MODERN PHILOSOPHY Transition.—Subordination to authority was the chief char acteristic of mediaeval thought. It took many generations and diverse influences to break the power of ecclesiastical authority, and to secure autonomy for philosophy. No doubt authority was a guide as well as a task-master, a support as well as a rod, during the adolescence of mediaeval thought. Greek thought did not allow itself to be shackled by tradition or by authority. On the other hand, a great deal of the thought of Christendom, even in the "modern" period, can hardly claim to be free from the marked influence of Christian tradition and authority. So it would be a mistake, on the whole, to think of ecclesiastical authority in the middle ages as a tyranny imposed entirely from outside. But thought had to come of age sooner or later. And many influences helped it towards maturity. When Constantinople was threatened by the Turks, the Greek scholars there fled to Italy carrying their classical treasures with them. One of them, Pletho persuaded Cosimo de Medici to found a Platonic Academy in Florence. With the co-operation of Marsilius Ficinus Pico de Mirandola and others, Pla tonic and Neo-Platonic philosophy made headway against Aris totelianism on which Scholasticism was based. Writers like Lorenzo Voila (1408-1457) attacked Scholasticism for its sins against literary form, and its interest in words instead of things. Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464) showed pantheistic and scientific leanings, and believed not only in the spherical form of the earth, but also in its rotation about its axis.
Paracelsus 0493-1540 and von Helmont (1577-1644) de nounced "authority" and mere book learning in the study of natural phenomena; although their own methods had little to commend them. Telesio (1508-1588) founded an academy at Naples to promote the study of nature on scientific lines. He embraced the ethics of the Stoics, and introduced the conception of a self-preserving impulse somewhat like that formulated subse quently by Spinoza. Very important in many ways, during this period of transition, was Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), whose martyrdom marked the first open breach with the Church. He
was at once pantheist and atomist, and gave currency to the con ception of "monads" of varying grades with God as "the monad of monads." Some of his ideas reappeared later in Spinoza, Leibniz and Schelling. Montaigne (1533-1592) and Sanchez (1562-1632) attacked dogmatism with the weapons of scepticism, and pleaded the cause of toleration. But most important of all was the progress of science and the growth of the scientific spirit through the achievements of Copernicus (1473-1543), Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo (1564-1642) and Newton V esalius (1514-1564), Fabricius (1537-1619), and Harvey (1578 1667) ; Gilbert (154o-1603), Boyle (1627-1691) and Huygens (1629-1695).
Modern philosophy owes little or nothing to the Reformation. The Reformers (Luther, Calvin and Zwingli) were as intolerant as possible. Luther denounced reason as the mistress of the devil, and Calvin committed Servetus to the flames, in 1553, with as much Christian charity as the Inquisition showed to Bruno in 160o. All that can be said is that the dissensions be tween the Churches indirectly stimulated a certain amount of independent thought among thoughtful people, and so reinforced a similar tendency encouraged by the mystical movement which, though it only produced few geniuses like Eckhard (126o-1327) and Bohme (1575-1624), had never entirely ceased in Christen dom. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) must also be mentioned here. He described himself as the herald of modern thought, and per haps rightly so. He showed rather less originality than his name sake Roger Bacon, who preceded him by three centuries. But he summed up very effectively all the grievances against Scholas ticism. The place of honour as father of the new philosophy is usually given to Descartes. Many of his contemporaries certainly regarded Descartes as the founder of a new philosophy. So one may as well date modern philosophy from Descartes.