotze-Wundt and Fries and his disciples-The realism of Herbart-Beneke and the relation between science and philosophy-The vitalism of psychology as the fundamental science-The logic of Bolzano- Driesch-Eucken's activism-Appropriation of the past: Weisse and I. H. Fichte as critics of Hegel. Trendelenburg and Greek thought; the revival of Thomism. XIII. SCHOPENHAUER (x) 261 XXI. NIETZSCHE (x) 390 Life and writings-Schopenhauer's .doctorate dissertation- The world as Idea-The biological function of concepts and the Life and writings-The phases of Nietzsche's thought:as 'masks'-Nietzsche's early writings and the critique of con- possibility of metaphysics-Th.e world a.s ~he manifestati?~ of the Will to live-Metaphysical pessimism-Some cntlcal temporary culture-The critique of morals-Atheism and its comments. consequences. viii CONTENTS Chapter Pags XXII. NIETZSCHE (2) 407 The hypothesis of the Will to Power-The Will to Power as PREFACE manifested in knowledge; Nietzsche's view of truth-The Will to Power in Nature and man-Superman and the order of rank -'The theory of the eternal recurrence-Comments on As Volume VI of this History oj Philosophy ended with Kant, the Nietzsche's philosophy. natural procedure was to open the present volume with a discussion of post-Kantian German idealism. I might then have turned to the XXIII. RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT 421 philosophy of the first part of the nineteenth century in France and Some questions arising out of nineteenth-century German philosophy-The positivist answer-The philosophy of Great Britain. But on reflection it seemed to me that nineteenth existence-The rise of phenomenology; Brentano, Meinong, century German philosophy could reasonably be treated on its own, Husserl, the widespread use of phenomenological analysis Return to ontology; N. Hartmann-The metaphysics of and that this would confer on the volume a greater unity than Being; Heidegger, the Thomists-Concluding reflections. would otherwise be possible. And in point of fact the only non German -speaking philosopher considered in the book is Kierke ApPENDIX: A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY 443 gaard, who wrote in Danish. The volume has been entitled Fichte to Nietzsche, as Nietzsche is the last world-famous philosopher who is considered at any length. It might indeed have been called Fickte to Heidegger. For not only have a good many philosophers been mentioned who were chronologically posterior to Nietzsche, but also in the last chapter a glance has been taken at German philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century. But I decided that" to call the volume Fichte to Heidegger would tend to mislead prospective readers. For it would suggest that twentieth-century philosophers such as Hussed, N. Hartmann, Jaspers and Heidegger are treated, so to speak, for their own sake, in the same way as Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, whereas in fact they are discussed briefly as illustrating different ideas of the nature and scope of philosophy. In the present work there are one or two variations from the pattern generally followed in preceding volumes. The introductory chapter deals only with the idealist movement, and it has therefore been placed within Part I, not before it. And though in the final chapter there are some retrospective reflections, there is also, as already indicated, a preview of thought in the first half of the twentieth century. Hence I have called this chapter 'Retrospect and Prospect' rather than 'Concluding Review'. Apart from the reasons given in the text for referring to twentieth-century thought there is the reason that I do not propose to include within this History any full-scale treatment of the philosophy of. the present century. At the same time I did not wish to end the volume abruptly without any reference at all to later developments. The result is, of course, that one lays oneself open to the comment that ix x PREFACE PREFACE xi it would be better to say nothing about these developments than Sickness unto Death, Concluding Unscientific Postscript and The to make some sketchy and inadequate remarks. However, I Concept of Dread. In the case of quotations from philosophers decided to risk this criticism. other than Kierkegaard I have translated the passages myself. To economize on space I have confined the Bibliography at the But I have frequently given page-references to existing English end of the book to general works and to works by and on the major translations for the benefit of readers who wish to consult a figures. As for minor philosophers, many of their writings are translation rather than the original. In the case of minor figures, mentioned at the appropriate places in the text. In view of the however, I have generally omitted references to translations. number both of nineteenth-century philosophers and of their publications, and in view of the vast literature on some of the major figures, anything like a full bibliography is. out of the question. In the case of the twentieth-century thinkers mentioned in the final chapter, some books are referred to in the text or in footnotes, but no explicit bibliography has been given. Apart from the problem of space I felt that it would be inappropriate to supply, for example, a bibliography on Heidegger when he is only briefly mentioned. The present writer hopes to devote a further volume, the eighth in this History, to some aspects of French and British thought in the nineteenth century. But he does not propose to spread his net any farther. Instead he plans, circumstances permitting, to turn in a supplementary volume to what may be called the philosophy of the history of philosophy, that is, to reflection on the development of philosophical thought rather than to telling the story of this development. A final remark. A friendly critic observed that this work would be more appropriately called A History of Western Philosophy or A History of European Philosophy than A History of Philosophy without addition. For there is no mention, for instance, of Indian philosophy. The critic was, of course, quite right. But I should like to remark that the omission of Oriental philosophy is neither an oversight nor due to any prejudice on the author's part. The composition of a history of Oriental philosophy is a work .for a specialist and requires a knowledge of the relevant languages which the present writer does not possess. Brehier included a volume on Oriental philosophy in his Histoire de la philosophie, but it was not written by Brehier. Finally I have pleasure in expressing my gratitude to the Oxford University Press for their kind pennission to quote from Kierkegaard's The Point of View and Fear and Trembling according to the English translations published by them, and to the Princeton University Press for similar permission to quote from Kierkegaard's A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY PART I POST·KANTIAN IDEALIST SYSTEMS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Preliminary remarks-Kant's philosoPhy and idealist meta· physics-The meaning of idealism, its