Paul Carus

Paul Carus, Ph.D. (1852‑1919) was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion, [http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv3-53 The impact of oriental ideas on American culture in the nineteenth century] , from the [http://etext.virginia.edu/DicHist/dict.html Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas] , edited by Philip P. Wiener (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973-74).] and former professor of philosophy. [http://www.friesian.com/austrian.htm#note Austrian Philosophy] , by Barry Smith, Note]

Life and education

Carus was born at Ilsenburg, Germany, and educated at the universities of Strassburg, France and Tübingen, Germany. After obtaining his Ph. D from Tübingen in 1876 [http://www.nlx.com/Journals/mst.htm The Monist:An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry] , featuring essays from scholars around the globe.] he served in the army and then taught school. He had been raised in a pious and orthodox Protestant home, but gradually moved away from this tradition. [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0807849065/ The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent] , by Thomas A. Tweed (Paperback), page 65-67]

He left Bismarck's Germany for the United States, "because of his liberal views". [http://www.friesian.com/austrian.htm#note Austrian Philosophy] , by Barry Smith, Note] [http://www.opencourtbooks.com/about.htm The Open Court Story] ] After he immigrated to the USA (in 1884) he lived in Chicago, and in LaSalle, Illinois. Paul Carus married Edward C. Hegeler's daughter Mary (Marie) and the couple later moved into the Hegeler Carus Mansion, built by her father. They had six children. [http://www.hegelercarus.org/history/ History of the Heleger Carus Foundation - The Hegeler Carus Mansion] ]

Career

In America Carus briefly edited a German-language journal and wrote several articles for the "Index", the Free Religious Association organ. [http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv3-53 The impact of oriental ideas on American culture in the nineteenth century] , from the [http://etext.virginia.edu/DicHist/dict.html Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas] , edited by Philip P. Wiener (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973-74)]

Soon after, he became the first managing editor of the Open Court Publishing Company, founded in 1887 by his father-in-law. [http://www.opencourtbooks.com/about.htm The Open Court Story] ] The goals of Open Court were to provide a forum for the discussion of philosophy, science, and religion, and to make philosophical classics widely available by making them affordable. [http://www.hegelercarus.org/history/ History of the Heleger Carus Foundation - The Hegeler Carus Mansion] ]

He also acted as the editor for two periodicals published by the company, "The Open Court" and "The Monist" [http://www.nlx.com/Journals/mst.htm The Monist:An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry] , featuring essays from scholars around the globe.]

He was introduced to Charles Sanders Peirce, the founder of American Pragmatism, by Judge Francis C. Russell of Chicago. Carus stayed abreast of Peirce's work and would eventually publish a number of his articles. [ [http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/shaw2.htm William James and Yogaacaara philosophy: A comparative inquiry] , by Miranda Shaw, (University of Hawaii Press, 1987), page 241, note 4]

During his lifetime, Carus published 75 books and 1500 articles, [http://www.hegelercarus.org/history/ History of the Heleger Carus Foundation - Open Court Publishing Company] ] mostly through Open Court Publishing Company. He wrote books and articles on history, politics, philosophy, religion, logic, mathematics, anthropology, science, and social issues of his day. In addition, Carus corresponded with many of the greatest minds of the late 19th and early 20th century. Sending and receiving letters from Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Edision, Nichola Tesla, Booker T. Washington, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ernst Mach, Ernst Haeckel, John Dewey, and many more.

