University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

Page 13 text:

began Qin 18215 with the aid of Coleridge and Nladame De Stael to consult Kant's Critique of the Pure Reason, then a perfect terra incogzfzim to American Scholars. There can hardly be a doubt that James Nlarsh was the first thorough Kantean student in this country. His copy of the Kritikj' of the 2nd edition, 1787, shows the marks of frequent handling. At the same time-he was then 27 years of age- he undertook to read through the works of Plato, and to make a cop- ious analysis of each dialogue. Throughout life, we are told, Plato was his favorite author, whom he always kept near him. With some of the works of Aristotle, particularly his Treatise on the Soul, and his Metaphysics, he was scarcely less familiar. lt was impossible for an intellect so original, so independent, so eager for truth, to adopt unreflectingly the products of other men's thinking. lf Nlr. Nlarsh was attracted to Coleridge, it was because he was the writer of the times whose views on the deeper questions in philosophy most nearly coincided with, or who called into clearest consciousness his own. His aim in editing the t'Aids to Reflection and afterward The Friend, was to promote in this country the cause of spiritual philosophy by availing himself of so powerful an advocate. He would have men listen, to use his own expression, to 'fthe deep-toned and sublime eloquence of Coleridge on these great subjects. The Prelim- inary Essay with which Dr. Nlarsh introduces the Aids to Reflection to the reader is worthy of its place alongside the work of Coleridge. lt suffers nothing in the comparison. It plainly shows his grasp of the vital questions at issue and indicates with great clearness and power of statement on which side the truth lies. Dr. Nlarsh conceived the inner reality, the ground, of all existence to be spiritual. At the same time he drew a clear line of distinction between nature and spirit, the former comprising all that exists in space and time and is subject to the law of cause and effect, while the distinguishing characteristic of the latter is freedom. He would agree with Coleridge in saying lf there be aught Spiritual in Man, the will must be such. If there be a will, there must be Spirituality in Man. Freedom, in that high sense of the term in which it stands for self-originated activity, determined by immutable and eternal reason, he strenuously maintained as constituting the essential dignity of our humanity, and as strenuously opposed that theory of the will which represents it to be merely a power of choice governed by the 9

Page 12 text:

the monotony of recitations with frequent discussions. He would encour- age freedom, and require the student to develop his native powers of thought by constantly exercising them. When the proposed changes had been maturely considered by the Faculty a pamphlet was drawn up by their direction and entitled, An Exposition of the Course of Instruction and Discipline in the University of Vermont. lt contained as an appendix a schedule of studies for the four years of the college course, so arranged as to form a symmet- rical and well-balanced whole, in which there should be natural progress throughout. The views and methods set forth in this pamphlet were at once carried into effect in the instructions of the University, and were received with considerable favor by presidents and professors in other New England colleges to whom the pamphlet was sent. QA second edition of it was published at Burlington in 1833.5 This new system had its effect in attracting students to the University. The annual catalogues of that period show a marked increase in the number of students. But many were also drawn to Burlington in after years by their admiration of President lVlarsh and his philosophy. For he was preeminently a philosopher. In all his studies, from the hrst, philosophy has been his chief interest. Enamored of all learning QPlato's mark of the genuine philosopherb as he certainly was, he sought, whatever the subject of his investigation might be, for the central truth, the underlying principle. lt would, perhaps, be out of place in this sketch to say much con- cerning the philosophical views of President Nlarsh. They are too pro- found, they require previous philosophical training and some acquaint- ance with the problems and language of philosophical discussion, to be readily understood. Yet they are not obscure, and any one who has the capacity and the disposition to reflect deeply upon the mysteries of existence may easily satisfy himself of their substantial truth. He will find them to agree remarkably well with the deepest thought of the master spirits in philosophy. President Nlarsh has often passed for a disciple of Coleridge. He himself expresses his obligations to the insight of that marvelous mind. But it is clear that his obligations were much greater to the masters of antiquity, to Plato and Aristotle, and to the great modern, Immanuel Kant. While yet a student in the Seminary his biographer tells us, on the authority of his journal, that he 8

Page 14 text:

understanding, the faculty whereby from the experience of the past we anticipate the future and regulate our conduct by foreseen pleasure or pain. It was not merely a speculative but a practical interest which led Dr. Marsh to insist upon this distinction of the reason from the under- standing. His interest in philosophy was thoroughly practical. He aimed to promote the highest interests of humanity, and he conceived that a true philosophy was of vital importance to the moral and religious welfare of mankind. President Marsh fully agreed with Coleridge in holding faith in Christianity the perfection of human intelligence. He would make no -separation between faith and reason. A thinking man, he afhrmed, t' has and can have rationally but one system in which his philosophy becomes religious, and his religion philosophical. That within us, therefore, which makes us capable of religion and morality, that which raises us out of the realm of mere nature and brings us into relation with the spiritual world, was the principle object of his inquiries. But Dr. Marsh was interested also in the discoveries of science. The dynamical theory of the constitution of matter strongly attracted him. Yet everything was regarded by him in its relation to spirit and spiritual ideas. Even nature itself was conceived as striving upwards toward spirit. It presents to his nrind air ever-ascending series of powers wherein the lower forms the basis of the next higher, till the culmination is reached in nran. In his letter On the Will as the Spiritual Principal in Man, Dr. Marsh points out srrch an ascending series, or some of the links by which the elementary powers of nature are connected with the higher, and finally with the supernatural in man, who is at once a part of nature and a being above nature. Of course, he does not try to prove derivation by descent in the manner of the evolutionist, that explanation of natural forms had not yet appeared. lt is quite impossiblewithin the limits of a brief sketch to give any adequate conception of Dr. Marshts philosophical system, or even to mention the various prodrrcts of his pen. Had he lived longer he might have matured a system which would have profoundly influenced philosophical thought in this country,-so we judge from the fragments which he left behind. But he was cut oi in his prime, he died, in 1842, at the comparatively early age of 48 years. His life, his thoughts, his character, his influence, are a precious legacy to the institution over IO