In the True Scholar the Idea has
acquired
a personal
existence which has entirely superseded his own, and ab-
sorbed it in itself.
existence which has entirely superseded his own, and ab-
sorbed it in itself.
Fichte - Nature of the Scholar
She died on the
29th January 1819, after an illness of seven days.
Fichte died as he had lived,--the priest of knowledge, the apostle of freedom, the martyr of humanity. He belongs to
those Great Men whose lives are an everlasting possession
to mankind, and whose words the world does not willingly
let die. His character stands written in his life, a massive
but severely simple whole. It has no parts;--the depth
and earnestness on which it rests, speak forth alike in his
thoughts, words, and actions. No man of his time--few
perhaps of any time--exercised a more powerful, spirit-stir-
ring influence over the minds of his fellow-countrymen.
The impulse which he communicated to the national
thought extended far beyond the sphere of his personal in-
fluence ;--it has awakened,--it will still awaken,--high
emotion and manly resolution in thousands who never
heard his voice. The ceaseless effort of his life was to rouse men to a sense of the divinity of their own nature;--to fix
their thoughts upon a spiritual life as the only true and real
life;--to teach them to look upon all else as mere show and
unreality; and thus to lead them to constant effort after the
highest Ideal of purity, virtue, independence, and self-denial.
To this ennobling enterprise he consecrated his being;--to it
he devoted his gigantic powers of thought, his iron will, his
resistless eloquence. But he taught it also in deeds more
eloquent than words. In the strong reality of his life,--in
his intense love for all things beautiful and true,--in his in-
corruptible integrity and heroic devotion to the right, we
see a living manifestation of his principles. His life is the
true counterpart of his philosophy;--it is that of a strong,
free, incorruptible man. And with all the sternness of his
morality, he is full of gentle and generous sentiments; of
deep, overflowing sympathies. No tone of love, no soft
breathing of tenderness, fall unheeded on that high royal
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? 132
MEMOIR OF FICIITE.
soul, but in its calm sublimity find a welcome and a home.
Even his hatred is the offspring of a higher love. Truly in-
deed has he been described by one of our own country's
brightest ornaments as a "colossal, adamantine spirit, stand-
ing erect and clear, like a Cato Major among degenerate
men; fit to have been the teacher of the Stoa, and to have
discoursed of beauty and virtue in the groves of Academe. " But the sublimity of his intellect casts no shade on the soft
current of his affections, which flows, pure and unbroken,
through the whole course of his life, to enrich, fertilize, and
adorn it. In no other man of modern times do we find the
stern grandeur of ancient virtue so blended with the kind-
lier humanities of our nature, which flourish best under a
gentler civilization. We prize his philosophy deeply,--it is
to us an invaluable possession, for it seems the noblest ex-
position to which we have yet listened of human nature and
divine truth,--but with reverent thankfulness we acknow-
ledge a still higher debt, for he has left behind him the best
gift which man can bequeath to man,--a brave, heroic
human life.
In the first churchyard from the Oranienburg gate of Ber-
lin, stands a tall obelisk with this inscription:--
THE TEACHERS SHALL SHINE
AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT;
AND THEY THAT TURN MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
AS THE STARS FOR EVER AND EVER.
It marks the grave of FlCHTE. The faithful partner of his
life sleeps at his feet.
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? ON
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR
MANIFESTATIONS:
LECTURES
DELIVERED AT ERLANGEN
1805.
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? CONTENTS.
Lecture I. -- General Plan.
II. -- Closes Definition of the Meaning of the Divine Idea.
III. -- Of the Progressive Scholar generally, and in particular
of Genius and Industry.
IV. -- Of Integrity in Study.
V. -- How the Integrity of the Student manifests itself.
VI. -- Of Academical Freedom.
VII. -- Of the Finished Scholar in general.
VIII. -- Of the Scholar as Ruler.
IX. --Of the Scholar as Teacher.
X. -- Of the Scholar as Author.
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? 137
LECTURE I.
GENERAL PLAN.
I NOW open the course of public lectures which I have an-
nounced on the roll under the title "De Moribus Erudito-
rum. " This inscription may be translated--" Morality for
the Scholar,"--" On the Vocation of the Scholar,"--" On the
Duty of the Scholar," &c. ;--but in what way soever the title
may be translated and understood, the idea itself demands a
deeper investigation. I proceed to this preliminary inquiry.
Generally speaking, when we hear the word Morality the
the idea is suggested of a formation of character and conduct
according to rule and precept. But it is true only in a
limited sense, and only as seen from a lower point of en-
lightenment, that man is formed by precept, or can form
himself upon precept. On the contrary, from the highest
point--that of absolute truth, on which we here take our
stand,--whatever is to be manifested in the thought or deed
of man, must first be inwardly present in his Nature, and
indeed itself constitute his Nature, being, and life; for that
which lies in the essential Nature of man must necessarily re-
veal itself in his outward life, shine forth in all his thoughts,
desires, and acts, and become his unvarying and unalterable
character. How the freedom of man, and all the efforts by
means of culture, instruction, religion, legislation, to form him
to goodness, are to be reconciled with this truth, is the object
of an entirely different inquiry, into which we do not now
enter. We can here only declare in general, that the two
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? 138 THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
principles may be thoroughly reconciled, and that a deeper
study of philosophy will clearly show the possibility of their
union.
The fixed disposition and modes of action, or in a word,
the character, of the true Scholar, when contemplated from
the highest point of view, can, properly speaking, only be de-
scribed, not by any means enacted or imposed. On the con-
trary, this apparent and outwardly manifest character of the
true Scholar is founded upon that which already exists with-
in him in his own Nature, independently of all manifesta-
tion and before all manifestation; and it is necessarily
produced and unchangeably determined by this inward
Nature. Hence, if we are to describe his character, we
must first unfold his Nature:--only from the idea of the
latter, can the former be surely and completely deduced. To
make such a deduction from this pre-supposed Nature, is
the proper object of these lectures. Their contents may
therefore be briefly stated: they are--a description of the
Nature of the Scholar, and of its manifestations in the world
of freedom.
The following propositions will aid us in attaining some
insight into the Nature of the Scholar :--
1. The whole material world, with all its adaptations and
ends, and in particular the life of man in this world, are by
no means, in themselves and in deed and truth, that which
they seem to be to the uncultivated and natural sense of
man; but there is something higher, which lies concealed
behind all natural appearance. This concealed foundation
of all appearance may, in its greatest universality, be aptly
named the Divine Idea; and this expression, "Divine Idea,"
shall not in the meantime signify anything more than this
higher ground of appearance, until we shall have more clear-
ly defined its meaning.
2. A certain part of the meaning of this Divine Idea of
the world is accessible to, and conceivable by, the cultivated
mind; and, by the free activity of man, under the guidance
of this Idea, may be impressed upon the world of sense and
represented in it.
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? GENERAL PLAN.
139
3. If there were among men some individuals who had
attained, wholly or partially, to the possession of this last-
mentioned or attainable portion of the Divine Idea of the
world,--whether with the view of maintaining and extend-
ing the knowledge of the Idea among men by communicat-
ing it to others, or of imaging it forth in the world of sense
by direct and immediate action thereon,--then were these
individuals the seat of a higher and more spiritual life in the
world, and of a progressive development thereof according
to the Divine Idea.
4. In every age, that kind of education and spiritual cul-
ture by means of which the age hopes to lead mankind to
the knowledge of the ascertained part of the Divine Idea, is
the Learned Culture of the age; and every man who par-
takes in this culture is the Scholar of the age.
