Modern Science and Anarchism/Glossary
GLOSSARY.
This Glossary was compiled by a friend for the German edition of "Modern Science and Anarchism," in 1904. I have now revised and extended it for this edition.
Anabaptism, a popular religious movement at the time of the Reformation. This movement was directed against the authority of the Catholic Church, but went much further than that headed by Luther. The Anabaptists preached the full liberty of the individual in religious and moral matters, while in social matters they preached equality and the abolition of private property. They repudiated also all forms of coercion—the oath, the tribunals in the shape of landlords' justice, military service, and all obedience to the Government, which they declared un-Christian. Notice of this movement is usually taken when it began to be prosecuted at Zwickau in 1520. In reality, however, it had its origin in the Wycliff movement of the fourteenth century, and in the movement of the Hussites in Bohemia, at the end of the fourteenth century. Long before Luther had posted his "Theses" on the door of the church of Wittenberg, a movement against the Church, the State, and the Law was brewing among the artisans and the peasants. It represented the left, advanced wing of the Lutheran movement, and in fact gave it its real vigour. During the Great Peasant War (1525), and with the proclamation of the Commune at Leyden by Thomas Münster (1535), the Anabaptists broke out in open rebellion against all established authorities. Both of these rebellions were drowned in blood, thousands of Anabaptists being executed or burned at the stake. Later on, a similar movement was transported by emigrants to England, where it took a much more moderate form. It was also continued in Austria, in Holland, in Russia (through German immigrants), and even in Greenland, taking in all these countries various more or less Communistic forms. (See the German works of Keller, Hase, and Cornelius; and an excellent little English summing-up in Richard Heath's "Anabaptism," 1895.)
Anthropology, a science which studies man: his physical constitution in different climates, his races, his physical development, and the evolution of his institutions and social, moral, and religious conceptions. The institutions and the social, moral, and religious conceptions are, however, often considered as part of Ethnology. By "Anthropological School" we mean those who, in the second half of the nineteenth century, studied the origins and evolution of conceptions and social institutions from the point of view of natural science, without appealing to super natural intuition, and without trying to conceal the gaps in our knowledge by vague and incomprehensible metaphysical words.
Babeuf, François Noël (1764–1797), French Communist, took part in the Revolution, and published a paper, Tribun du Peuple, in which he preached the social revolution. After the fall of the Robespierre party, he organised, with Sylvain Maréchal, Darthé, and several others, a secret Communist society, which inteuded to overthrow the Government and to constitute a Communist Directorate. The conspiracy was betrayed, and the leaders were shot in 1797.
Bacon, Francis (1561–1626), great English philosopher, known as the father of the "inductive" method of scientific research, because he was the first to show that research and discovery will only be able to progress when the human mind has grown accustomed to consider observation and free, methodical, experimental research as the only means to discover natural laws and the true causes of phenomena. Scholastic wisdom, which only juggled with words, had to be given up, and true knowledge be acquired through induction—i.e., through the closest study of the separate phenomena themselves, before generalisations are "induced." This was the fundamental idea of all his work, and this is why Bacon is truly considered as the father of modern science. (See below, "Inductive-Deductive ethod.”)
Bain, Alexander (born 1818), one of the chief English representatives of physiological psychology. His chief works were: "Mind and Body," "The Senses and the Intellect."
Bakunin, Michael (1814–1876), political writer and an indefatigable revolutionist. Took part in all the revolutionary and Socialist movements of his own times, in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Poland. Had a prominent part in the Dresden revolution of 1849. Was condemned after its defeat to lifelong imprisonment, and extradited by the Saxon Government to Austria. After a two years' confinement in an Austrian fortress, where he was chained to the wall, he was surrendered to the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I., who kept him imprisoned in the fortress of St. Petersburg till 1856. Released after the death of Nicholas I., he was banished to Siberia, where he was very well received by the then Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, N. Muravioff-Amursky. Escaping from Vladivostok in 1862, he came to London, and took the liveliest part in the European revolutionary agitation. He soon became a member of the International Working Men's Association, joining the Jura Federation, which, in opposition to the General Council of the International, was the stronghold of the Federalist, anti-Statist, revolutionary, and direct-economic-struggle tendency in the Association. He thus came in conflict with Marx and Engels, who were the leading spirits of the London General Council, and were working then to divert the Association from the direct economic struggle, and to make of it a Parliamentary political party. At the Hague Congress of the International, in 1872, Marx succeeded, with the aid of a fictitious majority, in having the Jura ederation and its leading spirits, Bakunin and James Guillaume, excluded from the International; whereupon the Jura, the Spanish, the Italian, and the East Belgian (Vesdre) Federations broke entirely with the General Council, which was transferred next year to New York, where it died; while the Federations just mentioned, concluding a federative alliance among themselves, and abolishing all central authority, continued the work of the International Working Men’s Association on federalist principles, and up to 1878 held regular yearly Congresses, until this became impossible, owing to Government prosecutions. During this period Bakunin wrote a number of pamphlets in which he developed the principles of Anarchism, the chief of which are: "God and the State," "The State Idea and Anarchism," "Letters to a Frenchman" about the war of 1870–71, "The Knouto-Germanic Empire," etc. An exhaustive biography of Bakunin has been written by Dr. M. Nettlau, in three large volumes; a short abstract of this work has also been published.
