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This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: HERVE, JOHN TITLE: A DISCOURSE ON THE HISTORY AND ... PLACE: RICHMOND DA TE : 1830 • ' i i ^ COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT « BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Master Negative # i -> Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 100 IH446 Restrictions on Use: J •m ^m"« ■•■•». •■- Herv6t John, A Discourse on the history and importance of the philosophy of the human mind; delivered at Miss MacKenzie's Academy, as introductory to a course o^ logick and moral philosophy by J. Herve. Rich- mond, Shepherd, 1830. 24 p. 21 on# FILM SIZE: IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA DATE FILMED: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: j/X— FILMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICA INITIALS__/i_CLl_ INC WOODBRIDGE. CT ,% ^ h D Association for information and image iNanagement 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 12 3 4 5 6 7 imiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiliiiiliiiilii iiliiiihiiiliiiiliiiiliii mm mm 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm iiiiImiiImiiIiiiiIiiiiIiiiiIiiiiIiiiiIiiiiIiiiiIiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiii m m T Inches TTT I I I I I 1 T TTT 1.0 1. ||2.8 u 1.4 j23 1.8 1.6 I.I 1.25 I I I I I I i 5 MfiNUFRCTURED TO PIIM STRNDRRDS BY RPPLIED IMRGE. INC. A. 9»* V 1 \0(5 H Columbia ^Bmben^ttp in tfje £itp of iSeto l^orfe LIBRARY GIVEN^ BY Ai^Yn.fc.nsji' VVPPI jn-^Wu^ i\ ^ ^ 1/^ o. DISCOURSE w e,^ ^ ON THK HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE pHItOSOPHY OP THE HUMAN MISD. ^ Mackenzie's Academy, as intboductory to a DsLirXKED AT MISS COURSE OF LOOICK AND MoRAL PHILOSOPHY. BY J. HERVB. RICHMOND: PBIRTID B¥ SAMUEL SHEPBEBD & CO. 1890. ^n v •••^ *v > % V ^ >> ■% • %. •^. % . i,» /oo 5 'W DISCOURSE. Ladies and Gentlemen, It is very natural that I should feel diffident in address- ing you in a language foreign to me. but I hope that you wjl be so indulgent as to pay more attention to the substance of my Discour e than to the manner in which it wdl e del.vered Although I may need an apology for myself, rt.e subject of which I intend to treat requires none, for *« h.story of he Human Mind is one of the most important stud.es wh.ch can occupy the intellectual faculties. To know and meditate on Tvery moral and philosophical opinion which has esercsed an influence over the destinies of mankind, from the remote^ aees to our days, enlightens and gives comprehensiveness to Surderstanding. This knowledge is the noblest treasure bequeathed to us by the wisdom of past <=;""=-;* ^'' powerful means of improving ourselves The mmd qu.ck- ened and enlightened by the habit of med.tat.on on so majy dWergent opinions, is less liable to err or to be dece.ved by JpSical feasoning^is better prepared to .scover Ju^- detect falsehood, and refute iUogical asserUons. H sto.7 offers much amusement and several useful h.n s, but how much greater are the advantages to be denved from that of Sos^phy How few facts axe fruitful! What an .mmense Tumrof sterile events which leave the mind m the same %:^ 4 DISCOURSE. I uncertainty! How can we obtain the proof that we know the real causes of such and such events ? If we are igno- rant of the causes, is not history reduced to a nomenclature of battles, victories, revolutions, &c. ? In speaking thus, I do not intend to deny the utility of this branch of knowledge, but — Amicus Plato, sed magis arnica Veritas. In this respect the history of Philosophy has a great supe- riority over civil history, for several philosophers have ex- pressed in their works the motives of their belief and upon what foundation they have erected their systems ; and in order to have a complete history of Philosophy, it would be neces- sary to collect all the works written on this science — ^Then beginning by the most ancient, describing chronologically every system and opinion — giving the reasons why they have been adopted, and how they have been illustrated — so as to condense the whole human ideas in a concise and correct view. To be more useful such a work should be printed with double columns — ^the one containing the narrative of the theories, — the other pointing out the objections, sophisms or errors by which many are supported. Such a production would require immense labor, and an unprejudiced mind. However the undertaker would be much assisted by the best historians of Philosophy, among whom are Buonafede, Brucker, Tiedemann, Tenneraann, Eberhard, Staudling, Meyners, Reinhold, Adelung, MM. Degerando, V. Cousin, Laurent, Rio, he. The narrow limits of an introductory lecture compel me to give but a very incomplete sketch of the greatest philoso- phers, and a rapid review of their principles. Perhaps on a future day I shall write something less unworthy of those illustrious men, so highly entitled to the gratitude of every friend of intellectual improvement. The shortness of a Dis- course not allowing me to follow my own plan, I shall avail DISCOURSE. myself of the excellent Compendium of M. Laurent, and adopt the classification of MM. Degerando and i^aud, even sometimes their phraseology, in dividing into five epochs rrncipal revolutions of the Philosophy of the Human Mind The first comprehends from the origin of Philosophy to