7 chapters
5 hour read
Selected Chapters
7 chapters
WILLIAM DE WITT HYDE
WILLIAM DE WITT HYDE
PRESIDENT OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE All rights reserved Copyright, 1904, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1904. Reprinted January, 1905; January, 1906; January, 1908; June, 1910. Copyright, 1911, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1911. Reprinted May, 1912; May, 1913; May, 1914; July, 1915; January, November, 1917; August, 1919; February, October, 1920; June, November, 1921; September, 1922; June, 1923; September, 1924....
29 minute read
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
When asked why some men with moderate talents and meagre technical equipment succeed, where others with greater ability and better preparation fail; why some women with plain features and few accomplishments charm, while others with all the advantages of beauty and cultivation repel, we are wont to conceal our ignorance behind the vague term personality . Undoubtedly the deeper springs of personality are below the threshold of consciousness, in hereditary traits and early training. Still some of
4 minute read
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
Epicureanism is so simple a philosophy of life that it scarcely needs interpretation. In fact, as the following citations show, it was originally little more than a set of directions for living "the simple life," with pleasure as the simplifying principle. The more subtle teaching of the other philosophies will require to be introduced by explanatory statement, or else accompanied by a running commentary as it proceeds. The best way to understand Epicureanism, however, is to let Epicurus and his
2 hour read
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
The shortest way to understand the Stoic principle is through the psychological doctrine of apperception. According to this now universally accepted doctrine, the mind is not an empty cabinet into which ready-made impressions of external things are dumped. The mind is an active process; and the meaning and value of any sensation presented from without is determined by the reaction upon it of the ideas and aims that are dominant within. This doctrine has revolutionised psychology and pedagogy, an
43 minute read
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
Epicureanism tells us how to gain pleasure; Stoicism tells us how to bear pain. But life is not so simple as these systems assume. It is not merely the problem of getting all the pleasure we can; nor of taking pain in such wise that it does not hurt. It is a question of the worth of the things in which we find our pleasure, and the relative values of the things we suffer for. Plato squarely attacks that larger problem. He says that the Epicurean is like a musician who tunes his violin as much as
58 minute read
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
Our principles of personality thus far, though increasingly complex, have all been comparatively simple. To get the maximum of pleasure; to keep the universal law; to subordinate lower impulses to higher according to some fixed scale of value, are all principles which are easy to grasp and by no means difficult to apply. The fundamental trouble with them all is that they are too easy. Life is not the cut-and-dried affair which they presuppose. A man might have a lot of pleasure, and yet be conte
44 minute read
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
Jesus taught His philosophy of life in three ways: the personal, by example; the artistic, by parable; and the scientific, by propositions. The first, though most vital and effective of all, is expensive and wasteful. For in life principles are so embedded in "muddy particulars," trivial and sordid details, that they are liable to get lost. The Master may be a long time with His disciples, and yet not really be known. Even the disciples themselves, after months of such teaching, like James and J
45 minute read