INTRODUCTION. 73 



and we find ourselves at the end of a long and critical 

 period unable to say that any one of the three realms 

 of thought has gained an undisputed victory over the 

 others. Science is more than ever that kind of thought 

 which gives knowledge and certainty. Eeligion is still 

 the generally recognised abode for those convictions 

 which refer to our deepest personal interests. And more 

 than ever do we feel the need of a reconciliation of both -2-2. 



Philosophy 



in some theory of life which is neither purely scientific nor * h e media- 

 tor between 



purely individualistic ; and this means that philosophy is 

 as much needed as ever. Our century has witnessed a~~l 

 great development of scientific thought, a great revival in 

 religious interest, religious feeling, and religious activity ,J 

 and it is probably richer than any preceding age in philo- 

 sophical theories and systems. 



I must repeat here what I said above, that it is a 

 misfortune that in dealing with a complicated subject 

 we are obliged to divide it, that we are forced to give 

 preference to some one aspect, and to choose a special 



and their sentiments this recon- lost in the rationalistic and mystical 

 ciliation of the mind, indeed of that schools of the day. And this had 

 mind which has grasped itself in the the further consequence that a 

 freedom and wealth of its reality. scientific occupation with or inter- 

 It is easy otherwise to find satisfac- est in religious subjects be it meta- 

 tion in subordinate regions of intui- physical or historical took the 

 tion and feeling," &c. , &c. Al- place of a purely religious interest, 

 though it is an exaggeration to say and that many eminent German 

 that Hegel desired to absorb or ] theologians became either pure 

 evaporate religious belief in philo- metaphysicians or merely critics, 

 sophical knowledge, as his lengthy the practical side being lost sight of. 

 explanation (Introduction to the It is probably just as incorrect 

 ' History of Philosophy,' Works, vol. to accuse Comte of an intention 

 xiii. p. 77 sqq.) sufficiently proves, to destroy true religion because he 

 there is no doubt that the senti- preached the well-known doctrine 

 rnent expressed in the above pas- of the three stages of human 

 sage indicates that philosophy was thought the theological, the meta- 

 coming to the rescue of true reli- physical, and the scientific or posi- 

 gious belief, which threatened to be tive. 



