When the neo-Kantian movement is examined, we find that its long and honourable history presents us with gains which cannot be measured. But we have already noticed that in so far as this movement has specialised within the domain of the connections of mind and body, and has attempted to reduce psychology to the limits of the relations between the two, it is largely outside the inner meaning and value of the life of consciousness. [p.216] Its work has proved useful in many important respects. It has made man realise that the connection of body and mind is not so simple a matter as materialistic naturalism would lead us to suppose; and it has shown, on the whole, the impossibility of reducing consciousness to mechanical elements. Even in the various forms of psycho-physical parallelism the factor of mind and meaning stands apart in its origin from the factors of bodily movement. But neo-Kantianism has developed on higher lines than those of physiological psychology. It has dealt with the presence of an inner world of thought—a world of values and judgments of values, of norms, imperatives, and ideals—realities which are not presented in any scheme of natural science. It is impossible to read such a great book as the late Professor Otto Liebmann's Analysis der Wirklichkeit[77] without discovering this truth. In this great work, as well as in his Gedanken und Thatsachen, Liebmann shows how man is more than a natural product. [p.217] "Natural science," he tells us, "is a very useful, and, indeed, an indispensable handmaid to philosophy, but it is in no manner the first, the deepest, the most original basis of philosophy."[78] Liebmann's successors, especially Windelband, Rickert, Muensterberg, Adickes, and Vaihinger, work on similar lines. And there is a great deal in Eucken's teaching which tends in the same direction. But he goes a step further than all the neo-Kantians. We have already noticed how he gives judgments of value and spiritual norms a cosmic significance. He finds that when these norms and values have awakened with great clearness within man's spirit they inevitably lead to the conception of the Godhead. And it is in this work that Eucken's Metaphysic of Life becomes a religious metaphysic. As values and norms mean so much when a reality is granted them by the truest of the neo-Kantians, they come to mean infinitely more when they are acknowledged as somehow constituting the foundation and the acme of all existence. Eucken's main desire is to establish such norms and values beyond the possibility of dispute and beyond the constant changes of Life-systems. They mean for him what is present within their spiritual content as a realisation as well as the More to which they still point. His teaching is not contradicted by anything in the neo-Kantian movement;[p.218] he accepts its transcendental reality and lifts it out of the realm of individuality and of history into a cosmic realm. After having followed the implications of the neo-Kantian movement so far, he feels compelled to take the next step. For unless that next step is taken, some of the deepest potencies of human nature fail to come to flower and fruit. When the step is taken, they do blossom and bear fruit. Is not this a sufficient justification for taking the "next step"? It is; for man cannot allow any potency of his being to remain dormant without suffering a loss; and on this highest level of all the loss must be incalculable. "Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart will never find its rest until it rests on Thee." That confession of Augustine is Eucken's confession also; and it is the implication which such a confession contains that constitutes the significance of his message to the world. He is in the line not only of the philosophers but of the prophets and the mystics. The ladder of knowledge reaches, like Jacob's ladder, up to heaven itself—to that pure atmosphere where knowledge, merged in a deeper reality, becomes something so different from what it was before. An eternal blessedness has now become the possession of man.

Eucken has a great deal to say regarding the Historical Life-systems of the present day. [p.219] He is aware that the neglect by German thinkers of the fundamental importance of Hegel's teaching on this question has meant a heavy loss. That loss is already perceived, and Hegel's value in the realm of the Philosophy of History is being rediscovered. Men are more and more feeling the necessity of conceding a validity and objectivity to the concepts of History. The work of the late Professor Dilthey[79] in this respect is of great importance, and has strong affinities with Eucken's teaching on the same subject. But Dilthey's objectivity and validity stopped short of religion in the sense in which religion is presented by Eucken. Dilthey gave the norms of History a transcendental objectivity and considered them sufficient for man. But Eucken, as already stated, while granting all this and even insisting upon it, finds that the norms of History do not include the whole that human nature needs. The "next step" has to be taken whereby a reality is revealed beyond the confines of the best collective experiences of the human race. Once more, we are landed in the conception of the Godhead. The step became inevitable, because the best [p.220] historical concepts, in their totality, pointed to something still beyond themselves.

During the past few years Eucken has devoted much attention to the Life-system presented in Pragmatism. He is alive to the value of much of the work of the late Professor William James and of Dr F.C.S. Schiller. He feels that Absolute Idealism is too abstract and too remote from life to move the human will. It is too much like placing a man before a mountain, and asking him to remove it. The very magnitude of the object weakens instead of strengthening the will. Pragmatism has the merit of insisting that the task be done piecemeal, so that man may not lose heart at the very outset. And some kind of goal is present in Pragmatism. But Eucken's main objection to Pragmatism is that, however adequate it may be at the beginning of the enterprise, it will tend, as time passes, to turn man in the direction of the line of least resistance, and so be degraded to the level of the ordinary life and its petty demands.[80] His Activism is entirely different from James's Pragmatism. James depended too much upon the "span of the moment" and its immediate experience. There is in this "span" often no cosmic conviction present in consciousness to proclaim that the action is [p.221] "worth while" at all costs. While constantly demanding the need of effort in order to experience the deeper potencies of spiritual life, Eucken insists that such effort can enter into a current only in so far as norms and values are clearly perceived as the meaning and goal of spiritual life. A universal of meaning and value must be perceived, however imperfectly it may be, before the individual can call his deepest nature into activity. And what is such a universal but something beyond the flow of the moment and beyond the realm of ordinary daily life? Such a universal, too, must have an existence of its own—an existence and a value which are beyond the opinions of any individual or of any group of individuals, even if such a group were to include the whole human race. It is clear, then, why Eucken parts company with Pragmatism.