S;crates,-the second continues from Socrates ^ the translation of the Grecian Philosophy into E^npt and Rome. The third period extends from the school of Alexandria to le M of the Western Empire,-the fourth from the M of the' Western Empire to the revival of Letters,--and the fifth, from die revival of Letters to the end of the eighteenth ''^ThT Sages of the remotest antiquity, known under the name of Patriarchs, may be considered as the first Philoso- tihers The conception of the fundamental ideas upon which L ancient religions of the East were esublished, belongs to those preceptors of mankind. On the banks of the Nile as well as on those of the Ganges, men favoured by die mspi- rations of Philosophy, struck with the wonders which sur- rounded them, worshipped the sublime power presidmg over the universe. However the people were not yet sufficiently enlightened to adore God : they continued to represent under sensible signs, the moving force of the universe, and they did not distinguish it from matter. They considered them bo h, on die contrary, as united, and forming one indivisible whole, that they represented under the form of an egg, and^ of which die Egyptians made dieir Great Pan, the Indians their Vichnou, the Chinese dieir Fo, the Phenicians their Hercules, the Persians their Ororaazes, the Greeks diei r Jupiter, to. ■ .Vide Herodotus, Diodorae, Plato, Porphynus. Sextus, Empedocl«. P,„i. Mu»h,W„burton,Wolf. Herbelot, Freret, Creuzer, D»p»is, "tl'Zy SS:2 1 T»vels of M. Cha^poUion wiU throw U,ht ou this subj«!t in decyphering the Egyptian hieroglyphicks. DISCOURSfi. Reason, says Degerando, in contemplating nature for the first time, considered the world as having two general forms — the one personifying the general laws, — the other giving in- telligence to sensible phenomena: The one presided over the formation of cosmogonies, — the other over the systerai of emanations, — but the pantheism, or worshipping of nature, preceded the abstract doctrine of universal spiritualism. — Whilst men were deifying the stars or the elements, and pros- trating themselves before impostors or heroes whom they had raised to the rank of deities, those who possessed social supremacy perceived that the preservation of their influence could be maintained only by intellectual superiority. They studied secretly the sciences and arts, and did not communi- cate them but to initiates. Thus through all the fables of Osiris and Isis, Vichnou and Bramah, the priests of Egypt, and the gymnosophists of the Indies continued to teach to their neophites theology and ethicks unknown to the lower casts. All the ingenious follies invented by the imagination of the poets, the sublime creations of Homer, the Theogony of Hesiod, the Cosmogony of Sanchoniaton, that of the Chal- deans and Persians, the fables of Hermes and Orpheus were believed by the ignorant crowd, but they did not deceive men who enjoyed the privilege of reason and science. The social organization was such that the powers of Heaven and Earth were skilfully combined. Theocracy, aristocracy and despotism were united in prescribing to the people a blind submission, — forbidding examination as sacrilegious, and con- demning innovation as a crime of state. The sources of in- struction and truth were open only to a few privileged classes in order to prevent the development of human faculties. But happily for mankind, at intervals, appeared great and generous men who sacrificed the interests of casts for the good of nations, and spread over tlie universal family the DISCOURSE. K»„pficent light of Philosophy: such was Zoroaster among t pSL The system of the two principles, born from h pe eTutl conflict'of good and evil, is the bas.s o the heogZ of this people and of many other eastern nafons^ Ormuzd and Arimanes, found under different names, m most Sions. -re the two rival powers which gave laws to the '"»r laid aside the initiations, and more ambitious ^ contribute to the happiness of --^X the purj^i^ ^ their beUef, than to enrich the sacerdotal body by the fruits If his ten ius, he rendered his teaching as solemn as his die w s ublime. Nevertheless the monotheism that he Sisled over the annihilated power of the two pnnc.ples ;^ UU but a re-production of the Pantheism or pnm.uve TSv The Iving and intelligent spint —n^^^^^ HUnLne every part of the universe, appeared to the Persian rrefSbutes of a single divinity. There was b. one step more to imagine that the human soul is in direct L constant communication with the --r-l spirU The Lrcise of contemplation became the first logic : truth was r rence of God himself.-reason an i"— ---^^ was the origin of the system of emanauons adopted by ^e Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians and Indians. Py*«S°^2 S Ws travels, borrowed these dogmas and spread diem Arough Greece. That country possessed also her myste riesld gradual initiations. But as to the doctrmes, they ietto' agriculture, according to Plucbe; to astronomy according to Dupuis; to pure theology, accordmg to War Zon they announced rewards and future punishments, arrding S^Isocrates and Cicero-admitted the intemnuon of S lording to Plutarch, and formed but a kind of Pa!* i m Td of 'universal spiritualism, if we are wiUing to Se Apulei- and Plotinus in his CommenUries. 