Part 1

LIFE'S BASIS AND LIFE'S IDEAL

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

THE MEANING AND VALUE OF LIFE

Translated by W. R. BOYCE GIBSON Crown 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d. net.

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And by W. R. BOYCE GIBSON

RUDOLF EUCKEN'S PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

Second Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d. net.

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LIFE'S BASIS AND LIFE'S IDEAL

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF A NEW PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

BY

RUDOLF EUCKEN PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF JENA

TRANSLATED, WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTE

BY

ALBAN G. WIDGERY FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, AND BURNEY STUDENT, CAMBRIDGE, AND MEMBER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF JENA

LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1912

_First published December 1911_ _Second and Revised Edition, February 1912_

CONTENTS

PAGE TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE vii

AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxi

I. INTRODUCTORY: THE PHILOSOPHIES OF LIFE IN THE PRESENT DAY 1

PRELIMINARY REMARKS 3

I. STATEMENT AND CRITICISM OF INDIVIDUAL SYSTEMS OF LIFE 6 (a) The Older Systems 6 1. The Religious System 6 2. The System of Immanent Idealism 15 (b) The Newer Systems 22 1. The Naturalistic System 24 2. The Socialistic System 41 3. The System of Æsthetic Individualism 61

II. Consideration of the Situation as a Whole, and Preliminaries for Further Investigation 81 (a) The Nature of the New as a Whole and its Relation to the Old 81 (b) The Condition of the Present 86 (c) The Form of the Problem 92

II. THE OUTLINE OF A NEW PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 99 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND CONSIDERATIONS 101

I. THE MAIN THESIS 110 (a) The Ascent to the Main Thesis 110 1. Man as a Being of Nature 110 2. The Growth of Man beyond Nature 113 3. The Inner Contradiction of the New Life 134 (b) The Development of the Main Thesis 144 1. The Main Thesis and the Possibility of a New System of Life 144 (a) _The Development of the Spiritual Life to Independence_ 144 (b) _The Demands of a New System of Life_ 150 (c) _The Spiritual Basis of the System of Life_ 152 (d) _Human Existence_ 161 (e) _Results and Prospects_ 166 2. The Transformation and the Elevation of Human Life 168 (a) _Aims and Ways_ 168 (b) _The Nature of Freedom_ 174 (c) _The Beginnings of the Independent Spiritual Life_ 183 (d) _The Transcending of Division_ 187 i. _The Spiritual Conception of History_ 188 ii. _The Spiritual Conception of Society_ 196 (e) _The Elevation of Life above Division_ 201

II. THE MORE DETAILED FORM OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE 216 (a) The Problem of Truth and Reality 216 (b) Man and the World 226 (c) The Movement of the Spiritual Life in Man 233 (d) The Emergence of a New Type of Life 240 1. _Life's Attainment of Greatness_ 240 2. _The Increase of Movement_ 247 3. _The Gain of Stability_ 251 (e) Activism, a Profession of Faith 255

III. THE SPIRITUAL LIFE IN MAN IN CONFLICT AND IN VICTORY 262 (a) Doubt and Prostration 262 (b) Consideration and Demand 267 (c) The Victory 273

III. APPLICATION TO THE PRESENT: CONSEQUENCES AND REQUIREMENTS 287

_Introductory Considerations_ 289 I. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FORM OF LIFE AS A WHOLE 298 (a) The Character of Culture 298 (b) The Organisation of the Work of Culture 315

II. THE FORM OF THE INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENTS 322 _Preliminary Remarks_ 322 (a) Religion, Morality, Education 324 1. Religion 324 2. Morality 335 3. Education and Instruction 343 (b) Science and Philosophy 345 (c) Art and Literature 354 (d) Social and Political Life 358 (e) The Life of the Individual 369