If, finally, we view his attitude towards the Religious Life-systems of our generation, we find words of warning and of encouragement. His whole work culminates in religion. But he teaches us that we have to learn from the sides of knowledge already presented in this chapter. And it may be said that the Christian Church (or any other Church) has yet to learn this lesson. It still seeks to find its revelation in what was, and in modes which come constantly into direct conflict with the results of the various Life-systems already referred to. It wants the fruits of religion without tilling [p.222] the ground and nurturing its plants. Its insistence on placing the basis of religion in myth and miracle dooms it to a greater disaster in the future than even in the past. Eucken sees no hope for a "revival" of religion in the soul until an inverted order of conceiving reality takes place. The religious synthesis from the intellectual side is to be obtained by passing through the grades of reality explicit in the various Life-systems, and by abstaining from the imposition of barriers which forbid anyone roaming and "ruminating" within these. If one condition is obeyed, this is the most fruitful way to construct a new religious metaphysic which will supplant traditional theology. That condition is that the various Life-systems form a kind of scale which extends from Matter up to the Godhead. The new religious metaphysic will then mean a real philosophy of values.

Does this constitute an impossible task for the Christian Church? It will remain impossible so long as we look upon the essence of Christianity as something which descends upon us apart from the exertion of our own spiritual potencies. It is a consolation to know that the highest reality may be experienced without having to undergo a training in the methods and implications of science, history, or metaphysics. But the experience here cannot possibly mean so much as the experience which passes through and beyond the implications of knowledge to the [p.223] Divine. Such an experience as the latter must be richer in content. And even apart from this, it produces something of value on the intellectual side—something which grants religion a security in the eyes of the world. When the Church tends in this direction, its faith will come into comradeship with the various branches of human knowledge as these reveal themselves on level above level. Christianity has nothing to fear, but everything to gain, from the development of all the branches of human knowledge. Its source being Spiritual and Eternal, why should opposition be presented to any development of the lower realities in science, Biblical criticism, history, and philosophy? This lesson is not yet learned, and Eucken pleads for its acknowledgment. "If we consider how much is involved in such a change in the position of the spiritual life, and if we also present before ourselves what transformations civilisation, culture, history, and natural science carry within themselves, we see clearly the critical situation in which religion is placed, because these surface-changes are not of the essence of religion. Through the mighty expansion and the fissures which these changes bring about, the old immediacy and intimacy of the soul have become lost, and religion has now receded into the distance, and is in danger of vanishing more and more. The derangement of things which such changes cause occurs [p.224] not only in connection with their own facts and material and against their old forms, but the effect proceeds into the very character and feelings of man and into his religion. And yet, when we examine the matter more closely, we find that such changes cause not so much a breach with Christianity as with its traditional form, and that they seek to bring about a fundamental renewal of Christianity. For when we penetrate beyond the motives and dispositions of men to their spiritual basis, all the changes are unable to contradict what is essential to Christianity, but they even promise to assist this essential element in its new, freer, and more energetic development. But we have to bear in mind that all this will not descend upon us like a shower of rain, but will have to be brought forth through immense labour and toil. It becomes necessary to replace that which must pass away, and to reconsolidate the essentials which are threatened. All this cannot come about save through an energetic concentration and deepening of the spiritual life, save through a struggle against the superficiality of Time regardless of all consequences, and save through a vivification and integration of all that points in the right direction."[81]

[p.225] This passage illustrates well Eucken's whole attitude regarding Christianity. It is evident that much remains to be done within and without the Church. Within, radical changes are to take place; but always in the light and with the preservation of the spiritual substance. Without, the indifference of a vast portion of the civilised nations of the world has to be reckoned with. It is an immense problem, often enough to dishearten good men and women. How can men be moved from their inertia and their resentment against the deeper demands which spiritual life makes upon every human being? That is the problem of problems and the task of tasks to-day. No clear solution of it is yet perceptible. But in the meantime, those who care for Divine things and who have experienced some of their power within their own souls must hold fast to all they possess, and labour unceasingly to increase the spiritual value of their possession. Probably catastrophes have to happen in order to bring the world home to religion and God.

Rudolf Eucken's gospel is a proclamation of the necessity of religion and the possibility of its possession. This, according to him, is the final goal of all knowledge and life. If religion is not this, it is the most tragic deception conceivable. "Religion is either merely a sanctioned product of human wishes and pictorial ideas brought about by tradition and [p.226] the historical ordinance—and, if so, no art, power, or cunning can prevent the destruction of such a bungling work by the advance of the mental and spiritual movement of the world; or religion is founded upon a superhuman fact—and, if so, the hardest assaults cannot shatter it, but rather, it must finally prove of service in all the troubles and toils of man; it must reach the point of its true strength and develop purer and purer its Eternal Truth."[82]

The fact that the influence of Rudolf Eucken's personality and teaching is spreading with such rapidity and power from west to east and from north to south is a proof that an increasing number of men and women are aspiring after a religion of spiritual life such as was presented by the Founder of our Christianity. All the Life-systems of our day must converge towards such a conception of religion.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIII [p.227]

EUCKENS PERSONALITY AND INFLUENCE

In this chapter an attempt will be made to present in a brief form some of the most important aspects of Eucken's personality and influence. His training and the relation of his teaching to the German philosophical systems of the present have already been touched upon in some of the earlier chapters. But no account of Eucken's teaching is complete without a knowledge of his personality.

