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ON THE DECLINE OF A TASTE FOR METAPHYSICS.

NOTHING is more remarkable in the literature of the day, than the substitution, which has been accomplished, of its lighter branches, for the more severe studies by which the preceding century was distinguished. This important revolution is more palpable in the departments of metaphysics and moral science, than in any other branch of learning. There is reason to believe, that notwithstanding the outward deference still paid to the presciptive celebrity of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume, these illustrious men are secretly rated in public opinion, far beneath even the popular favour ites of the day. Their works are not now perused with that intense admir ation which they commanded half a century ago, and which the decided bias of literary taste, towards the toils and delights of abstract speculations, can alone explain. If an occasional effort be made to recal attention to this deserted region, where, in former times, no small share of the glory which belongs to our national literature was achieved, the attempt is in so feeble and faulty a style, as to disgust every ingenuous student of the old masters, and to convince him, that the depth of thought and comprehensiveness of views for which the philosophers of England stood unrivalled, have almost wholly abandoned those who now attempt a vain competition with the strength and originality of their genius.

We are aware, that there exist illustrious exceptions to the absolute truth of these remarks; but we speak at present not so much with reference to the merits of individuals as to the general state of public thought and feeling. If it be true that we have yet among us a metaphysician of great talents and accomplishments, it is no less certain, that even the lustre of his genius has been unable to win the public regard to that course of study in which he has himself embarked with enthusiastic and boundless devotion. Mr Stewart is almost a solitary example of high talent and fine accomplishment, wasted (as many even of his admirers may imagine) on the thorny and barren track of metaphysical speculation. He has been

repeatedly admonished, through the organs of popular criticism, that the nature of his undertaking accords nos with the taste or fashion of these times; and has had the unmerited mortification, we are afraid, to find, that the fruits of his profound and elevated toil have not been appreci ated with that ardent fondness which is the best stimulus and the most grateful reward of high and liberal exertion.

This is indeed a striking revolution in the literary taste of a country which has been distinguished above all others for depth of thought and gravity of philosophical speculation. It was in England that the national foundations of moral and metaphysical philosophy were first laid-the tram mels of scholastic form and fruitless subtlety first vigorously burst-and the true objects and just boundaries of science first delineated, with a sagacity and precision to which the learned of all nations have offered their tribute of reverence and admiration. It was in England that the genius of Bacon was nursed, in whose immortal works may be traced the outlines of all that science and philosophy have since achieved, splendid as their triumphs have been in almost every country of Europe. It was under the same cloudy sky, that Locke, exploring by the chart which his wonderful precursor had left him, the yet untravelled region of metaphysics, constructed a firm and massive fabric, from the very fragments of which new systems have been reared, and new honours gained, for the secondary genius which has advanced in the magnificent track of his invention. For him the consenting admiration of every learned people conceded the high honour of having fixed an æra in the most abstruse, but yet the most interesting and sublime of the sciences-of having cleared the foundations, marked the laws, and defined the limits of human thoughtof having laid deep in the rational and experimental philosophy of the human mind, the basis of moral and political obligation-of having explored the remotest principles of abstract speculation-and of having given

a rational and imperishable form to that science to which a powerful in stinct had attracted the elevated curiosity of every age, but of which it was given to him alone to fathom all the depths, and unfold the hitherto impenetrable mysteries. He alone carried the solidity of reason into the recesses of that branch of philosophy, which had in all former times been filled with the successive but perishable shadows of the imagination.

The supremacy of Locke is universally confessed; but there were others also, to whose genius this department of knowledge is profoundly indebted. The subtle but amiable scepticism of Berkeley, who, in the high confidence of an original and comprehensive mind, meditated the destruction of popular infidelity, by expunging the material world from the catalogue of philosophical realities, gave an impulse, in spite of its startling extravagance, to the spirit of intellectual philosophy, such as a great and inventive genius can alone impart. His theory, derided by wits and stared at by the vulgar, in equal ignorance of its aim, was admired by philosophers for the depth, subtlety, and vigour of understanding which it displayed, and the bold and original cast of thought which this amiable and enlightened ecclesiastic pre-eminently discovered.

