522 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



novel contribution to the solution of the problem of 

 Eeality. He did indeed coin a new term in the 

 " Unconscious," which was to be a negative definition 

 of the Absolute ; but though it served to make his 

 philosophy popular and has become a watchword in 

 philosophical literature, it is little more than a name 

 for the " Unknowable," and is seductive largely through 

 the fact that it reminds us of the subconscious 

 region of mental life which has become a favourite 

 topic in recent Psychology. The conception involved 

 differs, however, from the " Unknowable " of Spencer, 

 inasmuch as it does not remain in the background, 

 but is continually introduced in all of Hartmann's very 

 voluminous writings, where it is appealed to' for the 

 solution of every formidable difficulty, and where it 

 is employed to fill up the gaps and chasms in our 

 knowledge of the phenomenal world. And from the 

 subconscious it differs, at least professedly, inasmuch 

 as it distinctly refuses to be considered as a concep- 

 tion gained by analogy with our subjective and personal 

 human experience. The historical and critical writings 

 of Hartmann contain many valuable contributions of 

 thought, but their usefulness is somewhat curtailed by 

 a monotonous and one-sided reference of everything to 

 the one central idea of the " Unconscious." 



Were I to follow the lead of German historians 

 of philosophy, I should at this point close the history 

 of the problem of Eeality in the nineteenth century. 

 With very few exceptions, comprehensive and general 

 histories of philosophy have appeared only in Germany. 

 English and i'reuch writers on modern philosophy have 