From what has now been said, it clearly follows that the
whole of the training and education which an age calls
Learned Culture, is only the means towards a knowledge of
the attainable portion of the Divine Idea, and is only
valuable in so far as it actually is such a means, and truly
fulfils its purpose. Whether in any given case this end has
been attained or not, can never be determined by common
observation, for it is quite blind to the Idea, and can do no
more than recognise the merely empirical fact whether a
man has enjoyed, or has not enjoyed, the advantage of what
is called Learned Culture. Hence there are two very dif-
ferent notions of a Scholar :--the one, according to appearance
and mere intention; and in this respect, every one must be
considered a Scholar who has gone through a course of
Learned Culture, or as it is commonly expressed, who has
studied or who still studies :--the other according to truth;
and in this respect, he only is to be looked upon as a Scholar
who has, through the Learned Culture of his age, arrived
at a knowledge of the Idea. Through the Learned Culture
of his age, I say; for if a man, without the use of this means,
can arrive at a knowledge of the Idea by some other way
(and I am far from denying that he may do so), yet surh
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? 140
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
an one will be unable either to communicate his knowledge
theoretically, or to realize it immediately in the world, ac-
cording to any well-defined rule, because he must want that
knowledge of his age, and of the means of influencing it,
which can be acquired only in schools of learning. Hence
there may indeed be a higher life alive within him, but not
such a life as can grasp the rest of the world and call forth
its powers;--he may display all the special results of Learn-
ed Culture, but without this plastic power;--and hence we
may have a most excellent Man indeed, but not a Scholar.
As for us, we have here no thought of considering this
matter by outward seeming, but only according to truth.
Henceforward, throughout the whole course of these lectures,
he only will be esteemed a Scholar who, through the Learn-
ed Culture of his age, has actually attained a knowledge of
the Idea, or at least strives with life and strength to attain
it . He who has received this culture without thereby
attaining to the Idea, is in truth (as we are now to look
upon the matter) nothing;--he is an equivocal mongrel
between the possessor of the Idea and him who derives his
strength and confidence from common reality;--in his vain
struggles after the Idea, he has lost the power to lay hold of
and cultivate reality, and now wavers between two worlds
without properly belonging to either of them.
The distinction which we have already noticed in the
modes of the direct application of the Idea in general, is
obviously also applicable in particular to him who comes to
the possession of this Idea through Learned Culture;--that
is, to the Scholar. Either, it is his special and peculiar ob-
ject to communicate to others the Ideas of which he has
himself attained a living knowledge;--and then his proper
business is the theory of Ideas, general or particular,--he is a
teacher of knowledge. But it is only as distinguished from,
and contrasted with the second application of Ideas, that the
business of the scientific teacher is characterized as mere
theory; in a wider sense it is as practical as that of the
more directly active man. The object of his activity is the
human mind and spirit; and it is a most ennobling employ-
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? GENERAL PLAN.
141
ruent systematically to prepare these for, and elevate them to, the reception of Ideas. Or,\it may be the peculiar busi-
ness of him who through Learned Culture has obtained
possession of Ideas, to fashion the world (which, as regards
his design, is a passive world) after these Ideas; perhaps to
model the Legislation,--the legal and social relations of
men to each other,--or even that all-surrounding nature
which constantly presses upon their higher being,--after the
Divine Idea of justice or of beauty, so far as that is possible
in the age and under the conditions in which he is placed;
while he reserves to himself his own original conceptions,
as well as the art with which he impresses them on the
world. In this case he is a pragmatic Scholar. No one, I
may remark in passing, ought to intermeddle in the direct
guidance and ordering of human affairs, who is not a Scho-
lar in the true sense of the word; that is, who has not by
means of Learned Culture become a participator in the
Divine Idea With labourers and hodmen it is otherwise:
--their virtue consists in punctual obedience, in the careful
avoidance of all independent thought, and in confiding the
direction of their occupations to other men.
From a different point of view arises another significant
distinction in the idea of the Scholar: this, namely,--either
the Scholar has actually laid hold of the whole Divine Idea
in so far as it is attainable by man, or of a particular part
of it,--which last indeed is not possible without having first
a clear survey of the whole;--either he has actually laid
hold of it, and penetrated into its significance until it now
stands lucid and distinct before him, so that it has become
his own possession, to be recalled at any time in the same
shape,--an element in his personality;--and then he is a
complete and Finished Scholar, a man who has studied:--or,
he as yet only strives and struggles to attain a clear insight
into the Idea generally, or into that particular portion or
point of it from which he, for his part, will penetrate the
whole:--already, one by one, sparks of light arise on every
side, and disclose a higher world before him; but they do
not yet unite into one indivisible whole,--they vanish as
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? H2
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
they came without his bidding, and he cannot as yet bring
them under the dominion of his will;--and then he is a
Progressive, a self-forming Scholar--a Student. That it
be really the Idea which is either possessed or struggled
after is common to both of these: if the striving be only
after the outward form--the mere letter of Learned Culture,
then we have, if the round be finished--the complete,--if it
be unfinished--the progressive, bungler. The latter is al-
ways more tolerable than the former, for it may still be
hoped that in pursuing his course he may perhaps at some
future point be laid hold of by the Idea; but of the for-
mer all hope is lost.
This, gentlemen, is our conception of the Nature of the
Scholar; and these are all the possible modifications of that
conception--not in any respect changing, but rather wholly
arising out of the original,--the conception, namely, of fixed
and definite being which alone furnishes a sufficient answer
to the question,--What is the Scholar?
But philosophical knowledge, such as we are now seek-
ing, is not satisfied with answering the question, What is ? --
philosophy asks also for the How, and, strictly speaking, asks
for this only, as for that which is already implied in the
What. All philosophical knowledge is, by its nature, not
empiric, but genetic,--not merely apprehending existing
being, but producing and constructing this being from the
very root of its life. Thus, with respect to the Scholar, the
determinate form of whose being we have now described,
there still remains the question,--How does he become a
Scholar? --and since his being and growth is an uninter-
rupted, living, constantly self-producing being,--How does
he maintain the life of a Scholar?
I answer shortly,--by his inherent, characteristic, and all-
engrossing love for the Idea. Consider it thus:--Every
form of existence holds and upholds itself; and in living
existences this self-support, and the consciousness of it, is
self-love. In individual human beings the Eternal Divine
Idea takes up its abode, as their spiritual nature; this in-
dwelling Divine Idea encircles itself in them with unspeak-
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? GENEHAL PLAN.
143
able love; and then we say, adapting our language to com-
mon appearance, this man loves the Idea, and lives in the
Idea,--when in truth it is the Idea itself which, in his place
and in his person, lives and loves itself; and his person is
but the sensible manifestation of this existence of the Idea,
and has, in and for itself alone, neither significance nor life.
This strictly framed definition or formula lays open the
whole matter, and we may now proceed once more to adopt
the language of appearance without fear of misapprehen-
sion.
In the True Scholar the Idea has acquired a personal
existence which has entirely superseded his own, and ab-
sorbed it in itself. He loves the Idea, not before all else, for
he loves nothing else beside it,--he loves it alone;--it alone
is the source of all his joys, of all his pleasures; it alone is
the spring of all his thoughts, efforts, and deeds; for it alone
does he live, and without it life would be to him odious and
unmeaning. In both--in the Finished as well as in the
Progressive Scholar--does the Idea reside, with this differ-
ence only,--that in the former it has attained all the clear-
ness and firm consistency which was possible in that indi-
vidual and under existing circumstances, and having now
a settled abode within him, seeks to expatiate abroad, and
strives to flow forth in living words and deeds;--while in
the latter it is still active only within himself, striving after
the development and strengthening of such an existence as it
may attain under the circumstances in which he is placed.
To both alike would their life be valueless, could they not
fashion either others or themselves after the Idea.
This is the sole and unvarying life-principle of the Scho-
lar,--of him to whom we give that name. All his deeds
and efforts, under all possible conditions in which he can be
supposed to exist, spring with absolute necessity from this
principle. Hence, we have only to contemplate him in
those relations which are requisite for our purpose, and we
may calculate with certainty both his inward and outward
life, and describe it beforehand. And in this way it is
possible to deduce with scientific accuracy, from the essential
Nature of the Scholar, its manifestations in the world of
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? H4
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
freedom or apparent chance. This is our present task, an J
that the rule for its solution.