We cannot understand his personality without bearing in mind Eucken's nationality. He is a man of the North. A mere glimpse of the deep blue eyes reveals this immediately. His ancestors lived in close contact with Nature, and faced the perils of the great deep. The history of the men of the North has witnessed, along the centuries, a struggle for existence as severe as any struggle known in the history of our world. A trait of Eucken's character almost entirely unknown in England is his deep sympathy with the small nations [p.228] of Europe, and especially with those of the North. He has written and pleaded on behalf of Poland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He finds that small nations, when their independence is preserved, have the tendency to bring forth original characteristics of thought and life, which are only too apt to get lost in the bustle and mechanism of the great nations. He has shown us on several occasions how much the world is indebted to its small nations for the ideas and ideals which have shaped its destiny. He believes with his whole soul that size does not necessarily mean greatness. When we compare the greatness of Palestine and Greece with that of the larger countries of the world, the latter sink into insignificance when weighed in the balances of the spirit. He has, during the past few years, several times pointed out a danger to personality and character from the vast organisations which have been created in the various departments of life during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The deeper personality of man has receded more and more into the background through the growth of such organisations. This fact is clear in the realms of commerce and of politics. We call a nation "great" in the degree in which it succeeds in outstripping other nations in its exports and imports, or in forming alliances with its neighbouring states or with other nations. A large portion of the gains which accrue from such [p.229] unions is purely accidental, and these gains cannot possibly touch the essentials of life. The explanation of this is the fact that the centre of gravity has been shifted from mental and moral racial qualities to qualities which are far inferior in mental and moral potency and content. Thus, we witness the painful inversion of values which has taken place during the past fifty years. Every "small nation" has to take a secondary place, has to become subservient to a nation which may possess for its inheritance but few qualities besides those of expansiveness and force. The small nation is forced to submit, to develop on lines entirely alien to its original potencies, and to labour with might and main to fill the coffers of the rich nation. The old calm and peace, as well as the originality of the small nations have thus too often been cruelly uprooted; the characteristics of working on their own original lines, and of producing something of essential value in the history of the world, have been largely shorn of their initiative and freedom in the case of several of the small nations of Europe. Superficiality and indifference to deep national and spiritual traits become the primary things, and the life of the small nations, as time passes, tends to become mechanical and servile.

When we survey the work of the small nations of the Western world, we discover achievements which have been of immense [p.230] value in the civilisation, culture, morals, and religion of Europe. And what a distressing sight it is to witness the attempts of larger nations to crush the spirituality of the smaller ones! The attitude of Russia towards Finland and Poland is known to all. A greed for territory and a passion for ready-made values are characteristics which are only too evident to-day in the case of some of the Great Powers of Europe. We need, as Eucken points out,[83] a new standard of valuing the national characteristics and the relationship of nation with nation. Such standard must include moral judgments and human sympathy. It is the presence of spiritual powers such as these which constitute the really deep and durable elements in a nation's progress. "When righteousness goes to the bottom, then there is nothing more worth living for on the earth." Eucken's philosophy cannot be understood apart from his intense interest in mankind and its spiritual development. He goes, indeed, so far as to say that this is the sole goal of philosophy; its message is to create new spiritual values in the life of the individual and of the race. Our systems of philosophy are painfully defective in this respect to-day. Man, as a being with a soul, is little taken into account in most of them. Is it surprising, therefore, that philosophy has not succeeded, [p.231] for centuries, in interesting or influencing the intelligent world at large?[84] It will not succeed in doing this until the deepest needs of mankind are taken to be something more than objects of psychological analysis or of logical generalisations.

Eucken's personality is rooted in a deep love for humanity and its spiritual qualities; and herein lies the essential reason of his championing of weak nations and pleading for the preservation of their original spiritual characteristics. These qualities are pearls of too great a price to be lost in a world where so much tinsel passes as what possesses the highest value.

It is not difficult to see why the small nations of the North feel that in Eucken they possess a true friend who sees clearly what they feel instinctively, and who points out to them the path of their spiritual deliverance.

It is impossible, also, to understand Eucken's system of philosophy without taking into account his religious experience. This aspect has already been touched upon, but it requires elucidation from a more personal point of view. Eucken's philosophy is the result of the experience of his own soul. It is something which can never be understood until it is lived through. Everything is brought back to its roots in the needs, aspirations, and inwardness of the soul. One must become "converted" [p.232] before he can understand Eucken's teaching. Something has not only to be understood but to be lived through; the body and the external world have to be relegated to a subsidiary place; the intellect has to merge into the spiritual intuition which is deeper than itself. It is after one has been willing to pass through this fiery furnace that the great "illumination" begins to appear. And such an illumination will increase in the degree that service and sacrifice are willingly undertaken for the sake of the infinite spiritual gains which remain in store.

This element in Eucken's personality draws him to everybody he comes in contact with, and draws everybody to him. He has drunk so deeply of the experiences of Plato and Plotinus, of the great Christian mystics and moralists of the centuries, that he sees the value of every soul that comes to him for help. It is far from Eucken's wish for these matters to be published. And the present writer will only state the fact that nobody, however ignorant and obscure, has failed in Eucken to find a father and guide. Hundreds of men who had either lost or had never found their moral and spiritual bearings in life have succeeded in doing so through coming into contact with him. The present writer remembers well many a conversation among students of six or more different nationalities, concerning the secret of Eucken's teaching [p.233] and influence. Imagine Servians, Poles, Swedes, Scotch, English, and Welsh meeting together after a philosophical lecture to discuss the question of the spiritual life and wondering how to discover it! Eucken's personality had created in their deepest being a need which could never more be filled until the Divine entered into it. In the class-room the great prophet makes it impossible for us to content ourselves with merely preparing for examinations. The teacher's exposition and inspiration are creating a deep uneasiness in us. We feel how limited and shallow our nature has been when we are face to face with a man who reveals to us the eternal values of the things of the spirit; and who reveals them not as they have merely been revealed by the great thinkers of the world, but as he himself has felt and lived them. We all become impressed with the fact that we are in the presence of a power above the world; and the feeling of pain is changed into a feeling of strong optimism in regard to the possibilities of our own nature. We feel that we, too, in spite of our limitations, can become the possessors of something of the very nature akin to that which our great teacher possesses. Eucken works a change in every man and woman who remain with him for a length of time. Many of us understand something of what Jesus Christ meant to his disciples; how he created an affection within their souls which all the obstacles of the world [p.234] could never obliterate. Eucken has done something of the same kind, on a smaller scale, for hundreds of his old pupils.

