OF THE GOOD. 



181 



be gained. His philosophy was similar to that of 

 Socrates, a method rather than a result, a search rather 

 than a finding; whereas Hegel's system was more like 

 the elaborate structures which Plato and Aristotle had 

 reared upon the basis of Socratic teaching. 



It was therefore natural that many young and ardent 

 minds who flocked to the University of Berlin to imbibe 

 the new philosophy, should turn from Schleiermacher to 

 Hegel, if they had not, to begin with, already gone 

 straight to the latter. But the cautious, searching, and 

 less assertive character of Schleiermacher's thought 

 was sure to be appreciated when once it had become 

 evident to many that Hegel had promised more than 

 he could fulfil. During his lifetime Schleiermacher 

 attracted principally students of theology, among philo- 

 sophers only a small number of select minds of a high 

 order, 1 who took a special interest in the religious 

 problem. 



When, in a subsequent chapter, I shall deal with the 

 latter, I shall come back to Schleiermacher as the most 

 important figure in the whole of that province of modern 

 philosophical thought. His philosophical contributions 

 to the solution of what I shall then term the problem of 

 the Spirit, formed a centre which gathered up many 

 lines of thought from which as many have issued forth. 

 Nor do I think it necessary for the moment to say much 

 in connection with the ethical problem about Hegel's 

 own teaching. For ethical problems, especially such as 

 have occupied thinkers in this country, did not occupy 



1 Such as the pioneers in the 

 study of the History of Philosophy, 



H. Ritter (1791-1860) and Chr. A. 

 Brandis (1792-1873). 



