OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 



15 



The main point on which Schiller agreed with Kant, 

 even before he knew much of the writings of the latter, 

 was this, that the region of the Beautiful stood in definite 

 relations to that of knowledge (the True) and that of 

 practice (the Good), that among human interests poetry 

 and art occupied a definite place. At the same time 

 he agreed with Kant in maintaining the independence 

 of the three ideals, and opposed the attempt to confuse 

 them or absorb one of them in the others. As he was, 



period of some of the foremost Art 

 Magazines in Germany, and, in con- 

 sequence, not unjustly claiming 

 some freedom from academic ped- 

 antry and more practical acquaint- 

 ance with artistic creations and 

 interests, he nevertheless attaches 

 himself to the definite philosophical 

 tradition which centred in Hegel 

 and was handed down through two 

 of the most original and productive 

 of Hegel's disciples : Karl Rosen- 

 kranz (1805-1879) and Fr. Theod. 

 Vischer (1807-1887). Shortly before 

 Schasler's Work there appeared in 

 the Munich Collection of the His- 

 tories of Sciences in Germany a very 

 original work on the 'History of 

 German Esthetics,' by Hermann 

 Lotze. This work is highly sub- 

 jective, and has accordingly been 

 very differently judged both as to 

 its criticisms and its style, which 

 have been blamed as deficient in 

 decision, definiteness, and simplic- 

 ity ; thus, e.g., by Schasler, by E. 

 von Hartmann (to whom we owe a 

 critical ' Account of German ^Es- 

 thetics from the point of view of 

 the Philosophy of the Unconscious, ' 

 1886), and by a writer of a very 

 different order, Henri Fr. Amiel 

 (1821-1881), who, in his 'Journal 

 Tntime ' (ed. E. Scherer, 4 ed., vol. 

 ii. p. 26), confessed himself attracted 

 in the beginning but wearied by a 

 further perusal of the book, coming 



to the conclusion that " les Alle- 

 mands entassent les fagots du 

 bucher, les Franais apportent les 

 e"tincelles." Nevertheless, Lotze's 

 work is well worth studying in con- 

 nection with his own sesthetical 

 teaching, which forms a striking 

 feature m his system, as notably 

 also for its lucid exposition of the 

 sesthetical doctrine of Chr. Herm. 

 Weisse (1801-1866), who, as we 

 shall see, forms a link between 

 Hegel and Lotze himself. As such 

 it seems to have escaped merited 

 attention by the only foremost 

 thinker of this country who has 

 devoted himself to a profound 

 study of the History of ^Es- 

 thetics, Professor Bernard Bosan- 

 quet, to whose original work 

 on this subject (2nd ed., 1904) I 

 am much indebted. Quite recently 

 we have a spirited and original 

 treatment of the subject, also in the 

 light of a special theory, by the 

 eminent Italian thinker, Signor 

 Benedetto Croce. As standing im- 

 partially outside of the literature of 

 the three nations who have so far 

 devoted themselves to this subject, 

 his work is especially fresh and in- 

 teresting. I shall quote from the 

 French translation of the 2nd ed. 

 by Henry Bigot (1904) with the 

 title ' Esthe"tique comme science de 

 1'expression et linguistique ge"n- 

 erale. ' 



