A History of Philosophy 9.pdf

A HISTORY

PHILOSOPHY

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

A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY by Frederick Copleston, S.J.

AN IMAGE BOOK

PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY

a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036

VOLUME I: GREECE AND ROME

From the Pre-Socratics to Plotinus

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 IV: MODERN PHILOSOPHY

From Descartes to Leibniz

VOLUME V: MODERN PHILOSOPHY

The British Philosophers from Hobbes to Hume

VOLUME VI: MODERN PHILOSOPHY

From the French Enlightenment to Kant

VOLUME VII: MODERN PHILOSOPHY

From the Post-Kantian Idealists to Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche

VOLUME VIII: MODERN PHILOSOPHY

EmpiriCism, Idealism, and Pragmatism in Britain and America

VOLUME IX: MODERN PHILOSOPHY

From the French Revolution to Sartre, Camus, and Levi-Strauss

IMAGE, DOUBLEDAY, and the portrayal of a deer drinking from a stream are

trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell

Publishing Group, Inc.

First Image Books edition of Volume IX of A History ofPhilosophy published

1977 by special arrangement with The Newman Press and Burns & Oates, Ltd.

This Image edition published March 1994.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Copleston, Frederick Charles.

A history of philosophy.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Contents: v. 1. Greece and Rome-[etc.]-

v. 7. From the post-Kantian idealists to Marx,

Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche-v. 8. Empiricism, idealism,

and pragmatism in Britain and America-v. 9. From the

French Revolution to Sartre, Camus, and Levi-Strauss.

1. Philosophy-History. I. Title.

B72.C62 1993

190

92-34997

ISBN 0-385-47046-0

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

CONTENTS

VIII. THE SPIRITUALIST MOVEMENT

The term 'spiritualism'-The philosophy of Ravaisson-

J. Lachelier and the bases of induction-Boutroux and contin-

gency-A. Fouillee on idees-f01'ces-M. J. Guyau and the

philosophy of life.

ISS

CONTENTS

Page

Chapter

IX. HENRI BERGSON (I)

178

VII

PREFACE.

Life and works-Bergson's idea of philosophy-Time and

freedom-Memory and perception: the relation between spirit

and matter-Instinct, intelligence and intuition in the context

of the theory of evolution.

PART I

FROM THE REVOLUTION TO AUGUSTE COMTE

X. HENRI BERGSON (2)

Introductory remarks-Closed morality-Open morality:

the interpretation of the two types-Static religion as a

defence against the dissolvent power of intelligence-Dynamic

religion and mysticism-Comments.

202

I. THE TRADITIONALIST REACTION TO THE

REVOLUTION

Introductory remarks-De Maistre-De Bonald-Chateau-

briand-Lamennais-Traditionalism and the Church.

II. THE IDEOLOGISTS AND MAINE DE BIRAN

The ideologists-Maine de Biran: life and writings-Philo-

sophical development-Psychology and knowledge-Levels

of human life.

PART III

FROM BERGSON TO SARTRE

XI. PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIAN ApOLOGETICS

Olle-Laprune on moral certitude-l'3londel and the way of

immanence-Laberthonniere and Christian philosophy-Some

remarks on modernism.

216

III. ECLECTICISM

The label-Royer-Collard-Cousin-Jouffroy.

IV. SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY.

General remarks-The utopianism of Fourier-Saint-Simon

and the development of society-Proudhon: anarchism and

syndicalism-Marx on the French socialists.

XII. THOMISM IN FRANCE

250

Introductory remarks: D. J. Mercier-Garrigou-Lagrange and

Sertillanges-J. Maritain-E. Gilson-P. Rousselot and

A. Forest-J. Marechal.

V. AUGUSTE COMTE

Life and writings-The three stages in human development-

The classification and methodology of the sciences-Tasks of

the philosopher in the positive era-The science of man: social

statics and social dynamics-The Great Being and the religion

of humanity.

