Excerpt from The World's History and Its Makers, Vol. 4 It is the purpose of this volume to sketch briefly the lives and doctrines of those men who have been most eminent in that field of thought which is described generally by the word philosophy. There is some difficulty, when the subject is treated historically, in separating philosophy from science on the one hand, and from theology on the other. For in the early growth and development of human knowledge these three instruments of progress are so intertwined and interdependent, have such closely related causal connections, and are made one, at least functionally, by next which cannot be severed without fatality to all, that we arc perforce required to take account of all when examining each. But while this is without doubt true, it is by no means impossible to follow the stream of speculative thought through the centuries, recognizing its scientific aspects when such aspects are present and not disregarding its theological significance when it seems to disappear in theology. Inasmuch as these sketches shall be biographical mainly, no attempt will be made at an exposition of doctrines in any manner adequate for the purposes of a history of philosophy. That field has been well tilled, if not too well tilled already. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.