(The history of philosophy aims to give a connected accoun...)
The history of philosophy aims to give a connected account of the different attempts which have been made to solve the problem of existence or to render intelligible to us our world of experience. It is the story of the development of reasoned human thought from its earliest beginnings down to the present time; not a mere chronological enumeration and exposition of philosophical theories, but a study of these in their relation to one another, the times in which they are produced, and the thinkers by whom they are offered. While every system of thought is more or less dependent on the civilization in which it arises, the character of preceding systems, and the personality of its author, it in turn exercises a potent influence on the conceptions and institutions of its own and succeeding ages. The history of philosophy must, therefore, endeavor to insert each world-view in its proper setting, to understand it as a part of an organic whole, to connect it with the intellectual, political, moral, social, and religious factors of its present, past, and future. It must also attempt to trace the line of progress in the history of human speculation: show how the mental attitude called philosophy arises, how the different problems and the solutions that are offered provoke new questions and answers, and what advance has been made, on the different stages, towards reaching the goal. In dealing with the different systems, we shall be careful to let the authors present their ideas without extensive criticism on our part. (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology. Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful
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He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1865. He was the younger of two sons of Marie (Barth) and Pierre Victor Celestin Thilly. His mother was a native of Germany and his father a native of Luxembourg; they met for the first time on the boat bringing them to America.
Pierre was educated for the priesthood, but by choice was never ordained. Having received the degree of A. B. cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1887, young Thilly went immediately to Germany for graduate study. During his four years there, two at Berlin and two at Heidelberg, he was awarded the degrees of A. M. and Ph. D. with honors; the teachers who influenced him most were Kuno Fischer and Friedrich Paulsen.
In Luxembourg he served as an officer in the army and for a time as a member of the Foreign Legion in Africa; in America he fought in the Civil War as a major in the Union army. After the war he became a newspaper reporter and later owned and published a newspaper in Cincinnati, where he died in his early forties from disabilities incurred in army service.
In 1891 he returned to the United States as fellow in the then newly founded Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University, and the following year he was appointed instructor. In 1893 he was called to the University of Missouri as professor of philosophy and psychology. During his eleven years' service there "he was probably the most potent spirit in the life of the University", and his educational influence extended throughout the Middle West; he was largely responsible for the founding of the Western Philosophical Association, of which he was the first president, 1900-02. He was called to Princeton University in 1904 as Stuart Professor of Psychology, and in 1906 he returned to the Sage School at Cornell, where he remained until his death. By election of the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell, he served as dean, 1915-21; and by election of the general faculty he served as faculty representative on the board of trustees, 1925, and 1927-29.
As a teacher, Thilly's chief concern was to place emphasis upon education as a preparation for living rather than as a preparation for making a living. This emphasis is especially evident in his Phi Beta Kappa address at Hobart College in 1923 and in his convocation address to the faculty and students of the University of Missouri in 1930; and it is an emphasis which was always present in his classroom lectures. He was also profoundly convinced that freedom in teaching is indispensable to the effective practice of the art – a conviction which led him to take a leading part in the founding of the American Association of University Professors, of which he was national president in 1917.
In addition to his excellent translations, History of Philosophy (1896), from the French edition of the German of Alfred Weber, and A System of Ethics (1899), Introduction to Philosophy (1895), and The German Universities and University Study (1906), all from the German of Friedrich Paulsen, Thilly wrote numerous articles for philosophical journals at home and abroad. He was also the author of Leibniz's Controversy with Locke (Heidelberg, 1891); Introduction to Ethics (1900); and A History of Philosophy (1914) – a scholarly and widely used textbook. His editorial work was extensive: he was the first managing editor of School Review, editor for a number of years of the University of Missouri Studies and the International Journal of Ethics, and associate editor of Kant-Studien and the Philosophical Review.
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Though he never developed his philosophical views systematically, Thilly adhered in principle to the tradition in philosophy commonly called idealism.
He was a person of unusual charm and a genuine democrat. He was genial and witty, penetrating in his judgment of men and events, cosmopolitan in his interests and sympathies, and profoundly averse to sham and pretension.
On March 23, 1895, he married Jessie Olivia Matthews, daughter of George Henry Matthews, a professor in the University of Missouri. His wife and two daughters – Gertrude and Margaret – survived. An only son, Frank, died in 1916 of infantile paralysis.