XIII. PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE .

271

H. Poincare-Po Duhem-G. Milhaud-E. Meyerson-

A. Lalande-G. Bachelard.

XIV. PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES, METAPHYSICS,

PERSONALISM .

293

PART II

FROM AUGUSTE COMTE TO HENRI BERGSON

General remarks--R. Polin-Metaphysics of values: R. Le

Senne and the philosophy of spirit-R. Ruyer and J. Pucelle-

L. Lavelle and the philosophy of act-The personalism of

E. Mounier.

VI. POSITIVISM IN FRANCE

E. Littrc and his criticism of Comte-C. Bernard and the

experimental method-E. Renan: positivism and religion-

H. Taine and the possibility of metaphysics-K Durkheim and

the development of sociology-L. Levy-Bruhl and morals.

XV. Two RELIGIOUS THINKERS

Teilhard de Chardin-G. Marcel-Differences in outlook.

3 18

XVI. THE EXISTENTIALISM OF SARTRE (1) .

Life and writings-Pre-reflective and reflexive consciousness:

the imagining and the emotive consciousness-Phenomenal

being and being in itself-Being for itself-The freedom of

being for itself-Consciousness of others-Atheism and values.

34 0

VII. NEO-CRITICISM AND IDEALISM

132

Cournot and inquiry into basic concepts-The neo-criticism and

personalism of Renouvier-Hamelin and idealist metaphysics

-Brunschvicg and the mind's reflection on its own activity.

vi CONTENTS

XVII. THE EXISTENTIALISM OF SARTRE (2) .

Sartre and Marxism--The aims of the Critique-Individual

praxis-The anti-diale~tic and the. ~omination of the practico-

inert-The group and Its fate--Cnbcal comments.

XVIII. THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF MERLEAU-PONTY

PREFACE

390

THE seventh and eighth volumes of this work were originally

intended to cover nineteenth-century philosophy in Germany and

in Great Britain respectively. The seventh volume conforms to

this plan, inasmuch as it ends with a treatment of Nietzsche who

died in 1900 and whose period of literary activity falls entirely

within the nineteenth century. The eighth volume however

includes treatments of G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and the

American philosopher John Dewey. All three were born in the

nineteenth century; and both Dewey and Russell had published

before the tum of the century. But all were active well on into the

twentieth century. Indeed, Russell was still alive when the volume

was published and was able to make an appreciative comment in a

letter to the author. The present ninth volume carries even

further this tendency to go beyond the limits of nineteenth-

century thought. It was originally intended to cover French

philosophy between the revolution and the death of Henri

Bergson. In point of fact it includes a fairly extensive treatment of

Jean-Paul Sartre, a briefer outline of some of Merleau-Ponty's

ideas and some remarks on the structuralism of Levi-Strauss.

This extension of the account of French philosophy after the

revolution to include a number of thinkers whose literary activity

falls within the twentieth century and some of whom at any rate

are still alive has meant that I have been unable to fulfil my

original plan of including within the present volume treatments

of nineteenth-century thought in Italy, Spain and Russia.

Reference has been made to one or two Belgian thinkers, such as

Joseph Marechal; but otherwise I have restricted the area to

France. Indeed, it is more accurate to saythat I have treated of

French philosophers than of philosophy in France as a geographi-

cal area.· For example, Nikolai Berdyaev settled at Paris in 1924

and pursued a vigorous literary activity on French soil. But it

seems to me improper to annex him for France. He belongs to

the religious tradition in Russian thought. There may indeed be

more reason for annexing Berdyaev for French philosophy than

there would be for counting Karl Marx as a British philosopher

on the ground that he spent his last years in London and

worked in the British Museum. At the same time the Russian

VII

A. Camus: the absurd and the philosophy of revolt-Merleau-

Ponty: the body-subject and its world-Merleau-Ponty and

l\Iarxism-Uvi-Strauss and man.

A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY.