Beattie, and Reid-names still among the most illustrious that occur in Scottish literature, and whose fortune it was to raise the philosophical fame of their country to a pitch of unrivalled eminence.

The influence and renown of English philosophy were not limited to this Island. It is the privilege of this high department of intellectual exertion, that its honours are not confined to the narrow boundaries which policy, laws, and manners prescribe to the other triumphs of learning; but that, transcending the limits assigned to a literature purely local and popular, it unites in one illustrious school all that is lofty or profound in the genius of the civilized world. The light and airy, but liberal spirit of Voltaire, perceived the grandeur of a system which it wanted strength to have constructed; and with a noble surrender of national prejudice, this singular man descended to the humble toil of familiarising the philosophy of England to the nations of the continent. He made his universal language the instrument of expounding, in a popular form, the sublime system of Newton; with the armour of his wit he covered the name of Locke from the assaults of scholastic pedantry and envenomed dulness; he spread throughout Europe the philosophical reputation of England, and gave, even to the name of philosopher, a high degree of popular estimation, by the zeal with which he ever vindicated it for himself as the proudest of all his literary distinctions.

The philosophical spirit which predominated in England, and which communicated its depth and precision to the various departments of literature, was soon caught by the literary It thus happened, that during the men of Scotland, and followed with last century the spirit of a rational their characteristic perseverance into and profound philosophy made greater very splendid results. It was then progress throughout Europe than it that the quiet, frigid, incredulous, but had done at any former period. The subtle and profound intellect of Hume same principles of a wary and induc-attracted to the study of metaphysics tive logic-the same precision of exby the blaze of reputation which en- periment and accuracy of observation circled the philosophy of England--the same stern rejection of mere attempted to push the principles of hypothesis and gratuitous conjecture the pure and pious Locke to conclu- which had wrought so many wonders sions which would have struck their in physical science, were found no author with horror; and to construct less efficient in accelerating the proupon the foundation laid by a most gress of intellectual philosophy. The christian philosopher, a splendid and effects of the magnificent system imposing fabric of philosophical scep- which the genius of Bacon had creatticism. The road, to literary distinc- ed, and of the fresh impulse which tion, thus trodden by this eminent the progress of events had commuapostle of unbelief, was pursued, nicated to the human mind, were though with very different feelings, not limited to that profound and inand far other views, by Campbell, teresting science which treats of the

intellectual laws and faculties, for that eapacity and love of abstract speculation-of comprehensive and philosophical reasoning-which had become the prominent feature of the literature of the age, expanded itself through every branch of moral and political science-leading original and inquisitive minds to ascend from the humble level of a narrow and contracted experience to the lofty region of principle-and to subdue the coarse resistance of vulgar prejudice, before the spirit of a predominating reason. Happy had it been for mankind if baser spirits had never interposed in this high intellectual cause, to disturb and disgust the world by contamina ting the oracles of truth and of reason with the blasphemies of atheism and the atrocities of revolution.

The philosophy of the modern school is the philosophy of reason, not that of imagination. Hostile alike to the seductive dreams of fancy and the presumptuous arrogance of system, and disdaining every other support but the solid basis of experiment and observation, it aspires to raise the study of human nature-which had in all former ages been a tasteless ag gregate of insulated facts, and fascinating but unsatisfactory visions-to the dignity of a science. The sublime mysticism and charmed reveries of Plato, which cast an air and aspect of divinity around the aberrations of human intellect-the ambitious, subtle, and comprehensive scheme of Aristotle, which, aspiring to chain the universe of matter and of mind within the limits of a system, lost all reality in the expansion of its grasp, and retained, in syllogistic fetters, only the forms and shadows of existence the wild visions of a speculative superstition and corrupted theology-and the spirit of barren but laborious subtlety which usurped the honour of genius during the long night of barbarian ignorance, were alike denounced and contemned in the bright æra of European intellect. Reason alone was obeyed in the plenitude of her restored empire. The imperative demands of the inductive logic were scrupulously complied with-the necessity of founding the generalizations of philosophy upon a large experience, and of resting systems of knowledge upon a wide survey of nature, was re

cognised; and the result was not only a vast accession to the neglected pro vince of moral and intellectual philo sophy, to which the works of Locke, and Montesquien, and Smith, and Hume, and Reid, bear ample testimony, but the formation of a loftier and more philosophical cast of thinking throughout all the instructed classes of society, which is yet visible in the general state of opinion, and even in the most ordinary efforts of literary composition. The humblest of them all now breathes an affectation, at least, of general principle, and a disdain of vulgar prejudice, such as could have been generated only in the triumph of a profound and rational philosophy.

