190 . PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



* philosophies which are allied to or based upon exact, 

 that is, mathematical thought : the philosophies of 

 Descartes and Leibniz. Even leaving out the professedly 

 positive philosophy of Comte, the French mind, in 

 which, as we have seen, the scientific spirit is repre- 

 sented in its purest form, is involuntarily drawn to that 

 attitude which is characteristic of the exact and natural 

 sciences. Now we have seen in the earlier volumes of 

 this History how in the course of the nineteenth century 

 the method in the sciences has more and more tended to 

 become one and the same, whilst the objects and fields 

 of scientific research have become more and more diverse 

 and widely separated, depending upon an increasing 

 division of labour. The process of unification is going 

 on from various well-defined centres, with little more 

 than a far-off hope of ultimate and complete unification. 

 This, however, if viewed philosophically, is the Eclectic 

 state of mind in its highest form, which is not that with 

 which the celebrated Eclecticism of Victor Cousin was so 

 often and perhaps unduly reproved, an uncritical and un- 

 methodical assemblage of unreconciled truths ; but rather 

 an orderly co - ordination of definite scientific aspects 

 which, though preliminary, do not in their preliminary 

 character militate against a closer approximation and 

 an ultimate harmony. If we now, lastly, turn to German 

 Thought, there is no doubt that, while standing on the 

 common critical foundation everywhere recognised, it 

 preserves, though to a diminishing extent, its traditional 

 idealistic bias. The idealistic temper, though more and 

 more overruled at the present time by industrialism and 

 imperialism, still forms the ground -note. The ideals 