These pupils are found to-day from Iceland in the North to New Zealand in the South, and from Japan in the East to Britain and America in the West.[85] Many of them have risen to eminence, and all of them have experienced something of a spiritual anchorage in the midst of the tempestuous sea of Time; all alike cherish an affection for their old [p.235] teacher—an affection which is one of their dearest possessions. They have helped to spread his spiritual teaching, and, along with his books, have made his name known in all the civilised countries of the world. Some of Eucken's most important works have already appeared in half a dozen languages. The demand for them increases everywhere. This receptivity is a good omen of better days. The world is beginning to get tired of the mechanism and shallowness of our age, and is once more on the point of turning to the spiritual fountains of life. Where can it find a better guide to lead it to the waters of life than in Rudolf Eucken?

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CHAPTER XIV [p.236]

CONCLUSION

It will probably prove helpful at the conclusion to indicate the main contents of Eucken's greatest works in order that the reader who turns to them for the first time may be able somewhat to find his bearings. The whole of Eucken's works turn around the conception of the spiritual life. This fact must be constantly borne in mind. The term has been repeated so often in all the previous chapters that the reader may be inclined to think that some other expression might well have been exchanged for it. But no other term serves Eucken's meaning, and the recurrence of the term has to be endured in order that it may yield of its rich content.

It has been shown how Eucken establishes a new world with its own laws and values within the spiritual life. The spiritual life possesses grades of reality: it reveals itself from the level of connection of body and mind and of ordinary life right up to Infinite Love in [p.237] the Godhead. Such a reality is created within the total activity of the soul; but it is not mere subjectivism by virtue of the fact that its material comes to it from without.[86] And Eucken shows that it is thus a life partly given to man, and partly created by him. The "given" elements have to enter into man's soul. This they cannot do without much opposition. With the persistent energy of the total potency of the soul a world of independent inwardness is reached—a world which will have an existence of its own within the soul, and which will become the standard by which to measure the values of all the things which present themselves.

It is this superiority of the spiritual life which constitutes the essential factor in the evolution of the individual's personality as well as in civilisation, culture, morality, and all the rich inheritance of the race. Such an inheritance can be developed farther by the [p.238] full consciousness of the spiritual life and by the exercising of it from its very foundation.

In The Problem of Human Life Eucken sees in the message of every one of the great thinkers of the ages, however much he may differ from them, the vindication of a life higher than that of sense or even of in-intellectualism. In one form or another, they all present some world of values which is born and nurtured within the mind and soul. All these thinkers stand for something which is great and good. Eucken attempts to discover this core in their teaching; and in the midst of all the differences some spiritual truth and value make their appearance. This volume has undergone many changes, and is now in its ninth edition.

In The Main Currents of Modern Thought Eucken deals, in the first part of the book, with the fundamental concept of spiritual life as this reveals itself in the meanings of Subjective—Objective, Theoretical—Practical, Idealism—Realism. The middle portion of the book deals with the Problem of Knowledge as this is shown in Thought and Experience (Metaphysics), Mechanical—Organic (Teleology), and Law. The third portion of the volume deals with the Problems of Human Life as these are presented in Civilisation and Culture, History, Society and the Individual, Morality and Art, Personality and Character, and the Freedom of the Will. The final portion deals [p.239] with Ultimate Problems; and the two chapters on the Value of Life and the Religious Problem bring out the deeper meaning of spiritual life.

This volume has undergone many changes. When it appeared in 1878 it was little more than a history of the concepts we have already referred to.[87] But at the present time it deals with the history of the concepts, a criticism of these, and finally the presentation of the author's own thesis regarding the reality of an independent spiritual life.

In Life's Basis and Life's Ideal he analyses the various systems of thought which have been presented to the world. He finds many of these deficient; but although something that is contained in them has to pass away, they possess some spiritual element which requires preservation, and which is valid for all time. None of these systems is final; they have to preserve what is spiritual within them, and also merge it in some newer revelation gained for mankind. Every system of the universe and of life has to move; it has perpetually to drop something of its accidentals, and continually strengthen and increase its essentials. Everywhere emphasis is laid on the fact that the spiritual element [p.240] must be preserved and increased at whatever cost, for it is an element of the highest value for the world, and constitutes the energy of the world's upward march.

In the Einheit des Geisteslebens, as well as in the Prolegomena to this, the necessity of a spiritual conception of knowledge comes to the foreground. All systems of Naturalism lack enough spiritual life within themselves to meet the deepest needs of the race. Man is more than all such systems. Even on the grounds of the Theory of Knowledge itself man can be proved to be more. Eucken deals in these two books with the content of consciousness: that content reveals what is a Whole or Totality, what is beyond sense, what includes within itself the isolated impressions of the senses or of the understanding, and what is therefore spiritual in its nature.

In the Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt—a book of the greatest value—we find Eucken at his best. His attempt here is to deal with the struggle for the spiritual life and the certainty of its possession. He shows how man has emerged out of Nature, and how he has moved in the direction of gaining an inner world during the long course of civilisation, culture, morality, and religion. Through titanic struggles this inner world becomes man's possession, and constitutes the true value and significance of his life. Man now realises that it is this world of spirit and values [p.241] which constitutes the only really true world. Issuing out of this possession of the ever richer contents of this inward, spiritual world, the personality constantly becomes something quite other than it was, and its possession adds to the inheritance of the spiritual ideals of the world. At this source man is in possession of a power of a new kind of creativeness in any field of knowledge or life he may be obliged to work. Nothing blossoms or bears fruit without the presence and the power of spiritual life in the deepest inwardness of the soul.

In The Truth of Religion Eucken roams in a vast territory. All the oppositions of the ages to religion are brought on the stage, and are made to reveal their best and their worst. He shows how every system of thought, devoid of the experience and activity of the deepest soul, fails to engender religion. He shows over against all this the intellectual warrant for religion, and passes from this to the personal search by the soul for what is warranted by the intellect and by the deepest needs of one's own being. This has been the meaning of the religions of the world, and this meaning finds its culmination in Christianity.

