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RECENT PHILOSOPHY |
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Select: Objectivism - Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, David Kelley The Perennial Philosophy - Cardinal Mercier - Etienne Gilson - Jacques Maritain |
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Diagrams The Development of Modern and Recent Philosophical Thought Major Influences on American Social Thought THE PHILOSOPHY OF OBJECTIVISM - Ayn Rand The philosophy of Objectivism is a unique American philosophy. Its philosophical founder was Ayn Rand (picture), a novelist whose bestselling books are always in print. Objectivism now seems to have split into confrontational groups which don't always agree with one another. For a clear understanding of Objectivism, it seems best to refer the reader to the resources provided by the Ojectivists themselves. The following Internet resources are recommended. In The Radical Academy Elsewhere On the Internet
A Preliminary Evaluation of Ayn Rand's Objectivism From the Viewpoint of the Perennial Philosophy An evaluation of Objectivism is problematic to the Classical Realist, partly because much of it appears to fall within the tradition of Aristotelian realism even though many of its major tenets are in opposition to traditional realism. Rand claims that the basis of her philosophy is Aristotelian, yet she does not follow Aristotle on many important points. For one thing, her definition of "concept" does not concur with that of Aristotle's. Her theory of concept formation appears to be at odds with Aristotelian ideogeny. Her understanding of the Principle of Identity seems to be somewhat different from the way that Aristotle understood it, at least in the way such a principle is applied. And, also, her understanding of "self-evident truth" appears to differ from traditional realism. The most important disagreement between Rand's "realism" and Classical Realism seems, however, to be the fundamental issue as to the status of metaphysics and epistemology. For Rand, epistemology is the foundation of philosophy, whereas for the Classical Realist or Perennialist, metaphysics is the foundational science. Therefore, in the view of many Classical Realists, she commits the same error that most modern philosophers since Descartes have committed, that is, placing epistemology or the problem of knowledge prior to metaphysics or the problem of "being" itself. There is also the question of her metaphysical position. While denying that Objectivism is a metaphysical materialism, the metaphysical tenets of Objectivism satisfy all the requirements necessary for metaphysical materialism as normally defined. There is no doubt that her metaphysics falls into the naturalistic camp, and metaphysical materialism and metaphysical naturalism are virtually indistinguishable. So it appears that Objectivism is really a metaphysical materialism even though it is denied by Objectivists. And, in the view of Classical Realism, Neo-Aristotelianism, and Perennialism, metaphysical materialism is false and logically ends in Subjectivism and Relativism, two "isms" that Objectivism seems to deplore. Many of the tenets of the ethics and politics of Objectivism also run counter to Classical Realism. While most of those in the Aristotelian tradition place great emphasis on the individual human being as an autonomous existent, it is definitely not the sort of autonomy that Rand defines and supports. For the most part, the ethics and politics of Objectivism is contrary to the ethics and politics of Aristotelian philosophy. While many of Rand's conclusions in ethics and politics (all the good ones are not her discoveries, however) can be accepted by Classical Realists (and by Libertarians and Classical Liberals), her reasons for those conclusions may be rejected. For instance, her definition of "altruism" and "self-sacrifice" is one that would be rejected out-of-hand by most people, not to mention professional philosophers. In summary, it appears that Objectivism falls generally into the "realist" camp of philosophy, but with many errors and mistakes. It is not truly in the Aristotelian tradition, whatever its claims. Rand has borrowed those parts of Aristotelianism that seem to support her own theories but that is all. Her understanding of "Individualism" is not in accord with our traditional understanding of it, and her defense of "autonomous individualism" is decidedly unrealistic. There is, in the end, little that is new in Objectivism, regardless of the claims of Rand and her followers. Much of it has been presented before in other philosophies, and continues the same errors and mistakes.
THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY: Classical Realism The Perennial Philosophy includes Aristotelians, Neo-Aristotelians, Thomists, Neo-Thomists, Scholastics, Neo-Scholastics, Common Sense Realists, some Neo-Realists, and Contextual Realists. The list of contemporary philosophers who support the Perennial Philosophy includes Etienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, Mortimer J. Adler, John Wild, and Jonathan Dolhenty. The following links should provide you with information about these various schools of commonsense philosophical realism, all of which participate in the Perennial Philosophy. Elsewhere On the Internet
Désiré Joseph Cardinal Mercier (1851-1926) Désiré Joseph Mercier (picture) was a Belgian clergyman and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Born at Braine-l'Alleud, he was educated at Malines and at Paris, Leipzig and Rome, and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1874. In 1906 he was consecrated archbishop of Malines and then named as a cardinal in 1907. Mercier taught philosophy at the seminary in Malines from 1877 to 1882, later becoming professor of philosophy at the University of Louvain, where, under the auspices of Pope Leo XIII, he organized an institute for the study of the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas which was called the School of Thomistic Philosophy, later becoming the Higher Institute of Philosophy. The University of Louvain, under the guidance of Cardinal Mercier, led the battle against the philosophy of Positivism, which then ruled European culture, and pointed out its shortcomings. At the same time the University of Louvain offered in its curriculum the very sciences of which Positivism was so proud, but these were considered merely as sciences, not as philosophy. Without a doubt, Cardinal Mercier became one of the foremost leaders in the 20th-century revival of interest in Thomistic scholasticism and in its integration with modern developments. Mercier's position as Catholic primate of Belgium brought him into particular notice when that country was invaded by the Germans in 1914. During World War I, Cardinal Mercier became the spokesman of Belgian opposition to the German occupation, for which the Germans placed him under house arrest. He was forbidden to leave the episcopal residence, and his Christmas pastoral letter, summing up Belgium's losses, praising England and blaming Germany, and advising his flock that they need not recognize German authority, was suppressed and the printer fined. In The Radical Academy
Gilson (picture) studied philosophy in Paris, where Henri Bergson was his professor. In 1932 Gilson was elected to the College de France, and in 1947 was made a member of the French Academy. Since 1929 until his death he has divided his time between Paris and Toronto, where he helped to found the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. His works on medieval philosophy are noted for the sweep of their vision and judgment. He has written books on St. Augustine, St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, Duns Scotus, St. Thomas, and Descartes. Gilson is both a historian and a philosopher. As a historian he has concentrated his acumen on the thinkers of the Middle Ages; as a philosopher he is convinced of the perennial value of Scholastic philosophy, which culminated in the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas. His thought may be summarized as an endeavor to re-establish the importance of the Middle Ages as an influential period of formation upon which much of our Wetern civilization depends. Contrary to the general belief tht this civilization owes almost everything to the period of scientific discovery beginning with the Renaissance, and to the opinion that the contemporary spirit and the medieval spirt are almost contradictory. Gilson holds that the Middle AGes played a most important part, both on the battlefield by the overcoming of the Arabs at Poitiers in 732, and in the field of thought, by establishing the Scholastic system, which prevailed during the twelfth century against the Averroism of the same Arabs. As Gilson sees it, the apparent contradiction between medieval and modern thought is chiefly due to the weakening or loss of the Christian spirit in most of the enterprises of our times. In the Middle AGes the future of Western civilization depended not only on the victory of Charles Martel, who stopped the Arabs on the battlefield at Poitiers in 732, but also on the philosophy of the Scholastics, which stemmed the philosophical invasion of the same Arabs centuries later. Today, as in those times, Scholastic philosophy is the only system that can give a complete and consistent solution to all the problems of the human intellect. In The Radical Academy
Jacques Maritain (picture), as did Gilson, came to Scholastic philosophy from the school of Bergson. Converted to Catholicism in 1905, he became a professor at the Catholic Institute of Paris, and later French Ambassador to the Vatican; he also lectured at Princeton University. He was a man who lived in intimate contact with the problems of the world of today. His numerous works may be considered as a "message" which he has been proclaiming to his fellow men. As one authority on Maritain wrote: "He has meditated on the perennial truths of Thomism, not out of history but within it; and with history he has lived, not in the thirteenth century, but in the twentieth." The thought of Maritain may be summarized in one word: Humanism. Philosophy is an empty word, unless it resolves the problems of human life. Such a solution can be obtained only through Scholastic philosophy, in the sense that the truths reached by such a philosophy are valid for all times and places. Among Maritain's most impressive works are: The Degrees of Knowledge; Integral Humanism; Science and Wisdom; Ransoming the Time; and Existence and the Existent. In The Radical Academy
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