Based on the
importance or significance of the study of History of Philosophy written by
Frederick Charles Copleston, S.J., any principle or thought in a given period
conveys truth. The more thoughts and
principles are conceived by a thinker or philosopher, the more anyone can learn
truths from all of these. Learning or
being educated on the History of Philosophy implies that one should have a
balanced knowledge of it. Balanced
knowledge requires that one sees all aspects of the history of philosophy
without being distorted or confused by its smooth or harsh unfolding. Even if the philosophers and thinkers were
atheist or theist, rationalist or naturalist, utilitarian or pragmatic,
existentialist or consequentialist, all of them make history of philosophy a
path to the man’s search for truth.
The history of
Philosophy is ultimately founded on the principle of progression, a scheme of
continuity where ancient philosophy as popularly attached to Socrates, Plato
and Aristotle contributes to the understanding of medieval philosophy as
commonly known with St. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, and the medieval philosophy which
contributes to the understanding of the modern philosophy and so on. One philosophy of a given period maybe
challenged, criticized, and opposed by past or other existing system of thought
or principle. This is a natural part of the process or scheme in order to reveal
the truths in any thought or principle in a particular historical setting. There is reason or purpose in anything. That is why, through discursive reason, this
purpose reveals the truth of that anything or something.
Furthermore, understanding
the History of Philosophy aims to search for truth. It requires that a learner or a student comprehends
its connections and implications in any system, its pleasant and unpleasant
realities, and its relation with other systems. In the process, this search for
truth is ultimately aimed to the search
for the Absolute Truth or God. This is
because Copleston’s History of Philosophy is grounded on the standpoint of
Scholastic or Thomistic philosophy. Implicitly,
this is the True Philosophy or Philosophia
Perennis which continually develops within and through any historical
setting or epoch.
Philosophia Perennis is defined as “a
perspective in the philosophy of Religion which views each of the world
religious tradition as sharing a single, universal truth on which foundation
all religious knowledge and doctrine have grown.”1 and that
it is “a view that sees the world as divided into two aspects: the invisible,
unmanifest, implicit mystical level of reality and the visible , manifest,
explicit material level of reality.” 2
Based from the definitions above Scholastic
philosophy in the Middle Ages, which was associated with St. Thomas Aquinas,
gained strength and influence during that period. Despite the many challenges and criticisms
against and for it, all human searching for truth is towards the search for the
Absolute Being, the foundation of everything.
How should a
learner or a student in philosophy study the History of Philosophy? There are three suggested ways: by looking
into the historical setting and connection; by adopting an imaginative insight
through a kind of placing oneself in the person of the philosopher to see his
thoughts within; and by working one’s
way into any thinker’s system in order to understand meanings, implications,
details and relations.
First of the
methods is by looking into the historical setting and circumstances present in
that time. This is the more social, political and external aspect of the method. For
example, if one wishes to grasp the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle, he must first know the place of their birth and the culture of their
place. One’s environment is a probable factor in developing his state of mind,
and the events which the philosopher involved himself with. Cultural practices and traditions can also
give an effect to one’s way of thinking.
Going back to the previous example, being able to know the culture and
traditions of Greece can make one have a clue in the main point of the
philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and why do they push for these
ideas to be lived out and remembered.
Knowing the
connections between the different philosophical thoughts can also aid one in
understanding the purpose and reason of its creation. This notion is supported
by Copleston, saying, “It should be obvious that we can only grasp adequately
the state of mind of a given philosopher, and the raison d’etre of his philosophy, if we have first apprehended its
historical point de depart.” 3
This presupposes
that other than knowing the historical setting of the philosopher, it is also
helpful to look at the previous thoughts before him. Looking back to previous philosophies can aid
any learner to understand the subsequent philosophies. Doing this is a very practical pre-requisite
to understanding other philosophies. For
example, in understanding Plato’s philosophy, one should understand first
Socrates, Plato’s teacher. And in order
to understand Aristotle’s philosophy, one needs to understand the thoughts of Socrates
and Plato. This implies that things in
history come in succession. Then, it is
easier for a learner to see connections of thoughts and systems.
Second, by adopting
an imaginative insight through a kind of placing oneself in the person of the
philosopher to see his thoughts within.
This is knowing the personal aspect of the philosopher or thinker. This is the more personal, psychological and
internal aspect of studying the history of Philosophy. This involves knowing his state of mind or his
character. A philosophical system is not
put into flesh when there is no thinker to embody its idea. That is why it can be a helpful tool if one
not only knows the setting of the philosophy, but also the individual
formulating it. This is because one can
gain a feel of a philosopher’s thoughts if he can be able to get a grasp of his
way or thinking or attitude towards the world. An example would be, understanding
Kierkegaard’s ethics and Marx’s communist philosophy. A person cannot readily
get the idea of Kierkegaard’s attack of the Catholic Church in his ethics, when
he does not look into Kierkegaard’s dark past concerning Christianity. Karl
Marx’s disgust of elitism or the bourgeoisie originated from his painful
experience of forced labor.
Knowing a
philosopher’s personal life or attitude is important in having a first-hand
experience of his philosopher, but this must not be the sole basis of
understanding. Going back to the example
of Kierkegaard, one may wrongly conclude that Kierkegaard’s ethics is only a result
of a depressed childhood, instead of realizing the fact that his ethics is a
criticism to those people who do not justify their faith in their actions. The danger in putting primacy in the personal facts
about the philosopher can blind one of the more important concern in
understanding the unfolding of history. This
is the reason why one must not limit himself on the personal aspect of the
philosopher in relation to his thought.
Indeed,
psychological states and characteristics affect a philosopher’s conception of
his ideas, but it is not always the case. It must be noted that a philosophical idea can
be separate from the person who actually constructed them.
Finally,
the third, by working one’s way into the thinker’s system in order to
understand meanings, implications, details, and relations. This
means that beyond specialization, one needs to see himself widened or broadened
in thought by the learning he realized as he gets deeper into his study. Beyond “delving into the inner thoughts of a
philosopher”, he delves into his
own. As he delves into his own, the learning he got
from such study of the history of philosophy of many thinkers paves the way for
him to become stronger in upholding the essence and value of True Philosophy.
Therefore,
by the three ways on how to study the History of Philosophy, a learner realizes
that the development of history of philosophy does not end in one historical
period or that the truth is confined or found in one historical setting or
philosophy. Instead, any philosophy has
truth in it and its truth connects to both the past and the present. By studying the history of philosophy, man’s
search for truth becomes nearer to the very foundation of all human search for
truth, that is, search for the Absolute Truth or God.
References:
1.“Perennial Philosophy”, Wikipedia, accessed June 13, 2015, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perennial_philosophy
2.The Free
Dictionary, accessed June 13, 2015, http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Perenial+Philosophy
3. Frederick Copleston, “Introduction”, (New York:
Doubleday), In A History of Philosophy, 8.
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