Eucken's smaller books, such as The Life of the Spirit, Christianity and the New Idealism, Koennen wir noch Christen sein?, and The Meaning and Value of Life, present certain aspects of the larger volumes in a simpler form.

Eucken is at present engaged upon the [p.242] completion of a work of great importance dealing with The Theory of Knowledge. His system has been stated to be in need of this important corner-stone, and he has hastened to meet the demand. The book will deal with the "grounds" of the life of the spirit in an even more fundamental manner than any of his books. A preparatory work, small in bulk—Erkennen und Leben—has just appeared in German, and will be issued in English in the spring of 1913.

In Erkennen und Leben Eucken shows the need of clearness in regard to the concept of the spiritual life. This work is an introduction to his forthcoming work—The Theory of Knowledge. He shows that the Problem of Knowledge can only be answered through a further clarification of the Problem of Life. It is, therefore, necessary to show what such a Life is and how it may be lived, and, finally, how it makes Knowledge possible. This is the only way by which the final convictions of Life are able to possess greater depth and duration.

Knowledge is possible only in so far as man participates in a self-subsistent life. Without such a self-subsistent life many intellectual achievements are possible, but they do not deserve the name of Knowledge.

Such a self-subsistent life must be operative in the foundation of our nature, but it must constantly receive its material from the most [p.243] important meanings and values of the world. The self-subsistent life dare not feed on the mere analysis of consciousness or on the material which it already possesses.

History shows how a self-subsistent life is not created through the mere succession of events, but is always found as a life which is superior to the perpetual changes of Time. Consequently, every real Knowledge has something sub specie aeternitatis as its essence, and this differentiates it from all mere relativism.

The movement of History culminates alternately in Concentration on the one hand, and in Expansion on the other: Positive and Critical epochs alternate. Both aspects are necessary for the growth of life.

In modern times the growth of the Expansion-side of life has destroyed in a large measure the equilibrium of life; and the task to-day is to construct a new Concentration-side.

Such a new Concentration is possible: the experience of History testifies to its presence in several epochs; and there is a deep longing for it in many quarters to-day.

In order to attain to such a Concentration the "dead-level" life of the present must be overcome, and a turn must take place towards a new Metaphysic of Life.

Such is the problem to-day, and no complete answer is to be found in the past systems of Metaphysics. "The possibilities of Life and [p.244] of Knowledge are in no way exhausted, but it is only through our own courage and actions that the possibilities can become actualities" (Erkennen und Leben, p. 161).

The various systems of Thought need a synthesis which will include them all. It is difficult to-day to obtain a theory of life which does not leave out of account some essential elements. Is there a possibility of discovering such a synthesis? I believe that Eucken's works answer this question. But we wait eagerly for the appearance of his greatest work, and I think that, when it appears, he will more than ever deserve Windelband's designation of him as "the creator of a new Metaphysic."

* * * * *

APPENDIX [p.245]

* * * * *

LIST OF EUCKEN'S WORKS

1866. "De Aristotelis docendi ratione." Pars I. De particularis. This was the Doctor's dissertation at Goettingen University.

1868. "Ueber den Gebrauch der Praepositionem bei Aristoteles."

1870. "Ueber die Methode und die Grundlagen der Aristotelischen Ethik" (Separatabdruck aus dem Programm des Frankfurter Gymnasiums von 1870).

1871. "Ueber die Bedeutung der Aristotelischen Philosophie fur die Gegenwart" (Akademische Antrittsrede gehalten am 21 November, 1871). This was in Basel.

1872. "Die Methode der Aristotelischen Forschung in ihrem Zusammenhang mit den philosophischen Grundprincipien des Aristoteles."

1874. "Ueber den Wert der Geschichte der Philosophie" (Antrittsrede, Jena, 1874).

1878. "Die Grundbegriffe der Gegenwart." This was translated by Stuart Phelps in 1880, and published by Appleton of New York. The fourth edition has been translated by M. Booth, and has been published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1912. The title of the third German edition was changed to "Geistige Stromungen der [p.246] Gegenwart." The English edition is entitled "The Main Currents of Modern Thought."

1879. "Geschichte der philosophischen Terminologie."

1880. "Ueber Bilder und Gleichnisse in der Philosophie": Eine Festschrift.

1881. "Zur Erinnerung an K.Ch.F. Krausse" (Festrede, gehalten zu Eisenberg am 100 Geburtstage des Philosophen).

1884. "Aristoteles Anschauung von Freundschaft und von Lebensguetern."

1885. "Prolegomena zu Forschungen ueber die Einheit des Geisteslebens in Bewusstsein und Tat der Menschheit."

1886. "Die Philosophie des Thomas von Aquino und die Kultur der Neuzeit."

1886. "Beitraege zur Geschichte der neueren Philosophie." (Second edition, 1906, under the title "Beitraege zur Einfuehrung in die Geschichte der Philosophie.")

1888. "Die Einheit des Geisteslebens in Bewusstsein und Tat der Menschheit." This will be published by Williams & Norgate.

1890. "Die Lebensanschauungen der grossen Denker." The ninth edition appeared in 1911. Changes and additions have been made in each succeeding edition. English translation (1909) by W.S. Hough and W.R. Boyce Gibson under the title "The Problem of Human Life, as viewed by the Great Thinkers from Plato to the Present Time" (published by Charles Scribners' Sons, New York; and T. Fisher Unwin, London).

1896. "Der Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt." (Second edition, with many changes, 1907.) A translation of this volume will be published by Williams & Norgate in the spring of 1913.

1901. "Das Wesen der Religion." (First and second editions.) This essay was translated by W. Tudor Jones in 1904, and was published for private circulation. It is now out of print, but will soon reappear together with another essay, "Wissenschaft und Religion."

1901. "Der Wahrheitsgehalt der Religion," 1901. (Second edition, with numerous changes, 1905; third edition, with changes, 1912.) The second edition was translated by W. Tudor Jones, and published by Williams & Norgate in 1911 under the title of "The Truth of Religion." A translation of the third German edition will be published at the close of 1912.