It is true there was a coldness in this system-a sternness of abstraction which a vigorous intellect alone could sustain; it spoke neither to the imagination nor the heart, and presented no other charm, but the sublime and simple beauty of truth. Such are the profound and masterly discus sions of Locke, Berkeley, Smith, and Reid, and of all the illustrious writers who are now neglected as too subtle and frigid for the impassioned charac ter of the age.

It must be owned, indeed, that the tendency of this cold and vigorous system of reasoning-ambitious as it was inflexible-penetrating, without scruple, into the darkest mysteries connected with the origin, the condition, and the destinies of the speciesand proud of sporting on the very brink of that abyss where the energy of human reason is extinguished, and the light of philosophy expires-was but too favourable to that spirit of scepticism which was the disgrace of the last age. But it is on secondary minds alone that modern philosophy produces this baneful effect. Witness the profound and unshaken piety of Bacon, which was on a high level with all the other elements of his intellectual greatness-with his grave and awful cast of thought-with the sobriety and majesty of his feeling and comprehensive soul, which was too near an emanation from the Deity to forget for a moment its celestial descent. Witness also the venerable names of Locke and of Newton, to whom it was not given to range over the universe of mind and of matter in

ignorance of the divine Author, of the mighty gifts with which they were endued, and of the magnificent scenes spread out for their employment. The master spirits of every age have towered above the seductions of scepticism; firm in the purity and stability of their own character-exalted by the privileges of a larger capacity, and a wider range of contemplation-by the susceptibility of graver and loftier feeling-by a clearer perception of the limits imposed by nature on the audacity of human speculation-and a deeper and more intense humility in the mingled consciousness of their own gifts and frailties-they abandoned to the minor race of cold and contemptuous sophists the odious distinction of a daring and reckless unbelief. The progress of physical science, and the multiplied power of matter which have been developed to its researches, cannot seduce their calm and considerate minds into the puny sophism, that matter is, there fore, all-that a cold and repulsive scepticism is the natural creed of an impassioned and aspiring soul, that the magnificent triumphs of human intellect warrant a denial of its exist ence, or a doubt as to the supreme and presiding power of that Spirit in whose might alone all that is great or good must be achieved.

In politics, the influence of abstract philosophy was still more variable. Men of great genius, wholly occupied with their own speculations, seldom engage with much ardour in political discussion, unless they are dragged from their beloved retirement by the unexpected approach of persecution, or the arrival of some great public convulsion, which sweeps every thing within its baleful and degrading vortex. They are naturally calm and submissive; and it must be the fault of governments if they are ever roused to disturb them by their opposition. What to them are the petty intrigues the vulgar jealousies-the warring factions-the ostentatious bustle-the pigmy magnificence of the actors-or the fugitive importance of the ordinary events which agitate and distract the world-compared with the grandeur of their own enduring speculations? If they be men of mere theory, strangers to the business and the cares of the world, such will be their feel

ing and their creed; but if they are read in history, and familiar with the horrors which it records, that system must be bad indeed, which shall not appear to them tolerable in the comparison. In the rashness and obstinacy of their spirit of generalization, they will, on contemplating such mournful records, pronounce upon the irremediable depravity of the species, and repose contented in the arms of a mild and mitigated despotism. They expect no sudden renovation of mankind,-no rapid movement which should enable the intellect of the crowd to rival the velocity of their own enlightened career. Who can, upon this subject, forget the despotic prejudices of Hobbes, one of the greatest intellects of modern times, or the me morable servility of Bacon, who, with a deep sense of his own intellectual omnipotence, and a lofty presage of the miracles which knowledge was to work in after times, exemplified in his own person, a submissive and boundless obedience to power, revolting even to the slavish spirit of his own fettered age? What, again, could have roused the mild and placid spirit of Newton to resistance, or seduced it from the sublime harmony of the spheres to the vulgar discord of earthly turbulence and faction? Locke was cast on distracted times-he was in his person the victim of persecution-he was com→ pelled, in self-defence, to weigh the claims of freedom against the arrogance of power-and to become a liberal theorist in matters of policy, that he might baffle with effect the vengeance of an odious despotism. Hume again, phlegmatic by nature, became slavish by learning; he was a man of the world, and had studied much of its history; and every page spoke so much of actual tyranny, that he came at last to think freedom but a dream, which could never be realized, but through scenes of blood, from which the timi dity of his nature recoiled. Voltaire and Rousseau, persecuted by power, by pedantry, and by superstition, resisted accordingly; and the warfare once begun was perpetuated by the pride of wit, and the quenchless enthusiasm of perverted genius.

