786 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



verdict. It is, therefore, only of tendencies of thought 

 that I can here report, and I must refrain from quoting 

 from the overwhelming abundance of writings with 

 which I am only partially acquainted any authorita- 

 tive statements ; nor could I be sure if I did so that 

 I should express faithfully the meaning and purport of 

 passages which I might select from all sides. 



Allowing, however, that there are to be found a few 

 general tendencies in recent thought which distinguish 

 it from that of the preceding age, I will now apply 



46. them with the intention of showing how the present 



The present 



section of section of our History requires to be followed and 



this History 



stuci st of a demands its completion by a study of that large body 

 religious* 1 " 1 f thought which is buried in the poetical, artistic, and 

 religious literature of the whole period, of that literature 

 which does not profess to be either scientific or philo- 

 sophical, which does not follow any definite method, but 

 which is the spontaneous deliverance of individual minds. 



47. And before doing so let us define again in a few words 



Recent 



tendencies what these tendencies are. 



restated. 



First we have what I have termed the " synoptic " 

 tendency of thought, the endeavour to reach a vue 

 d' ensemble, a Gesammtanschauung ; and this quite as 

 much when we have to deal with the totality of things 

 as when we confine ourselves to specially selected regions 

 of research. This synoptic view is complementary to, 

 and has succeeded, the combined methods of analysis 

 and synthesis which were introduced into philosophic 

 thought under the influence of the natural and exact 

 sciences in the earlier part of the nineteenth century; 

 and here it is well to note that the latter themselves 



