CHAPTER II 



ABSOLUTE IDEALISM 



The chief enemy of dogmatism during the last hundred years 

 has been the Hegelian philosophy. This has been the great 

 liberator of human thought if only, as many believe, to plunge 

 it into a new slavery deeper than the old. 



To deal in summary fashion with absolute idealism is not a 

 task to be lightly undertaken. It has been as prolific in sects 

 as if it were a religion perhaps because for many it has been a 

 religion and the sects are as radically opposed to each other as 

 to any adversary from without. We have, indeed, always the 

 writings of the master himself to refer to; and in comparison 

 with these no other productions of the school are of first-class 

 importance. But here one must strain to comprehend a mind 

 both subtle and profound, expressing itself in a technical language 

 of unparalleled obscurity. The danger is that one may find as 

 many conflicting doctrines in the master as the sectarians have 

 divided amongst themselves; or, even more, that in spite of the 

 lessoning of a century of controversy we may be sectarians our- 

 selves. Fortunately, however, the matters with which we have 

 here to deal are of a very elementary character, so that it may 

 not be impossible to interpret them in a form which will be fairly 

 adequate and generally acceptable. 



In the present chapter, we propose to discuss, first, the opposi- 

 tion of Hegelianism to the dogmatic logic; and, secondly, the 

 extent to which the presuppositions of the latter may still be 

 retained by the former, and the difficulties and uncertainties 

 to which they may continue to give rise. 



Just a word may be premised as to the attitude of absolute 

 idealism toward empiricism. (Observe that we speak of empiri- 

 cism as a philosophy, not of empirical science.) It is one of 



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