CHAPTER XVI. PHYSICS, METAPHYSICS, THEOLOGY, POLITICS, ETC. Ir, when speaking of the study of Medals, there was reason for saying, on account of its utility, "Enter, for here, too, are the Gods," how should we rather, speaking of Philosophy, say, "Approach with awe, for,"-to borrow an idea from the Eastern Theology, -" here is the God of Gods * !" Various are the points of view in which Philosophy, or true Wisdom, may be contemplated, relatively to our present subject: as 1. in its Profundity; 2. in its Comprehensiveness; 3. in its Variety; 4. in its Imperfection: and if, in speaking on other topics, it was becoming to adopt more of allusion, than of discussion, it will be much more becoming in the present Chapter. 1. Philosophy, with respect to its Profundity, may be considered as that empyreal Fire, mentioned in some ancient Philosophies, which, piercing through different spaces and all natures, diffuses itself, according to them, through all worlds, and penetrates to the very centre of * Alludes to a passage in Proclus, quoted by Le Clerc in his Notes on the Chaldaic Oracles, p. 165, Και ως θεος εσι θίων απαντων, και ένας εναδων, &c. systems; or, perhaps, to go still higher, to that νοερον Φως or Πυρ, that intellectual fire or light, which is not confined by its own powers to its own essence, but flows out with creative energies to all Intelligences: and the word profound may remind some readers of those spring-heads, which, though first perceived to rise from small beginnings on lofty mountains, and to flow out in different directions, forming rivers and brooks and lakes, yet are themselves unseen, and lie deep below in the bowels of the earth. This view of Philosophy would lead to a consideration of facts, of elements, or principles*, of qualities, and properties: for from these, by the laws of nature, are all sciences and arts derived: on the correct observation, well-balanced comparison, and right application of these, all true knowledge proceeds; as the inaccurate, partial attention to these Principia, or an injudicious, confused application of them, is the source of all our errors. This is the profound of Philosophy, the original mine, whence all the true ore must be dug. We cannot do better than take with us Lord Bacon's grand observation, in which he follows Aristotle : * The following is Aristotle's definition of a principle, which the reader need not like the less for appearing in the Latin of Bergers-u dicius: "Principia sunt, quæ nec ex se invicem sunt, neque ex aliis, et ex quibus sunt omnia." Arist. lib. i. Phys.cap. 5. Franconis Bergersdicii Idea Philosophiæ Naturalis Disputatio 11.;-nor the following definition of an element: " Elementum est corpus, in quod reliqua corpora resolvuntur; ipsum in alia, quæ specie differunt, resolvi non potest." Aristot. de Cœlo, cap. 18. Ex eodem. .... bib. iii. c.3. "Another error, which doth succeed that which we have last mentioned (reducing knowledge unto methods) is, that after the distribution of particular arts and sciences, men have abandoned universality, or Philosophia Prima, which cannot but cease and stop all progression: for no perfect discovery can be made upon a flat or a level: neither is it possible to discover the more remote and deeper parts of science, if you stand but upon the level of the same science, and ascend not to a higher science *." This universality is made to apply by Bacon to whatever is called Science, whether it be natural, moral, or rational, (as the ancient Stoics divided all science,) or to speculative and practical, according to the division of the Peripatetics †. It will apply to Physics and Metaphysics, to Theology and Politics; all professing to have their fixed primary principles, their facts, their fundamentals, their Fundamenta Fundamentorum. Logicand Rhetoric are not properly parts of philosophy, but only modes in which we obtain and express our ideas, according to certain rules: they are therefore arts. But Lord Bacon calls them, also, in his large way, the Arts of Arts, on account of their general reference and systematic use to all arts. So also Grammar, that formerly came * Of the Proficience of Learning, p. 66. I refer to this specific page, to point out an excellent little edition of this valuable work, not long since published by Mr. Payne. † Diog. Laert. de Vet. Dogm. & Apophtheg. Philosophorum: Proæmium. under what Aristotle called Dialectics, considered now as the teaching of the different parts of speech by rules, or a system of precepts, is merely an art; but, as analysed and generalised by Dr. Wilkins in his Real Character, and Mr. Horne Tooke in his Diversions of Purley, possesses, also, much of philosophy; and hence the term, Philosophical Grammar. 2. The Comprehensiveness of philosophy is seen by considering its reference to the earth, the sea, the skies, and heavens, and to all things which they contain, or to which they relate, whether intellectual, animal, or material; and to its different branches-(I follow Lord Bacon's divisions,) to History in all its parts; to Natural Philosophy in all its branches; to Self-knowledge, or what has been called Humanity, including the Philosophy of the Body, the Philosophy of the Mind, Rational Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Civil Knowledge, and Divinity. It is sufficient to notice these leading points, as comprehending a summary of all knowledge, human and divine. 3. The Variety relates not to the subjects of philosophy, (they concern its comprehensiveness,) but to the different opinions of mankind; and takes in the various dogmas of the ancient philosophers; the differences between the ancients and moderns; and of the moderns among themselves. To what extent this branch might reach, who will pretend to ascertain ? Diogenes Laertius, while admitting, that those ancient people, whom he calls βαρβαροι (barbarous) had amongst them philosophers, and even showing, that the most eminent of the Greeks travelled amongst them to obtain knowledge, yet strangely enough maintains, that philosophy, and the human race itself, flowed first from the Greeks*; but his Lives of the Philosophers does little more than state the different opinions and sayings of the leaders of the different sects, till from amongst them branched out the Eclectics, who, like the modern Kantians, receded in certain points from all, but selected what suited them from each. Brucker has pursued Diogenes Laertius, though on a much more elaborate plan, in a work entitled Historia Critica Philosophiæ, tracing through different nations opinions from the earliest times to the beginning of the last centuryt. This work was the labour of forty years; whence we may collect, through what varieties this branch of knowledge extends. How fruitful in variety Theology alone is, may be gathered from Cicero's first book on the Nature of the Gods; and to what extent this variety reaches still, will be known to those, at all acquainted with the religious denominations of the Christian world. As to Astronomy, the Newtonian principles of Natural Philosophy seem now to have fixed themselves nour schools, as being capable of, and as having obtained, mathematical demonstration. Let a popular writer on astronomy speak for other writers: "Nature," says he, "appears again in all her primitive simplicity. New * Αφ' ων μη ότι γε φιλοσοφία, αλλα και γένος ανθρωπων ηρξε. Diog. Laert. † Of this work, closely printed in six quarto volumes, there is a well written abridgement by Dr. Enfield. |