No More Learning

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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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-
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 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
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? 162 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALJL
presages--may they not be caused by occult
powers, of which we have no idea? And
who knows whether there is not a germ of
truth hidden under every apologue, under
every mode of belief, which has been stig-
matized with the name of madness?
It
assuredly does not follow that we should re-
nounce the experimental method,so necessary
in the sciences. Butwhy not furnish asupreme
director for this method in a philosophy more
comprehensive, which would embrace the
universe in its collective character, and which
would not despise the nocturnal side of nature,
in the expectation of being able to throw
light upon it? It is the business' of poetry
(we may be answered) to consider the phy-
sical world in this manner; but we can arrive
at no certain knowledge except by expe-
rience; and all that is not susceptible of
proof may be an amusement to the mind,
but cannot forward our real progress.
Doubtless, the French are right in recom-
mending the Germans to have a respect for
experience; but they are wrong in turning
into ridicule the presages of reflection, which
perhaps will hereafter be confirmed by the
knowledge of facts. The greater part of grand
discoveries have at first appeared absurd; and
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? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 163
the man of genius will never do any thing
if. he dreads being exposed to ridicule. --
Ridicule is nerveless when despised, and
ascends in influence just as it is feared. We
see in fairy tales phantoms that oppose the
enterprises of knights, and harass them until
they have passed beyond the weird dominion.
Then all the witchcraft vanishes, and the
fruitful open country is spread before their
sight. Envy and mediocrity have also their I
sorceries; but we ought to march on towards
the truth, without caring for the seeming
obstacles that impede our progress.
When Keppler had discovered the har-
monic laws that regulate the motion of the
heavenly bodies, it was thus that he expressed
his joy:--" At length, after the lapse of
"eighteen months, the first dawn of light
"has shone upon me; and on this remark-
"able day I have perceived the pure irradia-
"tion of sublime truth. Nothing now re-
"presses me; I dare yield myself up to my
44 holy ardour; I dare insult mankind by
"acknowledging, that I have turned worldly
"science to advantage; that I have robbed
"the vessels of Egypt, to erect a temple to
"the living God. If I am pardoned, I shall
"rejoice; if blamed, I shall endure it. The
m2
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? 164 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
"die is cast; I have written this book ?
"whether it be read by posterity, or by. my
*' contemporaries, is of no consequence; it
"may well wait for a reader during one
"century, when God himself, during six
"thousand years, has waited for an observer
"like myself. " This bold ebullition of a
proud enthusiasm exhibits the internal force
of genius.
Goethe has made a remark upon the per-
fectibility of the human understanding, which
is full of sagacity--" It is always advancing,
"but in a spiral line. "--This comparison is
so much the more just, because the improve-
ment of man seems to be checked at many
seras, and then returns upon its own steps,
having gained some degrees in advance. --
There are seasons when scepticism is neces-
sary to the progress of the sciences; there
are others when, according to Hemsterhuis,
the marvellous spirit ought to supersede the
mathematical. When man is swallowed up,
or rather reduced into dust by infidelity, this
marvellous spirit can alone restore the power
of admiration to the soul, without which we
cannot understand nature.
The theory of the sciences in Germany
has given the men of genius an impulse like
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? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 165
that which metaphysics had excited in the
study of the mind; and life holds the same
rank in physical phaenomena, that the will
holds in moral order. If the relations be-
tween these two systems have caused certain
persons to interdict them both, there are
those who will discover in these relations the
double guarantee of the same truth. It is at
least certain, that the interest of the sciences
is singularly increased by this manner of re-
ferring them all to some leading ideas. Poets
might find in the sciences a crowd of useful
thoughts, if the sciences held communication
with each other in the philosophy of the
universe; and if this philosophy, instead of
being abstract, was animated by the inex-
haustible source of sentiment. The universe
resembles a poem more than a machine; and
if, in order to form a conception of the uni-
verse, we were compelled to avail ourselves
of imagination, or of a mathematical spirit,
imagination would lead us nearer to the
truth. But again let me repeat, we must
not make such a choice; since it is the
totality of our moral being which ought to
be employed in so important a kind of me-
ditation.
