538 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



73. can thus only be estimated if we are acquainted with all 



His posi- 



h'istor 11 of 5 the different aspects which the social problem presented 

 thought. towards the middle of the century, such as have come 

 under review in the earlier portion of this chapter. 



Of all the social philosophers and reformers of the 

 last century he probably represents the most equal 

 combination of theoretical with practical knowledge. 

 He conceived of the social problem in one of its most 

 important and most practical aspects, and he retains 

 the German propensity for deductive and systematic 

 reasoning. Thus, he believes in the dialectic both in 

 nature and in history : but the former is not the dialectic 

 of Schelling and Hegel, but the dialectic of the exact 

 sciences ; and the latter does not consist in the unfold- 

 ing of a logical idea, but in the practical impulses and 

 motives which live in the minds of acting personalities 

 and of the masses. Like many others who inherited 

 Hegel's dialectic habit of thought, he turned away from 

 the abstract generalisations of Hegel. To define the 

 principle of movement in nature or history as the Idea 

 or Spirit, appeared to him too general. In its generality 

 it indeed comprises everything and yet explains nothing. 

 We must descend to definite notions if we wish to make 

 any progress in any special department or to solve any 

 special problem. 



74. Thus Marx, in his social philosophy, takes up one 



His central 



idea. definite aspect or idea as others have done in other 



regions of thought ; and he, like others, exaggerates 

 and pushes his principle to an extreme. What this 

 principle is, which should explain to him the historical 

 development of human society, and define, as well as 