We shall turn first of all to the Students,--that is to say,
to those who are justly entitled to the name of Progressive
Scholars in the sense of that word already defined; and it is
proper that we should first apply to them the principles
which we have laid down. If they be not such as we have
supposed them to be, then our words will be to them mere
words, without sense, meaning or application. If they be
such as we have supposed them to be, then they will in due
time become mature and perfect Scholars; for that effort of
the Idea to unfold itself which is so much higher than all
the pursuits of sense is also infinitely more mighty, and
with silent power breaks a way for itself through every ob-
stacle. It will be well for the studious youth to know now
what he shall one day become,--to contemplate in his youth
a picture of his riper age. I shall therefore, after perform-
ing my first duty, proceed also to construct from the same
principles the character of the Finished Scholar.
Clearness is gained by contrast; and therefore, wherever
I show how the Scholar will manifest himself, I shall also
declare how, for the same reasons, he will not manifest him-
self.
In both divisions of the subject, but particularly in the
second, where I shall have to speak of the Finished Scholar,
I shall guard myself carefully from making any satirical al-
lusion to the present state of the literary world, any censure
of it, or generally any reference to it; and I entreat my
hearers once for all not to take any such suggestion. The
philosopher peacefully constructs his theorem upon given
principles, without deigning to turn his attention to the ac-
tual state of things, or needing the recollection of it to
enable him to pursue his inquiry; just as the geometer con-
structs his scheme without troubling himself whether his
purely abstract figures can be copied with our instruments.
And it may be permitted, especially to the unprejudiced
and studious youth, to remain in ignorance of the degenera-
cies and corruptions of the society into which he must one
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? GENERAL PLAN. H3
day enter, until he shall have acquired power sufficient to
stem the tide of its example.
This, gentlemen, is the entire plan of the lectures which I
now propose to deliver, with the principles on which they
shall be founded. To-day, I shall only add one or two ob-
servations to what I have already said.
In considerations like those of to-day, or those, necessarily
similar in their nature, which are to follow, it is common for
men to censure,--first, their severity,--very often with the
good-natured supposition that the speaker was not aware
that his strictness would be disagreeable to them,--that
they have only frankly to tell him this, and he will then re-
consider the matter, and soften down his principles. Thus
we have said, that he who with his Learned Culture has not
attained a knowledge of the Idea, or does not at least
struggle to attain it, is properly speaking, nothing;--and
farther on, we have said he is a bungler. This is in the man-
ner of those severe sayings by which philosophers give so
much offence. Leaving the present case, to deal directly with
the general principle, I have to remind you that a thinker
of this sort, without having firmness enough to refuse all re-
spect to Truth, seeks to chaffer with her and cheapen some-
thing from her, in order by a favourable bargain to obtain
some consideration for himself. But Truth, who is once for
all what she is, and cannot change her nature in aught, pro-
ceeds on her way without turning aside; and there remains
nothing for her, with respect to those who do not seek her
simply because she is true, but to leave them standing
there, just as if they had never accosted her.
Again, it is a common charge against discourses of this
kind, that they cannot be understood. Thus I can suppose
--not you, gentlemen,--but some Finished Scholar according
to appearance, under whose eye, perhaps, these thoughts may
come--approaching them, and, puzzled and doubtful, at last
thoughtfully exclaiming :--The Idea--the Divine Idea,--
that which lies at the bottom of all appearance,--what may
this mean? I would reply to such an inquirer,--What then
may this question mean ? --Strictly speaking, it means in
U
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? 146
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
most cases, nothing more than the following:--Under what
other name, and by what other formula, do I already know
this thing which thou expressest by a name so extraordi-
nary, and to me so unheard of? --and to that again, in most
cases, the only fitting answer would be,--Thou knowest not
this thing at all, and during thy whole life hast understood
nothing of it, neither under this nor under any other name;
and if thou art to come to any knowledge of it, thou must
even now begin anew to learn it, and then most fitly under
that name by which it is first offered to thee.
In the following lectures the word Idea, which I have used
to-day, will be in many respects better defined and ex-
plained, and, as I hope, ultimately brought to perfect clear-
ness; but that is by no means the business of a single hour.
We reserve this, as well as everything else to which we have
to direct your attention, for the succeeding lectures.
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? 147
LECTURE II.
CLOSER DEFINITION OP THE MEANING OF
THE DIVINE IDEA.
The following were the principles which we laid down in
our last lecture as the grounds of our investigation into the
Nature of the Scholar.
The Universe is not, in deed and truth, that which it
seems to be to the uncultivated and natural sense of man;
but it is something higher, which lies behind mere natural
appearance. In its widest sense, this foundation of all ap-
pearance may be aptly named the Divine Idea of the world.
A certain part of the meaning of this Divine Idea is acces-
sible to, and conceivable by, the cultivated mind.
We said at the close of last lecture, that this as yet ob-
scure conception of a Divine Idea, as the ultimate and abso-
lute foundation of all appearance, should afterwards become
quite clear and intelligible by means of its subsequent ap-
pli cations.
Nevertheless we find it desirable, in the first place, to de-
fine this conception more closely in the abstract, and to this
purpose we shall devote the present lecture. To'Mthis end
we lay down the following principles, which, so far as we are
concerned, are the results of deep and methodical investiga-
tion and are perfectly demonstrable in themselves, but
which we can here communicate to you only historically, cal-
culating with confidence on your own natural sense of truth
to confirm our principles even without perfect insight into
their fundamental basis; and also on your observing that by
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? H8
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
principles thus laid down the most important questions are
answered and the most searching doubts solved.
We lay down, then, the following principles:--
1. Being, strictly and absolutely considered, is living and
essentially active. There is no other Being than Life;--it
cannot be dead, rigid, inert . What death, that constantly
recurring phenomenon, really is, and how it is connected
with the only true Being--with Life,--we shall see more
clearly afterwards.
2. The only Life which exists entirely in itself, from itself,
and by itself, is the Life of God, or of the Absolute;--which
two words mean one and the same thing; so that when we
say the Life of the Absolute, we use only a form of expres-
sion, since in truth the Absolute is Life, and Life is the Ab-
solute.
3. This Divine Life lies entirely hidden in itself;--it has
its residence within itself, and abides there completely
realized in, and accessible only to, itself. It is--all Being,
and beside it there is no Being. It is therefore wholly with-
out change or variation.
4. Now this Divine Life discloses itself, appears, becomes
visible, manifests itself as such--as the Divine Life: and
this its Manifestation, presence, or outward existence, is the
World. Strictly speaking, it manifests itself as it essenti-
ally and really is, and cannot manifest itself otherwise; and
hence there is no groundless and arbitrary medium inter-
posed between its true and essential nature and its outward
Manifestation, in consequence of which it is only in part re-
vealed and in part remains concealed; but its Manifestation,
i. e. the World, is fashioned and unchangeably determined by
two conditions only; namely, by the essential nature of the
Divine Life itself, and by the unvarying and absolute laws of its revelation or Manifestation abstractly considered.
God reveals himself as God can reveal himself: His whole,
in itself essentially inconceivable, Being comes forth entire
and undivided, in so far as it can come forth in any mere
Manifestation.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA.
149
5. The Divine Life in itself is absolute self-comprehend-
ing unity, without change or variableness, as we said above.
In its Manifestation, for a reason which is quite conceivable although not here set forth, it becomes a self-developing existence, eternally unfolding itself, and ever advancing to-
wards higher realization in an endless stream of time. In
the first place, it continues in this Manifestation, as we said,
to be life. Life cannot be manifested in death, for these
two are altogether opposed to each other; and hence, as
Absolute Being alone is life, so the only true Manifestation
of that Being is living existence, and death has neither an
absolute, nor, in the highest sense of the word, has it even a
relative existence. This living and visible Manifestation we call the human race. The human race is thus the only true
finite existence. As Being--Absolute Being--constitutes
the Divine Life, and is wholly exhausted therein, so does
Existence in Time, or the Manifestation of that Divine Life,
constitute the whole united life of mankind, and is tho-
roughly and entirely exhausted therein. Thus, in its Mani-
festation the Divine Life becomes a continually progressive
existence, unfolding in perpetual growth according to the
degree of inward activity and power which belongs to it.
