OF KNOWLEDGE. 



355 



43. 



Criticism 



narrow and purely logical spirit. The consequence was 

 that the critical movement which in philosophy was 

 initiated by Kant's writings was for a lone time cast superseded 



_ by construc- 



into the background, being superseded by the more ""'^ 

 enticing and, as it seemed, more promising constructive 

 movement of thought. The purely scientific position 

 which starts from a definition and seeks for a criterion 

 of knowledge was abandoned in the attempt to give 

 expression to an actually existing higher kind of know- 

 ledge, an ideal content, which was labouring into birth in 

 the writings of the great representatives of German litera- 

 ture, notably in the works of Herder and Goethe.^ Those 



^ In order to realise the new 

 influence which was to make itself 

 felt in the development of Kantian 

 ideas, it is well to recall Pome facts 

 and dates showing the great 

 activity in the literary world dur- 

 ing the decade which preceded the 

 arrival of Reinhold at Weimar. 

 Herder had published the most 

 important and stirring of his theo- 

 logical writings, having progressed 

 from his early critical, through a 

 poetical, to a deeper philosophical 

 treatment of the religious problem. 

 During the decade from 1774 to 

 1784 he published, inter alia, the 

 following Works : — 



' Vom Erkennen und Empfinden 

 der Menschlichen Seele.' 



'Audi eine Philosophic der Ge- 

 schichte.' 



'Aelteste Urkunde des Men- 

 schengeschlechts. ' 



' Provinzialbliitter an Prediger.' 



' Erliiuterungen zum Neuen Tes- 

 tament.* 



' Volkslieder. ' 



' Theologische Briefe.' 



'Vom Geist der Ebraischeu 

 Poesie. ' 



' Ideen zur Philosophie der 

 Qeschichte.' 

 Lessing's ' Nathan der Weise ' ap- 



peared in 1779 ; Wieland's 'Oberon,' 

 1780; Biirger's 'Lyrics,' 1781 to 

 1785. Above all there towered the 

 enormous productivity of Goethe, 

 who had given to the world ' Gotz 

 von Berlichingen,' 'Prometheus,' 

 ' Werther's Leiden,' ' Klavigo,' 

 ' Faust ' (fir.st form privately circu- 

 lated), ' Wilhelm Meister,' ' Iphi- 

 genie.' Turning away from his 

 earlier critical and lyrical writings, 

 and liberating himself from the 

 influence of the "storm and stress " 

 literature, Goethe had assimilated 

 the spirit of the Antique : through 

 it and through a simultaneous 

 study of nature and art during his 

 journeys to the Harz, the Alps, 

 and Italy, he rose to that unique 

 conception of the world and life, 

 p.nd that philosophical calm which 

 separated him for some time from 

 Schiller, whose early stirring dra- 

 matic works began to appear in 

 the year that saw the publication 

 of Kant's ' Critique.' To this we 

 must add the renewed influence of 

 Rousseau, whose ' Confessions ' ap- 

 peared after his death in 1778, and 

 the still greater influence which 

 the study of Spinoza exerted on 

 all these thinkers. 



