Li-
terature and science reflect alternate light
upon each other; and the connexion which
exists between all the objects in nature, must
also be maintained among the ideas of man.
terature and science reflect alternate light
upon each other; and the connexion which
exists between all the objects in nature, must
also be maintained among the ideas of man.
Madame de Stael - Germany
org/access_use#pd-google
? 136 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
There are, in style, some qualities which
are connected with truth in the sentiment
expressed, and there are others which de-
pend on grammatical correctness. It would
be difficult to make the Germans understand,
that the first thing to look for in a work, is
the manner in which it is written, and that
the execution of it should be of more im-
portance than the conception. In experi-
mental philosophy, a work is esteemed, above
all things, according to the ingenious and
lucid form, under which it is presented; in
ideal philosophy, on the contrary, where all
attraction is in the focus of the mind, those
writers only are admired who approach the
^nearest to that point.
/ It must be admitted too, that the habit of
searching into the most hidden mysteries of
our being, gives the mind a taste for what
is deepest, and sometimes for what is most
obscure in thought. Thus the Germans too
i often blend metaphysics with poetry.
The new philosophy inspires us with the
necessity of rising to thoughts and senti-
ments without bounds. This impulse may be
favourable to genius, but it is so to genius
alone, and it often gives to those who are
destitute of genius very ridiculous pretensions.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 137
In France, mediocrity finds every thing loo
powerful and too exalted; in Germany, it
finds nothing so high as the new doctrine.
In France, mediocrity laughs at enthusiasm;
in Germany, it despises a certain sort of rea-
son. A writer can never do enough to con-
vince German readers that his ideas are not
superficial, that he is occupied, in all things,
with the immortal and the infinite. But as
the faculties of the mind are not always
correspondent to such vast desires, it often
happens that gigantic efforts produce but
common results. Nevertheless, this general
disposition assists the flight of thought; and
it is easier, in literature, to set bounds, than
to give emulation.
The taste which the Germans show for
what is playful and simple, and of which I
have already had occasion to speak, seems
to be in contradiction to their inclination for
metaphysics--an inclination which arises
from the desire of knowing and of analysing
one's self: at the same time, it is to the in-
fluence of a system that we are to refer this
taste for playful simplicity ; for, in Germany,
there is philosophy in every thing, even in
the imagination. One of the first charac-
teristics of simplicity is to express what is
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 138 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
felt or thought, without reflecting on any
result, or aiming at any object; and it is in
that respect that it agrees with the theory of
the Germans on literature.
In separating the beautiful from the useful,
Kant clearly proves, that it is not in the na-
ture of the fine arts to give lessons. Un-
doubtedly, every thing that is beautiful ought
to give birth to generous sentiments, and
those sentiments excite to virtue; but when
the object is to put in proof a precept of
morality, the free impression produced by
masterpieces of art is necessarily destroyed;
for the object aimed at, be it what it will,
when it is known, limits and confines the
imagination. It is related, that Louis XIV.
once said to a preacher, who had directed a
sermon against him, "I am ready enough to
"take to myself my share, but I will not
"have it allotted for me. " These words
might be applied to the fine arts in general:
they ought to elevate the mind, and not to
school it.
Nature often displays her magnificence
without any aim, and often with a profuse-
ness, which the partisans of utility would
call prodigal. She seems to delight in giving
more splendour to the flowers to the trees
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 139
of the forest, than to the vegetables which
serve for the food of man. If what is useful
held the first rank in nature, would she not
adorn the nutritious plants with more charms
than roses, which are only beautiful? And
whence comes it, that to deck the altar of
the Divinity with flowers which are useless,
should be preferred to doing it with the pro-
ductions which are necessary to us? How
happens it, that what serves for the support
of our lives, has less dignity than beauties
which have no object? It is because the beau-
tiful recalls to our minds an immortal and di-
vine existence, the recollection and the regret
of which live at the same time in our hearts.
It certainly is not from a want of under-
standing the moral value of what is useful,
that Kant has separated it from the beauti-
ful; it is to ground admiration of every . kind
on absolute disinterestedness; it is in order
to give sentiments which render vice impos-
sible, the preference over the lessons which
only serve to correct it.
The mythological fables of the ancients
were seldom intended as moral exhortations,
or edifying examples; and it does not at all
argue that the moderns are better than the
ancients, that they oftener endeavour to give
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 140 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
an useful result to their fictions; it is rather
because they have less imagination, and carry
into literature the habit which business gives,
of always aiming at some object. Events,
as they exist in reality, are not calculated
beforehand, like a fiction, the winding up of
which is moral. Life itself is conceived in
quite a poetical manner; for it is not, in
general, because the guilty man is punished,
and the virtuous man rewarded, that it makes
a moral impression upon us; it is because it
developes in the mind indignation against the
guilty, and enthusiasm towards the virtuous.
The Germans do not, according to the
common notion, consider the imitation of
nature as the principal object of art; it is
ideal beauty which appears to them the prin-
ciple of all masterpieces; and their poetical
theory accords, in this respect, with their
philosophy. The impression made on us by
the fine arts has nothing whatever in com-
mon with the pleasure we feel from any
imitation: man has in his soul innate senti-
ments which objects of reality will never
satisfy, and it is to these sentiments that
the imagination of painters and poets gives
form and life. Of what is music, the first
of all arts, an imitation? And yet, of all
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 141
the gifts of the Divinity, it is the most noble;
for it may be said to be a superfluous one.
The sun gives us light--we breathe the air
of a serene atmosphere--all the beauties of
nature are, in some wav, serviceable to man;
music alone has a noble inutility, and it is
for that reason that it affects us so deeply;
the more it is without an object, the nearer
it approaches to that inward source of our
thoughts, which application to any object
whatever checks in its course.
The literary theory of the Germans differs
from all others, in not subjecting writers to
customs, nor to tyrannical restrictions. It
is a creative theory, a philosophy of the
fine arts, which, instead of confining them,
seeks, like Prometheus, to steal fire from
heaven, to give it to the poets. Did Homer,
Dante, or Shakespeare, I shall be asked,
know any thing of all this? Did they stand
in need of aH this metaphysical reasoning to
be great writers? Nature, undoubtedly, has
not waited for philosophy; which means
only, that the fact preceded the observation
of the fact; but, as we have reached the
epoch of theories, should we not be on
our guard against those which may stifle
talent?
