460 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



ideas I refer to, through which Sehelling connects 

 earlier systems with more recent thought, the first is 

 the idea of the successive development of natural 



striving, such as is peculiar to youth- 

 ful minds. " In very remarkable 

 contrast to Kant, who proceeds 

 thoughtfully and in measured step 

 from problem to problem, all of 

 which he equally masters, an im- 

 patient and impetuous striving 

 now takes hold of philosophical 

 thought. In the life also of ideas 

 there are turning-points and crises 

 which require for their decision the 

 freshness of youthful vigour. It 

 appears as if philosophy in its 

 progress from Kant to Fichte and 

 Sehelling tries with each step to 

 rejuvenate itself. Kant was fifty - 

 seven when he brought out his 

 fundamental work, Fichte was 

 thirty-two when he introduced his 

 Wissenschaftslehre (1794), Sehelling 

 stands at twenty on the height 

 of Kant-Fichtian philosophy (1795) 

 and entered two years later (1797) 

 on the course which is peculiarly liis 

 own. Hardly had Fichte spoken the 

 first word of his new doctrine when 

 he was understood by no one better 

 than by the twenty -year- old Sehel- 

 ling, who now, together with the 

 master, developes the doctrine, and 

 plans already the transition to the 

 philosophy of nature whilst Fichte 

 is still occupied with his system of 

 Ethics." This absence of finality 

 in the writings of Fichte and 

 Sehelling — of whom Fichte was 

 the greater and more impressive 

 personality, Sehelling the more sug- 

 gestive and inspiring thinker — is 

 probably the reason why the philo- 

 sophy of neither has met with due 

 appreciation outside of Germany. 

 But this want of finality appears in 

 very different forms in the two 

 philosophies. Fichte's Wissen- 

 tchaftslehre, of which his Works 



contain several apparently different 

 renderings, is based upon a funda- 

 mental and unvarying conviction, 

 not onlj^ of the supremacy of the 

 moral principle in man and man- 

 kind and, in consequence, of moral 

 obligation and of the necessity of 

 the development of character, but 

 also of the immediate requirements 

 of his age and country. On the 

 other side Sehelling is continually 

 progressing. Beginning with the 

 knowledge of Self, he advances to 

 that of the World, and from thence 

 to that of the Divine Principle ; 

 Wissenschaftslehre, philosophy of 

 Nature, Cosmology, Theosophy. 

 "This necessary succession of proij- 

 lems marks the stages of Schelling's 

 philosophical development. The 

 first years are dominated by Wissen- 

 schaftslehre, the second period com- 

 prises Philosophy of Nature and the 

 doctrine of Identity, the third and 

 longest, Theosophy. The philo- 

 sophical development which Sehel- 

 ling presents to the eyes of his 

 contemporaries covers hardly more 

 than fifteen years ; they are the 

 most brilliant and active period of 

 his life. He was nineteen when he 

 entered on this important period, 

 ihirty-four when he ceased to let 

 the world witness his mental 

 labours" (Kuno Fischer, ' His- 

 tor}',' vol. vi. pp. 6 and 7). The 

 ethical problem which was, as it 

 were, solved in Fichte's great 

 personality but not in his philo- 

 sophical rendering, became in Schel- 

 ling's mind more and more the 

 great enigma at the solution of 

 which he laboured during the last 

 forty years of his life. It was the 

 problem of Evil and Redemption. 



