THE VOCATION OF PHILOSOPHY Gl 



term of Hegel's coining, so expressive, so 

 a propos, means more to us than it could have 

 meant to him who first used it. It means not 

 a mere stage in the process of development, 

 but the very essence of history itself. It 

 means that in all outward manifestations of 

 the historical life, taken individually or as a 

 whole, there is a single set of energies at work. 

 Under this enlarged conception of the objec- 

 tive spirit fall alike education, morality, the 

 state and right, religion, art, science. All 

 these are objectivations of the life of the spirit 

 in the field of history. 



So far, however, in our treatment of this 

 matter, we have been dealing only with theory. 

 But philosophy is no mere contemplation of 

 life, it is a form of life, it is "objective spirit" 

 itself. The realm of "Ideas" to which it leads 

 us must be not merely known; it must be 

 actualized. Practical principles do not exist 

 in order to be proved ; they exist in order to be 

 followed out. Their proof is their power to 

 be the guide of conduct. All science, says 

 Fichte in the same strain, provides grounds 

 for action. 