8 DISCOURSE. Whatever may be the truth among numerous explana- tions, the doctrine of the mystagogues lost insensibly its in- fluence in Greece. A liberal legislation extended the field of |)hilosophical knowledge : moral ideas were improved, because the wise authors of a happy revolution were the rulers of their country. Then ' shone Zaleucus and Cha- rondas, who contributed so potently to the prosperity of their felbw-citizens, by the wisdom of their laws. Then flourished those Gnomicks or Sages of Greece, who limited their les- sons to civil life, and who deserved, before Socrates, to be praised for having caused Philosophy to descend from Hea- ven, to invest her with the direction of mankind. Such were Pittacus of Mytelene, and Bias of Priene, who recommended to their disciples the love of truth and frugality ; Periander, tyrant of Corinth, whose precepts, however, were better than his examples — Cleobulus, who limited morality to avoid in- justice or vice. Chilo, who said he knew three difficult things — -To keep a secret, to endure injuries, and to make a good use of time. Thales and Solon complete with eclat the list of tbe sevea ttnse men — Solon exhibited his moral and political principles in his immortal laws, which place him among the greatest legislators of any age. Thales created Philosophy as a spe- culative science, and founded the School of Ionia. Water appeared to him the primitive element from which every thing b derived. His observations were ahnost confined to external phenomena. Anaximander, friend to Thales, adopted his doc- trines — ^wrote a book on JVature, in which he supports his metaphysical speculations: he is the author of the lonick axiom: J^othing comes fromnotking. Anaximenes inherited the scientific knowledge gathered! by these two philosophers: be attributed life, motion and. thought to air. : Poyer'ty,j ac- cording to him, is the teacher of wisdom, for it is the parent DISCO0BSE. 9 of industry. Hermotimus, advancing in the path traced by his predecessors, studied Psycology, and Anaxagoras, sur- named veoC, introduced deism into the Ionian Ph.bsophy. His theological discoveries alarmed *e pnests and fanauc worshippers of Polytheim, and provoked th^r wrath. To the shame of the Athenians, they suffered to be proscnbed, as an atheist, the first philosopher who taught them to make a distinction between the intellect and matter, and to ac- knowledge a supernatural cause to the Universe D.ogenes of Apollonia admitted, as all the philosophers of h.s school, a primordial element; he pretended that it contamed orw ginally the germs of modifications which it presents m .« fnfinite transmutations, and in its pbenomemc FoJ~ tf Archilaas, the last of the Ionian philosophers, applied himself to the study of morality; and in searching the foundaUon of natural rights, he discovered the erroneous system that Hobbes has since developed in his Elementa PhUosophrca de C.re- Leviathan, sive de Republka. According ^.^'^ --!;' f Socrates, the difference between justice and injustice is not founded on nature, but on positive laws. The doctrines of Pythagoras, founder of the Italick School, were surrounded with glory during his life, and exercised a great influence in after centuries. He spent the years of hu, youth in study, and travelled to Egypt and Chaldea, m order to be initiated in the mysterious knowledge of the sacerdot^ casts. When he came back to Samos, his naUve country, he found it oppressed by the tyranny of Polycrates. He fled from an enslaved land to Grotona, where he could exh.bt with independence his bold and philosophical speculations. His Institution excited universal admiration. The gemus of Pythagoras, probably influenced by the eastern error of mys- ticism: limited to few adepts the propagation o science During many ages, says Cabanis, he produced legisla^rs for ancient Italy, geometers and astronomers for all Greece, 2 10 DISCOURSE. DISCOURSE. 11 III and wise men for all the world. He made use of science as a means of social amelioration — as a salutary light to con- duct men to virtue and happiness. Saint Justin, after Virgil and Ovid, describes with great precision the pantheism of those philosophers : " God is not out of the world, says he, but in the world itself, and entirely in the whole Universe." The Pythagorian Psychology consecrated only, under the name of Metempsychosis, the doctrine of a universal soul, animating successively all beings in the perpetual transforma- tions of material substances. One of the fundamental maxims of that school was, that " the love of truth and zeal to do good, are the most precious gifts that God has granted to man." Pythagoras was the first who modestly refused the title of wise, and took that of lover of wisdom. The disciples of this great man almost confined themselvas to the adage of his Insti- tution, Magisier dixit. Among them were Empedocles, who considered the four elements as the first principle ; Ocellus of Lucania; Timajus of Locria, who distinguished two causes — the intellect which combines, and the necessity which re- sults from the qualities of bodies; Cephantes of Syracuse, who is supposed the first who considered monades as corpo- real; Architas of Tarentum, who was the master of Plato, associated Morality with Theology ; Philolaus, who denied the existence of a single principle; and Eudoxes, who professed the principles that Epicurus taught afterwards. The doctrines of Pythagoras gave birth to the Eleian School, which was divided in two branches, the