188 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



of Comte, Kant, Spinoza and Hegel ; not till Germany 

 on her part had recognised the originality of Comte and 

 Spencer, and France had by renewed study of Kant 

 assimilated in an independent manner the principles of 

 70. the critical philosophy. It is thus that we find philo- 



Criticism ' r 



the common sophical criticism to have become at the end of the 



meeting- * 



ground. century a common meeting-ground for the philosophical 

 thought in all the three nations. It is the spirit of the 

 Kantian philosophy, only that critical inquiry at the end 

 of the nineteenth century starts from beyond the premises 

 which seemed to afford a firm foundation and starting- 

 point to Kant himself. The new science of Psychology, 

 towards which England was the largest contributor, is 

 now cultivated by international co-operation ; as like- 

 wise the critical examination of the fundamental concep- 

 tions and axioms in the exact sciences is prosecuted 

 with equal interest and success in Germany, France, and 

 England. In these two original branches of modern 

 criticism we see how a deeper level is being reached 

 from which to start afresh on the solution of the critical 

 problem formulated by Kant. 



Compared with this international work of critical ex- 

 ploration, the constructive efforts in all three countries, 

 though numerous, are nevertheless insignificant. If in the 

 writings of the most eminent thinkers of to-day we were to 

 strike out all that is purely historical, polemical, and criti- 

 cal, how little would remain ! And yet in this small total 

 of constructive effort we can distinguish in the contribu- 

 tions of the three nations that traditional bias which 

 has in the past been characteristic of their philosophi- 

 cal attitudes. The English mind, whenever hopelessly 