The new system of general physics, which
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? 166 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
in Germany serves for a guide to experi-
mental physics, can only be judged by its
results. We must see whether it will conduct
the human mind to new-established truths.
But it is impossible to deny the connexion
which it proves to exist between the different
branches of study. One student usually
revolts from the other when their occupations
are different, because they are a reciprocal
annoyance. The scholar has nothing to say to
the poet; the poet to the natural philosopher:
and even among the men of science, those
who are differently occupied avoid eachother;
taking no interest in what is out of their own
circle. This cannot be when a central phi-
losophy establishes connexions of a sublime
nature between all our thoughts. The scien-
tific penetrate nature by the aid of imagina-
tion. Poets find in the sciences the genuine
beauties of the universe. The learned enrich
poetry with the stores of recollection, and the
men of science with those of analogy.
The sciences, represented as insulated, and
as a land unknown to the soul, attract not
the exalted mind. The greater part of those
who have devoted themselves to the sciences
(with some honourable exceptions) have im-
printed upon our times that tendency towards
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? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 1<>7
calculation which so well teaches us, in all
changes, which is the strongest government.
The German philosophy introduces the phy-
sical sciences into that universal sphere of
ideas, which imparts so much interest to the
most minute observations, as well as to the
most important results.
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? 168 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER XI.
Influence of the new Philosophy upon the
'Character of the Germans.
It would appear that a system of philosophy,
which attributes an all-powerful action to
that which depends upon ourselves, namely,
to our will, ought to strengthen the character,
and to make it independent of external cir-
cumstances; but there is reason to believe,
that political and religious institutions alone
can create public spirit, and that no abstract
theory is efficacious enough to give a nation
energy: for, it must be confessed, the Ger-
mans of our days have not that which can
be called character. They are virtuous,
upright, as private men, as fathers of families,
as managers of affairs: but their gracious
and complaisant forwardness to support the
cause of power gives especial pain to those
who love them, and who believe them to be
the most enlightened speculative defenders
of the dignity of man.
The sagacity of the philosophical spirit
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? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOFHT. 169
alone has taught them in all circumstances
the cause and the effects of what happens;
and they fancy, when they have found a
theory for a fact, that it is all right. Mili-
tary spirit and patriotism have exalted many
nations to the highest possible degree of
energy; but these two sources of self-devo-
tion hardly exist among the Germans, taken
in a mass. They scarcely know any thing
of military spirit, but a pedantic sort of tac-
tics, which sanctions their being defeated
according to the rules; and as little of
liberty, beyond that subdivision into petty
kingdoms, which, by accustoming the inha-
bitants to consider themselves weak as a
nation, soon leads them to be weak as indi-
viduals. Respect for forms is very favour-
able to the support of law; but this respect,
such as it exists in Germany, induces the
habit of such punctual and precise proceed-
ings, that they hardly know how to open
a new path to reach an object though it be
straight before them.
Philosophical speculations are only suited
to a small number of thinking men; and far
from serving to combine the strength of a
nation, they only place the ignorant and the
enlightened at too great a distance from each
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? 17Q tfHILOSOfHY AND MOEALS.
^ other. There are too many new, and not
enough Common, ideas circulating in Ger-
many, for the knowledge of men and things.
Common ideas are necessary for the conduct
of life; business requires the spirit of execu-
tion rather than that of invention; whatever
is odd in the different modes of thinking in
Germany, tends to separate them from each
other; for the thoughts and interests which
unite men together must be of a simple
nature, and of striking truth. > i' .
Contempt of danger, of suffering, and of
death, is not sufficiently universal in all the
classes of the German nation. Doubtless,
life has more value for men capable of senti-
ments and ideas, than for those who leave be-
hind them neither trace nor remembrance;
but, at the same time that poetical enthu-
siasm gathers fresh vigour from the highest
degree of learning, rational courage ought to
fill the place of the instinct of ignorance. It
belongs alone to philosophy, founded upon
religion, to inspire an unalterable resolution
under all contingencies.
