GROWTH AND DIFFUSION OF CRITICAL SPIRIT. 163 



the purely critical position. In this connection, where 

 I am occupied in following the movements of the critical 

 spirit, it is important to note that these addresses put 

 into the foreground a new problem which lent itself as 

 much to philosophical as to historical treatment. It is 

 characterised by the endeavour, already latent in F. H. 

 Jacobi's writings, to look upon religion from a psycho- 

 logical point of view. All the many attempts to 

 investigate and define the place which belongs to 

 religion in the life of the human soul, individually or 

 socially, down to such recent writings as those of 

 r. B. Jevons, William James, and Wilhelm Wundt, 

 can be traced to their beginnings in the work of 

 Schleiermacher.^ Eeligion was there looked upon as a 

 psychological phenomenon, and it is only in proportion 

 to the culture of psychological studies themselves — which 

 constitute a principal feature of nineteenth century 

 thought — that the problem of Schleiermacher has been 

 seriously attacked. 



But there is another movement of thought which had 

 srown ever since the middle of the eighteenth centurv, of reiiginus 



o <D " ongins. 



and which was represented at the University of Got- 



48. 

 CriticiBiti 



^ The books written in Germany 

 with titles such as ' Das Wesen 

 der Religion,' or 'Das Wesen des 

 Christenthums,' have been legion. 

 They are much rarer in the French 

 and English languages. In the 

 latter Dr F. B. Jevons' ' Intro- 

 duction to the History of Religion ' 

 (1896) deserves special notice, as 

 does also the late Prof. Wm. 

 James' ' Varieties of Religious Ex- 

 perience' (Gifford Lectures, Edin- 

 burgh, 1901-2). Both these books 

 have received much attention also 

 in German literature. The latter 



work is purely psychological, with a 

 strong leaning towards modeiu 

 physiological psychology. Unfor- 

 tunately " a later work " which was 

 promised, and which would have 

 dealt more exhaustively with the 

 author's own views, has not been 

 published. On the other side Dr 

 Jevons' book deals more with that 

 side of religion upon which anthro- 

 pological psychology has thrown 

 some light. Prof. Wundt's large 

 work on ' Anthropology ' (' Volcker- 

 psychologie, ' vol. i. 1 900, f ur ther vols. 

 1905 and 1909) is still incomplete. 