Bentham, Jeremy (1748–1832), English political writer, who received French citizenship from the Republican Convention for his work in the reform of legislation. Founder of the English ethical school of "Utilitarianism," which considers the aim of all social organisation to be the attainment of the greatest happiness for the greatest number. J. S. Mill subsequently developed these ideas in his well-known essay, entitled "Utilitarianism."
Bernard, Claude (1813–1878), great French physiologist, widely known for his discoveries in physiology, and especially for his experimental work tending to lay down the bases for a physiological psychology. Chief works: "Lessons in Experimental Physiology," 1855; on toxical substances, 1857; and on the physiology of the nervous system, 1858.
Berthelot, Marcelin (1827–1907), French chemist, opened a new field of research by his wonderful syntheses of organic bodies—that is, by producing in the laboratory, through the combination of chemical elements (oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon), various substances which enter into the composition of living bodies, or are produced by such bodies: hydro-carbons, oils, fats, and so on. All his work was a beautiful illustration of the unity of physical forces, which represents the greatest conquest of science in the course of the nineteenth century, and of that other great conquest, the transformation of mechanical movement into heat. He therefore retained till his death a firm belief in the unlimited power of science to give well-being to mankind, and in his philosophy and in its application to life he remained true to the best traditions of the Encyclopaedists. He published during his lifetime no less than 1,200 scientific memoirs, his chief works being: "Organic Chemistry Based on Synthesis," 1860; "Lectures on the General Methods of Synthesis," 1864; "Lectures on Isomery," 1865 ; "Chemical Synthesis," 1875.
Blanc, Louis (1811–1882), French Socialist and historian. He proved that the misery of the masses was caused by individualism and the commercial and industrial competition which the latter leads to, and he advocated the reconstruction of society upon the basis of solidarity, the first step being the socialisation of the instruments of production. He wanted, therefore, the "Organisation of Labour," the State helping in promoting social workshops. He was thus, with Pecqueur and Vidal, one of the first promoters of Socialism organised by the State. During the Revolution of 1848 he became a member of the Provisional Government and the chairman of a special committee for the re-organisation of production. His chief works are: "Organisation of Labour"; a History of the French Revolution, in eight volumes, written from the Jacobinist (Robespierrist) point of view; a History of Ten Years (1830–1840); etc. After the coup d'état of Napoleon III. he was for many years a refugee in England.
Brehons.—Among all the free stems, Celtic, Saxon, Scandinavian, Slavonian, Finnish, and so on, which did not belong to the Roman Empire, and had no written law during the first centuries of the Christian era, the tradition of the law—that is, the decisions previously taken in different cases by the folkmotes—was kept in memory by special men who usually kept that knowledge either in their families or in special guilds. It was their duty to recite the traditional common law during the popular festivals which were kept in connection with the great folkmotes of large portions of the federated stems, and for that purpose the law was often put in the shape of verses, or triads, to facilitate memory. This habit is still widely in use in many parts of Western Asia. In Ireland, the keepers of the law were known as the Brehons, and they combined this function with sacerdotal functions. The collection of the Irish common law, compiled in the middle of the fifth century, and known as the Senchus Mor ("Great Antiquity"), is one of the most remarkable documents among the many similar collections of unwritten common law dating from that period. Modern historians continually represent Brehons and similar reciters of the law as law-makers; but this was not the case. The law-makers were the folkmotes—the Brehons, the Knyazes of the Slavonians, etc., being only the keepers of law in its old forms.
Büchner, Ludwig (1824–1899), German naturalist and philosopher, especially renowned for his work "Force and Matter," which represented an attempt to give, on the basis of modern knowledge in natural science, and in a perfectly popular and accessible form, the substance of an atomist-materialistic comprehension of the Universe. Hundreds of thousands of copies of this work were circulated in Germany, France, and Russia. He also wrote a work "Love" (describing sociability and sympathetic instincts in animals); "Man and his Position in Nature" (also very widely read in Germany and France), a popular exposition of Darwinism; "Love and Love Relations in the Animal World," 1885; "Last Words on Materialism," London, 1901; etc. By all these works he has powerfully contributed to the diffusion of a materialistic—i.e., dynamic—comprehension of Nature.
Buffon, Georges (1707–1788), great French naturalist. Made the first attempt to construct a full system of Nature and to give a full description of the animal world on the bases of comparative anatomy. One of the chief services he has rendered was that, notwithstanding a severe opposition and the menaces of the Church, he put an end to the intervention of theology in questions of natural science. Chief work: "Natural History."
