Titles and Summaries - Phiosophical
1) A NEW ESSAY CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF IDEAS
Volume
1 [An Historical Critique]
The first volume of A New Essay concerning the
Origin of Ideas is an examination of the history of Western thought on
the nature of ideas and the possibility of thought.
Rosmini first deals with the principles
governing this enquiry, and the difficulties encountered in explaining the origin
of ideas, before reviewing those theories which assign an insufficient cause
to ideas. This heading includes studies of the works of Locke, Condillac and
the Scottish School (principally Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart). Theories assigning
a superfluous cause of ideas are proper to Plato and Aristotle, Leibnitz and
Kant, although from very different points of view. In discussing Kant, Rosmini
attacks Hume with some vigour.
Historians of philosophy will note the deep learning and precision with which
Rosmini traces the interaction between the theories of the British philosophers
and transcendental idealism which attempted to apply an antidote to the errors
of Reid and Stewart who, in their turn, wished to correct the blatant philosophical
sensism of Locke and his followers. Rosmini, despite his distaste for the scepticism
which he foresaw as the inevitable consequence of sensism and idealism, points
with enthusiasm to the contribution made by these philosophers in their endeavour
to reach the truth, and to Kant's famous distinction between the material and
formal elements of knowledge.
Rosmini's own views, adumbrated in this volume, favour the Platonic tradition
of innatism, interpreted by Christian philosophy in the works of Augustine,
Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure and others.
ISBN 1 899093 55 9, A5 pbk, pp. xxvi+444
Volume 2 [The Innate Light]
In the second volume of A New Essay
concerning the Origin of Ideas, Rosmini sets out his own theory of the
objective nature and origin of thought.
Concentrating on the light of reason, the idea of being, as the self-evident,
unchangeable form of human thought, he concludes that the intellect could not
exist without this light, in which all things are seen for what they are. This
light, which makes reasoning possible, is given to human beings as the foundation
of their inviolable dignity and rights. Erroneous reasoning obscures, but does
not extinguish the light within us. Its constant presence to our spirit keeps
us in touch with what is, accounts for our longing for eternal life, and leads
us, if we allow it, to acknowledge its source in necessary, absolute Being.
Morality, justice, human dignity and rights, together with certainty, are seen
rooted in the objective light of being, not in finite subjectivity.
But subjectivity is not neglected. Rosmini shows its essential role for human
thought through the development of sense-activity and feeling, which he examines
in depth. In particular, he illustrates on the basis of observation the presence
in all animate entities of a 'fundamental feeling' constituting the essential
nature of animality and providing a basis of unity for all determinate sensations.
The notions of space and time, as ideas which derive something from feeling,
are also examined, along with the concepts of subjective and extrasubjective
bodies. Finally, Rosmini details four facts about the human spirit which together
provide a helpful and easy way of correctly evaluating the argument he presents.
His aim throughout is to help others 'towards the truth'.
ISBN 1 899093 60 5, A5 pbk, pp. xxiv+481
Volume 3 [Certainty]
The third volume of Rosmini's A New Essay concerning the Origin of Ideas deals with certainty, and builds on the theory of knowledge expounded in volume 2.
The criterion of certainty, the force of a priori
reasoning and the first division of the sciences are corollaries springing immediately
from Rosmini's recognition that the light of being, the first and universal
form of truth, is the objective, constitutive element of human intelligence.
Certainty is 'a firm and reasonable persuasion which conforms to the truth'.
Formal error, which excludes certainty, is ultimately our willed attempt to
create truth for ourselves and the only interior source capable of harming our
intellectual and moral development; the most obvious manifestation of such error
is hardened scepticism which leads us to deny reflectively the principles whose
truths we know directly.
The force and extent of a priori reasoning is evaluated to show how far it can
lead the mind without the aid of knowledge derived through the senses, how it
can demonstrate the validity of the logical principles of thought, and how it
can offer conclusions indicating the existence of a supreme Being.
The first division of the sciences is concerned with the beginning of reflective
knowledge. Do we start from a universal or a particular, from observation or
from reasoning, from an unconscious or a conscious act of knowledge? Finally,
Rosmini discusses in depth the difference between methodical doubt and methodical
ignorance.
ISBN 1 899093 65 6, A5 pbk, pp. xvi+373
Principles of Ethics builds on A
New Essay concerning the Origin of Ideas
by illustrating philosophically the objective, unchangeable value of moral principles,
and the need to apply them to changing conditions.
