572 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



on the problem of the relation of the individual to the 

 life of the community. In this relation is to be found 

 the secret characteristic of any historical age, for " also 

 in history, freedom and necessity are intermingled, and in 

 conflict freedom appears mostly in personalities, neces- 

 sity in the life of the community. But is it likely that 

 the first is complete and the other unconditioned ? " 



From this Lamprecht infers that Ranke's point of 

 view recognises the antinomy between freedom and 

 necessity as practically existing. That this forms the 

 central problem with Ranke, he shows further by collect- 

 ing many scattered passages in which Ranke attempts 

 to explain himself more in detail. He points out how, 

 according to Ranke, every new mental development has 

 emanated from imposing personalities through the con- 

 quering influence of new ideas. He considers the 

 agencies 'which bring about historical progress to be 

 a Divine secret. " Genius is an independent gift from 

 God ; but in order to unfold itself there is required 

 the receptivity and the right sense in its contempo- 

 raries." 2 " Great men do not create their times, 

 neither are they created by them. They are the 

 original minds who independently take part in the 

 conflict of ideas, who concentrate the most important 

 among them, those upon which the future depends, who 

 promote them and are supported by them." "The 

 greatest individual life is only a moment in the tangle 

 of universal life." 3 



Lamprecht shows further how this latent philosophy 



1 Quoted by Lamprecht in his 

 Tract 'Alte und neue Richtungen 

 in der Geschichtswissenschaft,' 



1896 (p. 27). 



2 Ibid., p. 28. 



3 Ibid., p. 30. 



