Produced by Marc D'Hooghe.
AN INTERPRETATION OF RUDOLF EUCKEN'S PHILOSOPHY
By
W. TUDOR JONES, Ph.D. (Jena)
LONDON
1912
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[Greek: Hara ohyn, hadelphoi, hopheiletai hesmen, ou tê sarki tou
kata sarka zên, ei gar kata sarka zête meggete hapothnêskein, ehi
de pneumati tas praxeis tou sômatos thanatoute zêsesthe. hosoi gar
pneumati theou hagontai, outoi uioi theou ehisin.]--St. Paul
(Romans, viii. 12-14).
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PREFACE [p.7]
The personality and works of Professor Rudolf Eucken are at the present
day exercising such a deep influence the world over that a volume by one
of his old pupils, which attempts to interpret his teaching, should
prove of assistance. It is hoped that the essentials of Eucken's
teaching are presented in this book, in a form which is as simple as the
subject-matter allows, and which will not necessitate the reader
unlearning anything when he comes to the author's most important works.
The whole of the work is expository; and an attempt has been made in the
foot-notes to point out aspects similar to those of Eucken's in English
and German Philosophy.
It is encouraging to find at the present day so much interest in
religious idealism, and it is proved by Eucken beyond the possibility of
doubt that without some form of such idealism no individual or nation
can realise its deepest potencies. But with the presence of such
idealism as a conviction in the mind and life, history teaches us that
the seemingly impossible [p.8] is partially realised, and that a new
depth of life is reached. All this does not mean that the individual is
to slacken his interests or to lose his affection for the material
aspects of life; but it does mean that the things which appertain to
life have different values, and that it is of the utmost importance to
judge them all from the highest conceivable standpoint--the standpoint
of spiritual life. This is Eucken's distinctive message to-day. The
message shows that an actual evolution of spirit is taking place in the
life of the individual and of human society; and that this evolution can
be guided by means of the concentration of the whole being upon the
reality of the norms and standards which present themselves in the lives
of individuals and of nations. No one particular science or philosophy
is able to grant us this central standpoint for viewing the field of
knowledge and the meaning of life. The answer to the complexity of the
problem of existence is to be found in something which gathers up under
a larger and more significant meaning the results of knowledge and life.
This volume will attempt to elucidate this all-important point of
view--a point of view which is so needful in our days of specialisation
and of material interests. It may be, and Eucken and his followers
believe it is, that the destiny of the nations of the world depends in
the last resort upon a conception and conviction of [p.9] the reality of
a life deeper than that of sense or intellect, although both these may
become tributaries (and not hindrances) to such a spiritual life.
I have to thank Professor Eucken himself for allowing me access to
material hitherto unpublished, and for encouraging me in the work. I am
bold enough to be confident that could I say half of what our revered
teacher has meant for me and for hundreds of others of his old pupils,
this volume would be the means of helping many who are drifting from
their old moorings to find an anchorage in a spiritual world.
W. TUDOR JONES.
Highbury, London, N.,
_November_ 1, 1912.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
Preface 7
1. Introduction 13
2. Religion and Evolution 26
3. Religion and Natural Science 57
4. Religion and History 70
5. Religion and Psychology 87
6. Religion and Society 108
7. Religion and Art 119
8. Universal Religion 128
9. Characteristic Religion 151
10. The Historical Religions 166
11. Christianity 180
12. Present-Day Aspects of Philosophy and Religion 206
13. Eucken's Personality and Influence 227
14. Conclusion 236
List of Eucken's Works 245
Index 249
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AN INTERPRETATION OF RUDOLF EUCKEN'S PHILOSOPHY
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION [p.13]
Rudolf Eucken was born at Aurich, East Frisia, on the 5th of January
1846. He lost his father when quite a child. His mother, the daughter of
a Liberal clergyman, was a woman of deep religious experience and of
rich intellectual gifts. When quite a boy he came at school under the
influence of the theologian Reuter, a man of wonderful fascination to
young men. The questions of religion and the need of religious
experience interested Eucken early, and these have never parted from him
during the long years which have since passed away.
