Prolegomena to the Study of Modern Philosophy

128 Pages·2016·0.453 MB·English

by  Andrej Demuth

U N I s l ova k I a
andrej démuth
Prolegomena to the study
of Modern Philosophy
This book is divided into nine The chapters are arranged to
chapters trying to draw atten- show the historical character-
tion to the various aspects of istics of the issues with an in-
the understanding of God, to troduction of the key approach andrej démuth
the question of the individual, and ideas with references.
the ideal state arrangement,
and the question of freedom Andrej Démuth is a Professor
Prolegomena to the
(free will) as well as of history. of philosophy at the Trnava
Special attention is paid to the University. His research fo-
study of Modern
issue of cognition, the ques- cusses on modern philosophy,
tion of reason and sense, as epistemology and cognitive
Philosophy
well as language and the issue studies.
of a system in philosophy.
IsBN 978-3-631-67338-6
U N I s l ova k I a
andrej démuth
Prolegomena to the study
of Modern Philosophy
This book is divided into nine The chapters are arranged to
chapters trying to draw atten- show the historical character-
tion to the various aspects of istics of the issues with an in-
the understanding of God, to troduction of the key approach andrej démuth
the question of the individual, and ideas with references.
the ideal state arrangement,
and the question of freedom Andrej Démuth is a Professor
Prolegomena to the
(free will) as well as of history. of philosophy at the Trnava
Special attention is paid to the University. His research fo-
study of Modern
issue of cognition, the ques- cusses on modern philosophy,
tion of reason and sense, as epistemology and cognitive
Philosophy
well as language and the issue studies.
of a system in philosophy.
Prolegomena to the Study of Modern Philosophy
UNI SLOVAKIA series
Volume 2
Prolegomena to the Study of Modern
Philosophy
Andrej Démuth
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografi e; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://
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The publication of this book is part of the project Support for Improving the Quality
of Trnava University (ITMS code 26110230092) — preparation of a Liberal Arts study
program, which was supported by the European Union via its European Social Fund and
by the Slovak Ministry of Education within the Operating Program Education. The text
was prepared at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Trnava University
in Trnava.
Design and Layout: © Jana Sapáková, Layout JS.
ISBN 978-3-631-67338-6
E-ISBN 978-3-653-06586-2
DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-06586-2
ISSN 2366-2697
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Contents

Prolegomena to the Study of Modern Philosophy ............................................ 7
The Question of God in Modern Period Philosophy ......................................... 13
The Issue of the Freedom of Man ........................................................................................ 27
The Problem of Cognition in Modern Philosophy .............................................. 39
Socio-Philosophical Writings of the Modern Period ......................................... 49
Philosophy of History and the History of Philosophy as a Problem
of the Modern Age and Classical German philosophy ................................... 59
Sense vs. Reason in Modern Philosophy ...................................................................... 69
Understanding Nature in Modern Philosophy ....................................................... 79
Language in Modern Philosophy ......................................................................................... 91
Modern Philosophy as a Philosophy of Large Systems ................................. 103
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................. 117
5

Prolegomena to the Study of Modern
Philosophy

The present work does not attempt to provide a detailed
history of modern philosophy or an exhaustive interpre-
tation and analysis of the ideas and works of individual
philosophers and philosophies. There are suffi cient clas-
sic works like these in the international (F. Copleston,
Cambridge Companion to Philosophy, Oxford, Rout-
ledge, Blackwell) as well as domestic linguistic environ-
ment (Dějiny fi losofi e (The History of Philosophy), OIKOY-
MENH – Vol. 13). The aim of the present text is rather to
focus on briefl y introducing the issue – to introduce the
reader to the basic problematic issues of modern philos-
ophy, the concepts and their solutions, the fundamental
theories and ideas, and the defi nitions of key notions,
ideas, and approaches. Therefore, this is not a typical
history-philosophy thesis, but rather an outline of char-
7
acteristics of the thinking in the period – by thematising
the main topics of modern-day thinking.
If we discuss the historical approach to philosophy
in the modern era, from the beginning we need to point
out that defi ning the modern period is itself associated
with a number of challenges concerning delineation.
Firstly, the modern period has not yet been defi ned by an
historical event that has been generally accepted as the
beginning or end of the period. To this day, historians
continue to argue if such an initial milestone exists, and
if so, which historical event it is (the discovery of Amer-
ica in 1492, Germany in 1517 (Luther’s theses), the refor-
mation in England in 1485, the reformation in France in
1515, in Spain in 1515, in Sweden in 1523, in Norway in
1536, in Denmark in 1533, in Poland in 1505, in Russia in
1533, in the Netherlands in 1519, Gutenberg’s invention
of the printing press in 1452, the fall of Constantinople
in 1453). The year 1526, when the Battle of Mohács took
place, is an analogical historic milestone within Bohe-
mia and Hungary. Moreover, it is obvious that defi ning
the modern era is also challenging in terms of geography
(while a process is ending in one country, it has not yet
started in another; in addition, irregular manifestations
in various areas – painting vs. philosophy, science, and
the like – in the same period and in the same territory
can be observed). Another question is what the modern
era should be defi ned against, and what is or is not
a part of it (are Humanism and the Renaissance a part of
8