Hence,--and the consequence is an important one,--hence
the Manifestation of Life in Time, unlike the Divine Life,
is limited at every point of its existence,--t. e. it is in part
not living, not yet interpenetrated by life, but in so far--
dead. These limitations it shall gradually break through,
lay aside, and transform into life, in its onward progress.
In this view of the limitations which surround Existence
in Time, we have, when it is thoroughly laid hold of, the
conception of the objective and material world, or what we
call Nature. This is not living and capable of infinite
growth like Reason; but dead,--a rigid, self-inclosed exis-
tence. It is this which, arresting and hemming in the
Time-Life, by this hindrance alone spreads over a longer or
shorter period of time that which would otherwise burst
forth at once, a perfect and complete life. Further, in the
development of spiritual existence, Nature itself is gradually
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? 150
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
interpenetrated by life; and it is thus both the obstacle to,
and the sphere of, that activity and outward manifestation
of power in which human life eternally unfolds itself.
This, and absolutely nothing more than this, is Nature in
the most extended meaning of the word; and even man
himself, in so far as his existence is limited in comparison
with the original and Divine Life, is nothing more than this.
Since the perpetual advancement of this second life,--not
original, but derived and human,--and also its finitude and
limitation in order that such advancement may be so much
as possible,--both proceed from the self-manifestation of the
Absolute, so Nature also has its foundation in God,--not
indeed as something that is and ought to be for its own
sake alone, but only as the means and condition of another
being,--of the Living Being in man,--and as^something
which shall be gradually and unceasingly superseded and
displaced by the perpetual advancement of this being.
Hence we must not be blinded or led astray by a philo-
sophy assuming the name of natural* which pretends to ex-
cel all former philosophy by striving to elevate Nature into
Absolute Being, and into the place of God In all ages, the
theoretical errors as well as the moral corruptions of hu-
manity have arisen from falsely bestowing the name of life
on that which in itself possesses neither absolute nor even
finite being, and seeking for life and its enjoyment in that
which in itself is dead. Very far therefore from being a
step towards truth, that philosophy is but a return to old
and already most widely spread error.
6. All truth contained in the principles which we have
now laid down may be perceived by man, who himself is the
Manifestation of the Original and Divine Life, in its general
aspect, as we for example, have now perceived it,--either
through rational conviction, or only from being led to it by
an obscure feeling or sense of truth, or from finding it prob-
able because it furnishes a complete solution of the most
important problems. Man may perceive it; that is, the
* Schelling's " Natur-Philosophie" is here referred to.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA. . 151
Manifestation may fall back on its Original, and picture it
forth in reflection with absolute certainty as to the fact;
but it can by no means analyze and comprehend it fully, for
the Manifestation ever remains only a Manifestation, and
can never go beyond itself and return to Absolute Being.
7. We have said that man may perceive this in so far as
regards the fact, but he cannot perceive the reason and
origin of the fact. How and why from the Divine Life, this
and no other Time-Life arises and constantly flows forth, can be understood by man only on condition of fully com-
prehending all the parts of this latter, and interpreting
them all, one by the other, mutually and completely, so as to
reduce them once more to a single idea, and that idea equi-
valent to the one Divine Life. But this forth-flowing Time-
TSfe is infinite, and hence the comprehension of its parts
can never be completed: besides, the comprehender is him-
self a portion of it, and at every conceivable point of time
he himself stands chained in the finite and limited, which
he can never entirely throw off without ceasing to be Mani-
festation,--without being himself transformed into the
Divine Life.
8. From this it seems to follow, that the Time-Life can be
comprehended by thought only as a whole, and according to
its general nature,--i. e. as we have endeavoured to compre-
hend it above,--and then as a Manifestation of the one
Original and Divine Life;--but that its details must be im-
mediately felt and experienced in their individual import,
and can only by and through this Experience be imaged
forth in thought and consciousness. And such is actually
the case in a certain respect and with a certain portion of
human life. Throughout all time, and in every individual
part of it, there remains in human life something which i'does not entirely reveal itself in Idea, and which therefore
cannot be anticipated or superseded by any Idea, but which
must be directly felt if it is ever to attain a place in con-
sciousness ;--and this is called the domain of pure empiri-
cism or Experience. The above-mentioned philosophy ens
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? 152
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
in this,--that it pretends to have resolved human life en-
tirely into Idea, and thus wholly superseded Experience;
instead of which, it defeats its own purpose, and in attempt-
ing to explain life completely, loses sight of it altogether.
9. I said that such was the case with the Time-Life in a
certain respect and with a certain portion of it. For in
another respect and with another portion of it, the case is
quite otherwise,--and that on the following ground, which I
shall here only indicate in popular phraseology, but which is
well worthy of deeper investigation.
The Time-Life does not enter into Time in individual
parts only, but also in entire homogeneous masses; and it is
these masses, again, which divide themselves into the indivi-
dual parts of actual life. There is not only Time, but there
are times, and succession of times, epoch after epoch, and
age succeeding age. Thus, for example, to the deeper
thought of man, the entire Earthly Life of the human race,
as it now exists, is such a homogeneous mass, projected at
once into Time, and ever present there, whole and undivid-
ed,--only as regards sensuous appearance spread out into
world-history. When these homogeneous masses have ap-
peared in Time, the general laws and rules by which they
are governed may be comprehended, and, in their relation
to the whole course of these masses, anticipated and under-
stood; while the obstacles over which these masses must
take their way--that is, the hindrances and interruptions
of life--are only accessible to immediate Experience.
10. These cognizable laws of homogeneous masses of Life,
which may be perceived and understood prior to their ac-
tual consequences, must necessarily appear as laws of Life
itself, as it ought to be, and as it should strive to become,
founded on the self-supporting and independent principle of
this Time-Life, which must here appear as Freedom:--
hence, as laws for the free action and conduct of the living be-
ing. If we go back to the source of this legislation, we shall
find that it lies in the Divine Life itself, which could not
reveal itself in Time otherwise than under this form of a
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? DEFINITION OP THE DIVINE IDEA.
153
law; and, indeed, as is implied in the preceding ideas, no-
wise as a law ruling with blind power and extorting obedi-
ence by force, such as we assume in passive and inanimate
nature,--but as the law of a Life which is conscious of its
own independence, and cannot be deprived of it, without at
the same time tearing up the very root of its being; hence,
as we said above, as a Divine Law of Freedom, or Moral Law.
Further, as we have already seen, this life according to
the law of the original Divine Life, is the only True Life and
ground of all other;--all things else besides this Life are
but hindrances and obstructions thereto, possessing exist-
ence only that by them the True Life may be unfolded and
manifested in its strength:--hence, all things else have no
existence for their own sakes, but only as means for the de-
velopment of the True Life. Reason can comprehend the
connexion between means and end only by supposing a
mind in which the end has been determined. A thoroughly
moral Human Life has its source in God: by analogy with
our own reason, we conceive of God as proposing to himself
the moral Life of man as the sole purpose for which He has
manifested himself and called into existence every other
thing; not that it is absolutely thus as we conceive of it,
and that God really thinks like man, and that Being itself is
in him distinguished from the conception of Being,--but we
think thus only because we are unable otherwise to com-
prehend the relation between the Divine and the Human
Life. And in this absolutely necessary mode of thought, Human Life as it ought to be becomes the idea and funda-
mental conception of God in the creation of a world,--the
purpose and the plan which God intended to fulfil by the
creation of the world.
And thus it is sufficiently explained for our present pur-
pose how the Divine Idea lies at the foundation of the vis-
ible world, and how, and how far, this Idea, hidden from the
common eye, may become conceivable and attainable by
cultivated thought, and necessarily appear to it as that
which man by his free activity ought to manifest in the
world.
x
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29th January 1819, after an illness of seven days.
