Truth and Error or the Science of Intellection
A constructive treatise on epistemology by an American author should receive from American students of philosophy a warm welcome. No one is fitted to produce such a treatise who is not, first, a profound student of psychology and of the history and method of philosophy, and unless, in the second place, he understands what the problem of epistemology is. The author of the volume under review—who is the director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and late director of the U. S. Geological Survey—naturally is a student of the empirical sciences, and, as naturally, views the method of science as the only true method of constructive philosophy. We are not surprised, therefore, to find at once that Major Powell misunderstands both the method and the problem of epistemology. That problem is not, as he puts it, what are the properties of matter, and how ( i. e., by what faculties) they are cognized; but how we transcend the subjective in our knowledge and come to know a real world? As regards the general nature of the philosophy of the book under review, Major Powell is careful to explain in the very last sentence of the very last page. That his doctrine "is neither Idealism nor Materialism; I would fain (he says) call it the Philosophy of Science." His philosophy is not idealism, because it does not 'reify' relations or reduce things to mere 'ideas' (Hegelian 'phantasms'); it is not materialism, because it does not make mind a function of matter, or make self-consciousness an epiphenomenon of the unconscious. It is the philosophy of science, because, first, the method of his philosophy is that of science (" experience, observation, and verification "), and because, secondly, his philosophy itself is the logical result of the four great doctrines of modern science (p. 9). This logical result becomes in Major Powell's hands a new hylozoism: The fundamental mistake of all philosophers preceding the author of this latest system of hylozoism is their failure to see that all matter eternally has consciousness as one of five 'essential properties'; that the universe in its minutest 'particles' and in its totality is a hierarchy of conscious bodies, all of which are in telic relation to our conscious life. The lowest conscious life 'evolves' in virtue of active conscious 'organization' into self-consciousness in man. Let us turn now to a more detailed statement and criticism. The volume under review, although not formally divided into Parts, naturally falls into three principal divisions. Part I is an elaborate exposition of the universal properties of matter in terms of hylozoism, the author's aim being to "demonstrate" (!) that all matter has five fundamental properties of which one is consciousness (not 'conscious reason' or 'mind'). Part II is an exposition in the author's peculiar manner of the faculties of knowledge and of a "new doctrine of judgments." Part III is an exposition of the fallacies corresponding to these faculties.
"All certitudes (= 'scientific' knowledge about 'bodies with their properties') are described," says Major Powell, "in terms of number, space, motion, time, and judgment; nothing else has been discovered and nothing else can be discovered with the faculties with which man is possessed." "In the material world we have no knowledge of something which is not a unity of itself or a unity of plurality; for something which is not an extension of figure or an extension of figure and structure; of something which has not motion or a combination of motions as force; of something which has not duration as persistence, or duration with persistence and change." "In the mental world we have no knowledge of something which is not a judgment of consciousness and inference; of a judgment which is not a judgment of a body with number, space, motion, and time. .... These are propositions to be explained and demonstrated". In order to be on a fair way to explaining and demonstrating them, the author "accepts" the "four great doctrines of modern science"—the atomic theory, and the modern doctrines of morphology, of the persistence of motion, and of evolution. Of the doctrines we ourselves have but a general knowledge; we are, therefore, not competent to judge of the accuracy and exactness of Major Powell's knowledge. But, granted accuracy and exactness of knowledge on his part, it would, candidly, be hard to find in the history of philosophy or of science a more detailed and difficult specimen of scientific 'explanation,' than we find in the book under review. The expository processes begin in being wayward and eccentric, and end in being unintelligible. This we believe to be a result natural to a mind possessed of an infinite amount of "information." Overburdened with detailed information, or confused by it, Major Powell fails to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, and elaborates the obvious...
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"All certitudes (= 'scientific' knowledge about 'bodies with their properties') are described," says Major Powell, "in terms of number, space, motion, time, and judgment; nothing else has been discovered and nothing else can be discovered with the faculties with which man is possessed." "In the material world we have no knowledge of something which is not a unity of itself or a unity of plurality; for something which is not an extension of figure or an extension of figure and structure; of something which has not motion or a combination of motions as force; of something which has not duration as persistence, or duration with persistence and change." "In the mental world we have no knowledge of something which is not a judgment of consciousness and inference; of a judgment which is not a judgment of a body with number, space, motion, and time. .... These are propositions to be explained and demonstrated". In order to be on a fair way to explaining and demonstrating them, the author "accepts" the "four great doctrines of modern science"—the atomic theory, and the modern doctrines of morphology, of the persistence of motion, and of evolution. Of the doctrines we ourselves have but a general knowledge; we are, therefore, not competent to judge of the accuracy and exactness of Major Powell's knowledge. But, granted accuracy and exactness of knowledge on his part, it would, candidly, be hard to find in the history of philosophy or of science a more detailed and difficult specimen of scientific 'explanation,' than we find in the book under review. The expository processes begin in being wayward and eccentric, and end in being unintelligible. This we believe to be a result natural to a mind possessed of an infinite amount of "information." Overburdened with detailed information, or confused by it, Major Powell fails to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, and elaborates the obvious...