ISBN 0 951 3211 37, A5 pbk, pp. 111, £5.95
3) CONSCIENCE
The problem of objective principles in morality
is only the foundation-difficulty of modern ethical dilemmas. Towering above
them all stands the problem of the formation and moral force of conscience.
ISBN 0 951 3211 10, A5 pbk, pp. 438, £12.95
4) ANTHROPOLOGY AS AN AID TO MORAL SCIENCE
We cannot apply the principles of moral
law and obligation without intimate knowledge of the subject — the human
being — who has to act morally. An anthropology is required to provide
accurate information of human nature in its relationship to moral science if
the universal principles are to be located in their total human context.
ISBN 0 951 3211 45, A5 pbk, pp. xiii+523, £15.95
Vol. 1, THE SUMMARY CAUSE FOR THE STABILITY AND DOWNFALL OF HUMAN SOCIETIES
Rosmini considers the fundamental criterion
governing the foundation, development and disintegration of every society or
association. He shows how this criterion serves to validate or condemn activity
undertaken by government.
ISBN 1 899093 00 1, A5 pbk, pp. xii+96, £5.95
Vol. 2, SOCIETY AND ITS PURPOSE
An examination of the nature of society,
and of the elements which form civil society. The inviolable rights of the individual,
irrespective of membership of society, are clearly established before whew see
how morality "tempers and reconciles social and extra—social right".
ISBN 1 899093 05 2, A5 pbk, pp. 445, £24.95
Vol. 1, THE ESSENCE OF RIGHT
The essence of right is rooted in the
dignity proper to each human being as "person" —dignity founded
in the objective light of being
ISBN 0 951 3211 7X, A5 pbk, pp. 216, £8.95
Vol. 2, RIGHTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Every person is a source of subsistent
right. The State exists to protect the exercise of rights
ISBN 0 951 3211 88, A5 pbk, pp. 596, £22.95
Vol. 3, UNIVERSAL SOCIAL RIGHT
Rosmini examines rights in persons who
form societies. he subjects the concept and origin of society to acute analysis
ISBN 0 951 3211 96, A5 pbk, pp. xii+144, £10.95
Vol. 4, RIGHTS IN GOD'S CHURCH
Rosmini applies to the Christian church
the universal principles of social right.
ISBN 1 899093 05 2, A5 pbk, pp. 445, £24.95
Vol. 5, RIGHTS IN THE FAMILY
Rosmini examines the nature and rights
inherent in domestic society, which forms the second of the two great societies
structured "for the unification of the human race." He sees sexual
union primarily as an act of the soul in which, through the bodies of husband
and wife, mutual communication of life takes place. Parental society is a natural
consequence of conjugal society. Rosmini treats in detail the various kinds
of relationship which exists between father and mother, and between parents
and children.
ISBN 1 899093 15 X, A5 pbk, pp. xxii+248, £13.95
Vol. 6, RIGHTS IN CIVIL SOCIETY
Rosmini investigates the nature of civil
society and its role in modifying the exercise of rights possessed by its members.
Civil society exists not to create rights for its citizens, nor to deprive them
of their rights, but enable the maximum exercise of the rights of all. Civil
society, including the State as we know it today, has reached the zenith of
its possibilities when its succeeds in encouraging the greatest possible activity
of the rights of its members. Rosmini's views on taxation, penal law, freedom
of the press and public opinion, as well as his outlook on the perfection of
civil society as a reflection of universal brotherhood, are more relevant today
than in his own time. Only justice, together with the proper exercise of human
rights, will enable civil society to move towards its final goal.
ISBN 899093 20 6, A5 pbk, pp. xxii+487, £22.95
Vol 1, ESSENCE OF THE HUMAN SOUL
The first volume of Rosmini's Psychology
sets the context for the whole work. Surprisingly enough to our modern minds,
its subject is the soul without which psychology, as we understand it today,
has no consistency and unity. Rosmini finds within the depth of the self 'a
feeling which, anterior to conscience, constitutes properly speaking the pure
substance of the soul.' Despite Rosmini's overtly metaphysical purpose, therefore,
the source of his work is constituted by real human experience, not by a mental
abstraction. Moreover, the distinction he makes between the existence and knowledge
of the feeling and consciousness of it is a powerful anticipation of modern
psychology.
