OF NATURE. 



54:5 



the regfon of things natural, of things mental, and of 

 things spiritual, a preliminary study of facts is required 

 before the great problems themselves can be attacked. 

 Thus Cosmology, or the Theory of Nature and the 

 Universe as a whole, has been superseded by the study 

 of nature in detail ; Eational Psychology has been 

 superseded by Empirical Psychology ; and Eational 

 Theology has either been altogether abandoned or it 

 has been placed at the very end of a detailed study of 

 spiritual phenomena in individual and social life. 



There seems to be no doubt that the modern age has 2. 



•^ Superseded 



been more largely occupied with empirical studies in all s^u^™^'"^'^"^ 

 the three departments, and that the discussion of the 

 ultimate problems has been either postponed or pushed 

 into the background. Nevertheless, at the end of the 

 period with which I am dealing, the necessity of arriving 

 at a philosophical or reasoned Creed has, as I have 

 stated before, made itself more and more felt, and with 

 it a renewed interest has arisen in the everlasting 

 metaphysical^ problems of Nature, Mind, and Spirit, 



^ During the third quarter of 

 the century lectures on Metaphysics 

 had almost disappeared at the Ger- 

 man universities, and, still more so, 

 lectures on philosophy of Nature. 

 This was owing to two distinct 

 causes, both equally importaut. 

 The first was pui-ely negative : a 

 widespread aversion to premature 

 speculations, such as were contained 

 in the systems of Schelling and 

 Hegel, and which, notably in the 

 regions of the empirical sciences 

 and for the purpose of the acquisi- 

 tion of natural knowledge, were 

 considered to have exerted a bane- 

 ful influence. The second was a 

 positive cause : the growth of the 



VOL. III. 



historical interest which idealistic 

 and romantic philosophy had helped 

 to stimulate quite as much as 

 the diffusion of the critical spirit. 

 During that period, however, 

 philosophical thought cultivated 

 other departments which had pre- 

 viously been somewhat neglected. 

 These were notably psychology, 

 logic (in a wider sense of the 

 term), and philosophy of religion. 

 In the period there was only one 

 prominent teacher of philosophy 

 who did as much to preserve the 

 continuity of philosophical thought 

 and the valuable traditions of the 

 past as he did to infuse a new spirit 

 into the treatment of the three 



2 M 