Truth and Error or the Science of Intellection
A constructive treatise on epistemology by an American author should receive from American students of philosophy a warm welcome. No one is fitted to produce such a treatise who is not, first, a profound student of psychology and of the history and method of philosophy, and unless, in the second place, he understands what the problem of epistemology is. The author of the volume under review—who is the director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and late director of the U. S. Geological Survey—naturally is a student of the empirical sciences, and, as naturally, views the method of science as the only true method of constructive philosophy. We are not surprised, therefore, to find at once that Major Powell misunderstands both the method and the problem of epistemology. That problem is not, as he puts it, what are the properties of matter, and how ( i. e., by what faculties) they are cognized; but how we transcend the subjective in our knowledge and come to know a real world? As regards the general nature of the philosophy of the book under review, Major Powell is careful to explain in the very last sentence of the very last page. That his doctrine "is neither Idealism nor Materialism; I would fain (he says) call it the Philosophy of Science." His philosophy is not idealism, because it does not 'reify' relations or reduce things to mere 'ideas' (Hegelian 'phantasms'); it is not materialism, because it does not make mind a function of matter, or make self-consciousness an epiphenomenon of the unconscious. It is the philosophy of science, because, first, the method of his philosophy is that of science (" experience, observation, and verification "), and because, secondly, his philosophy itself is the logical result of the four great doctrines of modern science (p. 9). This logical result becomes in Major Powell's hands a new hylozoism: The fundamental mistake of all philosophers preceding the author of this latest system of hylozoism is their failure to see that all matter eternally has consciousness as one of five 'essential properties'; that the universe in its minutest 'particles' and in its totality is a hierarchy of conscious bodies, all of which are in telic relation to our conscious life. The lowest conscious life 'evolves' in virtue of active conscious 'organization' into self-consciousness in man. Let us turn now to a more detailed statement and criticism. The volume under review, although not formally divided into Parts, naturally falls into three principal divisions. Part I is an elaborate exposition of the universal properties of matter in terms of hylozoism, the author's aim being to "demonstrate" (!) that all matter has five fundamental properties of which one is consciousness (not 'conscious reason' or 'mind'). Part II is an exposition in the author's peculiar manner of the faculties of knowledge and of a "new doctrine of judgments." Part III is an exposition of the fallacies corresponding to these faculties.
"All certitudes (= 'scientific' knowledge about 'bodies with their properties') are described," says Major Powell, "in terms of number, space, motion, time, and judgment; nothing else has been discovered and nothing else can be discovered with the faculties with which man is possessed." "In the material world we have no knowledge of something which is not a unity of itself or a unity of plurality; for something which is not an extension of figure or an extension of figure and structure; of something which has not motion or a combination of motions as force; of something which has not duration as persistence, or duration with persistence and change." "In the mental world we have no knowledge of something which is not a judgment of consciousness and inference; of a judgment which is not a judgment of a body with number, space, motion, and time. .... These are propositions to be explained and demonstrated". In order to be on a fair way to explaining and demonstrating them, the author "accepts" the "four great doctrines of modern science"—the atomic theory, and the modern doctrines of morphology, of the persistence of motion, and of evolution. Of the doctrines we ourselves have but a general knowledge; we are, therefore, not competent to judge of the accuracy and exactness of Major Powell's knowledge. But, granted accuracy and exactness of knowledge on his part, it would, candidly, be hard to find in the history of philosophy or of science a more detailed and difficult specimen of scientific 'explanation,' than we find in the book under review. The expository processes begin in being wayward and eccentric, and end in being unintelligible. This we believe to be a result natural to a mind possessed of an infinite amount of "information." Overburdened with detailed information, or confused by it, Major Powell fails to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, and elaborates the obvious...
"All certitudes (= 'scientific' knowledge about 'bodies with their properties') are described," says Major Powell, "in terms of number, space, motion, time, and judgment; nothing else has been discovered and nothing else can be discovered with the faculties with which man is possessed." "In the material world we have no knowledge of something which is not a unity of itself or a unity of plurality; for something which is not an extension of figure or an extension of figure and structure; of something which has not motion or a combination of motions as force; of something which has not duration as persistence, or duration with persistence and change." "In the mental world we have no knowledge of something which is not a judgment of consciousness and inference; of a judgment which is not a judgment of a body with number, space, motion, and time. .... These are propositions to be explained and demonstrated". In order to be on a fair way to explaining and demonstrating them, the author "accepts" the "four great doctrines of modern science"—the atomic theory, and the modern doctrines of morphology, of the persistence of motion, and of evolution. Of the doctrines we ourselves have but a general knowledge; we are, therefore, not competent to judge of the accuracy and exactness of Major Powell's knowledge. But, granted accuracy and exactness of knowledge on his part, it would, candidly, be hard to find in the history of philosophy or of science a more detailed and difficult specimen of scientific 'explanation,' than we find in the book under review. The expository processes begin in being wayward and eccentric, and end in being unintelligible. This we believe to be a result natural to a mind possessed of an infinite amount of "information." Overburdened with detailed information, or confused by it, Major Powell fails to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, and elaborates the obvious...
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Truth and Error or the Science of Intellection
Truth and Error or the Science of Intellection
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940013160644 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | OGB |
| Publication date: | 07/31/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 546 KB |
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