THE FURTHER GROWTH OF SCIENCE 113 



(1724-1804). Descartes, Locke, Hume, and Kant were 

 largely responsible for the replacing of the scholastic system 

 by forms of thought compatible with scientific knowledge. 

 In the course of this change in philosophical theory, the 

 facts of science became permanently established as the 

 starting point in the analysis of objective phenomena; while 

 the critical methods of science were applied by the philoso- 

 pher within the subjective field. Science gave philosophy 

 a suitable point of departure for its speculations concerning 

 ultimate reality, while philosophy extended and gave more 

 concrete form to the methods of science. 



But philosophical theories of reality and of the nature of 

 knowledge are not so obviously important for mankind as 

 the philosophical interpretations of everyday affairs, al- 

 though we may believe that it is the activity of the great 

 philosophical intellects which in the long run stimulates 

 every real advancement. The line of thought which leads 

 through Montaigne, Descartes, Bayle, and Voltaire is more 

 immediately significant in its influence, because the thought 

 of these writers so quickly pervaded the literature of the 

 period. Montaigne (1533-1592) was the first popular repre- 

 sentative of secular and rationalistic thought among the 

 northern races. Skepticism regarding prevailing beliefs, 

 which had developed toward the close of the Italian Renais- 

 sance, is further exemplified by his writings. He " ventured 

 to judge all questions by a secular standard, by the light of 

 common sense, and by the measure of probability which is 

 furnished by daily experience/' 12 In other words, he ac- 

 cepted the method of science. His essays upon the individ- 

 uals and the society of his day emphasized the harmlessness 

 of error in contrast with the evils of persecution, in a man- 

 ner characteristic of the scientific temper. The growing 

 acceptance of this point of view prepared the way for the 

 ideas of Descartes, who recognized doubt as the beginning 

 of wisdom. 



12 Lecky, W. E. H., "History of Rationalism in Europe," Vol. I, p. 112. 