Buonarroti, Filippo (1761–1837), Italian lawyer. Was influenced by the ideas of Rousseau, and was expelled from Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia, for propagating revolutionary ideas. Came to Paris during the Great Revolution, and joined Babeuf for the propaganda of revolutionary Communism. Was involved in the Babeuf conspiracy in 1795, and wrote a description of it, "The Conspiracy of Babeuf." Later on was the chief inspirer of the secret Communist societies in France and Italy in the "twenties" and "thirties" of the nineteenth century.
Byelaeff (1810–1873), a Russian historian and student of old Russian law; has told better than any other historian, in four small volumes ("Tales from Russian History"), the inner life of the mediæval republics of Novgorod and Pskov. Has also written an excellent history of the Russian Peasantry and a work on Russian annals.
Cabet, Etienne (1788–1856), French Communist, who developed his ideas in his journal, Le Populaire; and published in 1842 his chief work, "A Journey to Icaria," in which he developed in full his theory of authoritarian State Communism. This work was widely read and went through many editions, that of 1856 containing an analysis of the predecessors of Cabet, including those of the French Revolution. In 1848 he attempted to put his ideas into practice in Texas, and later on in the State of Illinois, but failed. Still, the colony, "Young Icaria," continued to exist in the "eighties" of last century.
Clausius, Rudolf (1822–1888), German physicist, renowned for his studies on optics, electricity, and especially the mechanical theory of heat, of which he established one of the fundamental laws.
Comte, Auguste (1793–1857), the founder of Positivism. His "Course of Positive Philosophy" is an attempt at working out a synthetic philosophy of all human knowledge on a purely scientific foundation. Positive philosophy meant, in Comte's conception, the following:—He established that all human knowledge began first as theological conceptions (for instance, man considers thunder as an expression of discontent of a divinity, and he explains all facts of Nature as acts of the will of various gods). Then man goes over to the metaphysical phase, and explains all acts of Nature by some abstract forces ("vital force," "soul of Nature," etc.); and finally he reaches the positive phase when he gives up the research of "final causes" and "substances," and tries only to find out the laws of the phenomena which should merely express the relation between them and their succession. In his second work "Positive Politics," Comte, however—contrary to the very essence of his philosophy—endeavoured to lay the foundation of a religion, of which the divinity was "Humanity." The Positive philosophy of Comte exercised a deep influence upon all the science and philosophy of the second half of the nineteenth century.
Considérant, Victor (1802–1893), French Socialist writer, follower of Fourier, whose work he continued. Edited La Phalange in 1837, and La Démocratie Pacifique in 1845. Tried later on to found a phalanstère in Texas. Developed the ideas of Fourier in a series of works of great value, of which the chief are: "Social Destiny," 1834; "Theory of Natural and Attractive Education," 1835; "Principles of Socialism: Manifesto of the Pacific Democracy," published in 1843, prosecuted, and published in a second edition in 1847—its economical principles, as shown by W. Tcherkesoff, represent the substance of those of the "Communist Manifesto" of Marx and Engels; "Socialism Before the Old World," 1848, an excellent review of the different schools of Socialism.
Darwin, Charles (1809–1882), the most renowned naturalist of our own times. Science owes to him that he proved the variability of the species of plants and animals by such a rich mass of facts that the whole science of organic beings (Biology) felt the effect of his work. Buffon and Lamarck in 1801–9 had already maintained the variability of species and the descent of all species of plants and animals from some common ancestors. Darwin worked out this hypothesis on a scientific basis, and endeavoured to show that, given the immense number of individual variations which continually appear in every species, natural selection in the struggle for life (or the survival of the fittest) would be quite sufficient to explain the gradual development of all the existing species of plants and animals, including man, and to account for the wonderful accommodation of most of them to their surroundings from the action alone of natural causes, without the intervention of a guiding power. His theories were admirably explained in a very simple form by Huxley ("Lectures to Working Men"). His two chief works are "Origin of Species," 1859, and "Descent of Man," 1871.
Diderot, Denis (1713–1784), French philosopher. After having been prosecuted for his "Philosophical Thoughts," 1746, and imprisoned for his "Letters on the Blind," 1749, he conceived and realised the idea of the "General Encyclopaedia," an immense work for that epoch, which he succeeded in bringing to an end in twenty-two years (1751–1772), with the collaboration of D'Alembert, Holbach, and all the best thinkers and men of science of the time—notwithstanding the intrigues directed against him by both the clergy and the civil authorities.
Encyclopaedists.—This is tho name given to the founders of, the contributors to, and the publishers of the great French "Encyclopaedia" (1751). The most prominent among them were D'Alembert and Diderot. This work was of immense importance for the philosophical development of Europe, because not only was it an endeavour to give the whole of the knowledge of the day in Mathematics, Natural Sciences, History, Art and Literature, all treated in an impartial way; but it also was the organ of all the thinkers of that time for the advanced, irreligious, rationalist thought of France in the eighteenth century. The name of Encyclopaedists is also extended to all those who shared their ideas.
