Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 45
EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY believed in the choice of advantage. Whatever was to one's advantage, one should have free unrestrained access to it. . But when it came to a clash between egoism and altruism they advised recourse to reason for arbitration between them. . This means that during the pursuit of pleasure when it comes to making a choice between extreme selfishness and selfless sacrifice of one's own interest, reason should arbitrate between the two. A verbose philosophy indeed, meaning nothing in substance. Those given to pleasure would hardly need advice from Bentham, Mill, Sidgwick etc. to stop short at the border of moderation and desist from leaping into the domain of utter selfishness. For them the choice between egoism and altruism would be out of the question. Who would stand in need of arbitration of reason in the area of his sensual desires? A person given to lustful and carnal pleasures needs no counsel. He pursues this course knowing full well the pros and cons of it. . THE UTILITARIANS were followed by a generation of philosophers, who left a deep mark on the history. T of European philosophy. Locke, Berkeley and. Hume known as Empiricists stand at the head of the movement. Many a generation of philosophers was to be influenced by them. Their philosophy can be summed up in the simple statement: one should believe only in the conclusion drawn from experimental observation which is demonstrable. They believed that only pure reason and signs gave birth to ideas which were worthy of acceptance the ideas which could be retried through scientific experimentation with unfailing consistency. A better definition of science cannot be visualized. . Hume was followed by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) who was deeply stirred and influenced by Hume's realistic philosophy. Hence the realism of Kant owes much to the 45