one headed by Xenophanes of Colophon, who extended to absolute existence the power of reason, and made new progress towards idealism. " God is one, said he, and there can be but one God :" and he repre- sented him under a spherical form. However, he ended by doubting of his own afiirmations. « No man, said he, knows any thing certain on what he says of the universal whole." The doctrines of Xenophanes were successively developed or defended by Parmenides, Melissus and Zeno. Parmemdes gave the first systematic theory on human knowledge. He denied in an absolute manner the evidences of our senses- maintained that appearances had no reality, and that thought was the only real being. He is considered as the father of ancient idealism. Zeno of Elea applied himself less to es- tablish the correctness of the dogmas of his school, than to demonstrate the insufficiency of the experimental method and the uncertainty of its results. This discussion gave rise to loeic. Zeno divided it into three branches : the art of de- ducing consequences or argumentation, the dialogumg art or dialectick, and the art of discussing. Whilst the disciples of Thales were exploring nature as natural philosophers, those of Pythagoras as geon.etnc.ans, and the Eleatics as metaphysicians, a philosopher, Herachtus of Ephesus, was creating a system differing equally from co-eval doctrines. He admitted that every thing m nature is regulated by constant laws-that phenomena which appear discordant, concur to universal harmony. Truth belongs to intellectual order, in which reason alone is omnipotent. Hippocrates, though placed by some writers among his followers, has consecrated the utility of experience m saying that we must deduce rules from practice, not from a series of previous reasonings, however probable they may be, but rom experience directed by reason. His first aphorism contains the following words, which deserve to be engraved m the mind of every man-Fita brevis, ars longa, occcio prceceps, experientia fallax, judicium difficUe. Leucippus, chief of the other branch of the Eleaticks, maintained that form, motion and space were the primmve conditions of the existence of things. He founded on this discovery the system of atoms, or bodies exclusive y com- posed of elementary qualities : he supposed that mouon was inherent to every atom, and identified life, thought and motion. 13 DISCOURSE. Democritus, adopting the Cosmology of Leucippus, di- reicted his zeal and his philosophical attention to Ideology. He perceived in this science the doctrine which was after- wards developed among the ancients by Aristotle, and, with important modifications, among the moderns, by Gassendi, Locke, Helvetius, Condillac, M. Destutt de Tracy, &c. The Chinese Philosophy deserves to draw a moment our attention. A generous reformer, Confucius, descended from an illustrious family, a mandarin, and elevated to the dignity of a minister of State, quitted willingly the eclat of human grandeur, to devote himself to Moral Philosophy, and became the preceptor of his fellow-men. In a short time, many thou- sand disciples ran to listen to his lessons, and spread afterwards his principles over the vast extent of the Chinese Empire. The philosopher, according to this great man, is he who has a profound knowledge of things and books, who weighs every thing, submits himself to reason, and walks with as- surance in the path of truth and justice. Confucius composed the Chou-King, the finest and the most revered book of morality of all those which have ap- peared in China, translated into French by the P. Gaubil, a Jesuit, and the Ta-Hio, (the great science), explained the Koua (art of writing) of Fou-hi, founder of the Chinese mo- narchy. TseU'Sse, whose real name was Youan-hian, was grand-son of Confucius, and imitated nobly the virtues of his grand-father. His first title to glory is the work entitled Tchoung- Young, in which is a description of the middle, a kind of moral state, which he considers as the source of inspirations from Heaven — as the voice of reason, and as conducting to the practice of virtue. Meng-tseUf sumamed during his life Meng-Kho, next to Confucius, is considered the greatest Chinese philosopher. He has written the cele- brated work called Meng-tseu. The sacred books of that nation have been translated into French by the abb6 Pluquet, DISCOURSE. 13 under the title of Uvres dassiques de VEmp^re de la CUne M Abel Remusat, well known in the scienufic world, .s to Iblish every thing concerning Chinese Philosophy. ' To t^^^^^^^^^^ succeeded in Greece a kind of scepti- cism The Sophists, abusing the prerogatives of reason, d^redited her noble attributes in the eyes of men or began contest her rights. Among the most distmgmshed m^^^ known under the name of Sophists, were Protagoras, Gorgias o Leontium, Prodicus, Hippias of Elis and Crmas. Socrates appeared in the midst of the contending sects and of their contradictory opinions : he gave to the Grecian Phi- losophy a new character : he directed her to the study of man himself: he taught his pupils to interrogate their own con- since-considered as indispensable to the happmess of man- k d, the belief of a Supreme Being, as weU as the hope of a u ture life, and founded on moral considerations the double exigence of divine justice and of the soul's immortahty Sns became the centre of philosophical discussions, and fn her narrow