624 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



the phenomenal world cannot be slurred over, nor the 

 discontinuities got rid of, — in fact, they constitute the 

 very essence, in opposition to the mere form, of reality. 

 The way in which they are to be met is peculiar to 

 Eenouvier's philosophy. They are to be met by a free 

 choice which every thinker has to make for himself. 

 Thus we have, so far as nature is concerned, to choose 

 between the infinite in time and space and the finite ; in 

 history, between continuity or necessity of events and 

 their freedom (individuality) ; and, to sum up, we have 

 to base our system of philosophy ultimately on free will 

 or mechanism — that is to say, we have to choose between 

 being Determinists or Indeterminists. The very fact 

 that the Determinists themselves arrive only through a 

 definite resolution at their final conviction is a proof that 

 their conclusion is self-contradictory. This is an argu- 

 ment which Eenouvier has adopted from his friend 

 Jules Lequier. We are here reminded of the dictum 

 of Lotze, that a final belief depends ultimately upon a 

 resolution of the character ; and of Fichte, who main- 

 tained that the philosophy a man chooses depends 

 ultimately upon the kind of man he is. And further, 

 Eenouvier agrees — probably unconsciously — with Lotze 

 in this, that a firm conviction gained by an act of free 

 will — i.e., of self-determination- — is the beginning and 

 not the end of every philosophical system. 



The later writings of Eenouvier do not interest us 

 much in the present connection, though they contain 

 a fanciful cosmology. The interest of his speculations 

 lies in their critical and ethical portions, and in the 

 strong emphasis which he lays everywhere upon freedom 



