BRIEF STATEMENT. 59 



practically materialism, and even more so from the 

 French positivism of Comte and from agnosticism, its 

 English equivalent. In his philosophy, form plays the 

 most important part. Form is the significant feature 

 of both objective existence and subjective thought. 

 Matter and energy only denote reality, but form 

 characterizes quality. Science traces form, and the 

 nature of all things, the human character included, is 

 constituted by form. In the formal sciences again, 

 that which is the core of their usefulness as general 

 propositions is the character of anyness, the use of 

 which justifies the method of generalization. Here 

 lies the root of the kinship of Dr. Carus's philosophy 

 with modern logic, and allows him to reconstruct the 

 old artistic and religious ideas upon a new and modern 

 ground. In this sense, he himself has characterized 

 his philosophy as a philosophy of form. 