At an early age he entered the University of Göttingen and attended the
philosophical classes of Hermann Lotze. Lotze interested him in
philosophical problems, but did not [p.14] satisfy the burning desire
for religious experience which was in the young man's soul. Lotze looked
at religion and all else from the intellectual point of view. His main
business was to discover proofs for the things of the spirit, and the
value of his work in this direction cannot be over-estimated. Hermann
Lotze's works are with us to-day; and he has probably made more
important contributions to philosophy and religion from the scientific
side than any other writer of the latter half of the nineteenth century.
But he seems to have been a man who was inclined to conceive of reality
as something which had value only in so far as it was _known_, and left
very largely out of account the inchoate stirrings and aspirations which
are found at a deeper level within the human soul than the _knowing_
level. Life is larger and deeper than logic, and is something, despite
all our efforts, which resists being reduced to logical propositions. It
is quite easy to understand how a young man of Eucken's temperament and
training should acquiesce in all the logical treatment of Lotze's
philosophy, and still find that _more_ was to be obtained from other
sources which had quenched the thirst of the great men of the past.
When Eucken entered the University of Berlin he came into contact with a
teacher who helped him immensely in the quest for religion, and in the
interpretation of religion as the [p.15] issue of that quest. Adolf
Trendelenburg was a great teacher as well as a noble idealist, and his
influence upon young Eucken was very great. Indeed, it seems that
Trendelenburg's influence was great on the life of every young man who
was fortunate enough to come into contact with him. The late Professor
Paulsen, in his beautiful autobiography, _Aus meinem Leben_ (1909),
presents us with a vivid picture of Trendelenburg and his work. Under
him the pupils came into close touch not only with the _meaning_ but
also with the _spirit_ of Plato and Aristotle. The pupils were made to
see the ideal life in all its charm and glory. The great Professor had
all his lifetime lived and meditated in this pure atmosphere, and
possessed the gift of infusing something of his own enthusiasm into the
minds and spirits of his hearers. Eucken has stated on several occasions
his indebtedness to Trendelenburg. The young student entered the temple
of philosophy through the gateways of philology and history. This was a
great gain, for the barricading of these two gateways against philosophy
has produced untold mischief in the past. At present men are beginning
to see this mistake, and we are witnessing to-day the phenomenon of the
indissoluble connection of language and history with philosophy. In
fact, the new meanings given to language and history are meanings of
things which happened in the [p.16] culture and civilisations of
individuals and of nations, and such a material casts light on the
processes, meaning, and significance of the human mind and spirit.
Eucken learnt this truth in Berlin at a very early age, and his life and
teaching ever since have been a further development of it. This fact has
to be borne in mind in order that we may understand the prominence he
gives to religion, religious idealism, spiritual life, and other similar
concepts--concepts which are largely foreign to ordinary philosophy and
which are only to be found in that mysterious, all-important borderland
of philosophy and religion.
After graduating as Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Göttingen,
we find him preparing himself as a High School teacher, in which
position he remained for five years.
In 1871 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy in the University of
Basel. In 1874 he received a "call" to succeed the late Kuno Fischer as
Professor of Philosophy in the renowned University of Jena. It is here,
in the "little nest" of Goethe and Schiller, that Eucken has remained in
spite of "calls" to universities situated in larger towns and carrying
with them larger salaries. It is fortunate for Jena that Eucken has thus
decided. He, along with his late colleague Otto Liebmann, has kept up
the philosophical tradition of Jena. In spite of modern developments and
the presence of [p.17] new university buildings, Jena still remains an
old-world place. To read the tablets on the walls of the old houses has
a fascination, and brings home the fact that in this small out-of-the-way
town large numbers of the most creative minds of Europe have studied and
taught. The traditions of Goethe and Schiller still linger around the
old buildings and in the historical consciousness of the people. Here
Fichte taught his great idealism--an idealism which has meant so much in
the evolution of the Germany of the nineteenth century; here Hegel was
engaged on his great _Phenomenology of Spirit_ when Napoleon's army
entered the town; here Schopenhauer sent his great dissertation and
received his doctor's degree _in absentia_; here too, the Kantian
philosophy found friends who started it on its "grand triumphant
march"--a philosophy which raised new problems which have been with us
ever since, and which gave a new method of approaching philosophical
questions; here Schelling revived modern mysticism and attempted the
construction of a great _Weltanschauung._ But only a small portion of
the greatness of Jena can be touched on. Eucken has nobly upheld the
great traditions of the place, not only as a philosophical thinker but
also as a personality.
