A brief history of modern philosophy

Introduction To Philosophy

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

,:35^

COPTEIQHT, 1912,

By the MACMILLAN COMPANY.

let up and electrotyped. Published September, 1912.

Preface

Professor Harold Hoffding is already well known to the English-speaking world through the translations of his Psychology, Ethics, Philosophy of Rehgion, Problems of Philosophy and his History of Modem Philosophy (2 vols.), all published by the Macmillan Company. The fact that his works are rapidly finding their way into English and other languages is the best evidence of the esteem in which his work is held and of his importance as a thinker. Bom in 1 843, prof essor of philosophy in Copenhagen since 1883,, Doctor Hoffding has worked over the whole field of philosophy with great thoroughness. The original (German) edition from which this translation is made appeared in 1905. It is therefore the fruit of his ripest scholarship. The book is clear, compact and comprehensive. The various schools are analyzed and criticized, and the thread of continuous development is constantly kept clearly in view. These features constitute the exceptional merit of the book as a text. The student is constantly aware that a familiar spirit is safely guiding him through the bewildering maze of philosophic problems and tentative solutions.

As a psychologist Doctor Hoffding is an empirical introspectionist. He is thoroughly modem in his antipathy towards metaphysical speculation. He discovers a native tendency in man, manifesting itself in the impulse towards well-being, the source or further meaning of which is beyond our knowledge, which furnishes the basis of ethics.

Vi PREFACE

Religion is the reaction of the human mind to the sense of value and represents the highest fimction of the htiman mind. As a critical empiricist he possesses a peculiar advantage in the interpretation of the trend of philosophic thought. We ofEer this book to the EngHsh student because of its merit, as an efficient gtiide to the vmderstanding of modem philosophy.

C. F. Sanders.

Gettysburg, Pa.

July 20, 1912.

Table Of Contents

PAGE

Introduction i

FIRST BOOK