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 142 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
It must, however, be allowed, that many
essential inconveniencies result from the ap-
plication of these systems of philosophy to
literature. German readers, accustomed to
peruse Kant, Fichte, &c. consider a less
degree of obscurity as clearness itself; and
writers do not always give to works of*art
that striking clearness which is so necessary
to them. Constant attention may, nay ought
to, be exacted where abstract ideas are the
subject; but emotions are involuntary. In
the enjoyment of the arts, indulgence, effort,
and reflection can have no place: what we
have to deal with there is pleasure, and not
reasoning: philosophy may require attentive
examination, but poetical talent ought to
carry us away with it.
Ingenious ideas, derived from theories,
cause illusion as to the real nature of talent.
They prove, with wit, that such or such a
piece ought not to have pleased, but still it
did please: and then they begin to despise
those who like it. They prove, that another
piece, composed according to certain prin-
ciples, ought to interest; and yet, when
they would have it performed, when they
say to it, "Arise, and walk," the piece does
not go off; and then they despise those who
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY, 145
are not amused with a work composed ac-
cording to the laws of harmony, between the
ideal and the real. People are generally
wrong when they rind fault with the judg-
ment of the public in the arts, for popular
impressions are more philosophical than
even philosophy itself; and when the ideas
of men of information do not agree with this
impression, it is not because they are too
profound, but rather because they are not
deep enough.
It appears to me, however, infinitely better
for the literature of a country, that its poetical
system should be founded upon philosophi-
cal notions, even if they are a little abstract,
than upon simple external rules; for these
rules are but wooden bars, to prevent chil-
dren from falling.
In their imitation of the ancients, the
Germans have taken quite a different di-
rection from the rest of Europe. The con-
scientious character, from which they never
depart, has prevented their mixing together
modern and ancient genius; they treat fiction
in some respects like truth, for they find
means to be scrupulous even in regard to
that; they apply the same disposition to ac-
quire an exact and thorough knowledge of
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 144 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
the monuments which are left us of past
y. ages. In Germany, the study of antiquity,
like that of the sciences and of philosophy,
unites the scattered branches of the human
mind.
Heyne, with a wonderful quickness of ap-
prehension, embraces every thing that relates
to literature, to history, and to the fine arts.
From the most refined observations Wolf
draws the boldest inferences, and, disdaining
all submission to authority, adopts an opinion
of his own of the worth and authenticity of
the writings of the Greeks. In a late com-
position by M. Ch. de Villers, whom I have
already mentioned with the high esteem he
deserves, it may be seen what immense works
are published every year in Germany on the
classical authors. The Germans believe
themselves called in every thing to act the
part of observers; and it may be said that
they are not of the age they live in, so much
do their reflections and inclinations turn
towards another epoch of the world.
It may be that the best time for poetry
was during the age of ignorance, and that
the youthful season of the human race is
gone for ever; but, in the writings of the
Germans, we seem to feel a new youth again
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 145
reviving and springing up from the noble
choice which may be made by those to
whom every thing is known. The age of
light has its innocence, as well as the golden
age; and if man, during his infancy, believes
only in his soul, he returns, when he has
learnt every thing, to confide in nothing else.
vol. in.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 146
PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER X.
Influence of the new Philosophy on the
Sciences.
There is no doubt that the ideal philosophy
leads to the augmentation of knowledge;
and by disposing the mind to turn back upon
itself, increases its penetration and perse-
verance in intellectual labour. But is this
philosophy equally favourable to the sciences,
which consist in the observation of nature?
It is to the examination of this question that
the following reflections are destined:--
The progress of the sciences in the last
century has generally been attributed to the
experimental philosophy; and as the ob-
servation is of great importance to this sub-
ject, men have been thought more certain of
attaining to scientific truths, in proportion as
they attached more importance to external
objects; yet the country of Keppler and
Leibnitz is not be despised for science.
The principal modern discoveries, gunpow-
der and the art of printing, have been made
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 147
by the Germans; and, nevertheless, men's
minds in Germany have always tended
towards idealism.
Bacon compared speculative philosophy
to the lark, who mounts to the sky, and
descends again without bringing any thing
back from her flight; and experimental phi-
losophy to the falcon, who soars as high, but
returns with his prey.
Perhaps in our days Bacon would have
felt the inconveniencies of philosophy purely
experimental; it has turned thought into
sensation, morality into self-interest, and
nature into mechanism; it tends to degrade
all things. The Germans have com batted
its influence in the physical sciences, as well
as in science of a higher order; and while
they submit Nature to the fullest observation,
they consider her phenomena, in general, in
a vast and animated manner: the empire of
an opinion over the imagination always af-
fords a presumption in its favour; for every
thing tells us, that beauty, in the sublime.
conception of the universe, is truth.
The new philosophy has already exerted
its influence, in many respects, over the phy- %
sical sciences in Germany. In the first place,,
the same spirit of universality, which I have
l2
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 148 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS-
remarked in the men of literature and the
philosophers, also discovers itself among the
men of science. Humboldt relates, like an
accurate observer, the perilous travels which
he undertook like a brave chevalier; and
his writings are equally interesting to na-
turalists and to poets. Schelling, Bader,
Schubert, &c. have published works, in
which the sciences are presented under a
point of view that captivates both our re-
flection and our imagination; and, long
previous to the existence of modern meta-
physicians, Keppler and Haller knew the
art of observing Nature, and at the same
time of conjecturing her operations.
ft The attraction of society is so great in
I France, that it allows nobody much time for
labour. It is natural then not to place re-
liance upon those who attempt to unite many
studies of different denominations. But, in
a country where the whole life of a man may
be given up to meditation, it is reasonable to
^encourage the multifariousness of knowledge;
--the student eventually confines his atten-
tion to that pursuit which he prefers; but it
is, perhaps, impossible to attain a thorough
comprehension of one science, and not to
touch upon all. Sir Humphry Davy, al-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 14Q
though the first chemist in England, studies
literature with as much taste as success.
Li-
terature and science reflect alternate light
upon each other; and the connexion which
exists between all the objects in nature, must
also be maintained among the ideas of man.
