OF THE SOUL. 



251 



history of German culture unrolls before our view. 

 Thus the powers of the human mind, which in the 

 various writings of Kant seem to co-operate in pro- 

 ducing the intellectual, moral, and spiritual life of the 

 human soul, are characteristically represented in the 

 systems of his followers, not only by being emphasised 

 as leading principles ; they are supported also in many 

 instances by the personal character of the authors of 

 those systems. For instance, if we read in Kant of the 

 primacy of the will over the intellect, no more practical 

 instance could be found wherewith to demonstrate 

 this power of the human will than the life and the 

 personality of Fichte. But it is not my intention to 

 enlarge further on this point or to indulge in fanciful 

 analogies. I desire only to arouse in my readers some 

 sense of the wider psychological problem which the 

 history of German idealism presents in its various 

 aspects as philosophical, classical, or romantic, and in its 

 appearance in science, poetry, and art. 1 



1 Referring again to what was 

 said in the note to page 65, we may 

 look upon Hegel's first great work 

 as the psychology of the universal 

 or absolute mind, and upon his 

 later logic as the stages and method 

 of its development. Earlier writ- 

 ings of Hegel were preparatory to 

 his final exposition, and had the 

 object of defining the difference of 

 his speculation from earlier at- 

 tempts. This has been well brought 

 out by Kuno Fischer in his brilliant 

 analysis of Hegel's earlier tracts, in 

 the last section of his 'History of 

 Modern Philosophy ' (vol. viii. p. 

 245 sqq.) Still earlier preparative 

 studies are dealt with by Dilthey 

 in the dissertation quoted in the 

 last note. Hegel defends the new 



philosophy, which was to " lay aside 

 the name of love of knowledge and 

 be actual knowledge." As against 

 the fragmentary philosophy of the 

 " Aufklarung " the new philosophy 

 was to be systematic ; as against 

 the philosophy of common - sense, 

 represented in Germany by Krug, 

 the new philosophy was not to be 

 content with enumerating empiri- 

 cally the data of consciousness, 

 it had, following Kant, to deduce 

 them from a higher principle ; as 

 against modern sceptics, represented 

 in Germany by G. E. Schulze, it 

 had to overcome the agnosticism 

 suggested in Kant's mistaken doc- 

 trine of "the Thing in itself" as 

 opposed to its appearance ; as 

 against the distinction of know- 