419

INDEX

469

PREFACE ix

read. The reader presumably wishes to hear something about

thinkers who have enjoyed some prominence in France, even if

they are pretty well unknown in England. Indeed, if their names

are little known: in· England, this could be advanced as an excel-

lent reason for including them. The thought of Louis Lavelle, for

instance, would doubtless have left G. E. Moore in a state of

mystification; and it would hardly have commended itself to

J. L. Austin. But this is no more a reason for omitting Lavelle

from an account of recent French philosophy than the lack of

sympathy which many French philosophers would probably

have with J. L. Austin's preoccupation with ordinary lan~uage

would constitute a valid reason for omitting Austin's name

from an account of recent philosophical thought in Great

Britain.

At the same time it must be admitted that there are gaps in the

present volume. This is partly due of course to considerations of

space. But it is only honest to add that it is partly due to the

circumstances in which this volume has been written. If one is

Principal of a School of the University of London, one's time for

reading and research is inevitably very limited. And one has to use

for writing such intervals as may occur. I have doubtless tended

to write about philosophers of whom I already knew something

andhave omitted thinker.s who might well have been included.

This might be considered a very sound reason for postponing

completion of the work. As however I have already indicated, I

wish to use the time which retirement may put at my disposal for

a rather different sort of volume.

Even when one has decided, for good or ill, on the philosophers

about whom one intends to write, there may well be problems of

classification or labelling. For example, in the present work Jules

Lachelier has been considered in the chapter devoted to what is

customarily described as the spiritualist movement. Though

howev~r there is precedent for doing this, Lachelier's best-known

work is a treatise on the foundations of induction; and it might

thus be thought more appropriate to put his ideas under the head-

ing of philosophy of science. At the same time he develops his

ideas in such a way as to outline a philosophy which would qualify

him for classification as an idealist. Again, while Meyerson has

been considered in the text as a philosopher of science, his theory

of identity might equally well be treated as a speculative philo-

sophy of the idealist type.

viii PREFACE

writers who lived and wrote in exile in France remained Russian

thinkers.

If we leave foreign exiles out of account, France is in any case

rich in philosophical writers, both professional philosophers and

literary figures whose writings can be described as having philo-

sophical significance. Unless however the historian proposes to

write a complete comprehensive survey, which would amount to

little more than a list of names or require several tomes, he cannot

include them all. There are of course philosophers who obviously

have to be included in any account of French philosophy since the

revolution. Maine de Biran, Auguste Comte and Henri Bergson

are examples. It is also clear that discussion of a given movement

of thought entails reference to its leading representatives. What-

ever may be one's estimate of Victor Cousin's merits as a thinker,

it would be absurd to write about eclecticism in France without

saying something about its chief representative, especially in

view of the position which he occupied for a time in the academic

life of his country. Similarly, an account of neo-criticism involves

some discussion of Renouvier's thought. Though however there

is a considerable number of philosophers whom the historian would

rightly be expected to include, either because of their intrinsic

interest and their reputation, contemporary or posthumous, or as

representatives of a given movement of thought, there are plenty

of others among whom he has to make a selection..And any

selection is open to criticism on some ground or other. Thus in

regard to the present volume some readers may be inclined to think

that space has been allotted to cloudy metaphysicians and

idealists which might have been more profitably devoted to

philosophy of education or to aesthetics, or to a more extended

treatment of social philosophy. Again, if a religious thinker such

as Teilhard de Chardin is to be given prominence, why is there no

mention of Simone Weil, a very different sort of writer, it is true,

but one who has been widely read? Further, in view of the fact

that the volume includes a treatment not only of nineteenth-

century French political thinkers but also of Sartre's version of

Marxism, why is nothing said, for example, about Bertrand de

Jouvenel and Raymond Aron?

In the cases of some philosophers it may be relevant to point

out that reputation and influence in their own country may very

well justify their inclusion, in spite of the fact that in a country

with a different philosophical tradition they are little known or

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: