New-York daily tribune., 1845-03-27
THE TRIBUNE.
EicgcI.


more occupied in writing history, than in creating
materials for 1t. For long time biography has
been busy with those noble characters in which are
represented the tendencies Of the age and the intel
ectual activity OF he nations. In Germany, espe-
cially attention has been bent on those courageous
minds, radiation OF their epoch, who still p.oject
their light into future ages. The son OF the cele-
brated Fichre has gwen us the biography oi his
father; Ganhauer has initiated US into the life OF
Lelbnitz; Schabcrt has published a memoir of
Kant Hegel alone, the last OF the great dead, has
not found his historian. His numerous disciples
have confined themselves publishing short sketch
es and insufficient nccroosles. Perhaps lt'may be
said, why erect biographical monument 10 man
whose deeds whose spiritual acts, In flne, his
works are an open book for present and iulure
times Is not the whole man in the expression of
his works aud his ideas! Give breath Of life 10
his system and its creator stands living before you
with his doctrines you have his heart, too. Is the
creator of philosophical system other than an IN
voluntary instrument, the graver with which an era
and nation jnscrlbe their thoughts on the brazen
tables of the history of humanity. In truth, phil
osopy is merely the tragic side OF history. Ideas
have an memorable destiny; the scythe of time
docs not spare them; they change or metamor-
phose themselves, but figures, persons remain al
ways young, always interesting, and will always be
regarded with love and satisfaction. Even beside
great work. the personality ol lis author has great
attractions. When the system of Spinoza is little
studied, his lofty figure OF virtue and OF love, d.
vine image, without anyterestrlal alloy. IS always
radiant to elevated and great souls.
Seen from this aesthetic point Of view, as the true
reflections OF his personality, the creations OF flegel
would have been better comprehcndcd, but Hegel,
himself, has done all he could 10 eclipse himself.
He has sacrificed his sutectiuity to truth. In the
last years of his life no trace of passion or OF earthly
desire was visible in his pale and wrinkled coun-
tenance, in his faded eye. Each line of that man
was category. The forehead alone preserved It's
ancientmaesty the seat of an lndestructlbe world
of thoughts, neither love nor hatred could pass the
threshold OF thattempe; nothing was left there but
the simplicity and honesty of the old Swaban. The
repose, the calm spread over this volcano, klndled
IN the depths of the intelligence, were the result of
life which strove continually 10 be absorbed IN
the pure ether OF consciousness This Is why there
Is so powerful an interest in exploring the ways
which this man has travelled. An indescrlbable
feeling comes over US, as we look upon the youth
of great men, recall all the objects that surrounded
them at the time when the gigantic growths
of our era were bu, embryos hidden III their
opaque sheaths. Nature is an artist who cnscs
her wsrks in granite Ali the higher exist
.nces which arise in humanity, whether with the
balmy sigh OF the zephyr, or with the wild wind OF
the tempest show completeness from the first
They need only to attain consciousness OF this COM
pleieness Hegcl is such q one. Vanly we seek
for the intermediate places which this mind passed
through TO arrive its system; II with entire ab-
sence of the reflective faculty, with sure and decl-
sve instinct that he raises his edlhce that he con-
structs his forts all the bridges which led 10 II are
DESTROYED; we cannot find beginning TO the magic
circle This is the man of the absolute In Schel-
hing the modes of development can be examined
and described Not so with IIegcl; he has no
succcssion no stages of progress. There but one
phase in his philosophical life, and that is his sys-
TEN. The different interior phases OF his existence
will never, perhaps, be brought TO light, for the
country in which he passed his youth took little
heed OF it, and when he came 10 be appreciated IN
other regions, those phases We're passed Still more,
it seems as if Hegel himself, having reached the
summit of the ediice, forgot the way by which he
he came He did not even know how TO appreciate
his intimate relations with Kant and Flchte, and
shows no remembrance OF those he had with Schel-
hing except in his Phenomenolosy
Hesel was a Swabiau from head TO foot; this Is
the most precise observation we can make upon his
life His philosophy has lis root IN the Swaoian
mind | do not mean TO say that system oil PM
osophy can be local provincial, but, to speak an
thropologicaliy, the manner of writing and speak
ins always bears the image Of the first Impressions
of adolescence All Germany knows what is
meant by Magister of Tubinsen. Hesel was The
incarnation of this Magister, working slowly, bul
with sustained application, tormented and asliated
Within full OF original ideas, but without vlvacity
IN the form full OF sagacity and per>mcaSi'y, but
touching lightly upon mysticism and ihecSoPhy, oi
an innate bOHhommee, but, at the same time, oi i
irankness almost gross, seeking repose IN CIVIC EN-
ployment, then leaping from one extravaganza 70
another, angular and heavy in society, avoiding
strangers, in the tone OF conversation simple 6ou-
seots, away from his country but thinking OF II al,
ways, speaking in the large dialec, of Swabia AL
these traits are characteristics OF Magster OF 1u-
bingen. Swabia has been called the country OF
poesy. aud IN Hegcl YOU find an emincnts poetic
spirit What contemplation III hls dicton, not
wi,hstsndng his keen logic! His periods, eS-
pecialy in the Phenomenolosy, are concrete
figures, illustrated by the most poetic images. By
his side, Kant seems dry and poor. The posi-
tive school of Herbar, calls the philosophy of Hege
revcre Indeed, the honest citizen, who sees IN
all things only the immediately practical side, may
think he has sufficiently condemned abooS by say
ing that it's poem; in all ages poetry and philo-
sophy have found their despisers, but philosophy,
that grand hymn OF truth will resound through the
future above iheir contempt
Hese! wrote his Logic, after he was forty years
old He had then become wise, according TO The
Swabian provcrb that man can be wise till he
has lived his iory years. This scientific Pantheon
streams with light. An eternal sun illuminates il ;
but In the Gothic dome Of the Phenomenology, the
light comes oaly refrac,ed through painted glass;
a holy and mystic obscurlty reigns beneath the
arches of this great ediGce. The Phenomenologv
a felows;udent of ege!s published some time since nj