Philosophy Its History

Writen by Gabriel Rise

This time we'll talk about Philosophy and its famous early philosophers. The churches are for all, philosophy for individuals. The churches are visible organizations, wielding power over masses of men in the world. Philosophy is an expression of a realm of minds linked with one another through all peoples and ages; it is represented by no institution which excludes or welcomes. As long as the churches have ties with the Eternal, their outward power exploits the innermost energies. As they draw the Eternal into the service of their power in the world, this power, like every other power in the world, grows sinister and evil. As long as philosophy remains in contact with eternal truth it inspires without violence, it brings order to the soul, from its innermost source. But when it places its truth in the service of temporal powers it beguiles men to delude themselves for the benefit of their practical concerns, it leads to anarchy of the soul. And when it aspires to be no more than a science it becomes an empty game, which is neither science nor philosophy. Independent philosophy comes to no man of itself. No one is born into it. It must always be acquired anew. It can be apprehended only by him who perceives it out of his own source. The first ever-sofleeting perception of it can fire a man with enthusiasm. The enthusiasm for philosophy is followed by the study of philosophy.

The study of philosophy takes three forms: practical study, in the inward action of each day; specialized study, in the learning of the contents, the study of the sciences, of the categories, methods and systems; historical study, by which we make the philosophical tradition our own. The reality that speaks to him from the history of philosophy is for the philosopher what authority is for the churchman. If the history of philosophy is to further our own philosophical efforts, it must be understood in the broadest possible sense. The variety of philosophical manifestations is extraordinary. The Upanishads were conceived in the Indian villages and forests, apart from the world, by hermits or small groups of teachers and students; Kautilya was a minister who founded an empire, Confucius a teacher who wished to restore education and true political reality to his people; Plato was an aristocrat who felt that he could not engage in the political activity befitting his rank because of its moral degeneration: Bruno, Descartes, Spinoza were solitary thinkers, without any institution behind them, seeking the truth for its own sake; Anselm was the founder of an ecclesiastical aristocracy; Thomas a servant of the church; Nicholas of Cusa a cardinal whose ecclesiastical and philosophical life were one; Machiavelli an unsuccessful statesman; Kant, Hegel, Schelling, professors who developed their philosophies in connection with their teaching.

We must rid ourselves of the idea that philosophical activity as such is the affair of professors. It would seem to be the affair of man, under all conditions and circumstances, of the slave as of the ruler. We understand the historical manifestation of the truth only if we examine it in conjunction with the world in which it arose and the destinies of the men who conceived it. If these manifestations are remote and alien to us, this in itself is illuminating. We must seek the philosophical idea and the thinker in their physical reality. The truth does not hover all alone in the air of abstraction.

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