GROWTH AND DIFFUSION OF CRITICAL SPIRIT. 191 



incorporated in classical literature and the great 

 philosophical systems of the first half of the century 

 form still for the German thinker the place of refuge 

 where he can find shelter and refreshment when he 

 is fatigued by too much criticism and disheartened by 

 materialism and pessimism. These ideals are still to 

 him a real world which, as with Plato in ancient times, 

 is spread above the world of common-sense. If we join 

 this peculiarity of the German mind to a critical and 

 eclectic survey of the facts of nature and history, we 

 arrive at that kind of philosophy of which the system of 

 Lotze may be considered to be the latest and greatest 

 example. 