The properties of the soul according to Rosmini are unity, spirituality and
immortality. Proof of the last two is found in consciousness. The relationship
between soul and body, and the finiteness and infinity of the soul are dealt
with at length. Rosmini also devotes many pages to the simplicity of the soul
which is linked with extremely important questions such as the origin of the
human person. Developments in modern science, particularly in biology, have
accentuated rather than attenuated these problems, which stand in urgent need
of solutions on the basis of principle rather than utility.
Finally the concept of death, another pressing problem in medical-moral science
today, is considered exhaustively, together with further proofs of the immortality
of the soul.
ISBN 1 899093 25 7 A5 pbk, pp. xxiii+392, £12.95.
Vol 2, DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN SOUL
In vol. 2 of his Psychology, Rosmini builds
on the foundations he has laid when describing and examinig the essence of the
soul (vol 1). He now considers the acts, capacities, functions and habits produced
by the soul, and the laws which it follows in its continual activity and operations.
The first step is analytical, the second synthetical; both sections depend on
deduction in so far as they intend to relate the activities of the soul and
the law governing its activity to the essence of the soul itself. They are equally
dependent on accurate and detailed observation as a corrective to faulty deduction.
As a preparation for his analysis, Rosmini deals fully with the great question
of matter and spirit, substance and accident, act and potency, and the nature
of habit before returning his attention to sense, intellect, reason, instinct
and will. His synthesis covers the concept of time, the unity of the human being,
and the ontolgical, cosmological and psychological laws followed by the soul
in its activity.
Morality forms part of Rosmini's view of the development of the human soul.
The objectivity of the light of reason, a fundamental tenet of Rosmini's philosopy
and the basis of any system appreciative of truth, is the core of moral capacity
and the principle ensuring the inviolable dignity of every human being.
Finally, the direct and reflective elements in human life are subject to examination.
Rosmini concludes that the human condition can never be entirely conscious of
self.
ISBN 1 899093 30 3 A5 pbk, pp. xvi+560, £22.95.
Vol 3. LAWS OF ANIMALITY
The third volume of Rosmini's Psychology
was written to clarify the circumstances in which the rational element of human
nature has to act. Although essentially free - because every intellect has its
seat in the infinite - the intelligence marvels at seeing itself surrounded
and impeded in its upward flight by the material element on which it is so dependent.
Moreover, the anilmal part of humanity is mysterious, highly difficult to investigate,
and inexhaustible, especially in relationship to instinct, the active part of
animality. Rosmini divides the animal activity of human nature into two great
instincts, which he calls 'life instinct' and 'sensuous instinct' , and deals
briefly with both before passing to examine the struggles confronting the life
instinct in its fight for survival, and the way in which it prompts the activity
of the senuous instinct. Of particular interest is Rosmini's application of
his work to the medical science of his time, with which he was thoroughly familiar.
Many of his observations about method in medicine are still relevant today,
and could usefully be employed in the development of holistic tendencies with
which he could be wholly in sympathy. Several of his hypotheses, impossible
to verify in his own day, have proved extraordinarily exact. 'Proprio-perception',
for example, has great affinity with Rosmini's 'funamental feeling'. Of particular
interest is his affirmation that illness is an active not a passive condition,
and should be treated accordingly.
ISBN 1 899093 35 4 A5 pbk, pp. x+263, £10.95..
Vol 4. OPINIONS ABOUT THE HUMAN SOUL
This fourth volume of Psychology contains
Rosmini's interpretation of philosphical work on the soul throughout Western
history. His guiding principle takes into account the true and false side found
in all error: what is true springs from our accurate observations of nature;
what is false depends on mistaken observation and our own fantasy. The criterion
is objective: it subjects opinions, include the author's, to reasoning based
on accurate observation. Nevertheless, objectivity is hard to come by in such
a study, as Rosmini himself is the first to admit. Many of the opinions coming
under scrutiny have come down to us only in minute fragments - 'the ruins,'
as he says, 'of long-lost monuments'. In addition, the highly synthetical language
of the fragments often expresses indistinct concepts. In the midst of these
difficulties, Rosmini makes an immense and fruitful effort to enter into the
mind and spirit of the philosphers whose opinions he analyses. In places, Rosmini's
conjectural affirmations about the meaning to be given to ancient philosophy
have been substantiated by more recent work on fragments of ancient authors;
in other places, his opinions have been confirmed or overtaken by new discoveries
of authentic texts. In all cases, but especially with regard to Aristotle and
Empedocles, Rosmini offers errudite, profound and stimulating comments into
the nature of philosophical thought in history.
ISBN 1 899093 40 0 A5 pbk, pp. i+162, £7.95