MONISM 



cosmos — ^in both organic and inorganic nature — the antithetical 

 positions of theism and pantheism, vitalism and mechanism, 

 approach until they touch each other. Unfortunately, con- 

 secutive thought is a rare phenomenon in nature. 



This conciliatory disposition has grown stronger and 

 stronger in me. Every year increases my belief that 

 the dualism of Kant and the prevalent metaphysical 

 school must give way to the monism of Goethe and the 

 rising pantheistic tendency. In this we do not lose 

 sight of our ideals. On the contrary, our "realist phi- 

 losophy of life" teaches us that they are rooted deep in 

 human nature. While occupying ourselves with the 

 ideal world in art and poetry, and cultivating the play 

 of emotion, we persist^ nevertheless, in thinking that 

 the real world, the object of science, can be truly known 

 only by experience and pure reason. Truth and poetry 

 are then united in the perfect harmony of monism. 