Universality of knowledge necessarily
leads to the desire of discovering the general
laws of the order of nature. The Germans ? *
descend from theory to experience; while
the French ascend from experience to theory.
The French reproach the Germans with
having no beauties but those of detail in their
literature, and with not understanding the
composition of a work. The Germans re-
proach the French with considering only
particular facts in the sciences, and with not
referring them to a system; in this consists
the principal difference between the learned
men of the two countries.
In fact, if it was possible to discover the
principles which govern the universe, this
would be the point, indisputably, from which
we ought to commence in studying all that
is derived from those principles: but we are
almost entirely ignorant of the collective cha-
racter of every thing, excepting in what
detail teaches us; and nature, for the eye
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 150 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
of man, is but the scattered Sibyl's leaves,
out of which, even to this day, no human
being has composed a book. Nevertheless,
the learned men of Germany, who are phi-
losophers at the same time, diffuse a sur-
prising interest over the phenomena of this
world: they do not examine nature fortui-
tously, or according to the accidental course
of what they experience; but they predict,
by reflection, what observation is about to
confirm.
Two great general opinions serve them for
guides in studying the sciences;--Hthe one,
that the universe is made after the model of
the human soul; the other, that the analogy
of every part of the universe, with its whole,
is so close, that the same idea is constantly
reflected from the whole in every part, and
from every part in the whole.
It is a fine conception, that has a tendency
to discover the resemblance between the laws
of the human understanding and those of na-
ture, and that considers the physical world as
the basso-relievo of the moral. If the same
genius was capable of composing the Iliad,
and of carving like Phidias, the Jupiter of
the sculptor would resemble the Jupiter of
the poet. Why then should not the supreme
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 151
Intelligence, which formed nature and the
soul, have made one the emblem of the other?
There is no vain play of fancy in those
continual metaphors, which aid us in com-
paring our sentiments with external pheno-
mena; sadness, with the clouded heaven;
composure, with the silver moonlight; anger,
with the stormy sea:--it is the same thought
of our Creator, transfused into two different
languages, and capable of reciprocal inter-
pretation. Almost all the axioms of physics
correspond with the maxims of morals.
This species of parallel progress, which
may be perceived between the world and
the mind, is the indication of a great
mystery; and every understanding would
be struck with it, if any positive discoveries
had yet been drawn from this source;--
but still, the uncertain lustre that already
streams from it carries our views to a great
distance.
The analogies between the different ele-
ments of external nature together constitute
the chief law of the creation--variety in
unity, and unity in variety. For example,
What is there more astonishing than the
connexion between sounds and forms, and
between sounds and colours? A German
(Chladni) lately proved by experiment, that
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 152 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
the vibrations of sound put grains of sand
upon a glass plate in motion after such a
manner, that when the tones are pure, the
sand arranges itself into regular forms, and
when the tones are discordant, there is no
symmetry in the figures traced upon the
glass. Sanderson, who was blind from his
birth, said, that the colour of scarlet, in his
idea, was like the sound of a trumpet; and
a mathematician wished to make a harpsi-
chord for the eyes, which might imitate, by
the harmony of colours, the pleasure excited
by music. We incessantly compare painting
to music; because the emotions we feel dis-
cover analogies where cold observ ation would
only have seen differences.
Every plant, every flower, contains the
entire system of the universe; an instant of
life conceals eternity within it; the weakest
atom is a world, and the world itself, per-
chance, is but an atom. Every portion of
the universe appears to be a mirror, in which
the whole creation is represented; and we
hardly know which is most worthy of our
admiration, thought always the same, or form
always different.
The learned among the Germans may be
divided into two classes--those who entirely
devote themselves to observation, and those
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 153
who aspire to the honour of foreseeing the
secrets of nature. Of the former we ought
first to mention Werner, who has drawn from
mineralogy his knowledge of the formation
of the globe, and of the epochs of history;
Herschel and Schroeter, who are incessantly
making new discoveries in the heavenly re-
gions; the calculating astronomers, such as
Zach and Bode; and great chemists, like
Klaproth and Buchoh? : while in the class of
philosophical naturalists we must reckon
Schelling, Ritter, Bader, StefFens, &c. The
most distinguished geniuses of these two
classes approach and understand each other;
for the philosophical naturalists cannot de-
spise experience, and the profound observers
do not deny the possible results of sublime
contemplations.
Attraction and-im pulse have already been
the objects of novel inquiry; and they have
been happily applied to chemical affinities.
Light, considered as a medium between mat-
ter and mind, has given occasion for several
highly philosophical observations. A work
of Goethe upon colours is favourably men-
tioned. In short, throughout Germany emu-
lation is excited by the desire and the hope
of uniting experimental and speculative
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 154 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
philosophy, and thus enlarging our know-
ledge of man and of nature.
Intellectual idealism makes the will (which
is the soul) the centre of every thing: the
principle of idealism in physical sciences is
life. Man reaches the highest degree of
analysis by chemistry as he does by reason-
ing; but life escapes him in chemistry, as
sentiment does in reasoning. A French writer
had pretended, that " thought was only the
"material product of the brain ;"--another
learned man has said, that when we are
more advanced in chemistry, we shall be able
to tell "how life is made:"--the one out-
raged nature, as the other outraged the soul.
"We must," said Fichte, "comprehend
"what is incomprehensible, as such. " This
singular expression contains a profound
meaning: we must feel and recognise what
will ever remain inaccessible to analysis, and
what the soaring flight of thought alone can
approach.
Three distinct modes of existence are
thought to have been discovered in nature
--vegetation, irritability, and sensibility.
Plants, animals, and men are included in
these three sorts of life; and if we choose to
apply even to individuals of our own species
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 155
this ingenious division, we shall find it
equally discernible among their different cha-
racters. Some vegetate like plants; others
enjoy themselves, or are irritated like ani-
mals; and the more noble, in a word, pos-
sess and display the qualities that distinguish
our human nature. However this may be,
volition, which is life, and life, which also is
volition, comprehend all the secret of the
universe and of ourselves; and at this secret
(as we can neither deny nor explain it) we
must necessarily arrive by a kind of divi-
nation.
