Method of eclecticism in the history of philosophy (French spiritualism)

Abstract

This article analyses the doctrine of the method of research in the history of philosophy suggested by one of the leaders of French spiritualism, Victor Cousin. Cousin’s typology of philosophical systems is examined, his ideas of causality in the history of philosophy. In the article are underlined both the principles of Cousin’s philosophy that preserve their value up to this day and that we treat now as archaic and outdated. Unilateral orientation on psychology has not satisfactorily covered the history of philosophy without erosion. Serious theoretical difficulties are connected with the attempt to see in the history of philosophy both progress and fundamental immutability of its main forms. Refs 11.