1901. "Thomas von Aquino und Kant: ein Kampf zweier Welten."

1903. "Gesammelte Aufsaetze zur Philosophie und Lebensanschauung."

1905. "Was koennen wir heute aus Schiller gewinnen?" (Kantstudien: Sonderdruck).

1905. "Wissenschaft und Religion." This comprises a chapter in the collection of essays entitled "Beitraege zur Weiterentwickelung der Christlichen Religion."

1907. "Grundlinien einer neuen Lebensanschauung." This volume was translated by Alban G. Widgery, and published by A. & C. Black in 1911 under the title of "Life's Basis and Life's Ideal."

1907. "Hauptprobleme der Religionsphilosophie der Gegenwart." (First edition, 1907; fourth and fifth editions (with additions), 1912.) The first edition was translated by W.R. Boyce Gibson and Lucy Gibson under the title "Christianity and the New Idealism: a Study in the Religious Philosophy of To-day." This is published by Harper & Brothers, London and New York.

1907. "Philosophie der Geschichte." This is an essay in the volume entitled "Systematische Philosophie" in the series "Kultur der Gegenwart."

1908. "Sinn und Wert des Lebens." Third edition (with many additions), 1911. The first edition was translated by W. R. Boyce Gibson and Lucy Gibson under the title of "The Meaning and Value of Life" (Publishers: A. & C. Black).

1908. "Einfuehrung in eine Philosophie des Geisteslebens." Translated by the late F.L. Pogson under the title of "The Life of the Spirit" (third edition, 1911).

1911. "Religion and Life" (the Essex Hall Lecture for 1911). This is published by the Lindsey Press, London.

1911. "Koennen wir noch Christen sein?" A translation of this is in preparation.

1912. "Naturalism or Idealism?" (the Nobel Lecture, translated by A.G. Widgery). This is published by Heffer & Sons, Limited, Cambridge.

1912. "Erkennen und Leben." A translation of this work, by W. Tudor Jones, is in preparation, and will be published by Williams & Norgate in the spring of 1913 under the title of "Knowledge and Life: An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge."

1913. "Erkenntnistlehre." This volume will appear early in 1913. The translation will also appear during 1913, and the book will be published by Williams & Norgate under the title of "The Theory of Knowledge."



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FOOTNOTES:

[1] It is not only in Germany, but also in England, that natural scientists forget this important fact. The Presidential Address of Professor Schaefer at the British Association (September 1912) is an instance of attempting to explain life in terms of its history and of its lowest common denominator. And huge assumptions have to be made in order to explain as little as this.

[2] A fuller treatment of this subject will be found in my forthcoming volume, Pathways to Religion. It is incorrect to state with Professor Sorley (Recent Tendencies in Ethics, p. 30) that "her [Germany's] philosophy betrays the dominance of material interests."

[3] An important article on this book appeared in Mind during 1896, and, as far as I can trace, this seems to be the first serious attention which was given to Eucken's writings in England. A translation of the volume will appear shortly by Messrs Williams & Norgate.

[4] Cf. Main Currents of Modern Thought, translated by Dr M. Booth (1912).

[5] Main Currents of Modern Thought, p. 259.

[6] The Truth of Religion, p. 6l.

[7] Ibid., p. 62.

[8] W. James's Text-Book of Psychology, p. 145.

[9] William Wallace's Lectures and Essays on Natural Theology and Ethics, p. 210.

[10] Edward Caird's Introduction to William Wallace's Gifford Lectures, pp. xxx, xxxi.

[11] On this conception of the spiritual as More, cf. Bosanquet's Psychology of the Moral Self.

[12] Cf. Wicksteed's The Religion of Time and the Religion of Eternity, in Carpenter and Wicksteed's Studies in Theology.

[13] Eucken's best account of this subject is found in Parts I., II., and V. of his Truth of Religion and in Beitraege zur Weiterentwickelung der Religion, pp. 240-281. This latter is a volume of ten essays by well-known German religious teachers.

[14] The President of the British Association (1912) states in his address that it is not within his province to touch the question concerning the nature of the soul. I take the report of his address from Nature, 5th September. Dr Haldane goes much further in the direction of Vitalism (discussion at British Association on the subject).

[15] Cf. Driesch: Philosophy of the Organism; Vitalismus als Geschichte und Lehre; his article in Lebensanschauung (a collection of essays by twenty German thinkers, 1911); Reinke's Philosophie der Botanik; McDougall's Body and Mind; Thomson's Heredity, Evolution, and Introduction to Science (the two latter in the Home University Library). Bergson's Creative Evolution deals with the subject, but the value of this book is greater in other directions. T.H. Morgan's Regeneration is a weighty contribution to the subject.

[16] A revival of the study of Kant's first Critique would be of great value to our natural scientists. Green, in his Prolegomena to Ethics, has interpreted this aspect in a manner that ought not to be forgotten. Cf. further Edward Caird's Evolution of Religion, vol. i.

[17] Ward's Naturalism and Agnosticism, vol. i., is a reply to this important question.

[18] Cf. Muensterberg's Psychology and Education, and his Eternal Values; also Royce's The World and the Individual.

[19] This trans-subjective aspect has been worked out in an original way by Volkelt in his Quellen der menschlichen Gewisskeit.

[20] The works of Muensterberg and Rickert deal with great clearness on this difference of subject-matter in science and history.

[21] The main weakness of Bergson's philosophy seems to be in not recognising this problem. Bosanquet, in his Principle of Individuality and Value, has very clearly recognised and interpreted it upon similar lines to Eucken.

[22] In this respect Eucken and Bergson seem to agree, although it is difficult to reconcile this aspect of Bergson's with his statements concerning the grasping of reality in the perceptions of the moment.

[23] "Hegel To-day," The Monist, April 1897.

[24] Truth of Religion, p. 328.

[25] Green has dealt with this aspect in the first part of his Prolegomena to Ethics in practically the same way as Eucken. Cf. also Nettleship's Life of Green and his (Nettleship's) Philosophical Remains.

