IDEALISM IN GERMANY 



In 1789, Lavoisier established the law of the con- 

 servation of matter, which, supplemented in 1842 

 by Robert Mayer's law of the conservation of 

 energy, remained one of the fundamental tenets 

 of modern science, until the evolutionary con- 

 ception of the transformation of energy was in- 

 troduced at a later stage. In 1791, Galvani pub- 

 lished his discoveries in animal electricity, and 

 Thomas Paine appeared with his " Rights of 

 Man." Galvani's discovery led to startling in- 

 dustrial revolutions in the I9th century. Paine's 

 idea that man has natural rights, which no other 

 creature in the universe has, furnished a great 

 deal of powder to the bourgeoisie, so long as 

 they were revolutionary, but philosophically it 

 was a step backward and away from a monistic 

 conception of the universe and human society. 

 Paine stood in sociology on the same ground 

 as Rousseau, and was as little aware of the 

 existence and functions of evolutionary develop- 

 ment and class-struggles as the celebrated 

 Frenchman. 



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