What is the secret of Eucken's influence? It is due greatly, it is true,
to his writings and their original contents, for it is not possible for
[p.18] a man to hide his inner being when he writes on the deepest
questions concerning life and death. A great deal of Eucken's
personality may be discovered in his writings. Opening any page of his
books, one sees something unique, passionate, and somehow always deeper
than what may be confined within the limits of the understanding, and
something which has to be lived in order to be understood. And to know
the man is to realise this in a fuller measure than his writings can
ever show. He has to be seen and heard before the real significance of
his message becomes clear. His personality attracts men and women of all
schools of thought, from all parts of the world, and they all feel that
his message of a reality which is beyond knowledge--though knowledge
forms an integral part of it--is a new revelation of the meaning of life
and existence. Professor Windelband, in his _History of Philosophy_ and
elsewhere, describes Eucken as the creator of a new Metaphysic--a
metaphysic not of the Schools but of Life. This aspect will be discussed
at fuller length in later pages, so that it may be passed over for the
present.
Eucken believes in the reality and necessity of his message. He is aware
that that message is contrary to the current terminology and meaning of
the philosophy of our day. Some of his great constructive books were
written as far back as 1888, and have remained, almost until our own
day, in a large measure unnoticed. [p.19] The _Einheit des Geisteslebens
in Bewusstsein und Tat der Menschheit_ is a case in point. It is one of
his greatest books, and its value was not seen until the last few years.
But the philosophy of the present day in Germany is tending more and
more in the direction of Eucken's. Writers such as the late Class and
Dilthey, Siebeck, Windelband, Münsterberg, Rickert, Volkelt, Troeltsch
--naming but a small number of the idealistic thinkers of the present
--are tending in the direction of the new Metaphysic presented by Eucken
in the book already referred to as well as in the _Kampf um einen
geistigen Lebensinhalt_.
The philosophy of Germany at the present day is making several attempts
at a metaphysic of the universe. Much critical and constructive work has
been done during the past quarter of a century and is being done to-day.
The attempts to construct systems of metaphysics may be witnessed on the
sides of natural science and of philosophy. Haeckel, Ostwald, and Mach
have each given the world a constructive system of thought. But these
three systems have not, except in a secondary way, attempted a
metaphysic of human life. Haeckel's system is mainly poetico-mythical,
chiefly on the lines of some of the pre-Socratic philosophers. Ostwald's
attempt is to show the unity of nature and life through his principle of
Energetics; and Mach's may be described as an inverted kind [p.20] of
Kantianism in regard to the problem of subject and object.
None of these has attempted a reconstruction of philosophy from the side
of the content of consciousness; in fact, they all find their
explanation of consciousness in connection with physical and organic
phenomena observed on planes below those of the mental and ideal life of
man. Such work is necessary; but if it comes forward as a _complete_
explanation of man, it is, as Eucken points out again and again, a
wretched caricature of life. To know the connection of consciousness
with the organic and inorganic world is not to know consciousness in
anything more than its history. It may have been similar to, or even
identical with, physical manifestations of life, but it is not so _now_.
Eucken admits entirely this fact of the history of mind; but the meaning
of mind is to be discovered not so much in its _Whence_ as in its
present potency and its _Whither_.[1] A philosophy of science is bound
to recognise this difference, or else all its constructions can
represent no more than a torso. Physical impressions enter into
consciousness, [p.21] and doubtless in important ways condition it,
but they are _not physical_ once man becomes _conscious_ of them. A union
of subject and object has now taken place, and consequently a new beginning
--a beginning which cannot be interpreted in terms of the things of
sense--starts on its course. This is Eucken's standpoint, and it is no
other than the carrying farther of some of the important results Kant
arrived at.
