78 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



62. 



Realism of 

 Nietzsche. 



his abstract principles. Allied as it was to that sensation 

 of world-sickness which ran through a large portion of 

 Continental literature, it appealed to many youthful and 

 ardent spirits who found the ideals of a former generation 

 destroyed and its hopes abandoned. 



It gave, as it were, a philosophical explanation of the 

 general and growing feeling of disappointment. Similar 

 causes may have worked to secure the phenomenal popu- 

 larity of Eduard von Hartmann's 1 ' Philosophy of the 

 Unconscious.' Further developments of this line of 

 sentiment rather than of thought, in which the highest 

 virtues were considered to be those of resignation, of 

 fortitude in suffering, and of sympathetic compassion 

 with existing evils, have led many minds to a philosophy 

 of despair. It took a singular turn in the writings of 

 Friedrich Xietzsche, where it produced a reaction in the 

 direction of an extreme individualism, which preached 

 the necessity of a superhuman effort through which to 

 overcome the indifferentism of the age, and lead it to a 

 renewed grasp of the great Eealities. 



In the foregoing rapid sketch I have confined myself 

 almost exclusively to German philosophy. For a long 

 time indeed, German philosophy was the philosophy par 

 excellence. In Germany itself, where many histories of 



1 Prof. Sully in his interesting 

 volume on ' Pessimism ' mentions 

 in the Preface to the 2nd edition 

 several other pessimistic writers 

 whose works have had considerable 

 popular influence in Germany. 

 Among these the most extreme is 

 probably Philipp Mainlander (pseu- 

 donym for PhilippBatz), who wrote a 

 ' Philosophy of Redemption ' (1876), 

 which ran through several editions. 



It is, however, well to note that, 

 though not so conspicuously as in 

 the case of Hegel, the philosophy 

 of Schopenhauer lends itself to a 

 twofold development. Not only 

 have we the reaction in Nietzsche, 

 mentioned in the text, but we have 

 also the remarkable writings of 

 Paul Deussen, of whom more in the 

 sequel. 