Fichte died as he had lived,--the priest of knowledge, the apostle of freedom, the martyr of humanity. He belongs to
those Great Men whose lives are an everlasting possession
to mankind, and whose words the world does not willingly
let die. His character stands written in his life, a massive
but severely simple whole. It has no parts;--the depth
and earnestness on which it rests, speak forth alike in his
thoughts, words, and actions. No man of his time--few
perhaps of any time--exercised a more powerful, spirit-stir-
ring influence over the minds of his fellow-countrymen.
The impulse which he communicated to the national
thought extended far beyond the sphere of his personal in-
fluence ;--it has awakened,--it will still awaken,--high
emotion and manly resolution in thousands who never
heard his voice. The ceaseless effort of his life was to rouse men to a sense of the divinity of their own nature;--to fix
their thoughts upon a spiritual life as the only true and real
life;--to teach them to look upon all else as mere show and
unreality; and thus to lead them to constant effort after the
highest Ideal of purity, virtue, independence, and self-denial.
To this ennobling enterprise he consecrated his being;--to it
he devoted his gigantic powers of thought, his iron will, his
resistless eloquence. But he taught it also in deeds more
eloquent than words. In the strong reality of his life,--in
his intense love for all things beautiful and true,--in his in-
corruptible integrity and heroic devotion to the right, we
see a living manifestation of his principles. His life is the
true counterpart of his philosophy;--it is that of a strong,
free, incorruptible man. And with all the sternness of his
morality, he is full of gentle and generous sentiments; of
deep, overflowing sympathies. No tone of love, no soft
breathing of tenderness, fall unheeded on that high royal
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? 132
MEMOIR OF FICIITE.
soul, but in its calm sublimity find a welcome and a home.
Even his hatred is the offspring of a higher love. Truly in-
deed has he been described by one of our own country's
brightest ornaments as a "colossal, adamantine spirit, stand-
ing erect and clear, like a Cato Major among degenerate
men; fit to have been the teacher of the Stoa, and to have
discoursed of beauty and virtue in the groves of Academe. " But the sublimity of his intellect casts no shade on the soft
current of his affections, which flows, pure and unbroken,
through the whole course of his life, to enrich, fertilize, and
adorn it. In no other man of modern times do we find the
stern grandeur of ancient virtue so blended with the kind-
lier humanities of our nature, which flourish best under a
gentler civilization. We prize his philosophy deeply,--it is
to us an invaluable possession, for it seems the noblest ex-
position to which we have yet listened of human nature and
divine truth,--but with reverent thankfulness we acknow-
ledge a still higher debt, for he has left behind him the best
gift which man can bequeath to man,--a brave, heroic
human life.
In the first churchyard from the Oranienburg gate of Ber-
lin, stands a tall obelisk with this inscription:--
THE TEACHERS SHALL SHINE
AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT;
AND THEY THAT TURN MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
AS THE STARS FOR EVER AND EVER.
It marks the grave of FlCHTE. The faithful partner of his
life sleeps at his feet.
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? ON
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR
MANIFESTATIONS:
LECTURES
DELIVERED AT ERLANGEN
1805.
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? CONTENTS.
Lecture I. -- General Plan.
II. -- Closes Definition of the Meaning of the Divine Idea.
III. -- Of the Progressive Scholar generally, and in particular
of Genius and Industry.
IV. -- Of Integrity in Study.
V. -- How the Integrity of the Student manifests itself.
VI. -- Of Academical Freedom.
VII. -- Of the Finished Scholar in general.
VIII. -- Of the Scholar as Ruler.
IX. --Of the Scholar as Teacher.
X. -- Of the Scholar as Author.
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? 137
LECTURE I.
GENERAL PLAN.
I NOW open the course of public lectures which I have an-
nounced on the roll under the title "De Moribus Erudito-
rum. " This inscription may be translated--" Morality for
the Scholar,"--" On the Vocation of the Scholar,"--" On the
Duty of the Scholar," &c. ;--but in what way soever the title
may be translated and understood, the idea itself demands a
deeper investigation. I proceed to this preliminary inquiry.
Generally speaking, when we hear the word Morality the
the idea is suggested of a formation of character and conduct
according to rule and precept. But it is true only in a
limited sense, and only as seen from a lower point of en-
lightenment, that man is formed by precept, or can form
himself upon precept. On the contrary, from the highest
point--that of absolute truth, on which we here take our
stand,--whatever is to be manifested in the thought or deed
of man, must first be inwardly present in his Nature, and
indeed itself constitute his Nature, being, and life; for that
which lies in the essential Nature of man must necessarily re-
veal itself in his outward life, shine forth in all his thoughts,
desires, and acts, and become his unvarying and unalterable
character. How the freedom of man, and all the efforts by
means of culture, instruction, religion, legislation, to form him
to goodness, are to be reconciled with this truth, is the object
of an entirely different inquiry, into which we do not now
enter. We can here only declare in general, that the two
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? 138 THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
principles may be thoroughly reconciled, and that a deeper
study of philosophy will clearly show the possibility of their
union.
The fixed disposition and modes of action, or in a word,
the character, of the true Scholar, when contemplated from
the highest point of view, can, properly speaking, only be de-
scribed, not by any means enacted or imposed. On the con-
trary, this apparent and outwardly manifest character of the
true Scholar is founded upon that which already exists with-
in him in his own Nature, independently of all manifesta-
tion and before all manifestation; and it is necessarily
produced and unchangeably determined by this inward
Nature. Hence, if we are to describe his character, we
must first unfold his Nature:--only from the idea of the
latter, can the former be surely and completely deduced. To
make such a deduction from this pre-supposed Nature, is
the proper object of these lectures. Their contents may
therefore be briefly stated: they are--a description of the
Nature of the Scholar, and of its manifestations in the world
of freedom.
The following propositions will aid us in attaining some
insight into the Nature of the Scholar :--
1. The whole material world, with all its adaptations and
ends, and in particular the life of man in this world, are by
no means, in themselves and in deed and truth, that which
they seem to be to the uncultivated and natural sense of
man; but there is something higher, which lies concealed
behind all natural appearance. This concealed foundation
of all appearance may, in its greatest universality, be aptly
named the Divine Idea; and this expression, "Divine Idea,"
shall not in the meantime signify anything more than this
higher ground of appearance, until we shall have more clear-
ly defined its meaning.
2. A certain part of the meaning of this Divine Idea of
the world is accessible to, and conceivable by, the cultivated
mind; and, by the free activity of man, under the guidance
of this Idea, may be impressed upon the world of sense and
represented in it.
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? GENERAL PLAN.
139
3. If there were among men some individuals who had
attained, wholly or partially, to the possession of this last-
mentioned or attainable portion of the Divine Idea of the
world,--whether with the view of maintaining and extend-
ing the knowledge of the Idea among men by communicat-
ing it to others, or of imaging it forth in the world of sense
by direct and immediate action thereon,--then were these
individuals the seat of a higher and more spiritual life in the
world, and of a progressive development thereof according
to the Divine Idea.
4. In every age, that kind of education and spiritual cul-
ture by means of which the age hopes to lead mankind to
the knowledge of the ascertained part of the Divine Idea, is
the Learned Culture of the age; and every man who par-
takes in this culture is the Scholar of the age.