What an exertion of strength would it not
require to overturn, with a lever made upon
the model of the arm, the weight which the
arm uplifts! Do we not see every day anger,
or some other affection of the soul, augment-
ing, as by a miracle, the power of the human
body? What then is this mysterious power
of nature, which manifests itself by the will of
man? and how, without studying its cause
and effects, can we make any important dis-
covery in the theory of physical powers?
The doctrine of the Scotch writer, Brown,
more profoundly analysed in Germany than
elsewhere, is founded upon this same system
of central action and unity, which is so fruit-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 156 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
ful in its consequences. Brown believed
that a state of suffering, or of health, did not
depend upon partial evils, but upon the
intenseness of the vital principle, which is
lowered or exalted according to the different
vicissitudes of existence.
Among the learned English there is hardly
one, besides Hartley and his disciple Priestley,
who has considered metaphysics, as well as
physics, under a point of view entirely ma-
terial. It will be said that physics can only
be material: I presume not to be of that
opinion. Those who make the soul itself a
passhe being, have the strongest reason to
exclude every spontaneous action of the will
of man from the positive sciences; and yet
there are many circumstances in which this
power of willing influences the energy of life,
and in which life acts upon matter. The
principle of existence is, as it were, inter-
mediary between physics and morals; and
its power cannot be calculated, but yet can-
not be denied, unless we are ignorant of
what constitutes animated nature, and reduce
its laws purely to mechanism.
Whatever opinion we may form of the
system of Dr. Gall, he is respected by all
men of science for his anatomical studies
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 157
and discoveries: and if we consider the organs
of thought as different from thought itself,
that is to say, as the faculties which it
employs, it appears to me that we may
admit memory and the power of calculation,
the aptitude for this or that science, the
talent for any particular art, every thing, iD
short, which serves the understanding like
an instrument, to depend in some measure
on the structure of the brain. If there exists
a graduated scale from a stone upwards to
the life of man, there must be certain faculties
in us which partake of soul and body at
once, and of this number are memory and
the calculating power, the most physical of
our intellectual, and the most intellectual of
our physical faculties. But we should begin
to err at the moment that we attributed an
influence over our moral qualities to the
structure of the brain; for the will is abso-
lutely independent of our physical faculties:
it is in the purely intellectual action of this
will that conscience consists ; and conscience
is, and ought to be, free from the influence
of corporeal organization.
A young physician of great ability, Koreff,
has already attracted the attention of those
who understand him, by some entirely new
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 158 PHILOSOPHY ANt> MORALS.
observations upon the principle of life; upon
the action of death; upon the causes of in-
sanity. All this restlessness among the men
of genius announces some revolution in the
very manner of studying the sciences. It is
impossible, as yet, to foresee the results of
this change; but we may affirm with truth,
that, if the Germans suffer imagination to
guide them, they spare themselves no labour,
no research, no study; and that they unite,
in the highest degree, two qualities which
seem to exclude each other--patience and
enthusiasm.
Some learned Germans, pushing their
physical idealism too far, contest the truth
of^the axiom, that there is no action at a
distance, and wish, on the contrary, to re-
establish spontaneous motion throughout
nature. They reject the hypothesis of fluids,
the effects of which would, in some points,
depend upon mechanic forces; pressing and
re-pressing each other without the guidance
of any independent organization.
Those who consider nature in the light of
an intellectual being, do not attach to this
denomination the same sense which custom
has authorized. For the thought of man
consists in the faculty of turning back upon
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 159
itself; and the intelligence of nature advances
straight forward, like the instinct of animals.
Thought has self-possession, for it can judge
itself;--intelligence without reflection is a
power always attracted to things without.
When Nature performs the work of crystal-
lization according to the most regular forms,
it does not follow that she understands the
mathematics; or, at all events, she is igno-
rant of her own knowledge, and wants self-
consciousness. The German men of science
attribute a certain individual originality to.
physical forces ; and, on the other side, they
appear to admit (from their manner of
exhibiting some phenomena of animal mag-
netism), that the will of man, without any
external act, exerts a very great influence
over matter, and especially over metals.
Pascal says, "that astrologers and alche-
"mists have some principles, but that they
"abuse them. " There were, perhaps, of
old, more intimate relations between man
and nature than now exist. The mysteries
of Eleusis; the religion of the Egyptians;
the system of emanations among the Indians;
the Persian adoration of the elements and the
sun; the harmony of numbers, which was
the basis of the Pythagorean doctrine--. are
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 160 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
vestiges of some curious attraction which
united man with the universe.
The doctrines of spirituality, by fortifying
the power of reflection, have separated man
more from physical influences; and the Re-
formation, by carrying still farther his tend-
ency towards analysis, has put reason on its
guard against the primary impressions of the
imagination. The Germans promote the
true perfection of the human mind, when
they endeavour to awaken the inspirations
of nature by the light of thought.
Experience every day leads the learned to
recognise phenomena, which men had ceased
to believe, because they were mingled with
superstitions, and had been the subjects of
presages. The ancients have related that
stones fell from heaven; and in our days the
accuracy of this fact, the existence of which
had been denied, is established. The an-
cients have spoken of showers red as blood,
and of earth-lightnings--we have lately been
convinced of the truth of their assertions in
these respects.
Astronomy and music are the science and
art which men have known from all anti-
quity: why should not sounds and the stars
be connected by relations which the ancients
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. l6l
perceived, and which we may find out again?
Pythagoras maintained that the planets were
proportionably at the same distance as the
seven chords of the lyre; and it is affirmed,
that he predicted the new planet which has
been discovered between Mars and Jupiter*.
It appears that he was not ignorant of the
true system of the heavens, the fixedness of
the sun; since Copernicus supports himself
in this instance upon the opinion of Pytha-
goras, as recorded by Cicero. From whence
then arose these astonishing discoveries,
without the aid of experience, and of the
new machines of which the moderns are in
possession? The reason is this--the ancients y.
advanced boldly, lit by the sun of genius.
They made use of reason, the resting-place
of human intellect; but they also consulted
Imagination, the priestess of nature.
Those which we call errors and super-
stitions may, perhaps, depend upon laws
of the universe, yet unknown to man. The
relations between the planets and metals, the
influence of these relations, even oracles and
* M. Prevost, Professor of Philosophy at Geneva, has
published a very interesting pamphlet on this subject. --This
philosophical writer is as well known in Europe as esteemed
in his country.
