THE BIOGRAPHICAL 618-99 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, FROM ITS ORIGIN IN GREECE DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY. BY GEORGE HENRY LEWES. "Man is not born to solve the mystery of Existence; but he must nevertheless attempt it "For I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, TENNYSON. LIBRARY EDITION, MUCH ENLARGED AND THOROUGHLY REVISED. VOL. II. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 448 & 445 BROADWAY. M DCCC LXIII. TRANSITION PERIOD. FROM PROCLUS TO BACON. § I. SCHOLASTICISM. ALTHOUGH Modern Philosophy, rigorously defined, commences with Bacon and Descartes, from whom a distinct development is traceable, such as the purpose of this History requires, we must not pass from Proclus to Bacon without at least a rapid glance at the course of speculative activity during the intervening twelve centuries. Medieval Philosophy has been much decried and much exalted, but very little studied. So vast a subject demands a patience and erudition few can bring to it. Fortunately for me, whose knowledge of Scholasticism is limited to a superficial acquaintance with some of the works of Aquinas, Abelard, and Averroes, the nature of this History excludes any detailed examination of mediæval speculations. Consulting my own resources and the reader's interest, I find that the whole career of philosophic inquiry, from Proclus to Bacon, can be presented in three typical figures: namely, ABELARD, as representing Scholasticism; ALGAZZĀLI, as representing Arabian philosophy; and GIORDANO BRUNO, as representing the philosophic struggle which overthrew the authority of Aristotle and the Church. These three thinkers I have studied more or less in their own writings; and the reader will understand, therefore, that the following sketch is wholly drawn from second-hand knowledge in all but these three instances. With the Alexandrians, Philosophy, as we have seen, became absorbed in Religion. The Alexandrians were succeeded by the Christian Fathers, who of course made Philosophy the handmaid |