Depending on the definition of the word, monism has been around for some time. If we define monism as the theory that all spirit and matter are united in a single original substance, we are reminded of Spinoza and even of Eastern thought. The heritage of monism, then, lies deep in the past. Still, monism is most commonly encountered as a phenomenon of the later nineteenth century. It is usually associated with Ernst Haeckel, since it was from his General Morphology and the Natural History of Creation that the word came into general parlance. But there are two reasons why it is helpful to take a look at the prehistory of the monist century, 1845--1945, that Todd Weir has identified in the introductory chapter. It is first of all instructive to learn about the origin of the word monism, which occurred well before Haeckel made it popular, and about the changing use of the word in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some of its uses carried implications that relate directly to its later meaning in the nineteenth century. In particular, we will be able to investigate further what was involved in the emergence and developing articulation of what Weir has called idealistic and materialistic (or naturalistic) monism. The second insight comes from looking back to the turn of the nineteenth century and has to do with an implication of the slightly earlier appearance of Kant's philosophy. It helps us see what I wish to characterize as the essentially nineteenth-century nature of naturalistic monism.
...MoreBook Weir, Todd H. (2012) Monism: Science, Philosophy, Religion, and the History of a Worldview.
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