found within the philosophy of Kant. In the system of Absolute 

 Idealism the objects of science are not merely phenomena for us but 

 are phenomena by their very nature, that is things have the ground 

 of their being not in themselves but in an Absolute Reason. The 

 categories of this Absolute Reason are at once the categories of 

 thought and of all existence, and must not be deduced in the arbi- 

 trary and inadequate way by which Kant proceeded, but are to be 

 discovered in the great movement of reason through history. The 

 science which performs this task is called, by Hegel, Logic. But, 

 since such a science is the science of that which not only conceives 

 but also produces and explains all things Hegel's Logic is also a 

 metaphysic or a philosophy. In his own system, however, Hegel 

 considers philosophy to have three divisions. The philosophy of 

 nature and the philosophy of spirit, the second and third divisions 

 of philosophy, are, however, implicitly contained in his Logic, 

 which, according to his scheme, is the first division of philosophy. 

 The Absolute Reason, in the development which constitutes its 

 self-unfolding, externalizes itself, becomes the "other" of itself in 

 nature, and returns from this otherness or self-estrangement into 

 itself as spirit. Herein lies the great example of that dialectical 

 method of thesis, antithesis and synthesis, which Hegel believed 

 he saw at work in various movements within the great process of 

 development. 



Now Hegelianism, which the above paragraph has outlined in 

 but the briefest way, is one of the most comprehensive and com- 

 plete systems which the history of thought reveals. Its effect has 

 been felt in many directions, though in history and theology its 

 influence has been perhaps most pronounced. But absolute 

 idealism has failed to give to the natural sciences an equal place 

 with the intellectual sciences. The "philosophy of nature" was 

 made subordinate to the "philosophy of spirit", and this was no 

 doubt the result of the rationalistic presupposition upon which the 

 system was based. A priori speculation tends to take precedence 

 over observation and experiment. Reason is still considered as an 

 activity which produces and therefore explains all facts. But the 

 facts of man's complex experience must be investigated without 

 prejudice and without presupposition. Reason, to be sure, will 

 have its place, but alongside of it or alongside of the processes 



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