An Interpretation of Rudolf Eucken's Philosophy Part 9

[44] _Cf._ the closing pa.s.sages 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 _Praludien_.

[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 Hoffding (_cf_. his _Psychology)_ and others is the difference between the activity of consciousness in the "drifting" process of a.s.sociation of ideas and its power to stem the a.s.sociation 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 s.p.a.ce 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 _Konnen 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 fur den Glauben_. These two small volumes are of great value.

[67] Cf. _Konnen 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 _Konnen 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 pa.s.sed 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] _a.n.a.lysis 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 Aufsatze": _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 a.s.sociation to deliver in London the _Ess.e.x 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 a.s.sociation) 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, Princ.i.p.al of Manchester College, Oxford; and Dr P.T. Forsyth, Princ.i.p.al 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.