From what has now been said, it clearly follows that the
whole of the training and education which an age calls
Learned Culture, is only the means towards a knowledge of
the attainable portion of the Divine Idea, and is only
valuable in so far as it actually is such a means, and truly
fulfils its purpose. Whether in any given case this end has
been attained or not, can never be determined by common
observation, for it is quite blind to the Idea, and can do no
more than recognise the merely empirical fact whether a
man has enjoyed, or has not enjoyed, the advantage of what
is called Learned Culture. Hence there are two very dif-
ferent notions of a Scholar :--the one, according to appearance
and mere intention; and in this respect, every one must be
considered a Scholar who has gone through a course of
Learned Culture, or as it is commonly expressed, who has
studied or who still studies :--the other according to truth;
and in this respect, he only is to be looked upon as a Scholar
who has, through the Learned Culture of his age, arrived
at a knowledge of the Idea. Through the Learned Culture
of his age, I say; for if a man, without the use of this means,
can arrive at a knowledge of the Idea by some other way
(and I am far from denying that he may do so), yet surh
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? 140
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
an one will be unable either to communicate his knowledge
theoretically, or to realize it immediately in the world, ac-
cording to any well-defined rule, because he must want that
knowledge of his age, and of the means of influencing it,
which can be acquired only in schools of learning. Hence
there may indeed be a higher life alive within him, but not
such a life as can grasp the rest of the world and call forth
its powers;--he may display all the special results of Learn-
ed Culture, but without this plastic power;--and hence we
may have a most excellent Man indeed, but not a Scholar.
As for us, we have here no thought of considering this
matter by outward seeming, but only according to truth.
Henceforward, throughout the whole course of these lectures,
he only will be esteemed a Scholar who, through the Learn-
ed Culture of his age, has actually attained a knowledge of
the Idea, or at least strives with life and strength to attain
it . He who has received this culture without thereby
attaining to the Idea, is in truth (as we are now to look
upon the matter) nothing;--he is an equivocal mongrel
between the possessor of the Idea and him who derives his
strength and confidence from common reality;--in his vain
struggles after the Idea, he has lost the power to lay hold of
and cultivate reality, and now wavers between two worlds
without properly belonging to either of them.
The distinction which we have already noticed in the
modes of the direct application of the Idea in general, is
obviously also applicable in particular to him who comes to
the possession of this Idea through Learned Culture;--that
is, to the Scholar. Either, it is his special and peculiar ob-
ject to communicate to others the Ideas of which he has
himself attained a living knowledge;--and then his proper
business is the theory of Ideas, general or particular,--he is a
teacher of knowledge. But it is only as distinguished from,
and contrasted with the second application of Ideas, that the
business of the scientific teacher is characterized as mere
theory; in a wider sense it is as practical as that of the
more directly active man. The object of his activity is the
human mind and spirit; and it is a most ennobling employ-
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? GENERAL PLAN.
141
ruent systematically to prepare these for, and elevate them to, the reception of Ideas. Or,\it may be the peculiar busi-
ness of him who through Learned Culture has obtained
possession of Ideas, to fashion the world (which, as regards
his design, is a passive world) after these Ideas; perhaps to
model the Legislation,--the legal and social relations of
men to each other,--or even that all-surrounding nature
which constantly presses upon their higher being,--after the
Divine Idea of justice or of beauty, so far as that is possible
in the age and under the conditions in which he is placed;
while he reserves to himself his own original conceptions,
as well as the art with which he impresses them on the
world. In this case he is a pragmatic Scholar. No one, I
may remark in passing, ought to intermeddle in the direct
guidance and ordering of human affairs, who is not a Scho-
lar in the true sense of the word; that is, who has not by
means of Learned Culture become a participator in the
Divine Idea With labourers and hodmen it is otherwise:
--their virtue consists in punctual obedience, in the careful
avoidance of all independent thought, and in confiding the
direction of their occupations to other men.
From a different point of view arises another significant
distinction in the idea of the Scholar: this, namely,--either
the Scholar has actually laid hold of the whole Divine Idea
in so far as it is attainable by man, or of a particular part
of it,--which last indeed is not possible without having first
a clear survey of the whole;--either he has actually laid
hold of it, and penetrated into its significance until it now
stands lucid and distinct before him, so that it has become
his own possession, to be recalled at any time in the same
shape,--an element in his personality;--and then he is a
complete and Finished Scholar, a man who has studied:--or,
he as yet only strives and struggles to attain a clear insight
into the Idea generally, or into that particular portion or
point of it from which he, for his part, will penetrate the
whole:--already, one by one, sparks of light arise on every
side, and disclose a higher world before him; but they do
not yet unite into one indivisible whole,--they vanish as
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? H2
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
they came without his bidding, and he cannot as yet bring
them under the dominion of his will;--and then he is a
Progressive, a self-forming Scholar--a Student. That it
be really the Idea which is either possessed or struggled
after is common to both of these: if the striving be only
after the outward form--the mere letter of Learned Culture,
then we have, if the round be finished--the complete,--if it
be unfinished--the progressive, bungler. The latter is al-
ways more tolerable than the former, for it may still be
hoped that in pursuing his course he may perhaps at some
future point be laid hold of by the Idea; but of the for-
mer all hope is lost.
This, gentlemen, is our conception of the Nature of the
Scholar; and these are all the possible modifications of that
conception--not in any respect changing, but rather wholly
arising out of the original,--the conception, namely, of fixed
and definite being which alone furnishes a sufficient answer
to the question,--What is the Scholar?
But philosophical knowledge, such as we are now seek-
ing, is not satisfied with answering the question, What is ? --
philosophy asks also for the How, and, strictly speaking, asks
for this only, as for that which is already implied in the
What. All philosophical knowledge is, by its nature, not
empiric, but genetic,--not merely apprehending existing
being, but producing and constructing this being from the
very root of its life. Thus, with respect to the Scholar, the
determinate form of whose being we have now described,
there still remains the question,--How does he become a
Scholar? --and since his being and growth is an uninter-
rupted, living, constantly self-producing being,--How does
he maintain the life of a Scholar?
I answer shortly,--by his inherent, characteristic, and all-
engrossing love for the Idea. Consider it thus:--Every
form of existence holds and upholds itself; and in living
existences this self-support, and the consciousness of it, is
self-love. In individual human beings the Eternal Divine
Idea takes up its abode, as their spiritual nature; this in-
dwelling Divine Idea encircles itself in them with unspeak-
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? GENEHAL PLAN.
143
able love; and then we say, adapting our language to com-
mon appearance, this man loves the Idea, and lives in the
Idea,--when in truth it is the Idea itself which, in his place
and in his person, lives and loves itself; and his person is
but the sensible manifestation of this existence of the Idea,
and has, in and for itself alone, neither significance nor life.
This strictly framed definition or formula lays open the
whole matter, and we may now proceed once more to adopt
the language of appearance without fear of misapprehen-
sion.
In the True Scholar the Idea has acquired a personal
existence which has entirely superseded his own, and ab-
sorbed it in itself. He loves the Idea, not before all else, for
he loves nothing else beside it,--he loves it alone;--it alone
is the source of all his joys, of all his pleasures; it alone is
the spring of all his thoughts, efforts, and deeds; for it alone
does he live, and without it life would be to him odious and
unmeaning. In both--in the Finished as well as in the
Progressive Scholar--does the Idea reside, with this differ-
ence only,--that in the former it has attained all the clear-
ness and firm consistency which was possible in that indi-
vidual and under existing circumstances, and having now
a settled abode within him, seeks to expatiate abroad, and
strives to flow forth in living words and deeds;--while in
the latter it is still active only within himself, striving after
the development and strengthening of such an existence as it
may attain under the circumstances in which he is placed.
To both alike would their life be valueless, could they not
fashion either others or themselves after the Idea.
This is the sole and unvarying life-principle of the Scho-
lar,--of him to whom we give that name. All his deeds
and efforts, under all possible conditions in which he can be
supposed to exist, spring with absolute necessity from this
principle. Hence, we have only to contemplate him in
those relations which are requisite for our purpose, and we
may calculate with certainty both his inward and outward
life, and describe it beforehand. And in this way it is
possible to deduce with scientific accuracy, from the essential
Nature of the Scholar, its manifestations in the world of
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? H4
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
freedom or apparent chance. This is our present task, an J
that the rule for its solution.