CONCLUSION 373

INDEX 375

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE

With the consent of the author the title "Life's Basis and Life's Ideal" has been adopted for this translation of "Die Grundlinien einer neuen Lebensanschauung," with the hope that thereby the purpose of the work will be more directly indicated than by a literal translation of the German title. It is hoped, further, that the title adopted will make an appeal to the general reading public. To make such an appeal is not the desire of every writer on philosophical subjects: but in the present instance it is the case. The author feels that he has a message for the present time, and one that is vital to the true interests of all. It has been remarked, and the present writer would be among the first to acknowledge the truth of the statement, that the voice is that of a prophet in the sense of an ethical teacher, rather than that of a philosopher in the more technical sense. Nevertheless, the use of a philosophical terminology, and the constant implicit reference to the results of philosophical endeavour in the past and present, combined with the peculiarities of the author's own views, make it difficult to understand his message. To non-philosophical readers who are not already acquainted with the more popular works which have been translated under the titles of "Christianity and the New Idealism," "The Life of the Spirit," and "The Meaning and Value of Life," the present work will appear of considerable difficulty. Difficulty in such a work is, however, by no means necessarily an evil, for it may compel more careful reading and thought. The present work is the latest and best general statement, by the author, of his philosophical position. By some reference here to certain ideas, principles, and aims of the philosophy, the attention of the reader may be drawn to those aspects which, in personal contact with the author, one comes to feel are regarded by him as of most importance. It is not invariably so, but in this case to know the man is to gain immensely in the power to understand and appreciate the message. He inspires us with his confidence and enthusiasm, even when we have doubts as to the adequacy of his philosophical creed. His philosophy is, indeed, the outcome of an attitude of life. To know the man is to understand more fully than from all his written works what he means when he speaks of the development of _personality_ and _spiritual individuality_. Whatever may be the value of what is written about Professor Eucken's position, no substitute can be found for reading his own words in as many of his different expositions as possible.

Should anyone seek in this work for a systematic discussion of philosophical problems on the lines of traditional Rationalism, which, though often assumed to be dead, still asserts a strong influence upon us, he will not only look in vain but will also lose much that is of value in that which is offered. The aim of the philosophy is not to discuss the basis and ideal of thought, but to probe to the depth of life in all its complexity, and to advance to an all-inclusive ideal. The starting-point for us all is life as we experience it, not an apparent ultimate, such as the _cogito ergo sum_ of Descartes, the _I ought_ of Kant, or the _pure being_ of Hegel. At the outset, therefore, it is necessary to note the nature of the relation between philosophy and life. Philosophy arises within life as an expression of its nature and general import. Life may assume various forms, may be, that is, of different types; with different individuals and societies it is organised in divers ways. Life so organised, having certain definite tendencies, is called by Professor Eucken a _system of life_. In the philosophies of life which arise in these types or systems of life, life becomes more explicitly conscious of its own nature. Further, a philosophy of life is also a means of justification and defence of one system of life in opposition to other systems. Life as experienced, as organised in some way, is prior to any definite intellectual or conceptual expression of it. On the other hand a type of life may be influenced and modified by changes in the accepted philosophy of life, or by the adoption of a new philosophy. A philosophy, therefore, is to be judged by the system of life it represents and by its spiritual fruitfulness. As the roots of the differences between philosophies are in the systems of life from which the philosophies arise, the conflict is primarily not between theories, but between systems of life. The ground of the author's general appeal thus becomes apparent. The problem is a vital one; in one form or another, at one time or another, everyone is faced with it: how shall I mould my life? And it is here that we must insist upon the importance of Professor Eucken's contention that we have to make our decision for one system of life as a whole, and thus for one philosophy of life as a whole, as against other systems and other philosophies taken as wholes.

Life as experienced is a process, a growth; and in this growth it oversteps the bounds of the philosophy in which at an earlier stage it expressed itself, and according to which it strove to fashion itself. The need for a new philosophy is then felt. Generally, the need is for a philosophy more comprehensive and more clearly defined than any of the previous philosophies. Now, Professor Eucken contends that none of the philosophies of life which are common among us in the present time are adequate to represent and guide our life at this stage of its development. He calls us to turn for a few moments from the rush and turmoil of modern life to "come and reason together" as to life's basis and ideal. In justification of his view, and in accordance with his own principle that we must start with life as we experience it, he considers in the first place the common philosophies of life of the present time in relation to the systems of life from which they spring. Few will disagree with his negative view that Religion--at least as ecclesiastically presented--Immanent Idealism, Naturalism, Socialism, and Individualism involve limitations, and sometimes unjustifiable tendencies and claims, and are inadequate to satisfy the age. His next and chief endeavour is to indicate the direction in which a new philosophy is to be sought, and also tentatively to sketch the outlines of such a philosophy. In the nature of the case--as life is a process--no such philosophy can be regarded as complete. It can and should strive to take up into itself all that is of value in the discarded philosophies. Any attempt to outline a "new" philosophy will be judged by how far, with the incompleteness on all hands, it takes the different threads of life, and blending them into a unity aids their growth individually and as a whole.