Fechner, Gustav (1801–1887), German physiologist and philosopher. Although a metaphysician and a follower of Schelling, he began to work out physical psychology on a purely experimental ground. Matter and Mind are for him of the same nature, and only represent for the human understanding two different views of the same phenomena. Their laws are the same. His "Elements of Psycho-Physics," an epoch-making work, appeared in 1860.
Fourier, François Marie Charles (1772–1837), French Socialist writer; with Robert Owen and Saint Simon, one of the three chief founders of modern Socialism. The chief idea of his theory was: A full development of human nature, free of all artificial fetters, is the absolutely necessary condition for the attainment of happiness and virtue in society, while misery and crime are the consequences of the unnatural constraint which present society imposes upon man, even for permitting him to work in order to satisfy his needs. The necessity of a reconstruction of society on the basis of intelligent association follows from these principles. Chief works: "Traité des Quatre Mouvements," 1808; "Le Nouveau Monde Industriel," 1829. An important school of Socialism, which included among its advocates Considérant, Leroux, and many others, was developed by his pupils. For information concerning them, see Kirkup's "History of Socialism."
Godwin, William (1756–1836), English political writer. His principal work was "An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness" (2 vols., London, 1793), in which he was the first to expound the ideas of Anarchist Communism. By "political" justice he understands the realisation of the principles of morality and truth in the life of the community. He shows in his work that a Government, by the mere fact of its existence—by its very nature—stands in the way of the development of moral habits; so also private ownership; and he foresees the time when each one, free from coercion and acting in accordance with his own free will, will act for the good of the community—all being led in their actions by the principles of pure reason. Having been very nearly involved in a prosecution with his friends, accused of Jacobinism and Republicanism, Godwin left out of the second edition of his work on Political Justice all that he had written in a Communist sense in the first edition.
Grove, William Robert (1811–1896), an English physicist; wrote in 1842 a most remarkable memoir, and in 1856 a book, on the unity of the physical forces, in which he proved that sound, heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and chemical action are not separate "substances" or "entities," as they had been described till then, but are merely different forms of vibrations of the molecules of which all physical bodies are made up. All these different forms of vibrations (formerly called forces) can be transformed into one another; and all of them are but different modes of mechanical movement. A mechanical mass-movement, such as the fall of a hammer on the anvil, or the rotation of the wheels of a train when a brake is applied, can produce all these modes of movement: sound, heat, light, electricity, and magnetism. And vice versâ, all these kinds of molecular movement—sound, heat, light, electricity, magnetism and chemical action—can be transformed into one another (heat—into light, or electricity, etc.), or into mass-movements of physical bodies, as we see in our steam engines and electrical railways. Grove also had the courage to ask the question whether universal gravitation is not a mere resultant of all these molecular vibrations going on all over the universe.
Haeckel, Ernst (born 1834), German biologist and philosopher. He was one of the first and one of the most enthusiastic followers of Darwin, and soon after the appearance of "Origin of Species" he published (in 1866) a most remarkable work, "General Morphology," followed by the "Natural History of Creation," in which he made the first attempt to find out the different stages of evolution from the simplest organisms up to man. In his later years he wrote two works, widely circulated now, "Monism as a Link between Religion and Science" and "The Riddle of the Universe," in which he cast aside the religious dualism which opposes the heavens to the earth, the soul to the body and so on; but instead of coming to a purely dynamic conception of the universe, might have been expected from his previous works, he came to the metaphysical (Hegelian) conception of the "Spirit" being an emanation of "Matter."
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm (1770–1831), a German philosopher, whose ideas exercised in Germany a very deep influence on the thought of the nineteenth century during the period of reaction after the defeat of Great French Revolution. His philosophical system divides itself into three cycles of thought. The first is Logic—the science of the "Idea in itself" (Idee an sick). In the second part, the Philosophy of Nature, the Idea is treated in its "being," as something that has taken the form of its contradiction—i.e., of Nature and its beings and phenomena And in the third part, the Philosophy of the Mind, the process is described by which the Idea, which in Logic was the "Idea in itself," and in Nature the "Idea out of itself" (Idee äusser sich), now appears as "The Mind"—as the "Idea in and for itself" (Idee an und für sich). These three forms of the Idea are known as the thesis, the antithesis, and the synthesis. The evil which this philosophy has done in driving scientific research out of the sound ways it had opened by the end of the eighteenth century, and giving a new authority both to the Biblical interpretation of Nature and to the reign of sweeping generalisations based upon the use of metaphysical "words" having a vague and floating sense—can be best appreciated when we see how all the discoveries which were already prepared by the end of the eighteenth century were delayed in appearing for half a century; and also when we see the influence of this philosophy in political matters—the Hegelians maintaining that "all that exists is reasonable," and thus excusing the worst forms of political and religious reaction.