We shall turn first of all to the Students,--that is to say,
to those who are justly entitled to the name of Progressive
Scholars in the sense of that word already defined; and it is
proper that we should first apply to them the principles
which we have laid down. If they be not such as we have
supposed them to be, then our words will be to them mere
words, without sense, meaning or application. If they be
such as we have supposed them to be, then they will in due
time become mature and perfect Scholars; for that effort of
the Idea to unfold itself which is so much higher than all
the pursuits of sense is also infinitely more mighty, and
with silent power breaks a way for itself through every ob-
stacle. It will be well for the studious youth to know now
what he shall one day become,--to contemplate in his youth
a picture of his riper age. I shall therefore, after perform-
ing my first duty, proceed also to construct from the same
principles the character of the Finished Scholar.
Clearness is gained by contrast; and therefore, wherever
I show how the Scholar will manifest himself, I shall also
declare how, for the same reasons, he will not manifest him-
self.
In both divisions of the subject, but particularly in the
second, where I shall have to speak of the Finished Scholar,
I shall guard myself carefully from making any satirical al-
lusion to the present state of the literary world, any censure
of it, or generally any reference to it; and I entreat my
hearers once for all not to take any such suggestion. The
philosopher peacefully constructs his theorem upon given
principles, without deigning to turn his attention to the ac-
tual state of things, or needing the recollection of it to
enable him to pursue his inquiry; just as the geometer con-
structs his scheme without troubling himself whether his
purely abstract figures can be copied with our instruments.
And it may be permitted, especially to the unprejudiced
and studious youth, to remain in ignorance of the degenera-
cies and corruptions of the society into which he must one
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? GENERAL PLAN. H3
day enter, until he shall have acquired power sufficient to
stem the tide of its example.
This, gentlemen, is the entire plan of the lectures which I
now propose to deliver, with the principles on which they
shall be founded. To-day, I shall only add one or two ob-
servations to what I have already said.
In considerations like those of to-day, or those, necessarily
similar in their nature, which are to follow, it is common for
men to censure,--first, their severity,--very often with the
good-natured supposition that the speaker was not aware
that his strictness would be disagreeable to them,--that
they have only frankly to tell him this, and he will then re-
consider the matter, and soften down his principles. Thus
we have said, that he who with his Learned Culture has not
attained a knowledge of the Idea, or does not at least
struggle to attain it, is properly speaking, nothing;--and
farther on, we have said he is a bungler. This is in the man-
ner of those severe sayings by which philosophers give so
much offence. Leaving the present case, to deal directly with
the general principle, I have to remind you that a thinker
of this sort, without having firmness enough to refuse all re-
spect to Truth, seeks to chaffer with her and cheapen some-
thing from her, in order by a favourable bargain to obtain
some consideration for himself. But Truth, who is once for
all what she is, and cannot change her nature in aught, pro-
ceeds on her way without turning aside; and there remains
nothing for her, with respect to those who do not seek her
simply because she is true, but to leave them standing
there, just as if they had never accosted her.
Again, it is a common charge against discourses of this
kind, that they cannot be understood. Thus I can suppose
--not you, gentlemen,--but some Finished Scholar according
to appearance, under whose eye, perhaps, these thoughts may
come--approaching them, and, puzzled and doubtful, at last
thoughtfully exclaiming :--The Idea--the Divine Idea,--
that which lies at the bottom of all appearance,--what may
this mean? I would reply to such an inquirer,--What then
may this question mean ? --Strictly speaking, it means in
U
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? 146
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
most cases, nothing more than the following:--Under what
other name, and by what other formula, do I already know
this thing which thou expressest by a name so extraordi-
nary, and to me so unheard of? --and to that again, in most
cases, the only fitting answer would be,--Thou knowest not
this thing at all, and during thy whole life hast understood
nothing of it, neither under this nor under any other name;
and if thou art to come to any knowledge of it, thou must
even now begin anew to learn it, and then most fitly under
that name by which it is first offered to thee.
In the following lectures the word Idea, which I have used
to-day, will be in many respects better defined and ex-
plained, and, as I hope, ultimately brought to perfect clear-
ness; but that is by no means the business of a single hour.
We reserve this, as well as everything else to which we have
to direct your attention, for the succeeding lectures.
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? 147
LECTURE II.
CLOSER DEFINITION OP THE MEANING OF
THE DIVINE IDEA.
The following were the principles which we laid down in
our last lecture as the grounds of our investigation into the
Nature of the Scholar.
The Universe is not, in deed and truth, that which it
seems to be to the uncultivated and natural sense of man;
but it is something higher, which lies behind mere natural
appearance. In its widest sense, this foundation of all ap-
pearance may be aptly named the Divine Idea of the world.
A certain part of the meaning of this Divine Idea is acces-
sible to, and conceivable by, the cultivated mind.
We said at the close of last lecture, that this as yet ob-
scure conception of a Divine Idea, as the ultimate and abso-
lute foundation of all appearance, should afterwards become
quite clear and intelligible by means of its subsequent ap-
pli cations.
Nevertheless we find it desirable, in the first place, to de-
fine this conception more closely in the abstract, and to this
purpose we shall devote the present lecture. To'Mthis end
we lay down the following principles, which, so far as we are
concerned, are the results of deep and methodical investiga-
tion and are perfectly demonstrable in themselves, but
which we can here communicate to you only historically, cal-
culating with confidence on your own natural sense of truth
to confirm our principles even without perfect insight into
their fundamental basis; and also on your observing that by
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? H8
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
principles thus laid down the most important questions are
answered and the most searching doubts solved.
We lay down, then, the following principles:--
1. Being, strictly and absolutely considered, is living and
essentially active. There is no other Being than Life;--it
cannot be dead, rigid, inert . What death, that constantly
recurring phenomenon, really is, and how it is connected
with the only true Being--with Life,--we shall see more
clearly afterwards.
2. The only Life which exists entirely in itself, from itself,
and by itself, is the Life of God, or of the Absolute;--which
two words mean one and the same thing; so that when we
say the Life of the Absolute, we use only a form of expres-
sion, since in truth the Absolute is Life, and Life is the Ab-
solute.
3. This Divine Life lies entirely hidden in itself;--it has
its residence within itself, and abides there completely
realized in, and accessible only to, itself. It is--all Being,
and beside it there is no Being. It is therefore wholly with-
out change or variation.
4. Now this Divine Life discloses itself, appears, becomes
visible, manifests itself as such--as the Divine Life: and
this its Manifestation, presence, or outward existence, is the
World. Strictly speaking, it manifests itself as it essenti-
ally and really is, and cannot manifest itself otherwise; and
hence there is no groundless and arbitrary medium inter-
posed between its true and essential nature and its outward
Manifestation, in consequence of which it is only in part re-
vealed and in part remains concealed; but its Manifestation,
i. e. the World, is fashioned and unchangeably determined by
two conditions only; namely, by the essential nature of the
Divine Life itself, and by the unvarying and absolute laws of its revelation or Manifestation abstractly considered.
God reveals himself as God can reveal himself: His whole,
in itself essentially inconceivable, Being comes forth entire
and undivided, in so far as it can come forth in any mere
Manifestation.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA.
149
5. The Divine Life in itself is absolute self-comprehend-
ing unity, without change or variableness, as we said above.
In its Manifestation, for a reason which is quite conceivable although not here set forth, it becomes a self-developing existence, eternally unfolding itself, and ever advancing to-
wards higher realization in an endless stream of time. In
the first place, it continues in this Manifestation, as we said,
to be life. Life cannot be manifested in death, for these
two are altogether opposed to each other; and hence, as
Absolute Being alone is life, so the only true Manifestation
of that Being is living existence, and death has neither an
absolute, nor, in the highest sense of the word, has it even a
relative existence. This living and visible Manifestation we call the human race. The human race is thus the only true
finite existence. As Being--Absolute Being--constitutes
the Divine Life, and is wholly exhausted therein, so does
Existence in Time, or the Manifestation of that Divine Life,
constitute the whole united life of mankind, and is tho-
roughly and entirely exhausted therein. Thus, in its Mani-
festation the Divine Life becomes a continually progressive
existence, unfolding in perpetual growth according to the
degree of inward activity and power which belongs to it.
