MIRACLES 



versy about the immortality of the soul broke out, in 

 Which Moleschott (1852), Btichner, and Carl Vogt 

 (1854) contended for the physiological dependence of the 

 soul on the brain, while Rudolph Wagner endeavored to 

 maintain the prevailing metaphysical idea of its super- 

 natural character. Then Darvfin especially initiated 

 in 1859 that vast reform in biology which brought 

 to light the natural origin of species and shattered 

 the miracle of creation. When the application of 

 the theory of descent and the biogenetic law to man 

 was made by anthropogeny (1874), and his evolution 

 from a series of other mammals was proved, the belief 

 in the immortality of the soul, the freedom of the 

 will, and an anthropomorphic deity lost its last support. 

 Nevertheless, these three fundamental dogmas con- 

 tinued to find favor in academic philosophy, which 

 mostly followed the paths opened out by Kant. Most 

 of the representatives of philosophy at the universities 

 are narrow metaphysicians and idealists, who think 

 more of the fiction of the " intelligible world " than of the 

 truth of the world of sense. They ignore the vast prog- 

 ress made by modern biology, especially in the science 

 of evolution; and they endeavor to meet the difficulties 

 which it creates for their transcendental idealism by a 

 sort of verbal gymnastic and sophistry. Behind all these 

 metaphysical struggles there is still the personal element 

 — the desire to save one's immortality from the wreck. 

 In this it comes into line with the prevailing theology, 

 which again builds on iCant. The pitiful condition of 

 modem psychology is a characteristic result of this state 

 of things. While the empirical physiology and pathol- 

 ogy of the brain have made the greatest discoveries, the 

 comparative anatomy and histology of the brain have 

 thrown light on the details of its elaborate structure, and 

 the ontogeny and phylogetly of the brain have proved its 

 natural origin, the speculative philosophy of the schools 



71 