Carus's world view and philosophy

Carus considered himself a theologian rather than philosopher. He referred to himself as "an atheist who loved God". [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=BSq2XL-61G8C&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=%22an+atheist+who+loved+god%22&source=web&ots=miLopS3wSZ&sig=VfP_TH7gmvaSpCmVvmHm0aoK4Hc The Gospel of Buddha] , by Paul Carus, page 26] [http://www.radicalacademy.com/amphilosophy8.htm#carus Recent American Thought] , from [http://radicalacademy.com/adiphildirectory.htm The Radical Academy] ]

Carus is proposed to be a pioneer in the promotion of interfaith dialogue. He explored the relationship of science and religion, and was instrumental in introducing Eastern traditions and ideas to the West. [http://www.opencourtbooks.com/about.htm The Open Court Story] ] He was a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism, to the West, [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0807849065/ The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent] , by Thomas A. Tweed (Paperback), page 65-67] sponsoring Buddhist translation work of D.T. Suzuki, and fostering a lifelong working friendship with Buddhist Master, Soyen Shaku. Carus’ interest in Asian religions seems to have intensified after he attended the World’s Parliament of Religions (in 1893).

For years afterwards, Carus was a strong sympathizer of Buddhist ideas, but stopped short of committing fully to this, or any other, religion. Instead, he ceaselessly promoted his own rational concept which he called the “Religion of Science." Carus had a selective approach and he believed that religions evolve over time. After a battle for survival, he expected a "cosmic religion of universal truth" to emerge from the ashes of traditional beliefs. [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0807849065/ The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent] , by Thomas A. Tweed (Paperback), page 65-67]

Religion of Science

Carus was a follower of Benedictus de Spinoza; he was of the opinion that Western thought had fallen into error early in its development in accepting the distinctions between body and mind and the material and the spiritual. (Kant's phenomenal and noumenal realms of knowledge; Christianity's views of the soul and the body, and the natural and the supernatural). Carus rejected such dualisms, and wanted science to reestablish the unity of knowledge. The philosophical result he labeled "Monism". [http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv3-53 The impact of oriental ideas on American culture in the nineteenth century] , from the [http://etext.virginia.edu/DicHist/dict.html Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas] , edited by Philip P. Wiener (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973-74).]

His version of "monism" is more closely associated with a kind of pantheism, although it was occasionally identified with positivism. [http://www.radicalacademy.com/amphilosophy8.htm#carus Recent American Thought] , from [http://radicalacademy.com/adiphildirectory.htm The Radical Academy] ] He regarded every law of nature as a part of God's being. Carus held that God was the name for a "cosmic order" comprising "all that which is the bread of our spiritual life." He held the concept of a personal God as untenable. He acknowledged Jesus Christ as a redeemer, but not as the only one, for he believed that other religious founders were equally endowed with similar qualities. [http://www.radicalacademy.com/amphilosophy8.htm#carus Recent American Thought] , from [http://radicalacademy.com/adiphildirectory.htm The Radical Academy] ]

His beliefs attempted to steer a middle course between idealistic metaphysics and materialism. He differed with metaphysicians because they "reified" words and treated them as if they were realities, and he objected to materialism because it ignored or overlooked the importance of form. Carus emphasized form by conceiving of the divinity as a cosmic order. He objected to any monism which sought the unity of the world, not in the unity of truth, but in the oneness of a logical assumption of ideas. He referred to such concepts as "henism", not monism. [http://www.radicalacademy.com/amphilosophy8.htm#carus Recent American Thought] , from [http://radicalacademy.com/adiphildirectory.htm The Radical Academy] ]

Carus held that truth was independent of time, human desire, and human action. Therefore, science was not a human invention, but a human revelation which needed to be apprehended; discovery meant apprehension; it was the result or manifestation of the cosmic order in which all truth were ultimately harmonious. [http://www.radicalacademy.com/amphilosophy8.htm#carus Recent American Thought] , from [http://radicalacademy.com/adiphildirectory.htm The Radical Academy] ]

Criticisms of Carus' ideas

It is claimed that Carus' was dismissed by Orientalists and philosophers alike because of his failure to comply with the rules of either discipline. [ [http://www.tricycle.com/issues/from_archive/3851-1.html Future Religion - Making an American Buddha] , by Judith Snodgrass. A review of republished "The Gospel of Buddha"]

Legacy

The legacy of Paul Carus is honored through the efforts of the "Hegeler Carus Foundation", the "Carus Lectures" at the "American Philosophical Association (APA)", and the "Paul Carus Award for Interreligious Understanding" [ [http://www.cpwr.org/what/programs/carusaward.htm The Paul Carus Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Interreligious Movement] . "See also: [http://www.cpwr.org/2004Parliament/assets/CarusAward.pdf Carus Award 2004] "] by the "Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR)".

