OF REALITY. 



455 



the cesthetical philosopher Solger, from all - embracing 

 founders of systems like Hegel to specialists like Ast in 

 history, Nees von Esenbeck in botany, G. F. Puchta and 

 Fr. J. Stahl in law.-^ Schelling also occupies a central 

 international position in the history of modern thought.^ 



^ Many more names might be 

 mentioned : intimate admirers such 

 as, foremost of all, the poet Platen, 

 who has given in his ' Diary ' a 

 graphic account of the thrill which 

 Schelling's Lectures in Erlaugen 

 (1819) sent through his large audi- 

 ences, confessing that during the 

 whole Exposition the "to be or 

 not to be fell on his heart with its 

 whole weight, and that he felt as if 

 for the first time a real comprehen- 

 sion of it had entered his soul." 

 And on the other side cases of 

 great disappointment and aversion, 

 such as Justus v. Liebig, who in 

 his autobiographical Memoir refers 

 to the baneful influence of Schel- 

 ling's teaching. Between enthusi- 

 astic admirers and angry opponents 

 there stand the more temperate 

 appreciation and criticism of such 

 leaders of thought as K. E. v. Baer 

 (vol. i. of this History, p. 207, 

 note), and Fechner (vol. iii. p. 370). 



^ Schelling himself was well 

 aware that he had led philosophy 

 into wider fields and opened to it 

 extensive realms of thought. In 

 the remarkable Introductory Lec- 

 ture which he delivered in the 

 year 1827 on his appointment to 

 the Chair of Philosophy in Munich, 

 he said : " When, nearly thirty 

 years ago, I was first called upon 

 to take an active part in the 

 development of philosophy, the 

 difl'erent schools were dominated 

 by a philosophy full of life and 

 vigour but estranged from actual 

 realities. Who would have then 

 thought it possible that a teacher 

 with no name, in years still a 

 youth, should become the master 



of a philosophy so powerful and, in 

 spite of its empty abstruseness, yet 

 in intimate contact with some of 

 the favourite tendencies of the 

 age? And yet this has happened 

 — indeed not through his merit and 

 special worth, but in consequence 

 of the nature of the Cause itself, 

 through the might of an invincible 

 reality which pervades all things ; 

 nor can he ever forget the grateful 

 and joyful appreciation which then 

 came to him from the first minds 

 of the nation. Though nowadays 

 only few know from what fetters 

 and limits philosophy had then to 

 be liberated in order to force an 

 entry into the free and open field 

 of objective science — a freedom and 

 vigour of thought which they them- 

 selves now enjoy and the effects of 

 which they experience. Now again 

 ])hilosophy seems to have arrived 

 at a point beyond which she can- 

 not progress, whilst what is offered 

 as the last and best meets, in the 

 opinion of the foremost, with a gen- 

 eral opposition difficult to move. 

 The invisible Spirit which rules 

 over all calls forth at the right 

 time and moment, in every case 

 of arrest, such mental conditions 

 as increase the power of conquest 

 and make minds receptive of help 

 when it arrives. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, in our land, our age, 

 and our science, I come to you and 

 appear in your midst. I greet you 

 with love, receive me also with 

 love. I shall live, work, and strive 

 for you as long as it pleases God " 

 CSammtliche Werke,' vol. ix. p. 

 366). 



