LATER GERMAN PHILOSOPHY 



MONISM MOVING TOWARD PLURALISM, THROUGH 

 AGNOSTICISM AND ITS SELF-DISSOLUTION ^ 



In Germany, the central home of modern thought, 

 there began, about the year 1865, a philosophical 

 movement, or a group of related movements, of a 

 more novel and striking character than any since the 

 time of Kant and his four chief successors, Fichte, 

 Schelling, Hegel, and Herbart. It has not yet en- 

 tirely run its course, for two of its inaugurators are 

 still (1900) living and productive, while the third, 

 though he passed away a quarter of a century ago, left 

 behind him a decided influence. The movement is 

 indicative of the prevailing Zeitgeist, and worth our 

 study as an expression of the tone of current culture. 

 Our chief interest in it, however, will be for its sig- 

 nificant drift beyond its own prepossessions, and 

 toward a deeper view, through its own inner dialec- 

 tical dissolution. 



^The essay is a revision of part of an article printed in iha Journal 

 of Speculative Philosophy, January, 1883, with the title " Some Aspects 

 of Recent German Philosophy." Originally, it was a lecture before 

 the Concord School of Philosophy, read in July, 1882. 



lOI 