Brief reference maybe made here to an attitude, common in the present time especially among English-speaking peoples, which the author does not explicitly mention. I mean the attitude of Agnosticism. This, he would contend and it would seem rightly, is in the main theoretical and does not, as such, correspond to or represent a system of life. The agnostic's system of life is formed of aspects of the systems discussed, with a strong tendency to Naturalism. The case of Huxley, who coined the term _Agnosticism_, is an excellent example: notwithstanding his frequently insisting with considerable force upon truths essentially idealistic, no one can doubt the predominant naturalistic tendency of his thought. As a rule the adoption of the attitude of Agnosticism is an attempt, as Dr. Ward has so clearly and forcibly argued in his "Naturalism and Agnosticism,"[1] to escape from the difficulties of Naturalism, which in the end it betrays. Agnosticism is, in fact, only an assumed absence of a theory of life. Professor Eucken would insist that the instability of the position is intolerable in actual life. Life's demand for unification, for consciousness of a meaning and a value, drives us beyond it. "Mere research," he writes, p. 272, "can tolerate a state of hesitation between affirmation and negation; it must often refrain from a decision in the case of special problems. Life, however, cannot endure any such intermediary position; for life, such hesitation in arriving at a decision must result in complete stagnation, and this would help the mere negation to victory."

The great objection to all the systems of life mentioned is that they are too narrow, and in some aspects superficial. The new system must unite comprehensiveness with depth. The insufficiency of intellectualism is now generally recognised: the desire of the age is to do justice to the content of experience. Though the new system of life is to include all that is of value of earlier systems, it is by no means an eclecticism, for it has its integrating principle. This we shall best see by considering the method and the result of the philosophy. Life as experienced has already been referred to as the starting-point. To whatever extent we may seem, on the surface of experience, to be under the antithesis of subject and object, when we probe deeper we recognise that both are within life: they are a duality in unity. Here again reference may be made to the above-mentioned work[2] of Dr. Ward, in which probably the best exposition in English of this same truth is to be found. Life as experienced is not simply the empirical states of consciousness: its basis lies deeper. The method of the philosophy is in consequence described as _noölogical_ in distinction from the _psychological_ method, which treats of man out of relation to a world, and ends with the examination of psychical states; and from the _cosmological_ method, which treats the world out of relation to man and aims chiefly at comprehension in universals of thought. Expressed in another way, life is fundamentally spiritual. Self-consciousness is the unifying principle: it is only by relation to life as self-conscious that we can predicate meaning or value. All that is regarded as true and valuable in all the above-mentioned systems presupposes this relation. The self-conscious life is not to be confused with the subjective life of the "mere" individual. In fact, there is no "mere" individual, for in all there are tendencies which transcend the limits of individual experience. For example, life includes the relation of man and world; and the life of society is more than a mere sum of the lives of the individuals. Perhaps a more correct way to state the author's position is to say that the individual shares the self-conscious, or, otherwise expressed, the spiritual life which transcends nature, the individual, and society. This world-pervading and world-transcending self-conscious life--_the Independent Spiritual Life_--may be regarded as an absolute or universal life. The pursuit of the ideals of truth, goodness, and beauty carries us far beyond considerations of the welfare of the individual, or the society, or even humanity as a whole. In our activities we often attain something quite different from and far better than that at which we aim. Nevertheless, unless truth, goodness, beauty, and all tendencies leading to them are self-consciously experienced they have neither meaning nor value: viewed universally, they presuppose the Independent Spiritual Life. The highest development of the spiritual life known to us is personality, our "being-for-self," which is not to be identified with subjective individuality. We are not personalities to begin with, but have the potentiality to become such through our own effort. Personality is our highest ideal: in it, as self-conscious experience all other values for us are included. The author calls us, therefore, from that excessive occupation with the environment in which we forget ourselves, to spiritual concentration and the pursuit of spiritual ideals. The spirit of his message may be expressed in words familiar to all: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." Remembering that life is fundamentally self-conscious or spiritual, it may be said that life's basis and life's ideal is life itself--life completely self-conscious and following out its own necessities. The basis of man's life is the Independent Spiritual Life which is appropriated but not created by him in his striving for a comprehensive and harmonious personality. The ideal of man's life is such a personality. The more man "loses his life" in the pursuit of the ideals of truth, goodness, and beauty, the more surely will he "save it," the more comprehensive, harmonious, and spiritual in nature will he become. Then he will realise himself as a personality, and become conscious of his unity with the Independent Spiritual Life. The dominant Idealism of this philosophy of life is evident: but the meanings of truth, goodness, and beauty are different from what they appear to be in many of the older presentations of Idealism. Truth, goodness and beauty are not abstract ideals but concrete experiences. The present writer has long been of the opinion that much of contemporary idealistic philosophy, including that of Professor Eucken, might be better termed _Spiritualism_ than _Idealism_.