This difference between the natural and the mental sciences has been
emphasised, at various times, since the time of Plato. But the
difference tended to become obliterated through the discoveries of
natural science and its great influence during the latter half of the
nineteenth century. The key of evolution had come at last into the hands
of men, and it fitted so many closed doors; it provided an entrance to a
new kind of world, and gave new methods for knowing that world. But, as
already stated, evolution is capable of dealing with what _is_ in the
light of what _was_, and the _Is_ and the _Was_ are the physical
characteristics of things. In all this, mind and morals, as they are in
their own intrinsic nature operating in the world, are left out of
account. A striking example of this is found in the late Professor
Huxley's Romanes Lecture--_Evolution and Ethics_. In this remarkable
lecture it is shown that the cosmic order does not answer all our
questions, and is indifferent [p.22] and even antagonistic to our
ethical needs and ideals. Huxley's conclusion may be justly designated
as a failure of science to interpret the greatest things of life. Before
culture, civilisation, and morality become possible, a new point of
departure has to take place within human consciousness, and the attempt
to move in an ethical direction is as much hindered as helped by the
natural course of the physical universe. This lecture of Huxley's runs
parallel in many ways with Eucken's differentiation of Nature and
Spirit, and Huxley's "ethical life" has practically the same meaning as
Eucken's "spiritual life" on its lower levels.
Numerous instances are to be found in the present-day philosophy of
Germany of the need of a Metaphysic of Life, and of the impossibility of
constructing such from the standpoint of the results of the natural
sciences either singly or combined.
Professor Rickert's investigations are having important effects in this
respect. In his works he has made abundantly clear the difference
between the methods and results of the sciences of Nature and the
sciences of Mind. And even amongst the mental sciences themselves,
all-important aspects of different subject-matters present themselves,
and render themselves as of different _values_.
Professor Münsterberg has worked on a similar path, and has insisted
once more on the nature of reality as this expresses itself in [p.23] a
meaning which is over-individual. Professor Windelband's writings (_cf.
Präludien, Die Philosophie im XX. Jahrhundert_, etc.) have emphasised
very clearly the need of the presence and acknowledgment of norms in
life, and of the meaning of life realising itself in the fulfilment of
these norms.[2]
When we turn to the great neo-Kantian movement, we find alongside of
discussions concerning psychological questions important ethical aspects
presenting themselves. The works of the late Professor Otto Liebmann of
Jena (_cf_ the last part of his _Analysis der Wirklichkeit_) and of the
late Professor Dilthey and Dr. G. Simmel point in the same direction.
Professors Husserl, Lipps, and Vaihinger, as their most recent important
books show, work on lines which insist on bringing life as it is and as
it ought to be into their systems. The same may be said of Professor
Wundt's works in so far as they present a constructive system.
But the ground was fallow twenty-five years ago when some of Eucken's
important works made their appearance. Even as late as 1896 he complains
of this in the preface of his _Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt_:
"I am aware that the explanations offered in this [p.24] volume will prove
themselves to be in direct antagonism to the mental currents which
prevail to-day."[3] He states that his standpoint is different from that
of the conventional and official idealism then in vogue. By this he
means, on the one hand, the "absolute idealism" which constructed
systems entirely unconnected with science or experience--systems whose
Absolute had no direct relationship with man, or which made no appeal to
anything of a similar nature to itself in the deeper experience of the
soul; and, on the other hand, the degeneration of the neo-Kantian
movement to a mere description of the relations of bodily and mental
processes.
Probably enough has been said to show that the idealistic systems of
Germany are tending more and more in the direction of a philosophy which
attempts to take into account not only the results of the physical
sciences and psychology, but also those of the norms of history and of
the over-individual contents of consciousness.
It has been stated by several critics in England, Germany, and America,
that Eucken has ignored the results of physical science and psychology.
This was partially true in the past, when his main object was to present
his [p.25] own metaphysic of life. The problems of science and
psychology had to take a secondary place, but it is incorrect to state
that these problems were ignored. It is remarkable how Eucken has kept
himself abreast of these results which are outside his own province.[4]
But he has been all along conscious of the limitations of these results
of natural science and psychology. The results fail to connote the
phenomena of consciousness and its meaning. While Eucken has accepted
these results, I have not seen any evidence that any of his conceptions
concerning the main core of his teaching--the spiritual life--are
disproved by any of them. He shows us, as will be elucidated later, that
as sensations point in the direction of percepts, and percepts in the
direction of concepts, so concepts point in the direction of something
which is beyond themselves. And as the meaning of reality reveals itself
the more we pass along the mysterious transition from sensation to
concept, so a further meaning of reality is revealed when concepts
search for a depth beyond themselves. This is the clue to Eucken's
teaching in regard to spiritual life. It is a further development of the
nature of man--a development beyond the empirical and the mental. And
the object of the following chapters will be to show this from various
points of view.
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