XXVI PREFACE 



at once, and thus besets all individual existence both 

 behind and before. 



The character of the present theory, relatively to 

 Aristotle, is to be found in its attempt to carry out 

 the individualistic tendencies in Aristotelianism to a 

 conclusion consistently coherent; just as it likewise 

 attempts a consistent continuation and development 

 of the pluralism begun by Leibnitz and carried for- 

 ward by Kant to his unfortunate point of arrest. In 

 short, the new attempt may be described as an effort 

 to relieve the cardinal new insights of Aristotle, Leib- 

 nitz, and Kant, alike, of a common group of inherited 

 inconsistencies, and to continue the pluralistic aperqii, 

 which undergoes a growing clarification in the think- 

 ing of these great minds, onward toward its proper 

 fulfilment. 



To all the great systems thus far mentioned, I am 

 of course in a debt that can never be cancelled. I 

 am only too glad to acknowledge it, and my only 

 hope is to have added to the borrowed capital, for 

 the common use, some small increment that may 

 render the whole more available for human demands. 

 To the great representatives of monism, too, I feel 

 a special indebtedness ; for one owes a peculiar as 

 well as great obligation to the thought from which 

 he feels obliged to dissent. Particularly am I sen- 

 sible of this in the case of Hegel, to whom I owe 

 many years of light and guidance, and who must 



