OF THE UNITY OF THOUGHT. 651 



thus offering manifold suggestions for the con) prehension 

 and interpretation of things and events in their actual 

 and historical " together," is the real secret of Hegel's 

 genius ; through it he stimulated many thinking minds 

 who, in the manifold and broad regions notably of his- 

 torical research, approached their subject with the con- 

 viction of its unity, of its deeper sense and meaning, and 

 of the existence of governing ideas. This influence ruled 

 for a time supreme and produced remarkable results. 



In most cases the logical scheme which Hegel ex- 

 alted was gradually dropped in its application. On the 

 other side, those who called themselves disciples of Hegel 

 and formed the Hegelian school, in the narrower sense 

 of the word, emphasised unduly this dialectical process, 

 and contributed, through their dry and monotonous 

 rhythm of thought, to bring philosophical speculation 

 into disrepute. 



For the present, as we are concerned mainly with the 

 two supreme philosophical problems, the unification of 

 thought and the relation of knowledge and belief, it is 

 important to point to two striking consequences which 

 result from the whole of the idealistic movement of 

 thought as finally conceived by Hegel. The fact that 

 the necessities of the logical process were conceived as 

 manifestations, in the human mind, of the stages of 

 the development or life of the Absolute, led to a solu- 

 tion of the antinomy of freedom and necessity. The 

 autonomy of practical reason with Kant, the funda- 

 mental act of consciousness with Fichte, led in Hegel's 

 conception to the conviction that what appeared as 

 necessary to us was merely the expression of the 



