194 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



hensive System, all testifying to the same fundamental 

 idea. 



Now although, as I stated above, Hegel's philosophy 

 did not deal with the Ethical problem in the stricter 

 sense of the word, its fundamental aspects guided his 

 followers into two diametrically opposite channels of 

 thought, and these, in the sequel, led to important ethical 

 theories. There is no doubt that Hegel himself adhered 

 to the frequently expressed conviction that philosophy 

 was the real and true Theodicy, the vindication of the 

 ways of God to man ; that conviction was the very soul 

 of his teaching, it gave life and interest to his frequently 

 abstruse and difficult expositions, it was this idea also 

 which inspired the thought and research of many who 

 carried the spirit, though not the letter, of his teaching 

 into other regions of inquiry, 

 39. But there were two other aspects of his thought 



application which tended to start an entirely different line of 



of his 



thought. reasoning and to nurse an opposition which was not 

 in harmony with the origin and real tendencies of his 

 doctrine. 



The first was the direction which his teaching adopted 

 in the last period of his career and in the only one 

 of his larger treatises which dealt with a practical 

 problem, a problem which may be considered as belong- 

 ing to Practical Ethics — namely, the Theory of the 

 State.^ 



Although the whole of Hegel's philosophy sprang from 



^ This was the ' GruiirlHnien der Grundrisse.' It was published in 

 Philosophic des Rechts oder Natur- 1821 with a memorable Preface 

 recht und Staatswissenschaft im dated 1820. 



