OF THE GOOD. 209 



background than that of many other recent thinkers 

 who, though much inferior to him in subtlety 

 and originality of thought, have more directly and 

 straightforwardly attacked the burning problems of the 

 age. The history of philosophical thought, however, 

 must recognise in his many - sided speculations and 

 discussions, not only the first comprehensive application 

 of the critical principle to all the great and abiding 

 philosophical problems, but also the first distinct evi- 49. 



Evidence 



dence of that philosophical tendency of our age which J n r |^ n j eg 

 has, under the modern watchwords of voluntarism and 

 pragmatism, notified its break with the more contem- 

 plative and abstract philosophy of the past. Modern 

 thought is fully realising what was only suggested by 

 Lotze, that Ethics must precede Metaphysics, that the 

 practical problem is more important than the theoretical, 

 that it has in fact been solved to a large extent by 

 anticipation in the existing codes of practical morality. 

 The genesis and history of these must, according to 

 one largely prevailing notion, be made the basis of all 

 theoretical reasoning on the subject; a definite ethical 

 creed or conviction must, according to another view, 

 stand at the entry of all useful speculation. 



This conviction that Practical Reason or the Will, as so. 



Sohopen. ' 



Kant had already stated and Fichte more strongly urged, ^ 

 is the primary factor, not only in human culture, but 

 likewise in abstract thought, was put forward also by 

 Schopenhauer, though from a different point of view 

 and with very different logical consequences. There 

 is also no doubt that Schopenhauer's philosophy was 

 much influenced by Fichte, although he himself would 



VOL. IV. 



