46 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



positive. We can speak of a psychological, a meta- 

 physical, and a positive movement in philosophical 

 Thought — that is, we can distinguish between a pre- 

 eminently psychological, a metaphysical, and a positive 

 or exact treatment of philosophical problems. To this we 

 may add, as equally important aspects, the logical and 

 the sociological ; but we must note that the three former 

 terms refer to the subjects, the two latter to the method 

 and purpose, of philosophical reasoning. Accordingly, 

 I shall in the sequel treat separately of the development 

 of psychology, of metaphysics, of scientific method, and 

 the theory of knowledge. A later portion of this section 

 will have to deal with the question, to what extent the 

 social problem, which in the meantime has more and 

 more forced itself upon the attention of thinkers of every 

 school, has been defined and brought nearer to a solution. 

 The social problem is in time one of the latest, as it is 

 in subject one of the most complex, problems which the 

 nineteenth century has taken up. In the beginning of 

 the century it was still largely in the hands of enthusiasts 

 and visionaries, to whom, it may be noted in passing, we 

 owe almost all the great ideals in our higher life, and 

 from whom they pass into the hands of the thinker and 

 the philosopher, by whom they are in turn handed over 

 to the practical man, to the legislator, the statesman, 

 the leader of society, industry, or labour. 



Confining ourselves, then, in the beginning, to the three 

 earlier philosophical developments — the metaphysical, 

 the psychological, and the positive — it is next important 

 to observe that in due course they underwent certain 

 changes. These changes are common to thein all alike, 