VOL. HI. M
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust.
? 136 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
There are, in style, some qualities which
are connected with truth in the sentiment
expressed, and there are others which de-
pend on grammatical correctness. It would
be difficult to make the Germans understand,
that the first thing to look for in a work, is
the manner in which it is written, and that
the execution of it should be of more im-
portance than the conception. In experi-
mental philosophy, a work is esteemed, above
all things, according to the ingenious and
lucid form, under which it is presented; in
ideal philosophy, on the contrary, where all
attraction is in the focus of the mind, those
writers only are admired who approach the
^nearest to that point.
/ It must be admitted too, that the habit of
searching into the most hidden mysteries of
our being, gives the mind a taste for what
is deepest, and sometimes for what is most
obscure in thought. Thus the Germans too
i often blend metaphysics with poetry.
The new philosophy inspires us with the
necessity of rising to thoughts and senti-
ments without bounds. This impulse may be
favourable to genius, but it is so to genius
alone, and it often gives to those who are
destitute of genius very ridiculous pretensions.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 137
In France, mediocrity finds every thing loo
powerful and too exalted; in Germany, it
finds nothing so high as the new doctrine.
In France, mediocrity laughs at enthusiasm;
in Germany, it despises a certain sort of rea-
son. A writer can never do enough to con-
vince German readers that his ideas are not
superficial, that he is occupied, in all things,
with the immortal and the infinite. But as
the faculties of the mind are not always
correspondent to such vast desires, it often
happens that gigantic efforts produce but
common results. Nevertheless, this general
disposition assists the flight of thought; and
it is easier, in literature, to set bounds, than
to give emulation.
The taste which the Germans show for
what is playful and simple, and of which I
have already had occasion to speak, seems
to be in contradiction to their inclination for
metaphysics--an inclination which arises
from the desire of knowing and of analysing
one's self: at the same time, it is to the in-
fluence of a system that we are to refer this
taste for playful simplicity ; for, in Germany,
there is philosophy in every thing, even in
the imagination. One of the first charac-
teristics of simplicity is to express what is
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 138 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
felt or thought, without reflecting on any
result, or aiming at any object; and it is in
that respect that it agrees with the theory of
the Germans on literature.
In separating the beautiful from the useful,
Kant clearly proves, that it is not in the na-
ture of the fine arts to give lessons. Un-
doubtedly, every thing that is beautiful ought
to give birth to generous sentiments, and
those sentiments excite to virtue; but when
the object is to put in proof a precept of
morality, the free impression produced by
masterpieces of art is necessarily destroyed;
for the object aimed at, be it what it will,
when it is known, limits and confines the
imagination. It is related, that Louis XIV.
once said to a preacher, who had directed a
sermon against him, "I am ready enough to
"take to myself my share, but I will not
"have it allotted for me. " These words
might be applied to the fine arts in general:
they ought to elevate the mind, and not to
school it.
Nature often displays her magnificence
without any aim, and often with a profuse-
ness, which the partisans of utility would
call prodigal. She seems to delight in giving
more splendour to the flowers to the trees
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 139
of the forest, than to the vegetables which
serve for the food of man. If what is useful
held the first rank in nature, would she not
adorn the nutritious plants with more charms
than roses, which are only beautiful? And
whence comes it, that to deck the altar of
the Divinity with flowers which are useless,
should be preferred to doing it with the pro-
ductions which are necessary to us? How
happens it, that what serves for the support
of our lives, has less dignity than beauties
which have no object? It is because the beau-
tiful recalls to our minds an immortal and di-
vine existence, the recollection and the regret
of which live at the same time in our hearts.
It certainly is not from a want of under-
standing the moral value of what is useful,
that Kant has separated it from the beauti-
ful; it is to ground admiration of every . kind
on absolute disinterestedness; it is in order
to give sentiments which render vice impos-
sible, the preference over the lessons which
only serve to correct it.
The mythological fables of the ancients
were seldom intended as moral exhortations,
or edifying examples; and it does not at all
argue that the moderns are better than the
ancients, that they oftener endeavour to give
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 140 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
an useful result to their fictions; it is rather
because they have less imagination, and carry
into literature the habit which business gives,
of always aiming at some object. Events,
as they exist in reality, are not calculated
beforehand, like a fiction, the winding up of
which is moral. Life itself is conceived in
quite a poetical manner; for it is not, in
general, because the guilty man is punished,
and the virtuous man rewarded, that it makes
a moral impression upon us; it is because it
developes in the mind indignation against the
guilty, and enthusiasm towards the virtuous.
The Germans do not, according to the
common notion, consider the imitation of
nature as the principal object of art; it is
ideal beauty which appears to them the prin-
ciple of all masterpieces; and their poetical
theory accords, in this respect, with their
philosophy. The impression made on us by
the fine arts has nothing whatever in com-
mon with the pleasure we feel from any
imitation: man has in his soul innate senti-
ments which objects of reality will never
satisfy, and it is to these sentiments that
the imagination of painters and poets gives
form and life. Of what is music, the first
of all arts, an imitation? And yet, of all
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 141
the gifts of the Divinity, it is the most noble;
for it may be said to be a superfluous one.
The sun gives us light--we breathe the air
of a serene atmosphere--all the beauties of
nature are, in some wav, serviceable to man;
music alone has a noble inutility, and it is
for that reason that it affects us so deeply;
the more it is without an object, the nearer
it approaches to that inward source of our
thoughts, which application to any object
whatever checks in its course.
The literary theory of the Germans differs
from all others, in not subjecting writers to
customs, nor to tyrannical restrictions. It
is a creative theory, a philosophy of the
fine arts, which, instead of confining them,
seeks, like Prometheus, to steal fire from
heaven, to give it to the poets. Did Homer,
Dante, or Shakespeare, I shall be asked,
know any thing of all this? Did they stand
in need of aH this metaphysical reasoning to
be great writers? Nature, undoubtedly, has
not waited for philosophy; which means
only, that the fact preceded the observation
of the fact; but, as we have reached the
epoch of theories, should we not be on
our guard against those which may stifle
talent?
