An historical Interpretation of Philosophy
It is not our object, in the present work, to offer the facts of philosophy in a form more acceptable to ourselves than the elaborate works now current; much less do we expect to add, at any point, to the fulness of these presentations.
Our aim is simply to make, in as brief a compass as possible, a contribution to a clearer under- standing of the facts of philosophy in their dependence on each other, and in the conclusions to which they naturally lead. In accomplishing this purpose, we shall have occasion only for a brief statement of the primary features in the different phases that philosophy has assumed and shall take for granted considerable familiarity with the topics under discussion.
If we render any aid, it will be an aid in comprehending the facts rather than in securing a more complete knowledge of them. We shall be more interested in the distinctive and ex- treme positions which writers and schools of philosophy have taken, the peculiar impulses they have felt and im- parted, than in the limitations, qualifications, and partial retractions by which they have striven later to restore the balance of thought and to defend themselves against attack.
The points emphasized will be those which define the directions of philosophical inquiry, and which best serve to mark the dependence of its successive positions in its descent to our time. Our work should be judged wholly by this its explanatory purpose.
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