Hence,--and the consequence is an important one,--hence
the Manifestation of Life in Time, unlike the Divine Life,
is limited at every point of its existence,--t. e. it is in part
not living, not yet interpenetrated by life, but in so far--
dead. These limitations it shall gradually break through,
lay aside, and transform into life, in its onward progress.
In this view of the limitations which surround Existence
in Time, we have, when it is thoroughly laid hold of, the
conception of the objective and material world, or what we
call Nature. This is not living and capable of infinite
growth like Reason; but dead,--a rigid, self-inclosed exis-
tence. It is this which, arresting and hemming in the
Time-Life, by this hindrance alone spreads over a longer or
shorter period of time that which would otherwise burst
forth at once, a perfect and complete life. Further, in the
development of spiritual existence, Nature itself is gradually
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? 150
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
interpenetrated by life; and it is thus both the obstacle to,
and the sphere of, that activity and outward manifestation
of power in which human life eternally unfolds itself.
This, and absolutely nothing more than this, is Nature in
the most extended meaning of the word; and even man
himself, in so far as his existence is limited in comparison
with the original and Divine Life, is nothing more than this.
Since the perpetual advancement of this second life,--not
original, but derived and human,--and also its finitude and
limitation in order that such advancement may be so much
as possible,--both proceed from the self-manifestation of the
Absolute, so Nature also has its foundation in God,--not
indeed as something that is and ought to be for its own
sake alone, but only as the means and condition of another
being,--of the Living Being in man,--and as^something
which shall be gradually and unceasingly superseded and
displaced by the perpetual advancement of this being.
Hence we must not be blinded or led astray by a philo-
sophy assuming the name of natural* which pretends to ex-
cel all former philosophy by striving to elevate Nature into
Absolute Being, and into the place of God In all ages, the
theoretical errors as well as the moral corruptions of hu-
manity have arisen from falsely bestowing the name of life
on that which in itself possesses neither absolute nor even
finite being, and seeking for life and its enjoyment in that
which in itself is dead. Very far therefore from being a
step towards truth, that philosophy is but a return to old
and already most widely spread error.
6. All truth contained in the principles which we have
now laid down may be perceived by man, who himself is the
Manifestation of the Original and Divine Life, in its general
aspect, as we for example, have now perceived it,--either
through rational conviction, or only from being led to it by
an obscure feeling or sense of truth, or from finding it prob-
able because it furnishes a complete solution of the most
important problems. Man may perceive it; that is, the
* Schelling's " Natur-Philosophie" is here referred to.
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? DEFINITION OF THE DIVINE IDEA. . 151
Manifestation may fall back on its Original, and picture it
forth in reflection with absolute certainty as to the fact;
but it can by no means analyze and comprehend it fully, for
the Manifestation ever remains only a Manifestation, and
can never go beyond itself and return to Absolute Being.
7. We have said that man may perceive this in so far as
regards the fact, but he cannot perceive the reason and
origin of the fact. How and why from the Divine Life, this
and no other Time-Life arises and constantly flows forth, can be understood by man only on condition of fully com-
prehending all the parts of this latter, and interpreting
them all, one by the other, mutually and completely, so as to
reduce them once more to a single idea, and that idea equi-
valent to the one Divine Life. But this forth-flowing Time-
TSfe is infinite, and hence the comprehension of its parts
can never be completed: besides, the comprehender is him-
self a portion of it, and at every conceivable point of time
he himself stands chained in the finite and limited, which
he can never entirely throw off without ceasing to be Mani-
festation,--without being himself transformed into the
Divine Life.
8. From this it seems to follow, that the Time-Life can be
comprehended by thought only as a whole, and according to
its general nature,--i. e. as we have endeavoured to compre-
hend it above,--and then as a Manifestation of the one
Original and Divine Life;--but that its details must be im-
mediately felt and experienced in their individual import,
and can only by and through this Experience be imaged
forth in thought and consciousness. And such is actually
the case in a certain respect and with a certain portion of
human life. Throughout all time, and in every individual
part of it, there remains in human life something which i'does not entirely reveal itself in Idea, and which therefore
cannot be anticipated or superseded by any Idea, but which
must be directly felt if it is ever to attain a place in con-
sciousness ;--and this is called the domain of pure empiri-
cism or Experience. The above-mentioned philosophy ens
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? 152
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
in this,--that it pretends to have resolved human life en-
tirely into Idea, and thus wholly superseded Experience;
instead of which, it defeats its own purpose, and in attempt-
ing to explain life completely, loses sight of it altogether.
9. I said that such was the case with the Time-Life in a
certain respect and with a certain portion of it. For in
another respect and with another portion of it, the case is
quite otherwise,--and that on the following ground, which I
shall here only indicate in popular phraseology, but which is
well worthy of deeper investigation.
The Time-Life does not enter into Time in individual
parts only, but also in entire homogeneous masses; and it is
these masses, again, which divide themselves into the indivi-
dual parts of actual life. There is not only Time, but there
are times, and succession of times, epoch after epoch, and
age succeeding age. Thus, for example, to the deeper
thought of man, the entire Earthly Life of the human race,
as it now exists, is such a homogeneous mass, projected at
once into Time, and ever present there, whole and undivid-
ed,--only as regards sensuous appearance spread out into
world-history. When these homogeneous masses have ap-
peared in Time, the general laws and rules by which they
are governed may be comprehended, and, in their relation
to the whole course of these masses, anticipated and under-
stood; while the obstacles over which these masses must
take their way--that is, the hindrances and interruptions
of life--are only accessible to immediate Experience.
10. These cognizable laws of homogeneous masses of Life,
which may be perceived and understood prior to their ac-
tual consequences, must necessarily appear as laws of Life
itself, as it ought to be, and as it should strive to become,
founded on the self-supporting and independent principle of
this Time-Life, which must here appear as Freedom:--
hence, as laws for the free action and conduct of the living be-
ing. If we go back to the source of this legislation, we shall
find that it lies in the Divine Life itself, which could not
reveal itself in Time otherwise than under this form of a
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? DEFINITION OP THE DIVINE IDEA.
153
law; and, indeed, as is implied in the preceding ideas, no-
wise as a law ruling with blind power and extorting obedi-
ence by force, such as we assume in passive and inanimate
nature,--but as the law of a Life which is conscious of its
own independence, and cannot be deprived of it, without at
the same time tearing up the very root of its being; hence,
as we said above, as a Divine Law of Freedom, or Moral Law.
Further, as we have already seen, this life according to
the law of the original Divine Life, is the only True Life and
ground of all other;--all things else besides this Life are
but hindrances and obstructions thereto, possessing exist-
ence only that by them the True Life may be unfolded and
manifested in its strength:--hence, all things else have no
existence for their own sakes, but only as means for the de-
velopment of the True Life. Reason can comprehend the
connexion between means and end only by supposing a
mind in which the end has been determined. A thoroughly
moral Human Life has its source in God: by analogy with
our own reason, we conceive of God as proposing to himself
the moral Life of man as the sole purpose for which He has
manifested himself and called into existence every other
thing; not that it is absolutely thus as we conceive of it,
and that God really thinks like man, and that Being itself is
in him distinguished from the conception of Being,--but we
think thus only because we are unable otherwise to com-
prehend the relation between the Divine and the Human
Life. And in this absolutely necessary mode of thought, Human Life as it ought to be becomes the idea and funda-
mental conception of God in the creation of a world,--the
purpose and the plan which God intended to fulfil by the
creation of the world.
And thus it is sufficiently explained for our present pur-
pose how the Divine Idea lies at the foundation of the vis-
ible world, and how, and how far, this Idea, hidden from the
common eye, may become conceivable and attainable by
cultivated thought, and necessarily appear to it as that
which man by his free activity ought to manifest in the
world.
x
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