On page 180 I have spoken of Materialism. I am well aware that there
are thinkers, like the above-mentioned Th. Ziehen, who do not call
themselves Materialists at all, but yet who must be called so from
the point of view adopted in this book. It does not matter whether
a thinker says that for him the world is not restricted to merely
material being, and that, therefore, he is not a Materialist. No,
what matters is whether he develops concepts which are applicable only
to material being. Anyone who says, "our action, like our thought,
is necessarily determined," lays down a concept which is applicable
only to material processes, but not applicable either to what we do or
to what we are. And if he were to think out what his concept implies,
he would end by thinking materialistically. He saves himself from this
fate only by the same inconsistency which so often results from not
thinking one's thoughts out to the end. It is often said nowadays that
the Materialism of the nineteenth century is scientifically dead. But
in truth it is not so. It is only that nowadays we frequently fail
to notice that we have no other ideas than those which apply only to
the material world. Thus recent Materialism is disguised, whereas
in the second half of the nineteenth century it openly flaunted
itself. Towards a theory which apprehends the world spiritually the
camouflaged Materialism of the present is no less intolerant than
the self-confessed Materialism of the last century. But it deceives
many who think they have a right to reject a theory of the world in
terms of Spirit, on the ground that the scientific world-view "has
long ago abandoned Materialism."