circumference, were agitated all the questions which have exercised the meditations of the most powerful Telses From Socrates sprung soon five schools, which viz. the Platonian School, the Peripatetick, that of Epi- curus, the Stoician and the Sceptical. In fact, whoever has obser;ed with attention the nature and faculties of the human mind, will acknowledge that there is in Philosophy but five possible opinions essentially difi-erent, between which we are obliged to choose. For either we must deny that observa- tion can perceive, and that the mind can conceive but vam appearances without realities, and that is Sceptxmm^Ox we must admit a reality, but only in external objects, and take the physical World for the whole Universe, and this is the opinion of Epicurus; or absorbed in the contemplauon of consciousnes*-of human personality, the mmd penetrates so 14 DISCOURSE. deeply into itself, that it cannot re-enter the external world, and denies or disdains every thing else, and this is the Stoician doctrine— Or as did Aristotle, we raust comprehend at once the double existence of the human mind and of external na- ture, in acknowledging the laws of both— Or in fine, as Plato, not satisfied to embrace the Universe and all its parts, we must rise to something superior— to this concealed unity, so diflicult to seize — ^to this eternal cause — universal substance which contains and animates what we call the spiritual and material world. After Socrates had been condemned to drink hemlock, some of his disciples preserved religiously his doctrine : such were Xenophon, Eschines and Crito. The others divided themselves into four principal sects — the Cynick— the Cy- renaick— the Eretriack and Megarick. The splendid eloquence of Plato, founder of the Academy, shines yet, after more than two thousand years, and his ge- nius, displayed in his immortal writings, preserves still its brilliancy. Among a crowd of disciples, Aristotle distin- guished himself by his calmness in the midst of a universal enthusiam excited by the gorgeous inspirations of Plato ; and when this philosopher designated Xenocrates for his sue- cessor, the rivalry of Aristotle became evident : he boldly professed the Philosophy of the Lyceum, in opposition to that of the Academy. Aristotle was less shining than Plato, but his arguments were irresistible. He possessed prodigious knowledge, activity of genius, and a superior understanding. "It is experience alone," says he, « which furnishes the prin- ciples of every science. We obtain all knowledge either by induction or by demonstration." The development of his political and metaphysical opinions, are to be found in his treatises of Politicks, Logick and Morals. Such were the doctrines which filled up the second epoch of Grecian Philosophy. DISCOURSE. 15 It is well known, that the celebrated Athenian Embassy, composed of Carneades, Diogenes, the Stoick, and Crito- laus was sent back by the orders of Cato the Censor, and proud Rome denied hospitality to Philosophy. I must, how- ever, mention the efforts made afterwards by some great men, to transplant to that city the philosophical studies of the Aca- demy, which were revived by the exertions of LucuUus, Varro and Cicero. The Lyceum was supported by Cratippus and Andronicus. Lucretius, in his poem De Kaiura Rerun, de- scribes in beautiful lines the doctrines of Epicurus. Some celebrated Romans adopted the Stoicism, introduced by Panetius. Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius applied themselves to Moral Philosophy. But it was in Egypt that the seat of a new sect, under the name of Eclectism, was established in the city of Alexandria, central to Asia, Africa and Europe as a common country open to all languages, religions and doctrines— to all celebrated men from every part of the globe. This school undertook to conciliate the dogmas of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle and Zeno. Among those who distinguished themselves, are Po- tamon, Ammonius, Saccas, Plotinus, Porphyrus, Amelius, lamblicus and Proclus. At the same time, some other philosophers reviewed and criticised the numerous existing systems, ^nesidemus and Sextus-Empiricus re-produced scepticism, and gave to it a new form and energy. One can distinguish, says Sextus, three kinds of criterium, that is to say of instruments, to distinguish truth from falsehood : the first belongs to man,— the second to the intellect,— the third to the action by which the mind is applied to objects : this is what is called crUerium it quOi per quod, secundum quod. Several of the fathers of the Christian Church, initiated in the doctrines of Alexandria, mixed them sometimes with their religious dogmas: Saint Justin, Theophilus, Synesius, 16 DISCOURSE. DISCOURSE. 