History of Western Philosophy

4 the Modern Period

4.1 BACKGROUND

The modern period has been characterized by an awakening of reflection, a revolt against authority and tradition, a dual concern with empiricism and rationalism where, by rational we mean the use of reason over revelation for in the other predominant use of rationalism all modern systems are rational in their ideal. The other use of rationalism is the view that genuine knowledge consists of universal and necessary judgments considered by most modern thinkers as ideal whether realized, realizable or not.

A further concern in the modern era is the origin of knowledge and this concern has received considerable impetus from the modern biology starting around the intellectual trends characterized by the publications c. 1855 by Alfred Russell Wallace and of Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859.

The approach here will be to briefly consider selected seminal and typical modern philosophers.

4.1.1 The Renaissance

The Renaissance has been characterized as a period of revolt against authority, a new humanism, a serious start to study of Plato and Aristotle, the pantheism of Nicolas of Cusa [1401 1464], reform of science, philosophy and logic, social and political philosophy of Campanella and Machiavelli 1469 1527 the Renaissance is commonly used as a label for the multifaceted period between medieval universalism, and sweeping transformations of 17th century Europe.

This sets the Spirit of modern philosophy "as an awakening of the reflective spirit, a quickening of criticism, a revolt against authority and tradition, a protest against absolutism and collectivism, and a demand for freedom in thought, feeling and action".

4.2 The Beginning Of Modern Philosophy 1550-1670

4.2.1 Francis Bacon [1561-1626]

The Reform of Science: Bacon is, in many ways, typical of the modern spirit: He is opposed to ancient authoritieshe understood and emphasized the importance of systematic and methodical observation and experimentation in natural science; [the other and most important phase, mathematics, he mentions and considers essential]

4.2.1.1 Inductive methods

a "novum organum": the old syllogism [syllogistic logic is useless for scientific discovery]the only hope in knowing nature is genuine induction: we must ascend gradually in an orderly and methodical way from experience to propositions of higher and higher generality until we finally come to the most general and best defines axioms.

4.2.1.2 Programs of philosophy

Primary philosophy busies itself with the concepts and axioms common to several sciences, with what we now call basic scientific categories and presuppositions of science.

4.2.1.3 Philosophy of man

Man is a human and political [or civil] philosophy. Human philosophy studies body and soul and their relationin envisioning a comprehensive science of man, Bacon founded scientific humanismthe faculties of the soul [psychology] were understanding, reason, imagination, memory, appetite, will, and all those with which logic and ethics are concerned: logic treats of the understanding and reason; and ethics of the will, appetite and affections: the one produces resolutions, the other actions; ethics describes the nature of the good and prescribes rules for conforming to it [right, perhaps]Man is prompted by selfish and by social impulses.

The social good is called duty, and it is the business of the science of government to discover the fountains of justice and public good and to reinforce their claims even when they conflict with the interests of the individualphilosophy in the broad sense is at the apex of knowledge

4.2.1.4 Bacon as an empiricist

[Although his empiricism is not fully worked out, he can be called an empiricist.] Teleology is banished from physics and becomes a part of metaphysics

4.2.2 Thomas Hobbes [1588-1679]

"One of the boldest and most typical representations of the modern spirit."

4.2.2.1 Theory of knowledge

Philosophy, according to Hobbes, is a knowledge of effects [sense perception] from their causes [principles] and of causes from their effectsHobbes is a nominalist, regards logic as a kind of calculationThe problem, therefore, is to find a first principle -a starting point for our reasoning: this is motion: everything can be explained by motion: the nature of man, the mental world, the physical world.

The origin of all our thoughts are from the sensesbut the picture of the world obtained through the senses is not the real worldso how do we know the nature of the world [e.g., motion is the primary principle]? Hobbes is not troubled by the question.

4.2.2.2 Metaphysics

A real world of bodies in space existssubstance and body are identical

4.2.2.3 Psychology

Mind is motion in the brainHobbes subscribes to what modern writers call epiphenomenalism: consciousness is an after appearancethere is also a motive power: pleasure and pain arouse appetite [or desire] and aversion: appetite is an endeavor toward something, aversion is an endeavor away from something.

That which pleases a man he calls good, what displeases him he calls evil.

The imagination is the first beginning of all voluntary motion. Will in man is not different from will in other animals. A man is free to act but not free to will as he wills, he cannot will to will.

4.2.2.4 Politics

Man is a ferocious anima [Homo homini lupus]competition for riches, honor and power inclines man to contention, enmity, war because only in this way can one competitor fulfill his desire to kill, subdue, supplant or repel his rivals.

[But] reason dictates that there should be a state of peace and that every man should seek after peace. The first precept of reason, or law of nature, commands self-preservation: the second, that man lay down his natural right and be content with as much liberty for himself as he is prepared to allow others in the interests of peace and securityno man can be expected to transfer certain rights such as the right to self-dense [since he transfers his rights for the very purpose of securing defense]The third law of nature is that men keep the covenants they have made: this is the fountain and origin of justicethese laws are immutable, eternalthey are [called] natural because they are the dictates of reason; they are moral because they concern men's manners towards one another: they are also, according to Hobbes, divine.

The only way to erect a commonwealth and insure peace is to confer the total power and strength of men upon one man or assembly of men, whereby all their wills, by a majority vote, coalesce into one will.

4.2.3 Blaise Pascal [1632-1662]

Mathematician, Jansenist, anti-Jesuit

Man has certain immediate insights space, time, movement, number, and truth. Sense and reason deceive each other; then feeling functions, bringing satisfaction. Religious feeling, in which alone there is peace, is independent of understanding. Belief in God is a wager on which one can lose nothing