224 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



influence on British thought and that its importance is 

 also being gradually recognised on the Continent.^ 



While recognising the importance of the ' Methods of 

 Ethics ' for English thought, those of us who know about 

 Continental philosophy cannot help being again struck 

 by the similarity of the position of Lotze's writings 

 in German thought ; bearing in mind, however, the 

 characteristic difference, that German thought, in spite 

 of temporary fluctuations, always gravitates towards the 

 metaphysical problem, whereas English thought always 

 gravitates towards the ethical problem. But both 



1 The 'Methods of Ethics' pre- 

 sents as much difficulty to the 

 beginner as Kant's First Critique 

 must have presented a hundred 

 years earlier, but for very different 

 reasons. Sidgwick's Treatise is 

 infinitely superior to Kant's in 

 point of style and clarity of ex- 

 position. Every sentence is clear 

 ill itself and leaves little room 

 for doubt as to the author's exact 

 meaning. Yet it is difficult to 

 arrive at a definite final conclusion, 

 as indeed the author himself admits 

 that the conclusion is not to him 

 satisfactory but requires a further 

 discussion. But he " published 

 nothing expressly treating of the 

 ultimate problems which always 

 occupied his mind. He perhaps 

 felt that he had no definite help to 

 give to the solution of the final 

 difficulty suggested in the conclu- 

 sion of the ' Ethics,' or hoped that 

 he might be able to utter his con- 

 victions more fully ... if not by 

 offering a full answer to his doubts, 

 yet by indicating the best method 

 of approximating to such a result" 

 (Leslie Stephen in 'Mind,' N.S., 

 vol. X. p. 16). As to Kant, it is 

 not too much to say that most 

 sentences in the First Critique 



require to be read over and over 

 again, and that even then many 

 remain hopelesslj* obscure. But 

 on the other side he crystallised 

 his views in certain watchwords 

 easily caught up by his disciples 

 and strung together in an impres- 

 sive manner though by no means 

 always expressive of the deeper 

 meaning of the master. The 

 ' Methods of Ethics,' however, have 

 become in course of years much 

 more accessible through friendly 

 and opposed criticism, through the 

 Prefaces to the later editions, 

 notably through the ' Brief 

 History of the development in 

 his thought of the ethical view 

 which he [Sidgwick] has set forth,' 

 published by Miss E. E. C. Jones 

 in the Preface to the 6th (posthu- 

 mous) edition, 1901. I may also 

 refer to Leslie Stephen's Obit- 

 uary Notice just quoted, and 

 Prof. Jas. Seth's Article in the 

 same volume of 'Mind' (p. 172 

 sqq.) A very useful treatise on 

 • Sidgwick's Ethical Philosophy ' 

 has been published by F. H. Hay- 

 ward (1901). It contains a com- 

 plete literature of what had been 

 published by Sidgwick himself or 

 by his critics up to that date. 