Helmholtz, Hermann-Ludwig (1821–1894), a great German physiologist and physicist. Has done very much for developing and spreading the mechanical comprehension of all physiological activity, and the idea of the unity of physical forces.
Herzen, Alexander (1812–1870), Russian political writer. After having been interned in an eastern province, left Russia and went to Italy and France, where he was friendly with all the advanced Socialists and Radicals. After the defeat of the Revolution of 1848, aided Proudhon in starting the newspaper Le Peuple. Expelled from France, went to England, where he founded the first "Free Russian Press," and at the end of the "fifties" began to publish a Russian paper, Kólokol (The Bell), in collaboration with his great friend Ogareff and Turguéneff, and later on with Bakunin. This paper, in which Herzen (in an admirable style) energetically fought for the abolition of serfdom and laid bare all the horrors of the absolute power, won a great reputation and had a great influence in Russia at the time of the liberation of the serfs. In 1863, when the Polish uprising began, Herzen and Bakunin warmly took up its defence. With the return of reaction the same year, the Kólokol's influence came to an end. On account of his wide knowledge of history and his philosophical training, Herzen was one of the best political writers of his time in Europe; and his "Letters from France and Italy" and "From the Other Bank" ("De l'autre rive"), written after the defeat of the movements of 1848, are real works of art, apart from their political meaning; the same applies to his autobiography, "Past and Thoughts."
Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679), one of the most original of English political writers and philosophers. His chief works were: "Leviathan," "De Cive," "De Corpore Politico." Right, he maintained, is force: there is nothing that would be right or wrong in itself. He considered the savages as creatures continually struggling with each other, and saw in the fear that men had of each other, and in the necessity of getting out of the misery of their primitive conditions, the chief cause of the origin of the State. Consequently, he was a fierce champion of the absolute power of kings, who had, according to his assertions, established peace among the wild stems, and thus allowed them to reach better conditions. On the other hand, he was a resolute enemy of the Church as a political power. He was the first to formulate an absolutely irreligious, materialistic conception of the Universe.
Holbach, Paul (1723–1789), French philosopher, one of the Encyclopaedists, who worked to establish a comprehensible system of knowledge of Nature and man upon a decidedly materialist basis. He did it in his principal work, "Système de la Nature." In his other works, "La Morale Universelle" and "La Politique Naturelle," he demonstrated that religion is not only useless, but is noxious for public morality and the happiness of the people.
Hutcheson, Francis (1694–1747), one of the chief representatives of the so-called Scotch philosophical school, which based its system of ethics on the principle of mutual sympathy. He endeavoured to prove that although we divide the motives by which our will is affected into egoistic and altruistic motives, nevertheless we approve only the latter and the actions inspired by them. This is the consequence of a "moral sense" with which Nature has endowed us. He developed these ideas in his works: "Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue," "Essay on Nature," and "Conduct of Passions and Affections."
Huxley, Thomas (1825–1895), English biologist, especially known for the gallant defence he made of Darwin's theory of evolution, at a time when Darwin was wildly assailed on all sides. Chief works: "Man's Place in Nature" (1863) and "Comparative Anatomy."
Inductive-Deductive Method—the method of modern science. It consists of the following:—(1) By observation and experiment we try to gain a knowledge of the phenomena which we propose to study. (2) We discuss the accumulated facts, and see if they do not lead (Latin, inducere) to some generalisation, or to some hypothesis which would link together the mass of facts (e.g., the hypothesis which Laplace made to explain the facts offered by the structure of our solar system; or Darwin's hypothesis of descent, by evolution from a common stock, of all the plants and animal species which exist or have existed in past geological periods on the earth). (3) Then we deduce conclusions from this hypothesis (we make deductions), leading us to foresee new facts; and these conclusions must prove to be correct, if the induction—the generalisation—was correct. (4) We compare our deductions with the facts already accumulated (§ 1). If necessary, new observations and experiments are made, in order to ascertain whether our hypothesis is in accordance with reality, and the hypothesis is either rejected or modified, until we find one which agrees with the present state of our knowledge. A hypothesis becomes a theory only after such a verification has been made; and it may be considered as a natural law only after it has stood the above test, and the cause, the reason of the hypothesis, has been discovered. Thus we describe Newton's induction of universal gravitation as a proved theory, because it has been confirmed by an enormous mass of facts, many of which seemed to be contradictory at first sight. And although we often speak also of the law of gravitation, this way of speaking is not quite correct, as the cause of this universal fact of gravitation is not yet discovered : it is only foreseen.
