The Search For Ultimate Causes Requires Openness to Truth - Prefatory Remarks to "Being and Some Philosophers" by Etienne Gilson

By Stephen Alexander Beach

(477 Words) 

Preface to Being and Some Philosophers

In Gilson's preface to this work he begins by referring to William James, the Pragmatist, who offers a brief quote talking about the nature of philosophy (though Pragmatists don't really do this usually, Gilson points out). Philosophy, James points out, is a refence to ultimate causes and explanations of the universe. It is the worldview we put together with ultimate explanations, even if those are somewhat foggy notions. Here’s two quotes from James which are beautifully put. “The principles of explanation that underlie all things without exception, the elements common to gods and men and animals and stones, the first whence and the last wither of the whole cosmic procession, the conditions of all knowing, and the most general rules of human action - these furnish he problems commonly deemed philosophic par excellence …” 

“This means that explanation of the universe at large, not description of its details, is what philosophy must aim at; and so it happens that a view of anything is termed philosophic just in proportion as it is broad and connected with other views, and as it uses principles not proximate, or intermediate, but ultimate and all-embracing, to justify itself. Any very sweeping view of the world is a philosophy in this sense, even though it may be a vague one. It is a Weltanschauung and intellectualized attitude towards life.” 1 

Gilson then reflects on the current state of philosophy in professional circles in his time. He mentions that anyone who claims to have certainty of truth is looked down upon as being stuck up and to be avoided. While this is bad, it is also bad as a philosopher to be so certain of one's philosophy that one does not recognize that it is inherently incomplete, as all philosophical formulations are incomplete in relationship with the whole truth. And so the most fundamental principle for a philosopher is to be an openness to knowing. "The principle of principles is that a philosopher should always put first in his mind what is actually first in reality. What is first in reality need not be what is the most easily accessible to human understanding; it is that whose presence or absence entails the presence or absence of all the rest in reality." 2 

Gilson points out that this book, though it deals with a lot of philosophers and their ideas, is only looking at them from a particular aspect related to metaphysics and being, and so will be leaving out many thing. Thus do not consider it a history of philosophy. Similarly, philosophy is not the same as the history of philosophy. Rather, this book is about what exists, and though it may be using historical insights, it is aiming at reality as it is still here and now. "It is and it can be nothing else than an invitation to look and see." 3

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1 - Gilson, Etienne. Being and Some Philosophers. (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1952). vii

2 - ix

3 - x