III. English and American Idealism

In Great Britain the earlier' representatives of Idealism were Ralph Cudworth, Samuel Clarks, and George Berkeley (qq.v.). Cudworth, one of the Cambridge PlatonisU (cj.v.), in opposition to the sensualistic philosophy of Hobbes, in his True In tellectual-System of the Universe (1878),

1. Early Phases

the archetypal ideas which are eter- nal in the mind of God; by divine il- lumination these ideas are quickened in the soul. Clarke's idealism appears in his famous argument for the being of God, based upon innate conceptions 'of space and time, of being, of necessary existence, and of the infinite (Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of (Sod, 1705), and in his doctrine of the absolute right-the " eternal fitness of things "derived from his Gootrine of God (The Unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion, 1708). Berkeley affirmed that all ideas are only states or motions of the . spirit. So-called material properties have no existence outside of the spirits in which the perception arises; accordingly, the universe consists only of spirits and their ideas. The source of these' ideas is God, by whom they are impartially and immutably created (Selections from Berkeley's Works, edited by A. C. Fraser, London, 1891). In America during this period, Idealism found a voice in Jonathan Edwards (1758). In his Notes on the Mind, penned ere he bad reached early manhood, is a doctrine of the world quite in the spirit of Berkeley, although not dependent on him, which in sole aspects anticipates the absolute idealism of Hegel. " The material universe exists nowhere but in the mind." "All material existence is only in idea." "That which truly is the substance of all bodies is the infinitely exact,. and prise, and perfectly stable Idea, in God's mind, together with his stable will, that the same shall gradually be communicated to us, and to other minds, according to certain fixed and established Methods and Laws" (Notes $4, 40, 13, in his Works, New York, 1830).

In recent thought Idealism has well-nigh supplanted other forms of interpretation, of the world. The point of view is that "mind hs the importance of a universal and coemical principle of reality." The field is, however, divided into various sections. (1) As applied to epistemology or the grounds upon which our thought of reality is shown to be valid, the principal representatives are

B. P. Bowne (Theory of Thought and 2. Modern Knowledge, New York, 1897) and Idealism. G. T. Ladd (Philosophy of Knowledge,

New York, 1897). (2) In metaphysics, F.H. Bradley (A ppearaxceand Reality, London, 1897) holds that all finite things of every variety are in the last analysis unreal, yet these are aspects of the one Absolute, and it or he is their reality. J. Royce (The World arid the Individual; 2 vols:, New York, 1900-01) presents the ultimate reality as the "internal mete of an idea." In agreement with Royce, A. lJ. Taylor (Elements of Mdaphysies, New York, 1907) declares that the Absolute is a conscious life which simultaneously and in perfect unity includes in its experience the totality of existence, i.e., existence is ultimately mental. (3) In the philosophy of religion treated from the idealistic point of view, the principal writers are J. Caird (Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, Glasgow, 1880), with profound reliance upon Hegel's great work on the same subject, and G. T. Ladd (Philosophy of Religion, New York, 1905). (4) In ethics, in which the end is presented as realisation of the rational self, the more significant works,are those by F. H. Bradley, Ethical Studies (London, 1876); T. H. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics (ib. 1883); J. H. Muirhead, Elements of Ethics (ib. 1892); J. 8. Mackenzie, Manual of Ethics (4th ed., New York, 1901); - G . H. Palmer, Field of Ethics (Boston, 1901); idem, Nature of Goodness (ib. 1904); G. T. Ladd, Philosophy of Conduct (New York, 1902), and J. Royce, Philosophy of Loyally (ib.1908). (5) As an interpretative principle as applied to the history of religion and especially to the development of Christian doctrine, vindicating the rational element in these, against the denial of the same in a proposed return to the simplicity of the Gospel on the one hand, and on the other against the principle of external authority, the reader is referred to E. Caird, Evolution of Religion (Glasgow, 1893) and Evolution of Theology in the (reek Philosophers (ib. 1900-02)., end J. Watson, Philosophical Basis of Religion (lb. 1907).

C. A. B.

BanrsoaanrsT: The beet means for a study of Idealism, outside the works of the individual philosophers, are the treatises on the history of philosophy, suoh an: E. Zeiler, Die Philosophie Gar liriechea, Tübingen, 1844, new ed., 1892, Eng. transl., 2 vols., London, 1897; W. Windelband, tleeckidds der PhilowpW Freiburg, 1890-92, Eng. transl., New York, 1898; J. E. Erdmann, GadsichRS der Phi losophic, 2 vols., Berlin, 1896-98, Ena. tnansl., 8 vols., London, 1891-98; F. Ueberweg, Geschichte der Philosophie, $th ed. by Heinse, Berlin, 1903-05, Eng. transl. of 4th ed., London, 1875-78. Consult further: C: L. Hendewerk, Der Idealismus des ChristinAwiw, Königsberg, 1882; A. Grant, in Porlniphtly Review, aR (1871), 383-374; H. Tame, History of Enplieh Literatwe, London, 1877; T. Carlyle, Characteristics, in his Works, London, 1882; W. L. Davidson, in Mind, s iii (1888): 89-98; J. Wedgwood, Ideals of Life, New York, 1888; A. Bioardqu, De 1' idfia1, Paris, 1891; A. Drewe, Deatuhe Spekulatim sail Rant, Leipsic, 189,3; R. Euolrm li'rrundbeprite der Gemnwart, ib., 1893; idem, Lehensanwiauunpms der prossen Denbor, ib., 1899; M. Pujo, L'Id6diesse inUlr4 Paris, 1894; J. Mors, Erropean. Thought in the 18th Centwy. 2 voles, Edinburgh, 1898-1903; C. Benouvier, InbWudio» d la philwophia analytiqw de r histoire, Paris, 1898; idem, Philosophie a nalytiew de 1'hisAviro, vols. iii.-iv., ib., 18P7:

443

A. Vierkandt, Nature#lker and %ulturvGLEer, Lmpsic. 1898; C. F. d'Aray, Ideation and 7~, i2. 1899; T. Ziegler, 1)ie peisapen uwd soaiauR Sdrdmanpen, Berlin, 1899; A. R.

Dsrron, in Ideal Review, July, 1901; H. Start, Personal Idealism, London, 1902; W. R. Inge, Personal Idealism and Mysticism, London, 1907; H. Hughes, Ideen and Ideals, Würzburg, 1907; L W. Riley, American PhQoeophy, pp. 81 sqq., New York, 1907; F. J. Schmidt, Zur Wiederpebart des Idaaliemue, Leipsic, 1907.