Jacobins, or Jacobinists, name given to the members of a club, consisting of middle-class Radicals, which played a prominent part in the Great French Revolution of 1789–1794. It contained in its midst most of the prominent Republican revolutionists, and was very much under the influence of Robespierre. It courageously fought against the royal power; but after that fell, it also struggled against the Club of the Cordeliers, to which belonged Danton, Hébert, and the most influential members of the Commune of Paris. During the period of the Terror, the Jacobin Club became a sort of Grand Jury of accusation. After the fall of Robespierre and his party, in July, 1794, it was closed. The word "Jacobinist" is now used to describe the advocates of a powerful, centralised revolutionary Government.
Joule, James Prescott (1818–1889). English physicist; determined the mechanical equivalent of heat. (See note on that subject.)
Kant, Immanuel (1724–1804), German philosopher, whose philosophy exercised the deepest influence in the nineteenth century. In his earlier works he devoted himself chiefly to natural science, and almost at the same time as Laplace he formulated a hypothesis, quite similar to that of Laplace, of the origin of our solar system from a cooling mass of incandescent gases. His principal work, however, was his "Critique of Pure Reason." There are, according to him, two different worlds: (1) the world of physical phenomena, which we can know in space and time, but which, in accordance with his philosophy of critical, transcendental idealism, are mere phenomena having no reality in themselves; and (2) the world of inborn ideas, "the things in themselves" (Dinge an sich), which we can know in time, but not in space. The enigma of a world of "things in themselves" existing behind the phenomena, he tried to solve through the moral philosophy ("Critique of Practical Reason"). In this second great work he endeavoured to prove that Reason possesses the property of dictating to itself its own laws, and that it is the duty of the moral man to follow these prescriptions of his reason—"the categorical imperative." Upon the idea of the moral conscience he based the ideas of God, Immortality, and Liberty. In his philosophy of Law he developed the idea that an absolute respect for moral liberty had to be the foundation of all society and State-life, and in the realisation of this ideal of liberty he saw the future aim of all historical development.
Kostomaroff, Nicholas (1817–1885), a brilliant Russian historian, the founder of the Federalist school in the study of Russian history.
Lamarck, Jean Baptiste (1744–1829), French naturalist. He made an attempt at giving a complete classification of both the animals and plants. Having constructed a complete system, which was based on the variability of the animal and vegetable species ("Philosophie Zoologique"), he must be considered as the chief forerunner of Darwin. He explained the variation of organisms by their capacity to accommodate themselves to their surroundings, as also by their use or disuse of their different organs—an idea which was bitterly combatted by Cuvier.
Laplace, Pierre (1749–1827), one of the greatest astronomers and mathematicians of all ages. His chief works are: "Exposition of a System of the Universe," in which he explained the probable, purely physical origin of our solar system out of a mass of incandescent gaseous matter; and "Treatise of Celestial Mechanics." He solved all problems of astronomy purely by a physical analysis.
Lavoisier, Antoine (1743–1794), great French founder of chemistry. Was the first to decompose water into its component elements, oxygen and hydrogen. Studied the theory of burning, of heat, and of fermentation. Was the first to prove the indestructibility of matter by experiment. Chief work: "Traité élémentaire de Chimie" (1789).
Lewes, George Henry (1817–1878), English physiologist and philosopher, who treated the problems of mind on a physiological basis, and was possessed of an admirable gift for popular exposition of scientific matter. Chief works: "Problems of Life and Mind" (which includes a volume given to "The Physical Basis of Mind"), "History of Philosophy," and "Physiology of Common Life."
Littré, Maximilien Emile (1801–1881), French philosopher and philologist. Was a warm follower of Auguste Comte’s Positive philosophy, and did much to popularise it. Compiled the great monumental dictionary of the French language.
Lomonósoff, Mikhail (1711–1765), Russian writer in most varied branches. Author of odes, a Russian grammar, works of history, and several important works on physics, mineralogy, chemistry, and physical geography. In one of these last (on the Arctic regions) he expressed very definitely the mechanical theory of heat.
Lyell, Charles (1797–1875), renowned English geologist. His great work, "Principles of Geology," which has gone through many editions, was epoch-making, as it established beyond doubt, contrarily to the theories then current, the slow and gradual modifications of the earth's surface, through the accumulation of agencies now at work. He thus prepared the mind to accept the theory of evolution, advocated later on by Darwin. His work, "Antiquity of Man," published in 1863, established the great antiquity of the first human-like beings, and the fact of a Quaternary Glacial Period.
Maine, Henry (1822–1888), English student of common law, ancient and modern, and the author of a remarkable work on the early village community. Chief works: "Village Communities in the East and West," and "Lectures on the Early History of Institutions.”
