Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A Brief History of Philosophy
Having composed and published brief text-books on Logic, Metaphysics and Ethics, which have obtained a considerable circulation in Colleges and Academies, the author of this little volume has frequently been urged to complete the series by adding an equally brief synopsis of the History of Philosophy. Many learned works on this subject are before the public; but they are mostly in foreign languages or written in a spirit alien, if not hostile, to Catholic thought. And yet, as the Catholic Church stands alone in its permanent strength and grandeur among the hundreds of religions in the world, so too its Philosophy is preeminent among the countless speculations of ancient and modern times.
There is, however, this difference, that the Church's infallibility in teaching religion is a supernatural endowment, given to it and maintained in it by its Divine Founder, Jesus Christ; whereas Catholic philosophers, like all others, derive their doctrines directly from human reason, but they are usually guarded from important errors by their knowledge of Revelation.
For more advanced students there exist in English two excellent works: Dr. Albert Stoeckl's "Handbook of the History of Philosophy," translated by Father T. A. Finlay, S. J., and Dr. William Turner's "History of Philosophy." But the translation of the former is still incomplete and neither of them is elementary enough for mere beginners.
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