[26] This need of differentiation has been presented by Muensterberg in a powerful manner in his Psychology and Life, Eternal Values, and Science and Idealism.

[27] Muensterberg's Science and Idealism, p. 10; cf. also his Grundsuge der Psychologie, Bd. i., 1900.

[28] Wundt's Grundriss der Psychologie and the article "Psychologie" in Philosophie im beginn des Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts (Festschrift fur Kuno Fischer, art. 1).

[29] The Truth of Religion, pp. 178 f.

[30] It is a great merit of Bergson, too, to have perceived this fundamental difference. The difference between intellect and intuition, in his larger volumes, is more illuminating on the side of intellect. The relation of both is expressed by him more clearly in his short Introduction to Metaphysics (soon to appear in English).

[31] Troeltsch, in his Psychologie und Erkenntnistheorie, has perceived the difference very clearly, but in a manner quite different from Bergson. Troeltsch has dealt with the presence of the content of the over-empirical as something which is higher than any psychology of the soul, and which is at the farthest remove from the percept.

[32] Richard Kade, in his new book, Rudolf Euckens noologische Methode, points out very clearly Eucken's contributions on this point from 1885 downwards. Kade further deals with the later developments of Windelband, Rickert, Troeltsch, and Wobbermin in the same direction.

[33] Historical Studies in Philosophy,1912, p. 176.

[34] Cf. the two remarkable volumes of Baron von Huegel, The Mystical Elements of Religion,1908, and especially vol. ii. These books are a mine of rich things, but I have not observed that many in our country have as yet realised this fact.

[35] The Truth of Religion, p. 456.

[36] Main Currents of Modern Thought, p. 353.

[37] The Truth of Religion, p. 59.

[38] Cf. Decadence, Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture, by the Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour, M.P., 1908. Mr Balfour has perceived the problem in a more optimistic manner than Professor Eucken; but he, too, is conscious that much is required of the people. "Some kind of widespread exhilaration or excitement is required in order to enable any community to extract the best results from the raw material transmitted to it by natural inheritance" (p. 62).

[39] Main Currents of Modern Thought, p. 398.

[40] This aspect has been developed in modern times by Schopenhauer, Ed. von Hartmann, and others. Bergson seems to me to be greatly indebted to Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer's Will and Bergson's elan vital are practically the same (cf. Schopenhauer's Ueber den Willen in der Natur, and Bergson's Creative Evolution). Edward Carpenter, in his Art of Creation, has worked out a similar point of view independently of Bergson.

[41] Der Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt, Zweite Auflage, 1907, S. 331.

[42] Sonderdruck, 1905.

[43] George Meredith, The Sage Enamoured and the Honest Lady.

[44] Cf. the closing passages of Bradley's Appearance and Reality for a similar view; also the latter part of Ward's Realm of Ends.

[45] This weakness of Bergson's philosophy is shown in the whole of Bosanquet's Principle of Individuality and Value.

[46] It is a great merit of Windelband to have brought this aspect of the Ought prominently forward in contradistinction to the over-importance attached to the Will alone by the Pragmatists. Cf. his Praeludien.

[47] The Truth of Religion, p. 175.

[48] Modern psychology would agree with such a view, but probably not with the implications given to it by Eucken. The "faculty" psychology as it was presented by Kant has now disappeared, and consciousness is conceived as a unity in which the three aspects referred to are present, and even the single aspect that is in the foreground of consciousness is influenced by the others which are in the background. Another point made clear by Hoeffding (cf. his Psychology) and others is the difference between the activity of consciousness in the "drifting" process of association of ideas and its power to stem the association current, and to turn it into new directions by means of the reflective power of consciousness itself.

[49] It is a great merit of Bergson's philosophy to have pointed this out. It is a conception presented several times in the history of philosophy, but there is great need of re-emphasising it to-day, especially as things in space have gripped the soul with such power and disastrous results.

[50] The Truth of Religion, p. 243.

[51] The Truth of Religion, p. 200. Cf. also Koennen wir noch Christen sein? pp. 91-141.

[52] Cf. Ward's The Realm of Ends, chapters ii. and xx.; also Caird's Evolution of Religion has many valuable hints throughout the two volumes pointing in the same direction.

[53] The Truth of Religion, p. 436.

[54] Quoted in The Truth of Religion, p. 436.

[55] Cf. The Truth of Religion, pp. 429 ff.

[56] The Truth of Religion, p. 430.

[57] This fact is very clearly interpreted by Rickert in his Gegenstand der Erkenntnis.

[58] The Truth of Religion, p. 431.

[59] I cannot but believe that the supposed proofs brought forward by Sir Oliver Lodge and others are so empirical as to be of very little value to religion.

[60] The Truth of Religion, p. 533.

[61] The Truth of Religion, pp. 367, 368.

[62] The Truth of Religion, pp. 11, 12.

[63] The Truth of Religion, p. 545. It is on this fact that Eucken builds his conception of immortality. Such a conception is not a matter of speculation or of scientific proof, but a matter of an experience born on the summit of the evolution of spiritual life within the soul. It is useless to attempt to press such an experience into a conceptual mould.

[64] The Truth of Religion, pp. 550, 551.

[65] Driesch is attempting the construction of such a Metaphysic of Nature, and a similar attempt is to be discovered in Bergson's philosophy, especially in its later developments.

[66] Troeltsch has also emphasised this truth in his Absolutheit des Christentums und die Religionsgeschichte and in his Bedeutung der Geschichtlichkeit Jesu fuer den Glauben. These two small volumes are of great value.

[67] Cf. Koennen wir noch Christen sein? pp. 150 to 210; Das Wesen der Religion; Life's Basis and Life's Ideal, p. 332 ff.; Christianity and the New Idealism, chapter iv.; The Truth of Religion, pp. 539 to 616.

[68] The Truth of Religion, p. 360.