17 ff' t .1 Eusebius, Athenagoras, saint Clement, the celebrated Origen, and saint Augustin, bishop of Hippona, were favorable to phi- losophical studies, and above all, to the opinions of Plato ; but Tertullian, Hermias, Lactance, excluded Philosophy from Theology. Soon afterwards began a period of darkness and barbarism. The genius of Freedom and Philosophy was long eclipsed. Three nations preserved some remains of the ancient edifice of sciences : the Arabians, during the time of their power ; the Grecian Empire, during its gradual decline, and the La- tins of the West. The first commented on the writings of Aristotle, and adopted his opinions ; the second inherited the syncretism of Alexandria, and added to it frivolous subtilties, and the third knew very little more than some works of Boe- tius and Cassiodorus. Beda, Alcuinus, Rhabanus Maurus, John Scot Erigena, are almost the only names which de- serve to be noticed during three hundred years. In the eleventh century, the Scholastick Philosophy began, in the West, to take a distinct character and the first degree of development : its rudiments were borrowed from the Ara- bian School. In a strange and unhappy attempt, Raimond LuUe found, however, a sect. The famous controversy of the Realists and of the JSTominals, divided the opinions. A small number of men took rank among philosophers, in thinking with independence : such were Thomas of Aquinus, Roger Bacon, Richard Suisset, William Occam. Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, some indefati- gable literati comment on the doctrines of antiquity and cause them to revive: the fugitive Greeks from Constantinople spread, and gave an impulse to their researches. At the same time appeared 3ome bold and original thinkers. Jordan Bruno, Laurent Valla, Jerome Cordan, Campanella endeavoured to enlarge the field of philosophical investigations. Lewis Vives, Erasmus, Ramus, employed their talents to change and im- prove methods. Montaigne afid Charron directed Philosophy to the study of man. Most of the great men of that epoch were the victims of odious persecutions. The illustrious Galileo, whose immortal discoveries opened the career to Viviani, Toricelli, Newton, exhibits many examples of the shameful intolerance of these times. This philosopher having adopted the system of Co- pernicus, and publicly said that the earth is turning and the sun motionless, the court of Rome believed that the bases of religion were shaken by these assertions, and considered them as contrary to the Holy Scriptures. These bigoted theologians prosecuted Galileo ; they arraigned him before the tribunal of the Inquisition of Rome, in 1633, where he was compelled to abjure, on his knees, his hand on the Gospel, his supposed error and heresies. Thus, as M. J. F. Casimir Delavigne beautifully says, he expiated " L'inexcusable tort d'avoir trop tot raison." He was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. It is said that at the very moment of his abjuration, he could not pre- vent himself from exclaiming, in striking the earth with his foot : " E pur si muove." Bacon perceived that the very foundation of science ought to be reformed : he embraced the whole system of human knowledge, and displays his wonderful genius in bis Instau^^ ratio Magna, divided into four parts-cle Digmtate et aug- mentis Scientiammr-^-Kovum Organum, &c. Descartes was also one of those superior minds mtended to perform a revolution in sciences : he was the first who made the application of Algebra to Geometry, and signalized him- self in almost every department ; his doctrines inspired great enthusiasm. His system of Whirlwinds has lost its reputa- tion, but his Metaphysical Meditations, his Principles of Phi- losophy, his Discourse on Method, contain many profound and judicious thoughts. 3 18 DISCOURSE. Locke gave the example of a new order of researches, in tracing the history of the human understanding. Leibnitz wrote on almost all the branches of knowledge ; attempted to reform Descartes — attacked the reasonings of Locke against innate ideas, and admitted the pre-established harmony, Gas- sendi revived the doctrine of Epicurus, and adopted the ce- lebrated axiom, Mhil est in intellectu, quod non fuerit prius in sensu. Philosophy, according to him, is the love, study and practice of wisdom: and wisdom consists in judging soundly of things, in acting with equity in social intercourse, so as to have a tendency to truth and virtue. Spinosa re- newed, with skilfulness, the opinions of Xenophanes. Bayle was one of those great men who have illustrated the repub- lick of Letters. The eighteenth century produced four schools : the ideal- ism founded by Berkley. Hume opened a new career to Scepticism. The Scotish School, composed of Reid, Beattie, Brown, Dugald Stewart, &c. attempted to fill up the defi- ciences in the theory of Locke, and sought, in the nature of the human mind, the laws which ought to regulate our mental faculties. Kant examined what human reason can compre- hend, and produced Criticism, Condillac, one of the greatest philosophers, published a beautiful theory, as Ch^nier judiciously says, in which, sup- posing an animated statue, he isolates in it every one of our senses— combines them two by two, three by three, then all together, and describing the sensations produced by each iso- lated sense, he proceeds to show those which result from the senses diversely combined, and finally, by the senses united. Thus he gives, with clearness and precision, the natural his- tory of our ideas. The limits of my Discourse prevents me from speaking of ll: ^ Kliutioii^ of Bonnet, Helvetius, Condorcet, Maine de Biran, Jacobi, Fichte, Schelling, &tc. and of those of MM. DISCOURSE. 