The passion for abstract science which distinguished the last age, has perished before the power of that very spirit which was generated by its a

buse. The bold and frequent dissections of the inmost frame of society, which were conducted with unfaultering hand, under the auspices, and in the name of philosophy, the contemptuous triumph which it arrogated over many of the salutary prejudices of mankind,-the unsparing ferocity with which its later and perverted disciples vowed, and in part accomplished the destruction of religion and of government,-have generated a series of events of a new and oppressive interest, before which its own refined abstractions have disappeared. The long train of stupendous occurrencesthe swift and regular succession of appalling realities, which it has been our fortune to witness, has forcibly withdrawn every mind from all other contemplations but that of the passing scene; and by inverting the ordinary vulgarities of political discussion with an interest and importance which they never attained in any former age, has attracted to them the intense regard, and almost undivided sympathy of mankind.

The mightiest of all modern revolutions, indeed, is that which has been accomplished in the state of the public mind. Forms may be revived, and institutions may be restored; but the restoration of intellect and feeling to their former level, is beyond the power of armies, and above the scope of alliances. An intellectual movement has been made, whether for good or for evil signifies not, and it cannot be arrested; for the progress of knowledge, with the existing safeguards for its perpetuity, scorns all impediment. It advances by a myriad of avenues, which no vigilance can secure,-it is buried deep in the human heart, and the freezing severity of despotism cannot reach the sacred recess. But the consequence of this diffused knowledge is to alter the standard of literary taste, to change the distributors of favour, and vary the objects of reward, to establish a real democracy of literature, in which the candidate for its envied honours must appeal, not to the few, but to the many,―to vulgarize philosophy and learning,-and to extinguish in all, but the noblest bosoms, the old longing after immortality for which the tumultuous applause of the moment is in most cases felt to be not only a prompt but a

grateful compensation. Have not some profound metaphysicians verified the justice of these remarks in the history of their philosophical career? Have they not sometimes been over-ambitious of popularity, and feeling with anguish, that the tide of public sentiment was turning against their favourite pursuits, have they not occasionally made abortive efforts to accommodate themselves to the light and fickle taste of the multitude; to lower the dignity of science to the prejudices of the vulgar; to transplant the smal ler graces which the public taste affects to demand, into regions where they are either stinted in their growth, or pernicious in their luxuriance; to mimic the language of feeling, where they ought to have aspired, only at the strength of argument; and to compromise the lofty character of the science by a feigned contempt for its profounder branches, and a feeble preference of its more tasteful appendages? And what has been the result? Even with the aid of their impolitic condescension they have been wholly eclipsed by lighter and inferior spirits, who, by the exclusive devotion of their slenderer talent to its appropriate pursuits, have ever vindicated for themselves the literary honours in which a competition so unwise had been attempted with them.

The philosophers have had themselves to blame, indeed, for a portion of that neglect with which they have of late been visited. They have long rejected, it is true, the embarrassing formality of the syllogism in the structure of their dissertations; but they are often no less insipid than if they yet adhered to the tedious rigour of that obsolete appendage. The method of induction is indeed excellent; but it is by no means a talisman against drivelling enumerations and operose and unfruitful disquisitions. The effect of writing a great deal about that which all understand at a glance, even although the entire gravity of the Baconian method should be scrupulously kept up-of descanting upon commonplaces, and demonstrating truismsof setting out from the very beginning, when every one is more than half advanced on the road, is extremely unpropitious to the credit of the philo sopher, and of the science, however profound and ingenious, which he pro

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