insistence 9n system and its confidence in the power and scope of philosophy-The idealists and theology-The romantic movement and German idealism-The difficulty in fuljilJing the idealist programme The anthropomorphic element in German idealism-Idealist philosophies of man. 1. IN the German philosophical world during the early part of the nineteenth century we find one of the most remarkable flowerings of metaphysical speculation which have occurred in the long history of western philosophy. We are presented with a succession of systems, of original interpretations of reality and of human life and history, which possess a grandeur that can hardly be called in question and which are still capable of exercising on some minds at least a peculiar power of fascination. For each of the leading philosophers of the period professes to solve the riddle of the world, to reveal the secret of the universe and the meaning of human existence. True, before the death of Schelling in 1854 Auguste Comte in France had already published his Course of Positive Philosophy in which metaphysics was represented as a passing stage in the history of human thought. And Germany was to have its own positivist and materialist movements which, while not killing metaphysics, would force metaphysicians to reflect on and define more closely the relation between philosophy and the particular sciences. But in the early decades of the nineteenth century the shadow of positivism had not yet fallen across the scene and speculative philosophy enjoyed a period of uninhibited and luxuriant growth. With the great German idea~sts we find a superb confidence in the power of the human reason and in the scope of philosophy. Looking on reality as the self·manifestation of infinite reason, they thought I 2 POST -KANTIAN IDEALIST SYSTEMS INTRODUCTION 3 that the life of self-expression of this reason could be retraced in have nothing of value to offer. German idealism has its fantastic philosophical reflection. They were not nervous men looking over aspects, but the writings of the leading idealists are very far from their shoulders to see if critics were whispering that they were being all fantasy. producing poetic effusions under the thin disguise of theoretical 2. The point which we have to consider here is not, however, the philosophy, or that their profundity and obscure language were a collapse of German idealism but its rise. And this indeed stands in mask for lack of clarity of thought. On the contrary, they were need of some explanation. On the one hand the immediate philo convinced that the human spirit had at last come into its own and sophical background of the idealist movement was provided by the that the nature of reality was at last clearly revealed to human critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who had attacked the claims consciousness. And each set out his vision of the Universe with a of metaphysicians to provide theoretical knowledge of reality. On splendid confidence in its objective truth. the other hand the German idealists looked on themselves as the It can, of course, hardly be denied that German idealism makes true spiritual successors of Kant and not as simply reacting against on most people today the impression of belonging to another world, his ideas: What we have to explain, therefore, is how metaphysical to another climate of thought. And we can say that the death of idealism could develop out of the system of a thinker whose name Hegel in 1831 marked the end of an epoch. For it was followed by is for ever as~ociated with scepticism about metaphysics' claim to the collapse of absolute idealisml and the emergence of other lines provide us with theoretical knowledge about reality as a whole or of thought. Even metaphysics took a different tum. And the indeed about any reality other than the a priori structure of superb confidence in the power and range of speculative philosophy human knowledge and experience.1 which was characteristic of Hegel in particular has never been The most convenient starting-point for an explanation of the regained. But though German idealism sped through the sky like a development of metaphysical idealism out of the critical philosophy rocket and after a comparatively short space of time disintegrated is the Kantian notion of the thing-in-itseIP In Fichte's view Kant and fell to earth, its flight was extremely impressive. Whatever its had placed himself in an impossible position by steadfastly shortcomings, it represented one of the most sustained attempts refusing to abandon this notion. On the one hand, if Kant had which the history of thought has known to achieve a unified asserted the existence of the thing-in-itself as cause of the given or conceptual mastery of reality and experience as a whole. And even material element in sensation, he would have been guilty of an if the presuppositions of idealism are rejected, the idealist systems obvious inconsistency. For according to his own philosophy the can still retain the power of stimulating the natural impulse of the concept of cause cannot be used to extend our knowledge beyond reflective mind to strive after a unified conceptual synthesis. the phenomenal sphere. On the other hand, if Kant retained the Some are indeed convinced that the elaboration of an overall idea of the thing-in-itself simply as a problematical and limiting view of reality is not the proper task of scientific philosophy. And notion, this was tantamount to retaining a ghostly relic of the very even those who do not share this conviction may well think that dogmatism which it was the mission of the critical philosophy to the achievement 6f a final systematic synthesis lies beyond the overcome. Kant's Copernican revolution was a great step forward, capacity of anyone man and is more of an ideal goal than a and for Fichte there could be no question of moving backwards to practical possibility. But we should be prepared to recognize a pre-Kantian position. If one had any understanding of the intellectual stature when we meet it. Hegel in particular towers up development of philosophy and of the demands of modem thought, in impressive grandeur above the vast majority of those who have one could only go forward and complete Kant's work~ And this tried to belittle him. And we can always learn from an outstanding meant eliminating the thing-in-itself. For, given Kant's premisses, philosopher, even if it is only by reflecting on our reasons for dis there was no room for an unknowable occult entity supposed to be agreeing with him. The historical collapse of metaphysical idealism independent of mind. In other words, the critical philosophy had to does not necessarily entail the conclusion that the great idealists . 1 I say .'could develop' because reflection on Kant's philosophy can lead to 1 The fact that there were later idealist movements in Britain, America. Italy dIfferent hnes of thought, according to the aspects which one emphasizes. See and elsewhere does not alter the fact that after Hegel metaphysical idealism in Vol. VI, pp. 433-4. Germany suffered an eclipse. I See Vol. VI, pp. 268-72, 384-6.