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 142 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
It must, however, be allowed, that many
essential inconveniencies result from the ap-
plication of these systems of philosophy to
literature. German readers, accustomed to
peruse Kant, Fichte, &c. consider a less
degree of obscurity as clearness itself; and
writers do not always give to works of*art
that striking clearness which is so necessary
to them. Constant attention may, nay ought
to, be exacted where abstract ideas are the
subject; but emotions are involuntary. In
the enjoyment of the arts, indulgence, effort,
and reflection can have no place: what we
have to deal with there is pleasure, and not
reasoning: philosophy may require attentive
examination, but poetical talent ought to
carry us away with it.
Ingenious ideas, derived from theories,
cause illusion as to the real nature of talent.
They prove, with wit, that such or such a
piece ought not to have pleased, but still it
did please: and then they begin to despise
those who like it. They prove, that another
piece, composed according to certain prin-
ciples, ought to interest; and yet, when
they would have it performed, when they
say to it, "Arise, and walk," the piece does
not go off; and then they despise those who
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY, 145
are not amused with a work composed ac-
cording to the laws of harmony, between the
ideal and the real. People are generally
wrong when they rind fault with the judg-
ment of the public in the arts, for popular
impressions are more philosophical than
even philosophy itself; and when the ideas
of men of information do not agree with this
impression, it is not because they are too
profound, but rather because they are not
deep enough.
It appears to me, however, infinitely better
for the literature of a country, that its poetical
system should be founded upon philosophi-
cal notions, even if they are a little abstract,
than upon simple external rules; for these
rules are but wooden bars, to prevent chil-
dren from falling.
In their imitation of the ancients, the
Germans have taken quite a different di-
rection from the rest of Europe. The con-
scientious character, from which they never
depart, has prevented their mixing together
modern and ancient genius; they treat fiction
in some respects like truth, for they find
means to be scrupulous even in regard to
that; they apply the same disposition to ac-
quire an exact and thorough knowledge of
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 144 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
the monuments which are left us of past
y. ages. In Germany, the study of antiquity,
like that of the sciences and of philosophy,
unites the scattered branches of the human
mind.
Heyne, with a wonderful quickness of ap-
prehension, embraces every thing that relates
to literature, to history, and to the fine arts.
From the most refined observations Wolf
draws the boldest inferences, and, disdaining
all submission to authority, adopts an opinion
of his own of the worth and authenticity of
the writings of the Greeks. In a late com-
position by M. Ch. de Villers, whom I have
already mentioned with the high esteem he
deserves, it may be seen what immense works
are published every year in Germany on the
classical authors. The Germans believe
themselves called in every thing to act the
part of observers; and it may be said that
they are not of the age they live in, so much
do their reflections and inclinations turn
towards another epoch of the world.
It may be that the best time for poetry
was during the age of ignorance, and that
the youthful season of the human race is
gone for ever; but, in the writings of the
Germans, we seem to feel a new youth again
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NEW GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 145
reviving and springing up from the noble
choice which may be made by those to
whom every thing is known. The age of
light has its innocence, as well as the golden
age; and if man, during his infancy, believes
only in his soul, he returns, when he has
learnt every thing, to confide in nothing else.
vol. in.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 146
PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER X.
Influence of the new Philosophy on the
Sciences.
There is no doubt that the ideal philosophy
leads to the augmentation of knowledge;
and by disposing the mind to turn back upon
itself, increases its penetration and perse-
verance in intellectual labour. But is this
philosophy equally favourable to the sciences,
which consist in the observation of nature?
It is to the examination of this question that
the following reflections are destined:--
The progress of the sciences in the last
century has generally been attributed to the
experimental philosophy; and as the ob-
servation is of great importance to this sub-
ject, men have been thought more certain of
attaining to scientific truths, in proportion as
they attached more importance to external
objects; yet the country of Keppler and
Leibnitz is not be despised for science.
The principal modern discoveries, gunpow-
der and the art of printing, have been made
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 147
by the Germans; and, nevertheless, men's
minds in Germany have always tended
towards idealism.
Bacon compared speculative philosophy
to the lark, who mounts to the sky, and
descends again without bringing any thing
back from her flight; and experimental phi-
losophy to the falcon, who soars as high, but
returns with his prey.
Perhaps in our days Bacon would have
felt the inconveniencies of philosophy purely
experimental; it has turned thought into
sensation, morality into self-interest, and
nature into mechanism; it tends to degrade
all things. The Germans have com batted
its influence in the physical sciences, as well
as in science of a higher order; and while
they submit Nature to the fullest observation,
they consider her phenomena, in general, in
a vast and animated manner: the empire of
an opinion over the imagination always af-
fords a presumption in its favour; for every
thing tells us, that beauty, in the sublime.
conception of the universe, is truth.
The new philosophy has already exerted
its influence, in many respects, over the phy- %
sical sciences in Germany. In the first place,,
the same spirit of universality, which I have
l2
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 148 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS-
remarked in the men of literature and the
philosophers, also discovers itself among the
men of science. Humboldt relates, like an
accurate observer, the perilous travels which
he undertook like a brave chevalier; and
his writings are equally interesting to na-
turalists and to poets. Schelling, Bader,
Schubert, &c. have published works, in
which the sciences are presented under a
point of view that captivates both our re-
flection and our imagination; and, long
previous to the existence of modern meta-
physicians, Keppler and Haller knew the
art of observing Nature, and at the same
time of conjecturing her operations.
ft The attraction of society is so great in
I France, that it allows nobody much time for
labour. It is natural then not to place re-
liance upon those who attempt to unite many
studies of different denominations. But, in
a country where the whole life of a man may
be given up to meditation, it is reasonable to
^encourage the multifariousness of knowledge;
--the student eventually confines his atten-
tion to that pursuit which he prefers; but it
is, perhaps, impossible to attain a thorough
comprehension of one science, and not to
touch upon all. Sir Humphry Davy, al-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 14Q
though the first chemist in England, studies
literature with as much taste as success.
Li-
terature and science reflect alternate light
upon each other; and the connexion which
exists between all the objects in nature, must
also be maintained among the ideas of man.
Universality of knowledge necessarily
leads to the desire of discovering the general
laws of the order of nature. The Germans ? *
descend from theory to experience; while
the French ascend from experience to theory.