19 Garat, Degerando, Royer CoUard, V. Cousin, Azais, Laro- miguiere, baron Massias, J. Droz, Gioja, Stc; but before I finish my enumeration, I must mention the works of M. Destutt de Tracy, as one of the noblest monuments of ra- tional Philosophy, After having reviewed very imperfectly some opinions of ancient and modern philosophers, — and perhaps exhausted the patience of my auditors, I shall conclude by briefly stating the important bearings of these studies on our moral and in- tellectual improvement. It has often been objected against Metaphysicks, that this science is obscure, too speculative, and of no great utility. But upon what ground are such reproaches founded ? Ought we to be deceived by fallacious argumentations against the most rational of all sciences ? Because some men take the abuses of Philosophy for Philosophy itself, ought we to neg- lect that study which teaches us correct reasoning, and how to direct properly the powers of our mind ? Because some scribblers plead the cause of tyranny, and falsify truth, must we desire that patriots cease to promote the progress of civili- zation, leave their genius dormant, and no longer enlighten the world by their writings ? No, no, God forbid ! The study of Mental Philosophy, as well as every other science, is limited to the circle of human experience. Every time that we abandon experience, observation and meditation for theories ct priori, we are deserting that path, which alone is sure and beneficial. We are not to decide if it is better or not, we are acknowledging an axiom. It is allowed by every body, I believe, that the mind is the most important part of ourselves. If its importance is such, whence then proceeds the opinion, that the study of this wonderful phe- nomenon is almost deemed useless? Will it be said that our intellectual faculties are not susceptible of improvement? —But are they profound reasoners, who believe mental 30 DISCOURSE. improvement impossible ? Have they penetrated deeply into the recesses of the human heart, and analysed the intellectual faculties ? Are their investigations correct and their deci* sions sanctioned by experience ? No, no, far from it. Is there any more possibility to give limits to human per- fectibility, than to sciences and arts ? No, certainly. So thought Bacon, in writing his immortal Insiauratio Magna. So believed Locke, in his admirable Essay coriceming Hu- man Understanding ; and such are the enlightened opinions of Turgot, Condorcet, Saint Simon, MM. Destutt de Tracy, Degerando, Jeremy Bentham, &c. I easily conceive that tyrants and prejudiced men dislike, and have been persecuting philosophers. They deserve their hatred,— because they are raising and lighting up tiie Temple of intellectual and civil Freedom, and teaching nations how to break tiieir chains, in vindicating the dignity of our nature — But let ignorant or servile declairaers vociferate against them — Homer had his Zoilus— Achilles his Thersites. Happier days will come. Men will be judged according to their real merit, and the dazzling trophies of an Alexander or a Caesar, will grow pale before the glories of the benefac- tors of mankind. I do not hesitate to assert that Ideology and Logick are the light of every rational knowledge — that they constitute the solidity of all sciences and arts. But they are chiefly im- portant in Education, Legislation, Eloquence and Morality. As soon as children receive impressions, their education be- gins. From that very moment, we should be careful to im- press on their infant minds every correct notion that they are able to comprehend. For Education, as justiy observes Ber- nardin de Saint-Pierre, ought to be la science de la vie. I do not admit the opinion of Helvetius, who says that every man is born with equal capacity — ^but I think that ahnost every human being, properly managed and educated, is ca- BISCOURSE. 21 pable of acquiring a sound judgment. Prejudices and ill- directed studies, instead of developing, pervertiihe precious gifts bestowed upon us by the goodness of our Creator. The admirable application that MM. Destutt de Tracy, Benjamin Constant, Ch. Lecomte, Dunoyer, J. Rey, Jeremy Bentham, and many others, have made of Philosophy to Le- gislation, may be appreciated by their immortal works. What is oratory without sound reasoning ? What can be the influence of a man, however witty or eloquent he may be, as a legislator, a lawyer, or even in ordinary pursuits, if he has no judgment ? But above all, it is the application of Philosophy to Morality, which is of momentous importance. How are we to judge if an action is virtuous or not, and in what does virtue consist? " One man," says Bentham, " will tell you that he has within him, something which was given to him to teach him to know what is good and what is evil ; and that something he calls either conscience or a moral sense : afterwards, work- ing at his ease, he decides that such a thing is good, or that such a thing is bad— ^Why ? Because the moral sense says so to me ; or because my conscience approves or disapproves. " Another appears and changes the phrase : it is no longer the moral sense, it is common sense which teaches him what is good and what is evil : this common sense, says he, is a sense which belongs to the whole human family : taking care not to include in his estimate any of those who do not think as he does. " Another assures you that moral sense and common sense are dreams ; and that it is the understanding which deter- mines what is good and what is bad. His understanding dic- tates to him so and so : all wise and good men have under- standings like his. As for those who do not think as he does, so much the worse for them ; it is a