If, however, Philosophy has not appeared
to be all-powerful in this respect in Germany;
we must not therefore despise her:--she
supports, she enlightens every man, indi*
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? INFLUENCE Ol THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 171
vidually; but a government alone can excite
that moral electricity which makes the whole
nation feel the same sentiment. We are
more offended with the Germans, when we
see them deficient in energy, than with the
Italians, whose political situation has en-
feebled their character for several centuries.
The Italians, through the whole of life, by
their grace and their imagination, preserve a
sort of prolonged right to childhood; but
the rude physiognomy and manners of the
Germans appear to promise a manly soul,
and we are disagreeablj* surprised not to find.
it. In a word, timidity of character is par-
doned when it is confessed; and in this way
the Italians have a peculiar frankness, which
excites a kind of interest in their favour;.
while the Germans, not daring to avow
that weakness which suits so ill with them,
are energetic flatterers and vigorous slaves.
They give a harsh accent to their words, to
hide the suppleness of their opinions; and
they make use of philosophical reasonings to
explain that which is the most unphilosophi-
cal thing in the world--respect for power,
and the effeminacy of fear, which turns that
respect into admiration.
To such contrasts as these we must attri-
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? 172 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
bute that German gracelessness^ which it is'
the fashion to mimic in the comedies of all
countries. It is allowable to be heavy and
stiff, while we remain severe and firm; but,
if this natural stiffness be clothed with the
false smile of servility, then all that remains
is to be exposed to merited ridicule. In short,
there is a certain want of address in the
German character, prejudicial even to those
who have the selfish intent of sacrificing
every thing to their interest; and we are so
much the more provoked with them, because
they lose the honours of virtue, without
attaining the profits of adroit management.
While we confess the German philosophy
to be inadequate to form a nation, we must
also acknowledge that the disciples of the new
school are much nearer than any of the others
to the attainment of strength of character:
they dream of it, they desire it, they conceive
it; but they often fail in the pursuit. There
are few Germans who can even write upon
politics. The greater portion of those who
meddle with this subject are systematic, and
frequently unintelligible. When we are
busied with the transcendental metaphysics
--when we attempt to plunge into the dark-
ness of nature, any view, however indefi-
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? INFLUENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 173
nite it may be, is not to be despised; every
presentiment may guide us; every approach
to the mark is something. It is not thus
with the affairs of the world; it is possible
to know them; it is necessary, therefore, to
foresee them clearly. Obscurity of style,
when we treat of thoughts without bounds,
is sometimes the very indication of a com-
prehensive understanding; but obscurity, in
our analysis of the affairs of life, only proves
that we do not comprehend them.
When we introduce metaphysics into bu-
siness, they confound, for the sake of ex-
cusing every thing; and we thus provide a
dark fog for the asylum of conscience. --
This employment of metaphysics would re-
quire address, if every thing was not reduced
in our times to two very simple and clear
ideas, interest or duty. Men of energy,
whichever of these two directions they fol-
low, go right onward to the mark, without
embracing theories which no longer deceive
nor persuade any body.
"See then," it may be said, "you are re-
"duced to extol, like us, the names of expe-
*4 rience and observation. "--I have never
denied that both were necessary for those
who meddle with the interests of this world;
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? 174 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
but it is in the conscience of man that we
ought to find the ideal principle of a conduct
externally directed by sage calculations.
Divine sentiments are subject here below to
earthly things; it is the condition of our
v existence. The beautiful is within our souls,
and the struggle is without. We must fight
for the cause of eternity, but with the
weapons of time; no individual can attain
the whole dignity of the human character,
either by speculative philosophy, or by the
knowledge of affairs, exclusively; and free
institutions alone have the advantage of
building up a system of public morals in a
nation, and of giving exalted sentiments an
opportunity of displaying themselves in the
practical conduct of life. . . .
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 175
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