References

External links

* [http://monist.buffalo.edu/ The Monist]
* [http://www.hegelercarus.org/ Hegeler Carus Foundation]
* [http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/opportunities/prizes/carus.html Carus Lectures]
* [http://www.cpwr.org/index.html Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR)]
* [http://www.cpwr.org/what/programs/carusaward.htm Paul Carus Award for Interreligious Understanding]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c#a25540 Paul Carus at Project Gutenberg]

Bibliography

His publications include:
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1428613595 The Soul Of Man: An Investigation Of The Facts Of Physiological And Experimental Psychology] " (1891, republished 2006) ISBN 1-42861-359-5
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KIJCFG Fundamental Problems: The Method of Philosophy as a Systematic Arrangement of Knowledge] " (1889)
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0008AUV56 Monism: Its Scope and Import] " (1891)
* " [http://books.google.com/books?id=QcC9ojrdQlgC&dq=homilies+of+science&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=re8rcQhc4y&sig=GqrJ4D3VHTiOZ9t3OJuztksgihE#PPR2,M1 Homilies of Science] " (The Open Court Publishing Co., 1892)
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1430442867 The Religion of Science] " (1893, republished 2007) ISBN 1-43044-286-7
* "The Gospel of Buddha" (1894) ISBN 0-87548-228-7, [http://www.mountainman.com.au/buddha/ The Gospel of Buddha on the web]
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875483070 The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil] " (1900) ISBN 0-51715-064-6, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/evil/hod/index.htm The History of the Devil on the web]
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00087V61C Eros and Psyche: A fairy-tale of ancient Greece, retold after Apuleius] " (1900)
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PIECVU The Surd of Metaphysics] " (1903)
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0766191729 Karma: A Story of Buddhist Ethics] " (1905, republished 2004) ISBN 0-76619-172-9
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0766138771 Story of Samson and its Place in the Religious Development of Mankind] " (1907, republished 2003) ISBN 0-76613-877-1
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1596050063 The Foundations of Mathematics] " (1908, republished 2004) ISBN 1-59605-006-3
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1602063907 GOD: An Enquiry into the Nature of Man's Highest Ideal and a Solution of the Problem from the Standpoint of Science] " (1908, republished 2007) ISBN 1-60206-390-7
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000J2XV9G The Pleroma: An Essay on the Origin of Christianity] " (1909) "See Also: Pleroma"
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00087O7L8 Philosophy as a Science: A Synopsis of the Writings of Paul Carus] " (1909)
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1430494026 The Philosophy of Form] " (1911, republished 2007) ISBN 1-43049-402-6
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0912050691 The Mechanistic Principle and the Non-Mechanical: An Inquiry into Fundamentals With Extracts from Representatives of Either Side] " (1913) ISBN 0-91205-069-1
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0766191850 The Principle of Relativity In the Light of the Philosophy of Science] " (1913, republished 2004) ISBN 0-76619-185-0
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1432523430 Nietzsche and Other Exponents of Individualism] " (1914, republished 2007) ISBN 1-43252-343-0
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JUW1YY Kant's Prolegomena] " (republished 1947)
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0766130517 Bride of Christ: A Study in Christian Legend Lore] " (republished 2003) ISBN 0-76613-051-7
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1417951575 The Rise of Man: A Sketch of the Origin of the Human Race] " ISBN 1-41795-157-5 (republished 2004)
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1421273438 The Ethical Problem] " (republished 2005) ISBN 1-42127-343-8