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It is not our object, in the present work, to offer the facts of philosophy in a form more acceptable to ourselves than the elaborate works now current; much less do we expect to add, at any point, to the fullness of these presentations. Our aim is simply to make, in as brief a compass as possible, a contribution to a clearer understanding of the facts of philosophy in their dependence on each other, and in the conclusions to which they naturally lead. In accomplishing this purpose, we shall have occasion only for a brief statement of the primary features in the different phases that philosophy has assumed, and shall take for granted considerable familiarity with the topics under discussion. If we render any aid, it will be aid in comprehending the facts rather than in securing a more complete knowledge of them. We shall be more interested in the distinctive and extreme positions which writers and schools of philosophy have taken, the peculiar impulses they have felt and imparted, than in the limitations, qualifications, and partial retractions by which they have striven later to restore the balance of thought and to defend themselves against attack. Metaphysics are often derided and avoided as worthless, sporadic products of speculation, because this their inevitableness, both in the efforts after growth and in the errors of growth, is not sufficiently felt. The most comprehensive outlook we can possibly take of the products of the human mind is one in survey of those manifold phases of philosophy by which it has sought to explain the world to itself". (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Interpretation (Philosophy)