proof that their under- standing is defective and corrupted. i^ DISCOURSE. " Another will inform you that there is one eternal and vn- changeable wule of right ; that that rule orders so and so : after which, he retails to you his individual opinions, which you are hound to receive as so many branches of the eternal rule of right. " There are moreover a multitude of professors, of jurists, of magistrates, of philosophers who make your ears ring with the Law of Nature : they dispute together, it is very true, upon every article of their own system ; but no matter ; each one proceeds with the same intrepidity and confidence, and favours you with his opinions as so many chapters of the Law ofJSTature. Sometimes the phrase is modified ; it is sometimes called natural right, natural equity, the rights of man, &c. " All these systems and many others are at the bottom, nothing but the arbitrary principle, the principles of sympathy and antipathy, concealed under different forms of speech. We would establish our own opinions without regard to the opinions of others ; these pretended principles are the excuse and aliment of despots, at least of a despotic temper, which would betray itself in practice, if it could with safety. The result is, that with the purest intentions, a man becomes the torment of himself, and the scourge of his kind. If he is of a melancholy character, he sinks into a state of gloomy silence, bitterly deploring the folly and the depravity of man. If he is of an irritable nature, he declaims furiously against all who do not think as he does : he is one of those fervid persecu- tors who do their mischief with an air of sanctity; who blow the fires of fanaticism, with an activity which would seem to proceed only from a sense of duty ; and who overwhelm with reproaches for their perversity and bad faith, aU those who do not blindly adopt their consecrated opinions." " To the partizan of utility, the principle of virtue," con- tinues Bentham, " is good, only because of the pleasures which are derived from it; and vice is evil, only because of its • DISCOURSE. 23 tendency to produce pain. Moral good is a good only because of its tendency to produce physical good ; moraf evil is bad only because of its tendency to produce physical evil. The only sure guide for doing well, under all circumstances, is a consideration of the principle of utility."* «* Dr. Dwight argues also, says Mr. G. Payne, that virtue must have its foundation in utility, because there is no ulti- mate good but happiness. Virtue is the means of happiness, and like all other species of means, is only valuable on ac- count of the end to which it leads. " If virtue," says he, " brought with it no enjoyment to us, and produced no hap- piness to others, it would be wholly destitute of all the impor- tance, beauty and glory, with which it is now invested. Vir- tue, therefore, must have its foundation in utility." My intention is not, at present, to review the principles of Mandeville, Hume, Richard Price, Clarke, Adam Smith, Hutcheson, Paley, Beattie, Brown, &c. concerning morality; nor to give my own opinions on the source of ethicks, for such a discussion would carry us too far. We need not be afraid of kindling vanity in a superior mind by the sublime studies of Philosophy ; for the more we ascend the Mountain of Knowledge, the more the horizon increases, and the more we become convinced that, however extensive our attainments may be, we are far from embracing the im- mense circle of human investigations. Mirabeau judiciously admired the two splendid following lines, composed by Lemierre, on this subject : " Croire tout decouvert est une erreur profonde, C'est prendre Thorison pour les homes du monde." * These ohservations are taken from Mr. J. Neal's translation. This dio- tinguished writer has promised that he would translate some other works of the celebrated Bentham, published in French by E. Dumont. H (,' 84 DISCOURSE. Though some men think that women ought not to receive a solid and brilliant education, as for me, I do not see any reason why the loveliest part of creation should be deprived of mental accomplishments or excluded from the samituary of knowledge. Is not moral and intellectual beauty more' use- ful and more lasting than physical? Is it frail and evanescent beauty which ought -to attract our admiration, and make us exclaim in the words of Otway : << Oh woman ! loyely woman ! nature made thee To temper mark — ' ' ^ Angels are painted fairi to look like you : There's in you all that we believe of heaven ; Amazing brightness, purity and truth. Eternal joy, and everlasting love." Certainly the studies of Logick and Moral Philosophy are kK) less useful to women tlian to men. " To beauty and pros- perity there is an end, as well as beginning. All earthly things rise to fall, and grow up to wither with age, but the mind is eternal, incorruptible, the head of the human family, directing and governing all things, itself independent." Let us be convinced that correct reasoning is the source of correct acting, and that intellectual slavery is not less fatal to our happiness than political bondage. I will end by wishing that the study of Mental Philosophy may kindle in the hearts of my fellow-beings the love of justice and benevolence, and promote those generous feelings of social harmony which are the true elements of human happiness I 111 .* ) l»