[69] Das Wesen der Religion, S. 16.

[70] The closing sections of The Truth of Religion. A similar aspect is presented in the final chapter of Koennen wir noch Christen sein?

[71] Cf. J.S. Mackenzie's Outlines of Metaphysics on the various constructions of the Universe and of Life. The whole volume is of the greatest value. Cf. also A.E. Taylor's illuminating volume, Elements of Metaphysics.

[72] Cf. Der Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt, S. 98 ff.

[73] Cf. Wicksteed's remarkable address The Religion of Time and the Religion of Eternity, already referred to. There are some striking similarities between Eucken and Wicksteed, who have, however, worked each quite independently of one another.

[74] Men of science themselves feel this, and are conscious of the one-sidedness of the results of the scientific side of materialism.

[75] The Truth of Religion, p. 103.

[76] Die Lebensanschauungen der grossen Denker, 9te Auflage, 1911, S. 504.

[77] Liebmann passed away in January 1912. He had been Eucken's colleague in Jena for many years. Windelband designates him as "the truest of Kantians and the Nestor of Philosophy." Cf. my article on his life and work in the Nation for February 3, 1912. The best presentation in England of the Kantian philosophy and its development is to be found in Caird's Critical Philosophy of Kant and Adamson's Development of Modern Philosophy. Cf. also G. Dawes Hicks's valuable articles in the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society during the past ten years.

[78] Analysis der Wirklichkeit,3te Auflage, 1900, S. vii.

[79] Cf. Dilthey's Erlebnis und Dichtung; his article "Die Typen der Weltanschauung und ihre Ausbildung in den metaphysichen Systemen" in Weltanschauung; Philosophie und Religion in Darstellungen, 1911 also, "Das Wesen der Philosophie" in Systematische Philosophie ("Kultur der Gegenwart").

[80] Cf. Eucken's Hauptprobleme der Religionsphilosophie der Gegenwart, 5te Auflage, 1912, chapter iv. Also, Erkennen und Leben (1912), ss. 35-51.

[81] The Truth of Religion, p. 574. Many hints in this and other respects may be found in W.R. Boyce Gibson's valuable work, Rudolf Eucken's Philosophy of Life(3rd edition, 1912).

[82] The Truth of Religion, p. 71.

[83] "Gesammelte Aufsaetze": Die Bedeutung der kleiner Nationen, pp. 47-52.

[84] This truth is pointed out most forcibly by L.P. Jacks in his Alchemy of Thought, chap. i.

[85] Eucken visited England for the first time during Whitsun-week 1911. He had been invited by the Committee of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association to deliver in London the Essex Hall Lecture for the year. A large audience gathered together to see and hear him, and he received a most cordial reception. He spoke in German on Religion and Life, and the lecture has since appeared in English. The Rev. Charles Hargrove, M.A., of Leeds (President of the Association) presided over the meeting, and spoke of the great importance of Eucken's growing influence. Interesting addresses were also delivered by Dr J. Estlin Carpenter, Principal of Manchester College, Oxford; and Dr P.T. Forsyth, Principal of Hackney College. At the luncheon which followed, Professor Westermarck, Dr R.F. Horton, and others spoke. The lecture was repeated at Manchester College, Oxford, during the same week. On Whitsunday Eucken preached in the evening at Unity Church, Islington, London, N., at the invitation of the writer of this volume.

In September 1912 Eucken sailed for the United States of America to deliver a course of lectures at Harvard University covering a period of six months.

In both countries he was greeted by a large number of his old pupils, many of whom travelled long distances to see and hear him once more.

[86] Eucken follows Kant in the fact that after the union of subject and object has taken place a new kind of objectivity has to be taken into account. This result has to be admitted before knowledge becomes possible at all. Eucken has not dealt in a thorough manner with this problem, although several hints are given concerning the importance of this transcendental aspect in Kant's philosophy. The implications of such a new kind of objectivity avoid the danger of subjectivism, on the one hand, and of empiricism on the other hand. Eucken's forthcoming Theory of Knowledge will deal with this important matter. In Erkennen und Leben certain aspects of the problem are touched.

[87] The volume was translated into English and published in the United States of America by Stuart Phelps in 1880. I am not aware that the work exercised any great influence at the time either in England or America. Eucken's "day" had not then dawned.



* * * * *

INDEX OF NAMES

Adamson, R. Adickes. Aristotle.

Balfour, A.J. Bergson. Boehme. Bosanquet, B. Boutroux. Bradley, F.H.

Caird, E. Carpenter, E. Carpenter, J. Estlin. Class, G. Copernicus.

Darwin. Descartes. Dilthey, W. Driesch, H.

Fichte. Fischer, Kuno. Forsyth, P.T.

Galileo.

Gibson, W.R.B. Goethe. Green, T.H.

Haeckel. Haldane. Hargrove. Harnack. Hartmann, Ed. von. Hegel.

Hicks, G. Dawes. Hoeffding, H. Horton, R.F. Huegel, F. von. Husserl. Huxley.

Jacks, L.P. James, W. Jesus, cf. chapters on Historical Religions and Christianity.

Kade, R. Kant.

Liebmann, Otto. Lipps. Lodge, O. Lotze. Luther.

MacDougall, W. Mach, E. Mackenzie, J.S. Meredith, G. Morgan, T.H. Muensterberg, H.

Nettleship, R.L. Ostwald, W.

Paul. Paulsen, F. Phelps, Stuart. Plato. Plotinus.

Reinke. Reuter. Rickert, H. Royce, J. Runeberg.

Savonarola. Schaefer, E.A. Schelling. Schiller. Schiller, F.C.S. Schopenhauer. Siebeck, H. Simmel, G. Socrates. Sorley, W.R.

Taylor, A.E. Thomson, J.A. Trendelenberg. Troeltsch, E.

Vaihinger Volkelt.

Wallace, W. Ward, J. Westermarck, E. Wicksteed, P.H. Windelband, W. Wundt, W.

THE END