New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-07-27
EUROPE.
The Dissolution of Philosophy
London, July, 1852
Correspondence Of The N. Y. Tribune.
BERIry Tuesday luna % IS5

BERLIN, TUESDAY June -, Ioo2.
Is it, shall we say, too gloomy fore
bodiDg which perceives everywhere in Europe, at
least in Western Europe, dissolution and decay,
ruin and catastrophe
Is it the democratic habit Of taking everything
for the worst, which gives democracy the appear.
ance of rejoicing, when confusion and perpexity
have reached the highest point in official places,
as well as in the common relations Of life, as If
it attered itself with the hope that when the most
desperate state of things had arrived, she might
be called in as a reconciler-or rather hopes that
every thing may tumble to pieces, of itselfand then
fall into her possession
No! Neither Of the two.
Ii is not gloomy view, for shall show in the
course of this article, what rich positive germs Of
life are concealed and cherished in the midst Of
thedissolving elements.
Ii is not taking the worst for granted, for | can
not assume that confusion and dissolution are &C.
cidental events, which again pass away Of them
selves making room for order and life. Not at all.
will show that they are the genuine and legiti-
mate conclusion of long, historical development,
and the necessary transition to new organizations
Is it then an accident that philosophy, ON which
more than twenty centuries have now Iabored
should undergo the same catastrophe, which has
befallen COnstitutionalisn and the privileges of
class among individual orders of people, as well as
the natural privileges possessed by one country
over another
Is it merely an accident that philosophy, to
which the Germans for the last eighty years have
been devoted with their best powers, should col
lapse at the same moment, in which Germany
with all her national assemblies, conferences, con-
crosses Of princes, and revenue consultations, has
shown that she no longer has any inner force by
which to organize herself!
Is it accidental that the invasive power with
which philosophy subjugated the separate
sciences, moral as well as physical to herself
should be completely destroyed, that the suprem-
acy which it arrogated over the sciences should
be called in question, at the very time when the
nation which shook all Europe in the name of
philosophy oyerspread the whole continent, and
threw the feudal constitutions into ruin II mean
the French nation) has likewise lost its invasive
power!
Is it accide ntal, that the rsvenes of stupid Ger
man professors, who still rejoice in the phrase Of
"the legitimate influence of philosophy en- tho
moral and physical Sciences" have become as
childish and obsolete, as the rhodomantades of the
present Bonapartean journals in Paris. which
talk as if the Great Nation" still existed,
which was bound to care for all Europe, and
from which Europe waited orders. and expected
the solution the most vital probemsl
Is il accidental finally, that in the same mo-
ment in which the intellectual supremacy of net
Apply sizes has reached its end, a nation holds the
dictatorship of the continent, which from the
commencement Of its existence, has been per-
feet stranger to the philosophical labors of the
htnlnn -. .luAA
foreign, and which, mean the Russian natisn -
knows only one point ofvew, the practical
No. Ii is not an accident-the catastrophe
which has beialen all the systems of the European
States, both forms Of constitutions and metaphy-
sics,-is perfect, coherent event.
The catastrophe OF hetaphy sizes is undeniabe
Ii is now twelve years, since philosophical liter
allure may be regarded as completely closed do.
brought to an end.
The Universities, which formerly engaged all
educated men with the struggles of their deyeIon.
ment, no longer attract general attention. and are
now only preparatory semnaries for a special Of
nee. They still have their philosophical teachers,
but not one of them has produced so much as q
single new thought. While formerly, in the Mid.
die Ages, the separation of the spiritual and seen
lar order favored the exclusive occupation with
science, and in the last century. an interest in the
destructive metaphy steal stems wascberished nv
the arstocracy Of ali Europe and even nv the
IeIsnibg princes, the universal necessity. from
whicn only some lew capitalists are free the stmg.
gle with daily misery, and the toll for the passiag
moment, have well nigh destroyed all inclination for
general and comprehensive studies. Will. in the
Middle Ages thousands from the whole West
tmoneed the most renowned universities and
teachers-.Abelard, for instance often had 10000
ne arers-the number nos frequenting the German
CDnersIties dminishes every year, and is ex-
ciuslsely confined 10 those who are obliged to
qualify Themselves for civil Office, by attend.
ing certain courses Of lectures. Ia the Middle
Ages, the historical hov elng-time of metaphysics,
On emnence in the Scholastic Philosophy either
gave certain guarantee Of power, so Icing a. was
N tie hands ofthe spiritual lats the enthusiastically
fducatsd order, or when the two orders contended
ior supremacy, the secular seeking emancipation
i'ns the Pspbcy, and Uun ling it, Authority in the
l5ih cehfp'y metaphysical cutur gave a valid !