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Ernst Mach

t simplest way possiblc, as if that were an cml in itsclf. James, on the other hand, took "biologic.ll nceds" scriously and insisted that there _wcre other ways to satisfy them than by {ollowing a narrow scientific methodology. Both men defined truth and error in terms of how wcll conscąucnces matched imended or desired eonsequenees, but Mach, aeain in practice, stuck closely to what most non-Pragmaosts accepted as truć For otamplc, James violated Mach’s athe.sm and b.tter oppo-śition to organized religion by blithcly reasoning that Chr.sttanity sat-isfied tlić “biological nceds” of a great many pcople, and hence, in a Pragmatic sense, was "true,” at least for those pcople. The basie point was that James drew somc of the logical conseąucnccs from Mnch's philosophy, something Mach himself in his dislike of speculatton, and in his bciicf that he was not really a philosopher anyhow, was rc-luctant cvcn to attempt.

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Edward C. Hcgeler studied under Professor Julius Weisbach at the Freiberg mining acaclemy in Saxony, married the latter’s daughter, emigrated to America, and founded a flourishing zinc manufacturing company. He read Mach’s Mechanics in 188^ and established The Open Court magazine in La Salle, Illinois, in 1887 to help spread his own philosophical and religious ideas. He soon hired as editor a well-educated German immigrant, Dr. Paul Carus, who held compatible views on science, philosophy, and religion. Hegelcr wanted Machs articles and especially his Mechanics translatcd into English and pub-lished as soon as possiblc.⁴⁴

Paul Carus (1852-1919) was born in Ilsenburg in the Harz region in Germany, studied philosophy and classical philology at Strassburg, Greifswald, and Tubingen, and taught at various schools in Drcsdcn, but his unusual religious vicws brought him into conflict with local authoritics. He emigrated first to England in 1881 and thrcc ycars latcr to America wherc he married Edward Hegelcrs daughter on March 29, 1888.

Aftcr a falsc start, Carus found in his ablc and much-workcd assis-tant, Thomas J. McCormack, the right translator for Mach’s Mechanics. TIjc Uibk appeared in English in 1893. Mennwhilc, howcver, Mach and Carus got into a fricndly philosophical disputc in which Mach had somewhat the better of it. The disagreement had spccial value in

hclpmg Carus to think through his philosophical po,mon morc care-fully.

J^kJ    i°‘^{ncd b}> The Moniu i„ ,890, bccamc soundmg

boards for cl,(Terem rel.g.ous, philosophical, and sciemific ideas in the hope of deyeloping a truły scientific religion. Hegeler and Carus fclt that Mach s phcnomenahstic m^^i^TETTan almost ideał phik*. ophy to reconctle scence and^ligiun, Carus dis^r^TTrrur---, mcmllowing two po.nts: Unlike Mach, he chose to retain Fechners mind-matter parallehsm, and while accepting Mach's substitution of functtonal relattons for causcs as forces the Cerman-American editor went furtlier by idenufying these relations with “cternal laws" dependent on a single law, "the principle of form," which he called “Cod."

Carus soon discovcred what he thought was a scientiHc rehgion in I Buddhisnv_According to Carl Jackson:

Carus*s convcrsion to an activc pcrsonal interest in Oricntal thought can bc traccd to the Parliamcnt of Religions hrld in September 1893, in con-junction with the Chicago Columbian Kxposition.⁴⁰

Buddha is, so far as we know, the first positivist, the first humanitarian the first radtcal frcc-thinkcr, the first iconoclast, and the first prophet of the religion of science. Buddhism, he asserted, was "but another word for Religion of Science.¹' Buddha, he dcclared, "anticipated evcn in importom dctails the rcsults of a scientific world-conccption.” ⁴⁷

Mach cnjoycd rcading Carus’s numerous books on Buddhism, and he incrcasingly began to notice Buddhist parallcls with his own philosophy. While Mach was slow to make public mention of his ncw sympathy, he was opcnly and immcdiately apprcciativc of Hcgclcr, Carus, and McCormack for their desire to publish anything and everv-thing Mach wanted to havc published.

XI

Jacgues Locb (1859-1924), a Cerman-American physiologist who studied at Munich and Strassburg bcforc emigraling to America in 1890 and who bccamc fatnous as the discovcrcr of tropism in animals, daimed to havc bccn strongly influcnccd by Mach, but Locbs repu-tation as a leader of turn-of-thc-ccntury scientific materializm and mcchanisiic cxplanation has thrown the extcnt of Mach*s influence in considcrablc doubt. In philosophical terms, was Jacques Locb a gen-

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