306 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



in whom very different, seemingly antagonistic, currents 

 of thought come together, influencing each other and 

 leading to a deeper, a more comprehensive view. He 

 came from a religious stock on the side of both his 

 parents ; in his family many religious conflicts had 

 taken place, both internal and external. He himself 

 passed his school days in the seclusion of the sect of 



we must be thankful to 

 such a unique work as his on 

 Schleiermacher, which forms a 

 veritable encyclopsedia of informa- 

 tion for the student of that age, 

 with its many problems, its 

 attempted solutions, and its equally 

 numerous failures. The study of 

 this work is indispensable, but it 

 also makes it unnecessary for all, 

 except specialists, to traverse 

 themselves the many volumes 

 referred to by Dilthey as the 

 source of his information. This 

 book sliould be specially recom- 

 mended to foreigners, for whom, 

 even more than for German 

 readers, it remains true that, 

 "in the innermost life, thinking 

 and feeling of Schleiermacher 

 there is something totally strange 

 to the present generation. He, 

 his age, his friends : all are se- 

 parated from the present day 

 through a change in sentiments, 

 ideas, and endeavours, more drastic 

 than perhaps any that has ever 

 taken place. For this day has 

 lost its direct relationship to 

 the great epoch to which Schleier- 

 macher belonged " (Dilthej^ p. 

 V.)- Next to Dilthey's un- 

 finished work must be mentioned 

 as of real value W. Bender's work 

 on the theology of Schleiermacher 

 ('Schleierraacher's Theologie, mit 

 ihren Philosophischen Grund- 

 lagen,' 2 parts, 1876-78). Its im- 

 portance lies in the fact that it 

 contains one of the fullest discus- 



sions of a problem which is hidden 

 in Schleiermacher's writings and 

 brought out clearly and defined, 

 as we shall see later on, by Albrecht 

 Ritschl : the problem of the philo- 

 sophical foundations of a science 

 of theology. As during the nine- 

 teenth century the philosophy of 

 nature has gradually changed 

 from a discussion of natural know- 

 ledge into a study of the psycho- 

 logical and logical principles through 

 which scientific knowledge of nature 

 is possible, so, in an analogous way, 

 philosophers have been led away 

 from the somewhat fruitless 

 attempt to elaborate a philo- 

 sophical religion to the more 

 important question as to the 

 psychological foundations of actual 

 religious life and to the further 

 logical problem : in what way is 

 an independent science of theology 

 possible ? For the history of the 

 change that has taken place, so 

 far as the philosophical interest in 

 the religious problem is concerned, 

 the work of Bender forms a valu- 

 able contribution in spite of the 

 fact that it seems almost as if in 

 the writing of this work the 

 author had written himself out 

 of theology into philosophy, a 

 transition which seems the reverse 

 of that of Schleiermacher himself, 

 whose influence as a religious 

 teacher gradually supervened on 

 and almost cast into oblivion his 

 important philosophical labours. 



