I am currently looking at a text (1891) in which the above sentence appears. The complete para looks like this.
"We may safely lay down the proposition that no one will deny the simple truth that two and two make four, but we doubt whether there is one in every ten who will consent to the statement that The world's onward course consists of the gradual unfolding of the Mundane Spirit. Now would any one except the cultured acknowledge the truth that space and time are not objective realities but only subjective cognition."
They perhaps refers to the prevailing European academic (scientific) view in late 19th century, such as the shift of viewing human 'history' in a positivist way or Marxist view of history. But I am not quite sure what the author intends to say.
Could anybody knowledgeable please enlighten me. Many thanks well in advance for any inputs.
Regards
Gouranga
May translate to: We may safely propose that: no one objects that two and two is four, but we doubt whether there is one in ten persons who will agree that the world's way forward consists of the slow unfolding (or progress) of the ordinary Spirits (persons, souls). Would any one except the cultured then acknowledge that that space and time are not objective realities but only subjective cognition?
Thanks Nils for your comment. I was wondering to which school/philosophy/scholar the author might be referring to. It looks like a comment related to Darwinian evolution theory, or may a reference to the positivist view of history or may be something else. I want to know who exactly the author referring to ! Thank you once again !
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Pradhan,
Interesting passage. It might help to know the name of the author and the name of the work from which the passage comes. It strikes me as a passage from a philosophy of common sense:
"We may safely lay down the proposition that no one will deny the simple truth that two and two make four, but we doubt whether there is one in every ten who will consent to the statement that The world's onward course consists of the gradual unfolding of the Mundane Spirit. Now would any one except the cultured acknowledge the truth that space and time are not objective realities but only subjective cognition."
---End quotation
The passage begins with a truism: 2 + 2 = 4. It suggests, moreover, that the following sentence, the chief point of interest is equally a truism:
The world's onward course consists of the gradual unfolding of the Mundane Spirit.
Though, we (and the speaker) wonder why this is not equally endorsed? It must have to do with the attitudes of "the cultured." (apparently, a doubtful lot --on this reading). To defend this interpretation, we would have to make good sense of the idea that the "onward course" depends on "the mundane (or ordinary) spirit." Why so, and in what sense? Presumably, because it brings us back to human limitations. "The cultured" do not make a world on their own.
But in spite of that "the cultured" (in the 19th century at least) believed in varieties of idealism --thinking make it so, perhaps. Though the hard reality of the material world and its resistance to our wants and desires, is the Western hallmark of a sufficient grasp of reality. (Say, Aristotelian realism is the common sense of the Western world.)
To check this approach to the interpretation, one must consult the rest of the text and locate the text in its cultural space and in relation to contrary voices or views.
I am surprised at the idea of wanting to interpret this isolated paragraph.
H.G. Callaway
This sounds like Hegel, of whom there are endless interpretations to which I will not add here. But why "mundane"? The usual expression is world spirit (Weltgeist).
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