Introduction 21 



that man is the center of the universe. Self-contem- 

 plation and self- absorption thus became inevitable; 

 the testimony of the senses was regarded as vulgar, 

 except in so far as it seemed to point to man's super- 

 natural origin, and to him as the end and aim of all 

 created things. There is food for reflection in the 

 fact, as seen in the history of science, that civilized 

 man has willingly lent implicit confidence to the 

 testimony of the senses so long as this testimony 

 seemed to flatter his self-esteem, as in the case of 

 the sun revolving about him, but has obstinately 

 refused to credit such testimony when less favor- 

 able to his dignity. 



Introspective methods of observation, together with 

 the study of meaningless and empty symbols, not only 

 developed visionary systems of philosophy, but es- 

 tranged man more and more from the natural order 

 of things. Developing the highly artificial concep- 

 tion of society that it is all a matter of purely human 

 invention, having no foundation in nature, where no 

 true ethical standards can be found, the most clever 

 of these humanists could easily justify any order of 

 existing conditions, by inventing systems of psychol- 

 ogy, ethics, and philosophy, yes, even science, suited 

 to their own particular proclivities and wants. Social 

 distinctions, amounting to feudalism on the one hand 

 and human slavery on the other, arose and were 

 sanctioned by those merely clever ones who thus 

 unjustly had gained an artificial supremacy. 



Not all, however, were thus to be deceived. Shift- 

 ing standpoints made themselves felt when Coperni- 

 cus, Kepler, Tycho Brahe, Newton, and Galileo turned 

 their attention to the motions of the heavenly bodies 

 and the laws of gravitation and force. The changes 

 in men's fundamental conceptions of the universe, 

 thus early initiated, and carried forward by Bruno, 

 Laplace, Descartes, Spinoza, and others, were finally 



