History of Modern Philosophy | Page 2

progress, has given a
striking example of scholarly courtesy.
A.C.A., Jr.
Wesleyan University, June, 1893.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION.
Since the appearance of Eduard Zeller's Grundriss der Geschichte der
griechischen Philosophie (1883; 3d ed. 1889) the need has become
even more apparent than before for a presentation of the history of
modern philosophy which should be correspondingly compact and
correspondingly available for purposes of instruction. It would have
been an ambitious undertaking to attempt to supply a counterpart to the
compendium of this honored scholar, with its clear and simple
summation of the results of his much admired five volumes on Greek
philosophy; and it has been only in regard to practical utility and
careful consideration of the needs of students--concerning which we
have enjoyed opportunity for gaining accurate information in the
review exercises regularly held in this university--that we have
ventured to hope that we might not fall too far short of his example.
The predominantly practical aim of this _History_--it is intended to
serve as an aid in introductory work, in reviewing, and as a substitute
for dictations in academical lectures, as well as to be a guide for the
wider circle of cultivated readers--has enjoined self-restraint in the
development of personal views and the limitation of critical reflections
in favor of objective presentation. It is only now and then that critical
hints have been given. In the discussion of phenomena of minor
importance it has been impossible to avoid the oratio obliqua of
exposition; but, wherever practicable, we have let the philosophers
themselves develop their doctrines and reasons, not so much by literal
quotations from their works, as by free, condensed reproductions of
their leading ideas. If the principiant view of the forces which control
the history of philosophy, and of the progress of modern philosophy,
expressed in the Introduction and in the Retrospect at the end of the
book, have not been everywhere verified in detail from the historical
facts, this is due in part to the limits, in part to the pedagogical aim, of
the work. Thus, in particular, more space has for pedagogical reasons
been devoted to the "psychological" explanation of systems, as being
more popular, than in our opinion its intrinsic importance would entitle
it to demand. To satisfy every one in the choice of subjects and in the
extent of the discussion is impossible; but our hope is that those who
would have preferred a guide of this sort to be entirely different will not
prove too numerous. In the classification of movements and schools,

and in the arrangement of the contents of the various systems, it has not
been our aim to deviate at all hazards from previous accounts; and as
little to leave unutilized the benefits accruing to later comers from the
distinguished achievements of earlier workers in the field. In particular
we acknowledge with gratitude the assistance derived from the renewed
study of the works on the subject by Kuno Fischer, J.E. Erdmann,
Zeller, Windelband, Ueberweg-Heinze, Harms, Lange, Vorlãnder, and
Pünjer.
The motive which induced us to take up the present work was the
perception that there was lacking a text-book in the history of modern
philosophy, which, more comprehensive, thorough, and precise than
the sketches of Schwegler and his successors, should stand between the
fine but detailed exposition of Windelband, and the substantial
but--because of the division of the text into paragraphs and notes and
the interpolation of pages of bibliographical references--rather dry
outline of Ueberweg. While the former refrains from all references to
the literature of the subject and the latter includes far too many, at least
for purposes of instruction, and J.B. Meyer's Leitfaden (1882) is in
general confined to biographical and bibliographical notices; we have
mentioned, in the text or the notes and with the greatest possible regard
for the progress of the exposition, both the chief works of the
philosophers themselves and some of the treatises concerning them.
The principles which have guided us in these selections--to include
only the more valuable works and those best adapted for students'
reading, and further to refer as far as possible to the most recent
works--will hardly be in danger of criticism. But we shall not dispute
the probability that many a book worthy of mention may have been
overlooked.
The explanation of a number of philosophical terms, which has been
added as an appendix at the suggestion of the publishers, deals almost
entirely with foreign expressions and gives the preference to the
designations of fundamental movements. It is arranged, as far as
possible, so that it may be used as a subject-index.
JENA, December 23, 1885.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION.
The majority of the alterations and additions in this new edition are in

the first chapter and the last two; no departure from the