222 APPENDICES 



one producing the next. It is the only metaphysics which exists 

 alongside that of Aristotle. 'S"* 



In less than a month, however, he was bored by the German: 



'I am re-reading the classics, Homer above all and Marcus 

 Aurelius. For Hegel is a puzzle and my personal investigations 

 into psychology tire me little less.'^^ 



He wrote of spending his time with psychology, physiology, 

 history, and 'this Chinese puzzle, popularly called Hegel's 

 Logic\^^ 



One of the grounds for this change of attitude can be seen in a 

 series of analyses of Hegel's Philosophy of History, Philosophy of 

 Religion, and Philosophy of Law, which were also written around this 

 time. His notes were interrupted abruptly, as follows: 



'(3) Legislative power. The prince, the officials, and the various 

 classes of the nation take part . . . Useless to continue. — Toady- 

 ism; poor Hegel! this is humiliating for philosophy. Aristotle 

 clearly demonstrated the right of the stronger in speaking to 

 Alexander, but he did not indicate his political opinion. Hegel 

 lacks the notion of right, of the individual will, of the inviolable 

 person, he only knows the good, the reasonable, the best. The will 

 is sacred, even when it desires the worst. In this book there is a 

 wretched mixture of politics and equity. Legal right is an a priori 

 geometry; politics is an empiricism. '^^ 



Undoubtedly, some of Taine's personal humiliation at the hands 

 of political and intellectual reaction was reflected in this comment. 

 By 25 February, 1852, the disillusion with Hegel was complete: 



'I have . . . read the last volume of the Logic. Alas! another 

 illusion destroyed! That is great, but it is not the true metaphysics; 

 the method is artificial, and the construction of the absolute 

 which is so highly praised is useless. Well, these are the materials 

 of my thesis. '^^ 



Writing to Prevost-Paradol on 28 March, Taine referred to the 

 Philosophy of History, again, as 'pyramids of ideas to break the legs 

 of all the Frenchmen who would like to scale them'.89 He had 

 come to realize that, in the France of the Second Empire, science 

 was no longer possible except 'as a war'.^o 



