LATER GERMAN PHILOSOPHY 1 55 



essentials, however, he affiliates with Stuart Mill, 

 while he derides Carey ; whereby he fell into many 

 an acrimonious dispute with Diihring, for the vitriol 

 of whose sarcasm, too, he had but little relish. 



On the religious question, Lange aims at a purely 

 ethical position : one religion is to him as good as 

 another, provided it does the work of consecrating 

 the ideal and giving it practical influence with men. 

 As for "rationalising" religion, let it be done, if it 

 must be done in the interest of culture and taste, 

 but beware of dreaming that in this way you are 

 getting at truth ! The Christian religion, for in- 

 stance, we may retain in spirit, but in letter, no. 

 Its entire ecclesiastical Symbol, in fact, whether 

 cultus or creed, may freely stand as long as it can, 

 provided it be understood to mean nothing but a mode, 

 strictly symbolic, of ensJirining the ideal as such. 



It is impossible not to recognise the higher tone, 

 both intellectual and moral, of Lange's general view 

 as contrasted with that of either Hartmann or Diih- 

 ring. The substitution of fortitude for despair on 

 the one hand, and for mere enjoyment on the 

 other, betokens a sounder moral feeling, while the 

 standpoint of critical agnosticism is at least in so 

 far more intellectual as it gives clear vision of the 

 difficulties that must be radically removed before 

 any doctrinal procedure can be validly begun. The 



