72 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



58. 

 Wilhelm 

 Wiindt. 



his Heidelberg Address of the year 1862, "On the 

 meaning and importance of Erkenntniss- Theorie!' ^ The 

 introduction of this term forms a kind of landmark in 

 the history of German philosophy, which has since largely 

 moved in the indicated direction. The term has been 

 translated into English by the word " Epistemology " ; a 

 general theory of knowledge, of its principles and limits. 

 John Stuart Mill had worked in a similar direction long 

 before the modern term had been introduced. 



Neither the conception of such a science, nor an 

 adequate designation of it, has ever found much favour 

 among French philosophers.^ 



About the same time that this more modest pro- 

 gramme of philosophical inquiry was placed before the 

 thinking public by Zeller, another public address de- 

 livered in the same place by Prof. Wundt announced 

 to the world in more confident tones the advent of a 

 new pliilosophy. It meant the development of that 

 line of thought and research of which, only two years 

 before, Fechner had given a brilliant example in his 

 ' Elements of Psycho-physics.' Of this I treated in the 



^ This Address is reprinted in the 

 1st vol. of Zeller 's ' Gesammelte 

 Abhandlungen. ' 



2 The only French thinker who 

 has persistently laboured in a 

 similar direction is Charles Renou- 

 vier (1818-1903). His critical writ- 

 ings, notably his ' Essais de Critique 

 Gdndrale' in four parts (1854-64, 

 second enlarged edition 1875-96), 

 have had a wide influence on French 

 thought. He can, however, though 

 starting from Kant, hardly be 

 called a Kantian, as he opposes 

 most of the original conceptions 

 through which Kant created a 



revolution in pliilosophical thought. 

 He i-epudiates the " Thing-in-itself," 

 the '■ noumenon," and the " trans- 

 cendental " nature of human free- 

 dom. Though an empiricist his 

 philosophical tendency is idealistic. 

 In his later writings he inclines 

 in the direction of Leibniz. He 

 has introduced the word " Criti- 

 cisme" into the French language 

 and terms his pliilosophy " Neo- 

 criticisme," to distinguish it from 

 Kant's. If we define Kant's philo- 

 sophy as " Noumenalism " or 

 " Transcendentalism " we may define 

 Renouvier's as " Phenomenalism." 



