The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-20
BY EDWARD CARD.


limits of space and time. and forming only
a link in the chain of natural causation,
in another aspect of it as q conscious self,
he is emancipated from all these limlta-
tons. For-such is Rants argument-a
knowing subject, for whom the whole
finite world, including his own finite ex-
istence. is an object of knowledge, cannon
bimself be cOmprehended in that world or
limited by any of its conditions. As there
can be no world of objects except for a
self. it is impossible that such a self
should be merely one of these objects.
Thus as knowing, or capable of knowing,
all things. man cannot be identified with
any of-them; or. if from one point of view,
as an individual. he Is so identified, yet he
has within him universal principle that
carries him beyond the limits of his in
dividuality. And this contrast shows it.
self also in his practical life. For if as an
object, he appears to be but an animal or
ganism, moved by the impressions of
pleasure and pain which he receives from
other objects; yet in his inner moral life,
man is revealed TO himself as self-deter-
mining subject, emancipated from all SEN
suOus motives and from the necessity OF
conscious of subordination only to the law
of duty, which is the law of his own rea-
son. And that law, in spite of every pres
sure of circumstance from without, and
of every impulse of passion from within,
he knows. that he ought to obey, and
therefore he knows that he can obey it.
Thus in Rants theory. the two extreme
views OF humanity, as natural and as
spiritual, as limited to a finite individual
ity, hemmed in by necessities on every
side, and yet as possessing a universal ca
pacity of knowing, and an absolute power
OF Observation-Disclosures two views are
presented in sharp antithesis and at the
same time held together as different as
poets of one life. In fact, we have here
as it were compressed into a nutshell, the
result of the whole history of eighteenth
century individualism, which began by de.
pressing man and ended by exalting him;
which, with one of its voices, seemed to re-
duce him to the level of an animal. a
mere part of the partial world. transit
tory phenomenal existence among other
phenomena; and then, with It's other
voice, proceeded to recognize him as a
member of the ineligible world. spec
tator OF all time and existence" and gift
ed with the absolute freedom of Will
which could be determined by nothing but
itself. THE solitary" says Aristotle,
must be either god or a oeast,'' and the
eighteenth century, in its conception of the
individual, seemed to oscillate between the
one and the other; till Kant, awaking to
the impossibility of emitting either aspect
ii
conceived as both at once. Kant thus set
the problem of the future; and If he did
not solve it, he at least showed the futility
of any narrow or one-sided solution and
the direction in which an adequate solu-
ton could alone be sought. In short,
Kant asked the question TO which the
nineteenth century. in all its philosophical
reflection. has been striving to find an an
swer.
For in philosophy, as in other depart
nents of knowledge. the work of the nine
teenth century has been one of mediation
and reconciliation. 1t has been an en-
deavor to break down the sharp antithesis
Of philosophical and scientific theories
that was characteristic of an earlier time.
In the writings of the greatest thinkers,
lalism. of sensationalism and ideaIism, of
empiricism and priori speculation. of in
dividualism and socialsrn-an the great
oppositions OF theoretical and practical
philosophy, which formerly were held TO
be absolute and irreconcilable-have been
modified. re-stated, reduced to the relative
antagonism of the different aspects of one
ruth. The great controversies Of the past
have thus passed into new phase, in
which absolute statements pro and con
have become as it were. antiquated; and
the question is no longer whether a par
tcular doctrine or its opposite is true. but
what are the elements of truth and error
| in each of them, and how we can attain
to a comprehensive view of things, in
which justice Is done to both. And II IT
| Re asked. what are the principles or ideas
| that have suggested this reconciIing work,
and have been the guides of the greatest
scientific or phllosophic writer's in at
| 'empting to achieve It, I think the answer
must be. that they are the idea of organic
! unity. and as implied in that, the idea of
| development. Goethe and Hegel In Ger
| many Ccmte In France. Darwin and Spen-
Ger in England. are writers who almost
| span the whole range Of difference I'm mod
ern thought: but they, and a multitude OF
others in every department of study, have
been inspired by the ideas OF organism and
development And they have all used
them somewhat in the same way to turn
/ the edge Of the old controversial weap-
| ons. or TO lift thought above the yes
| and no Of opposing dogmatisms. IT is
| true that the definitions or interpretations
| OF the ideas OF organism and development
| given by these writer's are very different,
| and often indeed SO sharply opposed that
! they seem to bring back the old contro-
versies in a new form. But this does not
alter the significance of the general fact /:
| for. in the first place. the use of an idea
! by any writer is by no means always lin
tied by his own Interpretation OF 1t, and.
/ in the second place, the true Interpretation
| of the idea is that which contains the
secret of its power and prevalence. and 1t
must in the long run gain the victory over
| all other interpretations of 1t. We may,
therefore, fairly say that these ideas have
/ been the central ideas of the century. the
conscious or unconscious stimulus OF its
/ best thought; and that they have been
| working, and are working STILL in the d.
rection OF a deeper and more comprehen-
J sive eirenicon between the different teuz
denotes Of the human mind than has been
| attained I'm any previous stage Of the his
tory Of philosophy.
| Against such general characterization
| OF an age. there is the same objection
| which Burke indicated when he said that