THE RATIONALE OF PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 765 



reasoning which have since his time imperceptibly in- 

 fluenced speculative minds both in Germany and in this 

 country : the two works in which he has done this are 

 his ' Microcosinus ' (completed in 1864) and his ' Logik ' 

 (1874). 



Few German or English contemporary thinkers of the 

 first order could be named in whom we cannot trace the 

 influence of the painstaking analysis contained in Lotze's 

 ' Logik ' : it has helped them to clarify their own ideas 

 and to fix their own positions, not infrequently in marked 

 antagonism. Notably he has, as one of the first, brought 

 out the main points which have to be settled before 

 philosophical speculation can really begin. In this way 

 he has taken up in a broader spirit and with ampler 

 means what Kant attempted a century earlier. Thus he 

 has assisted in reviving the study of Kant's ' Critique,' 

 which had already served as a guide to those who, for 

 various reasons, took little or no notice of Lotze's own 

 writings. Such are, e.g., Eenouvier in France, Green, 

 Caird, and Martineau in England. 



To put only a few of the cardinal initial questions 

 before my readers, it will suffice to ask : Is philosophical 

 thought to be based on psychology or on logic ? What 

 is the relation of metaphysics and ethics ? Such ques- 

 tions are discussed in Lotze's works, and, as it may seem 

 to many, imperfectly or insufficiently answered. The 

 very fact that he seems himself to hesitate in giving 

 decided answers, in fixing and still more in carrying out 

 his programme, constitutes that peculiar trait in his 

 writings which has become so suggestive and helpful to 

 some, so puzzling and even repellent to others. To 