Marx, Karl (1818–1883), founder of the Social Democratic school of Socialism. Having left Germany as a political refugee, settled first in Paris, where he published, with Ruge, a Radical paper in German. Expelled from France in 1844, and from Belgium in 1848, he settled in London, where he was, in 1864, one of the chief founders of the International Working Men’s Association, and the intellectual leader of the General Council of the Association. Chief works: "The Misery of Philosophy" (1847)—a reply to Proudhon's "Philosophy of Misery" ("Economical Contradictions"); "Communist Manifesto" (1848), (about its origin, see W. Tcherkesoff's "Pages of Socialist History," 1896, and Professor Andler's "Historical Introduction" to it, in French, 1901); and especially his principal work, "Capital," of which the first (chief) volume appeared in 1867, containing a remarkable analysis of the genesis of capital, and became the foundation of the economical ideas of Social Democracy. Two more volumes of "Capital"—the last being a posthumous work—appeared later on.
Maurer, Georg Ludwig (1796–1872), a German historian, who has put on a scientific basis the study of the old village community. Chief work: "Einleitung zur Geschichte der Mark-, Hof-, Dorf-fund Stadt-Verfassung."
Mechanical Theory of Heat, one of the greatest acquisitions of modern science. It consists in its being now proved that all the phenomena winch we describe as heat phenomena (the heating of a body, its cooling, its melting, its boiling, the transformation of a liquid into a gaseous state, etc.) are the results of vibrations of the molecules of physical bodies. When the sum of these vibrational movements (invisible to the eye) which are going on in, let us say, a piece of iron, increases, the temperature of that piece of iron increases also. And vice versâ. Heat is thus a mood of motion. This is why we can produce heat by friction. The mass-movement of a train which is brought to a state of rest by powerful brakes, is spent in the friction of the wheels of the train upon the rails, and there it appears as heat in the heated rails and as sparks thrown from under the wheels. The quantity of mechanical force which is required to heat one pound of water by so many degrees can be measured; it has been measured with great accuracy; and this quantity is known as "the mechanical equivalent of heat." The mechanical theory of heat was foreseen, and even partly expressed, in the eighteenth century. Later on, in the "twenties" of the nineteenth century, it was expressed by Séguin senior, who had already made the necessary measurements. Rudolf Meyer, a German doctor, was the first to formulate it, in 1845, in a comprehensible and correct form; but he was not listened to. Joule was the first to measure with accuracy the mechanical equivalent of heat (in 1856). Since 1860, the mechanical theory of heat has been considered as one of the greatest conquests af science in the nineteenth century. Its applications both in science and industry are countless.
Mendéléeff, Dmitri (1834–1907), a remarkable Russian chemist, best known for his discovery of the "Periodic Law of Elements." It is known that all the bodies which we find on the earth’s surface, whether living or dead matter, are composed of some eighty or ninety different bodies, which cannot be decomposed, and therefore are named elements. These enter among themselves into an infinite number of combinations. The elements, Mendéléeff discovered, if we write them down in the order of the increasing complexity of their molecules, can be disposed in a table containing eight vertical columns and twelve horizontal lines. If such a table is made, it appears that all the elements placed in each column will have some chemical properties in common; so also all the elements inscribed in each horizontal row—the energy of the chemical properties increasing in each row as you go from Column 1 to Column 8. This suggests the idea (1) that the molecule of each element is probably a complex system of still smaller molecules (or rather atoms) in continual movement round each other—like the planets Jupiter or Saturn, with their several moons; and (2) that in the structure of these systems there is a certain periodicity, i.e., a repetition of some scheme of structure. This discovery has immensely helped the development of chemistry. His conception of the cosmical ether as matter, the atoms of which are in vibrations so rapid that they cannot be fixed and kept in more or less permanent chemical combinations, though yet less known, is equally important.
Mill, John Stuart (1806–1873), famous English economist and philosopher. One of the most eminent representatives of "empiricism," i.e., of research based on observation. In his "System of Logic" he has admirably developed the theory of the inductive method. Author of "Principles of Political Economy," "Essay on Liberty," and "Representative Government."
Moleschott, Jacob (1822–1893), a materialist physiologist of Dutch origin. Wrote, in German, many works to popularise materialist philosophy; one of them, "The Cycle of Life" ("Kreislauf des Lebens"), had a wide renown.
Owen, Robert (1771–1858), with Fourier and Saint-Simon one of the three great founders of modern Socialism—especially of associated Trade Unionism and federated Co-operation. Exercised a deep influence upon his contemporaries in England, both among the working men and the intellectuals, inspiring both with higher ideals of equality, freedom, and justice. The severe prosecutions which were begun against his followers in 1831, after he had started the great Union of all trades—which was intended to combine the workers of all the civilised countries, and was thus a precursor of the International Working Men’s Association—compelled Owen and his associates to limit their activities to peaceful Co-operation and moderate Trade Unionism. His principal works were: "Outline of a Rational System," "The Book of the New Moral World," and "Revolution in the Mind and Practice of the Human Race"; but he issued countless smaller writings and papers, and created quite a school of English Socialists, unfortunately forgotten now.