The French reproach the Germans with
having no beauties but those of detail in their
literature, and with not understanding the
composition of a work. The Germans re-
proach the French with considering only
particular facts in the sciences, and with not
referring them to a system; in this consists
the principal difference between the learned
men of the two countries.
In fact, if it was possible to discover the
principles which govern the universe, this
would be the point, indisputably, from which
we ought to commence in studying all that
is derived from those principles: but we are
almost entirely ignorant of the collective cha-
racter of every thing, excepting in what
detail teaches us; and nature, for the eye
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 150 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
of man, is but the scattered Sibyl's leaves,
out of which, even to this day, no human
being has composed a book. Nevertheless,
the learned men of Germany, who are phi-
losophers at the same time, diffuse a sur-
prising interest over the phenomena of this
world: they do not examine nature fortui-
tously, or according to the accidental course
of what they experience; but they predict,
by reflection, what observation is about to
confirm.
Two great general opinions serve them for
guides in studying the sciences;--Hthe one,
that the universe is made after the model of
the human soul; the other, that the analogy
of every part of the universe, with its whole,
is so close, that the same idea is constantly
reflected from the whole in every part, and
from every part in the whole.
It is a fine conception, that has a tendency
to discover the resemblance between the laws
of the human understanding and those of na-
ture, and that considers the physical world as
the basso-relievo of the moral. If the same
genius was capable of composing the Iliad,
and of carving like Phidias, the Jupiter of
the sculptor would resemble the Jupiter of
the poet. Why then should not the supreme
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 151
Intelligence, which formed nature and the
soul, have made one the emblem of the other?
There is no vain play of fancy in those
continual metaphors, which aid us in com-
paring our sentiments with external pheno-
mena; sadness, with the clouded heaven;
composure, with the silver moonlight; anger,
with the stormy sea:--it is the same thought
of our Creator, transfused into two different
languages, and capable of reciprocal inter-
pretation. Almost all the axioms of physics
correspond with the maxims of morals.
This species of parallel progress, which
may be perceived between the world and
the mind, is the indication of a great
mystery; and every understanding would
be struck with it, if any positive discoveries
had yet been drawn from this source;--
but still, the uncertain lustre that already
streams from it carries our views to a great
distance.
The analogies between the different ele-
ments of external nature together constitute
the chief law of the creation--variety in
unity, and unity in variety. For example,
What is there more astonishing than the
connexion between sounds and forms, and
between sounds and colours? A German
(Chladni) lately proved by experiment, that
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 152 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
the vibrations of sound put grains of sand
upon a glass plate in motion after such a
manner, that when the tones are pure, the
sand arranges itself into regular forms, and
when the tones are discordant, there is no
symmetry in the figures traced upon the
glass. Sanderson, who was blind from his
birth, said, that the colour of scarlet, in his
idea, was like the sound of a trumpet; and
a mathematician wished to make a harpsi-
chord for the eyes, which might imitate, by
the harmony of colours, the pleasure excited
by music. We incessantly compare painting
to music; because the emotions we feel dis-
cover analogies where cold observ ation would
only have seen differences.
Every plant, every flower, contains the
entire system of the universe; an instant of
life conceals eternity within it; the weakest
atom is a world, and the world itself, per-
chance, is but an atom. Every portion of
the universe appears to be a mirror, in which
the whole creation is represented; and we
hardly know which is most worthy of our
admiration, thought always the same, or form
always different.
The learned among the Germans may be
divided into two classes--those who entirely
devote themselves to observation, and those
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 153
who aspire to the honour of foreseeing the
secrets of nature. Of the former we ought
first to mention Werner, who has drawn from
mineralogy his knowledge of the formation
of the globe, and of the epochs of history;
Herschel and Schroeter, who are incessantly
making new discoveries in the heavenly re-
gions; the calculating astronomers, such as
Zach and Bode; and great chemists, like
Klaproth and Buchoh? : while in the class of
philosophical naturalists we must reckon
Schelling, Ritter, Bader, StefFens, &c. The
most distinguished geniuses of these two
classes approach and understand each other;
for the philosophical naturalists cannot de-
spise experience, and the profound observers
do not deny the possible results of sublime
contemplations.
Attraction and-im pulse have already been
the objects of novel inquiry; and they have
been happily applied to chemical affinities.
Light, considered as a medium between mat-
ter and mind, has given occasion for several
highly philosophical observations. A work
of Goethe upon colours is favourably men-
tioned. In short, throughout Germany emu-
lation is excited by the desire and the hope
of uniting experimental and speculative
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 154 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
philosophy, and thus enlarging our know-
ledge of man and of nature.
Intellectual idealism makes the will (which
is the soul) the centre of every thing: the
principle of idealism in physical sciences is
life. Man reaches the highest degree of
analysis by chemistry as he does by reason-
ing; but life escapes him in chemistry, as
sentiment does in reasoning. A French writer
had pretended, that " thought was only the
"material product of the brain ;"--another
learned man has said, that when we are
more advanced in chemistry, we shall be able
to tell "how life is made:"--the one out-
raged nature, as the other outraged the soul.
"We must," said Fichte, "comprehend
"what is incomprehensible, as such. " This
singular expression contains a profound
meaning: we must feel and recognise what
will ever remain inaccessible to analysis, and
what the soaring flight of thought alone can
approach.
Three distinct modes of existence are
thought to have been discovered in nature
--vegetation, irritability, and sensibility.
Plants, animals, and men are included in
these three sorts of life; and if we choose to
apply even to individuals of our own species
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 155
this ingenious division, we shall find it
equally discernible among their different cha-
racters. Some vegetate like plants; others
enjoy themselves, or are irritated like ani-
mals; and the more noble, in a word, pos-
sess and display the qualities that distinguish
our human nature. However this may be,
volition, which is life, and life, which also is
volition, comprehend all the secret of the
universe and of ourselves; and at this secret
(as we can neither deny nor explain it) we
must necessarily arrive by a kind of divi-
nation.
What an exertion of strength would it not
require to overturn, with a lever made upon
the model of the arm, the weight which the
arm uplifts! Do we not see every day anger,
or some other affection of the soul, augment-
ing, as by a miracle, the power of the human
body? What then is this mysterious power
of nature, which manifests itself by the will of
man? and how, without studying its cause
and effects, can we make any important dis-
covery in the theory of physical powers?
