International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume 1: Philosophy and Metaphysics
Philosophy
International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume 1: Philosophy and Metaphysics
Conference proceedings; Medicine -- Congresses; Science and the humanities -- Congresses; Technology -- Congresses
main interest is not in any idea or fact in so far as it is viewed by
itself, but rather in the interrelations, in the common significance, in
the unity, of all fundamental ideas, and in their relations both to the
phenomenal facts and to life! On the whole, he, therefore, neither
consents, like the student of a special science of experience, to seek
his freedom solely through conformity to the phenomena which are to be
described; nor is he content, like the pure mathematician, to win his
truth solely through the exact definition of the formal consequences of
his freely defined hypotheses. He is making an effort to discover the
sense and the unity of the business of his own life.
It is no part of my purpose to attempt to show here how this general
philosophical interest differentiates into the various interests of
metaphysics, of the philosophy of religion, of ethics, of æsthetics, of
logic. Enough--I have tried to illustrate how, while both the
philosopher and the mathematician have an interest in the meaning of
ideas rather than in the description of external facts, still there is a
contrast which does, indeed, keep their work in large measure asunder,
namely, the contrast due to the fact that the mathematician is directly
concerned with developing the consequences of certain freely assumed
systems of postulates or hypotheses; while the philosopher is interested
in the significance, in the unity, and in the relation to life, of all
the fundamental ideals and postulates of the human mind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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