THE VOCATION OF PHILOSOPHY 55 



of government as well. When doubtful issues 

 arose men turned to it for instruction. Plato 

 lived in the conviction that nothing but clear 

 insight into the highest ends of conduct could 

 bring salvation into the affairs of men. From 

 this conviction arose his demand that the 

 rulers of the state should be philosophers. 



In the Academy knowledge and moral liv- 

 ing were alike placed under the guidance of 

 philosophy. 



In modern times also this double calling of 

 philosophy has never been forgotten. Spin- 

 oza's philosophy is and is called Ethics. It 

 culminates in a more than rational, an intui- 

 tive, apprehension of the unity of our spiritual 

 life with the creative substance of the Divine 

 Being, the actuosa essentia Dei. Kant dis- 

 tinguishes the "Schulbegriff" of philosophy 

 from its "Weltbegriff." From the former 

 point of view philosophy is "a system of 

 knowledge pursued as science," from the lat- 

 ter, philosophy relates all knowledge to the 

 essential ends of human reason, and in the 

 sense implied in this conception the philoso- 

 pher is the Lawgiver of Reason and an In- 