Proudhon, Pierre (1809–1865), French Socialist, the most powerful critic of the capitalist system and the State, as well as the authoritarian systems of Communism and Socialism. About his own system of Mutualism, see the text of this book. Chief works: "What is Property?" "System of Economic Contradictions"; "Confessions of a Revolutionist"; "General Idea about the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century"; "On the Political Capacity of the Working Class"; etc.
Ricardo, David (1772–1823), an English economist of the school considered as "classical" by the Universities. He fully developed, after Adam Smith, the theory that the amount of necessary labour is the standard and measure of the exchange value of all marketable goods; and also a theory of ground rent, to which the Universities attribute a scientific value. His chief work was "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" (1817).
Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712–1778), French philosoper. A forerunner of the Great Revolution, whose writings, together with those of Mably, greatly influenced most of those who stood foremost in the Revolution, especially in its Jacobinist wing. He preached the return to a simple and natural life, equality, democratic and republican institutions, and a sound education embodying a knowledge of both science and manual work; and he endeavoured to lay the foundations of a natural religion which might supersede Church Christianity. He has had an ardent follower in Leo Tolstoy. Chief works: "On the Origin of Inequality among Men," "Le Contrat Social," "Emile," "Le Vicaire Savoyard," "The New Heloise," and "Mes Confessions."
Saint-Simon (1760–1825), with Fourier and Robert Owen one of the three great founders of nineteenth-century Socialism. He endeavoured to base his conclusions upon a solid study of the economic relations, such as they exist in society, and upon the laws of their development; and through that his teachings—"Saint-Simonism"—found a great number of followers, and inspired a great number of the best thinkers (Auguste Comte), historians (Augustin Thierry), economists (Sismondi), and industrial philanthropists of the nineteenth century. His practical conclusions were leading him to an association of Capital and Labour. All the leading theoretical principles of so-called "Scientific Socialism," or "Marxism," are but a further development of the theoretical ideas advocated by the Saint-Simonists.
Schelling, Friedrich (1775–1854), a German philosopher of the period of reaction. Attempted to build up a system which would embody all Nature; but, partly from want of a knowledge of natural science, and partly from preconceived ideas, stranded in metaphysics.
Séguin, Marc (1786-1875), French engineer. Was the first to measure the mechanical equivalent of heat.
Shaman is the name given to sorcerers by the different populations of Northern Asia. They are supposed to deal with the dark forces of Nature. By their incantations and dances they are supposed to conjure illness and all sorts of misfortunes.
Smith, Adam (1723–1790), English economist and philosopher; founder of Political Economy as a science based on observation and on the inductive methods, which he developed in his classical work, "The Wealth of Nations." In that work he considered wealth as the product of labour, and criticised the many obstacles which Governments at that time put in the way of the growth of industry and commerce—thus becoming the founder of the so-called "Liberal school" of Political Economy. In a far less known, very much boycotted, and yet very deep work, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," he wrote a full theory of Ethics based on the common observations of mutual sympathy.
Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903), English philosopher who developed a full system of synthetic philosophy on a materialistic basis, embodied in the following works: "First Principles," "Principles of Biology," "Principles of Psychology," "Principles of Sociology," "Ethics." Also "The Man versus the State"; an excellent little work on Education; a polemics against Weismann upon the direct action of surroundings and natural selection; and so on. In his "Principles of Biology" he developed a full theory of evolution, based chiefly on the lines of Lamarck's "Transformism," i.e., on the direct action of the surroundings modifying the organisms in the sense of adaptation to their surroundings ("direct adaptation"),—natural selection ("the indirect adaptation") only coming in to aid the preservation of the best adapted ("survival of the fittest"), and to give stability to the acquired adaptation.
Thierry, Augustin (1795–1856), a renowned French historian, who combined an admirable descriptive talent with a deep study and comprehension of the primitive institutions of the so-called "barbarian" period. His "Letters on the History of France" give the best key to a comprehension of this period, and of the subsequent period of independent city-republics in France. He also wrote a history of the Norman Conquest of England.
Vogt, Karl (1817–1895), Swiss naturalist and politician, professor of geology and zoology. Took part in the Revolution of 1848 in Germany. Author of several purely scientific works, and an excellent populariser. Materialist and follower of Darwin after the appearance of "Origin of Species." His little work, "A Pitman's Faith and Science" ("Köhlerglaube und Wissenschaft") exercised a great influence during the natural science revival of 1856–62. Other works: "Zoological Letters," "Old and New from the Life of Animals and Men," "Lectures on Man,"—probably none of them translated into English.
Wallace, Alfred Russel (born 1822), English naturalist, who, contemporaneously with Darwin, in 1857, developed the theory of evolution of species through natural selection in the struggle for life. His work, "Darwinism," is an admirable exposition of the subject, popularly written and thoroughly scientific. In his youth he came under the influence of Robert Owen's teachings, and is still in favour of land nationalisation.