Abstract
124 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY would seem that this latter notion is, in fact, more consistent with the spirit of Kant's moral theory. As an introduction to Kant's moral theory this short work is valuable and informative . It manages to present a fine condensation of a variety of materials which should certainly stimulate the serious student's curiosity about Kant's detailed analyses of moral value, freedom, the role of practical reason, and the question of universalizability. Despite minor quarrels about what is omitted in Acton's introductory work and despite disagreements of interpretation, his book is useful and, in certain respects, informative. GEORGE J. STAC~ SUNY, Brockport Philosophical Lectures on the Constitution, Duty, and Religion of Man. By Samuel Williams, LL.D. Edited by Merle Curti and William Tillman. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society; New Series, Vol. 60, Part 3. (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1970. Pp. 130. $7.00) This extraordinary composition was buried since 1805 in the vault of the Vermont Historical Society, where it was discovered recently by Merle Curti. He and William Tillman have edited the manuscript and added a biographical sketch of its author, who was a member of the American Philosophical Society. It now appears appropriately and elegantly in the Transactions of this Society. Samuel Williams graduated from Harvard College in 1761, engaged in the study of astronomy, meteorology, and other natural sciences, and in 1772 was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society. From 1780 to 1788 he was Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard. He then became minister of the church at Rutland, Vermont, and also published a newspaper and a magazine. He was unsuccessful in founding a college at Rutland, but became one of the founders of the University of Vermont at Burlington, where these lectures were delivered to the general public in 1805. At this time the New England clergy and the public generally were engaged in two bitter controversies: natural religion versus revealed religion (the Enlightenment versus the Great Awakening), and among the theologians, "Old Lights" versus "New Lights" in highly technical points of doctrine (over infant damnation, etc.). At Harvard and in Boston the conflicts had subsided into the compromise of Channing's Unitarianism, but in Vermont both the extreme rationalists (Ethan Allen) and the Old Light Calvinists were conspicuously active, though the liberal Universalists were gaining in popular favor. Into this heated atmosphere Samuel Williams, Congregational minister and distinguished natural scientist, stepped boldly. The chief themes of the ten lectures were: there should be no conflict between natural religion and Christianity, both of which were grounded in human nature and aimed at being reasonable; and the "metaphysical" quarrelings of the theologians were not essential for a true conception of The System of Grace. The world's Creator had established two wonderful orders for the benefit of man: the natural order of cause and effect, and the natural order of morality and Grace for the liberation of man from the burdens of guilt. Both orders, as universal matters of fact, were miraculous, wonderful creations, both revealed to reasonable men, and both inexplicable as a universal system. Scientific ("philosophical") explanation is based on different types of causes with different effects, discovered by different sciences. This was generally understood among scientists. But it was not generaly known that the natural moral order and the system of grace-through-sacrifice was rooted in the "reli- BOOK REVIEWS 125 gious principle" of human nature. A truly enlightened philosopher should know that among primitive religions, among classical religions, as well as in modern times men had vainly sought to free themselves from the burdens of guilt by elaborate sacrifices, and that God himself had finally revealed the only successful, "natural.... system of grace" through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The power of Christianity to free men from guilt is the real truth, which reasonable men should know. To be "awakened" to the Divine Grace was a sign of genuine enlightenment. However mysterious this power may be, a philosopher or natural scientist in morals should accept this power as revealed, miraculous, and natural. But other reasonable men might not be satisfied unless they could prove that the...
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.