INTRODUCTION. 



73 



and we find ourselves at the end of a long and critical 

 period unable to say that any one of the three realms 

 of thought has gained an undisputed victory over the 

 others. Science is more than ever that kind of thought 

 which gives knowledge and certainty. Eeligion is still 

 the generally recognised abode for those convictions 

 which refer to our deepest personal interests. And more 

 than ever do we feel the need of a reconciliation of both 

 in some theory of life which is neither purely scientific nor 

 purely individualistic ; and this means that philosophy is 

 as much needed as ever. Our century has witnessed a 

 great development of scientific thought, a great revival in 

 religious interest, religious feeling, and religious activity, 

 and it is probably richer than any preceding age in 

 philosophical theories and systems. 



I must repeat here what I said above, that it is a 

 misfortune that in dealing with a complicated subject 

 we are obliged to divide it, that we are forced to give 

 preference to some one aspect, and to choose a special 



22. 

 Philosophy 

 the media- 

 tor between 

 science and 

 religion. 



Philosophy is the veritable theo- 

 dicy, compared with art and religion 

 and their sentiments this recon- 

 ciliation of the mind, indeed of that 

 mind wliich has grasped itself in the 

 freedom and wealth of its reality. 

 1 1 is easy otherwise to find satisfac- 

 tion in subordinate regions of intui- 

 tion and feeling," &c. , &c. Al- 

 though it is an exaggeration to say 

 that Hegel desired to absorb or 

 evaporate religious belief in philo- 

 sophical knowledge, as his lengthy 

 explanation (Introduction to the 

 ' History of Philosophy,' Works, vol. 

 xiii. p. 77 sqq.) sufficiently proves, 

 there is no doubt that the senti- 

 ment expressed in the above pas- 

 sage indicates that philosophy was 

 coming to the rescue of true reli- 



gious belief, which threatened to be 

 lost in the rationalistic and mystical 

 schools of the day. And this had 

 the further consequence that a 

 scientific occupation with or inter- 

 est in religious subjects be it meta- 

 physical or historical took the 

 place of a purely religious interest, 

 and that many eminent German 

 theologians became either pure 

 metaphysicians or merely critics, 

 the practical side being lost sight of. 

 It is probably just as incorrect 

 to accuse Comte of an intention 

 to destroy true religion because he 

 preached the well-known doctrine 

 of the three stages of human 

 thought the theological, the meta- 

 physical, and the scientific or posi- 

 tive. 



