6 INTRODUCTION. 



In this sense of the word we have in the following trea- 

 tise to deal with the History of Thought : not, however, 

 with the history of thought in general, but with that of 



10. a defined period, with that of the present age and the age 



Thought of 



the present immediately preceding it, the age, in fact, to which the 

 writer and his readers belong, of which they have a per- 

 sonal knowledge and recollection more or less wide and 

 intimate. It is the latter circumstance which has made 

 me select this special portion of the history of thought ; 

 for it is that portion of which, it seems to me, I and my 

 contemporaries should if we go about it in the right 

 way know most. As every person is his own best 

 biographer, so it seems to me every age is, in a certain 

 sense, its own best historian. 



11. We know that this has been frequently denied so far 



Contempor- . 



ary history, as external events (that which many persons call history 



to what ex- v J r 



and^fu-^ 16 P ar excellence) are concerned. Contemporary writers do 

 not, it is stated, get beyond mere records of events, records 

 at once one-sided, incomplete, and confusing. It is in- 

 deed necessary to have the records in great number and 

 variety: because the true and real record can only be 

 given by him who combines all these many records into 

 one, who avoids the errors arising from special points of 

 view, from narrowness of outlook, from individual ignor- 

 ance, blindness, or prejudice. Still, in spite of such 

 defects, the contemporary records will always remain the 

 most valuable sources for the future historian who may 

 succeed in sifting their various testimonies, combining 

 and utilising them to produce a fuller and more con- 

 sistent picture of the bygone age. But while his work 

 may be only temporarily valuable, theirs is lasting. It is 



