762 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



feature is expressed as the rise of Naturalism, followed 

 by Materialism and Industrialism. We have now seen 

 how this spreading tide of naturalistic thought showed, 

 towards the end of the century, signs of going down, 

 giving way to a counter current which promises to be 

 idealistic and spiritual. Should this promise be ful- 

 filled, as seems to be an increasing hope in all the 

 three countries, the historian of Thought will be entitled 

 to take an opposite view, and to look upon the whole 

 process as a development of Idealism, in the course of 

 which Naturalism, with its concomitant features, formed 

 only an episode. 



This view can, at present, only be maintained by 



showing not merely how the principles of Naturalism, 



Positivism, and Materialism have failed to justify them- 



26. selves before the scrutiny which the critical spirit has 



New phase 



of idealism, applied to them, but emphatically also by showing where 

 the positive beginnings of a new phase of Idealism are 

 to be found. 



Before tracing more clearly the renewal of this 

 hopeful and promising spirit which seems to be gaining 

 ground in the region of philosophy, we must point to 

 another episode which occupies a prominent place in the 

 development of philosophical speculation, and which has 

 had, next to Naturalism, the most marked influence on 

 general literature and on the popular mind, especially in 

 Germany. This is the appearance of Pessimism. The 

 pessimistic phase of thought showed itself in poetry and 

 literature before it was recognised that it had received 

 a philosophical setting in the now celebrated system of 

 Schopenhauer. This phase of thought is by no means 



27. 

 The 



episode of 

 Pessimism. 



