Schiller

From Geography

Biography

Ferdinand Canning Scott (F.C.S.) Schiller was born in 1864 in Altona (Germany). He was a philosopher and studied on the University of Oxford and later he was a professor at that university. From 1929 onwards he also thaugt at the University of Southern California. He died on august 9th of 1937 in Los Angeles at the age of 72.

Quote

According to Schiller Humanism is "...really in itself the simplest of philosophic view points: it is merely the perception that the philosophic problem concerns human beings striving to comprehend a world of human experience by the resources of human minds" (Cloke, Philo & Sadler,1991, p.59).

Work

He provided a cogent introduction to the tradition of humanist thought: it insists that we take seriously the fact that the world is, to all intents and purposes, nothing but the sum of human experiences. But we have no access to this world, no capabillity for knowing about this world, other than through the resources of human minds. This is why we are always both 'barrier' between 'external reality' and our comprehension of that reality, and besides that a 'medium' through which comprehension which comprehension of that reality is made possible at all. In short: reality is only knowable through the curious instrument of the human mind (Cloke, 1991: 59-60). Schiller also indicates that humanist thought sees itself having a 'practical dimension to mobilise 'the resources of the human mind' in the hope of making the world a better place to live in (Cloke, 1991: 60). Intellectualism is the thing Schiller is most anxious of. The idea that there is no eye for the individual human beings leads to intellectual debate that is of little practical use to anybody (Cloke, 1991: 60).

Important publications

• Riddles of the Sphinx (1891)

• "Axioms as Postulates" (1902, published in the collection Personal Idealism)

• Humanism (1903)

• Studies in Humanism (1907)

• Plato or Protagoras? (1908)

• Riddles of the Sphinx (1910, revised edition)

• Humanism (1912, second edition)

• Formal Logic(1912)

• Problems of Belief (1924, second edition)

• Logic for Use (1929)

• Our Human Truths (1939, published posthumously)

References

• Cloke, P., Philo, Ch. & Sadler, D. (1991) Approaching Human Geography. Chapman, London

Contributors

• Published by Pauline van Heugten

• Page enhanced by MichielVanRijn - 12:30, 19th of September 2012 (UCT)

• Page slightly enhanced and added to Category 'Humansim' by Iris van der Wal - 15:55, October 25th 2012