Germany, England, and France claim the honor of having produced the first
_modern_ philosopher, presenting Nicolas of Cusa, Bacon of Verulam, and
René Descartes as their candidates, while Hobbes, Bruno, and Montaigne have
received only scattered votes. The claim of England is the weakest of all,
for, without intending to diminish Bacon's importance, it may be said that
the programme which he develops--and in essence his philosophy is nothing
more--was, in its leading principles, not first announced by him, and
not carried out with sufficient consistency. The dispute between the two
remaining contestants may be easily and equitably settled by making the
simple distinction between forerunner and beginner, between path-breaker
and founder. The entrance of a new historical era is not accompanied by an
audible click, like the beginning of a new piece on a music-box, but is
gradually effected. A considerable period may intervene between the point
when the new movement flashes up, not understood and half unconscious of
itself, and the time when it appears on the stage in full strength and
maturity, recognizing itself as new and so acknowledged by others: the
period of ferment between the Middle Ages and modern times lasted almost
two centuries. It is in the end little more than logomachy to discuss
whether this time of anticipation and desire, of endeavor and partial
success, in which the new struggles with the old without conquering it, and
the opposite tendencies in the conflicting views of the world interplay in
a way at once obscure and wayward, is to be classed as the epilogue of the
old era or the prologue of the new. The simple solution to take it as a
_transition period_, no longer mediaeval but not yet modern, has met with
fairly general acceptance. Nicolas of Cusa (1401-64) was the first to
announce _fundamental principles_ of modern philosophy--he is the leader in
this intermediate preparatory period. Descartes (1596-1650) brought forward
the first _system_--he is the father of modern philosophy.