The doctrine of the Scotch writer, Brown,
more profoundly analysed in Germany than
elsewhere, is founded upon this same system
of central action and unity, which is so fruit-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 156 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
ful in its consequences. Brown believed
that a state of suffering, or of health, did not
depend upon partial evils, but upon the
intenseness of the vital principle, which is
lowered or exalted according to the different
vicissitudes of existence.
Among the learned English there is hardly
one, besides Hartley and his disciple Priestley,
who has considered metaphysics, as well as
physics, under a point of view entirely ma-
terial. It will be said that physics can only
be material: I presume not to be of that
opinion. Those who make the soul itself a
passhe being, have the strongest reason to
exclude every spontaneous action of the will
of man from the positive sciences; and yet
there are many circumstances in which this
power of willing influences the energy of life,
and in which life acts upon matter. The
principle of existence is, as it were, inter-
mediary between physics and morals; and
its power cannot be calculated, but yet can-
not be denied, unless we are ignorant of
what constitutes animated nature, and reduce
its laws purely to mechanism.
Whatever opinion we may form of the
system of Dr. Gall, he is respected by all
men of science for his anatomical studies
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 157
and discoveries: and if we consider the organs
of thought as different from thought itself,
that is to say, as the faculties which it
employs, it appears to me that we may
admit memory and the power of calculation,
the aptitude for this or that science, the
talent for any particular art, every thing, iD
short, which serves the understanding like
an instrument, to depend in some measure
on the structure of the brain. If there exists
a graduated scale from a stone upwards to
the life of man, there must be certain faculties
in us which partake of soul and body at
once, and of this number are memory and
the calculating power, the most physical of
our intellectual, and the most intellectual of
our physical faculties. But we should begin
to err at the moment that we attributed an
influence over our moral qualities to the
structure of the brain; for the will is abso-
lutely independent of our physical faculties:
it is in the purely intellectual action of this
will that conscience consists ; and conscience
is, and ought to be, free from the influence
of corporeal organization.
A young physician of great ability, Koreff,
has already attracted the attention of those
who understand him, by some entirely new
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 158 PHILOSOPHY ANt> MORALS.
observations upon the principle of life; upon
the action of death; upon the causes of in-
sanity. All this restlessness among the men
of genius announces some revolution in the
very manner of studying the sciences. It is
impossible, as yet, to foresee the results of
this change; but we may affirm with truth,
that, if the Germans suffer imagination to
guide them, they spare themselves no labour,
no research, no study; and that they unite,
in the highest degree, two qualities which
seem to exclude each other--patience and
enthusiasm.
Some learned Germans, pushing their
physical idealism too far, contest the truth
of^the axiom, that there is no action at a
distance, and wish, on the contrary, to re-
establish spontaneous motion throughout
nature. They reject the hypothesis of fluids,
the effects of which would, in some points,
depend upon mechanic forces; pressing and
re-pressing each other without the guidance
of any independent organization.
Those who consider nature in the light of
an intellectual being, do not attach to this
denomination the same sense which custom
has authorized. For the thought of man
consists in the faculty of turning back upon
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OP THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 159
itself; and the intelligence of nature advances
straight forward, like the instinct of animals.
Thought has self-possession, for it can judge
itself;--intelligence without reflection is a
power always attracted to things without.
When Nature performs the work of crystal-
lization according to the most regular forms,
it does not follow that she understands the
mathematics; or, at all events, she is igno-
rant of her own knowledge, and wants self-
consciousness. The German men of science
attribute a certain individual originality to.
physical forces ; and, on the other side, they
appear to admit (from their manner of
exhibiting some phenomena of animal mag-
netism), that the will of man, without any
external act, exerts a very great influence
over matter, and especially over metals.
Pascal says, "that astrologers and alche-
"mists have some principles, but that they
"abuse them. " There were, perhaps, of
old, more intimate relations between man
and nature than now exist. The mysteries
of Eleusis; the religion of the Egyptians;
the system of emanations among the Indians;
the Persian adoration of the elements and the
sun; the harmony of numbers, which was
the basis of the Pythagorean doctrine--. are
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 160 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
vestiges of some curious attraction which
united man with the universe.
The doctrines of spirituality, by fortifying
the power of reflection, have separated man
more from physical influences; and the Re-
formation, by carrying still farther his tend-
ency towards analysis, has put reason on its
guard against the primary impressions of the
imagination. The Germans promote the
true perfection of the human mind, when
they endeavour to awaken the inspirations
of nature by the light of thought.
Experience every day leads the learned to
recognise phenomena, which men had ceased
to believe, because they were mingled with
superstitions, and had been the subjects of
presages. The ancients have related that
stones fell from heaven; and in our days the
accuracy of this fact, the existence of which
had been denied, is established. The an-
cients have spoken of showers red as blood,
and of earth-lightnings--we have lately been
convinced of the truth of their assertions in
these respects.
Astronomy and music are the science and
art which men have known from all anti-
quity: why should not sounds and the stars
be connected by relations which the ancients
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. l6l
perceived, and which we may find out again?
Pythagoras maintained that the planets were
proportionably at the same distance as the
seven chords of the lyre; and it is affirmed,
that he predicted the new planet which has
been discovered between Mars and Jupiter*.
It appears that he was not ignorant of the
true system of the heavens, the fixedness of
the sun; since Copernicus supports himself
in this instance upon the opinion of Pytha-
goras, as recorded by Cicero. From whence
then arose these astonishing discoveries,
without the aid of experience, and of the
new machines of which the moderns are in
possession? The reason is this--the ancients y.
advanced boldly, lit by the sun of genius.
They made use of reason, the resting-place
of human intellect; but they also consulted
Imagination, the priestess of nature.
Those which we call errors and super-
stitions may, perhaps, depend upon laws
of the universe, yet unknown to man. The
relations between the planets and metals, the
influence of these relations, even oracles and
* M. Prevost, Professor of Philosophy at Geneva, has
published a very interesting pamphlet on this subject. --This
philosophical writer is as well known in Europe as esteemed
in his country.
VOL. HI. M
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-22 00:49 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044051734390 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust.
