THE INTRODUCTION TO

HEGEL'S
PHILOSOPHY OF FINE ART

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN

WITH NOTES AND PREFATORY ESSAY

BERNARD BOSANQUET,

M.A.

LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH &
CO.,
1886
i

PATERNOSTER SQUARE

NJ

64 H4S

CORNELL
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY

HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE

A< IT-HS^:

(Tlfo?

rights of translation

and of reproduction

are reserved.)

THE INTRODUCTION TO
HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF FINE ART

71^0 f

s-%.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
"

Hegel's
is

JSstketik," or "Philosophy of Fine Art,"

a work which should no longer be inaccessible to

the

English reading
its'

public,

but the reproduction

is

of which, in

complete form of 1600 pages,

I

task not to be lightly undertaken.

know

of three

partial reproductions of the "sEsthetik" in English,

viz.

Mr.

Bryant's

translation

of

Part

II.,*

Mr.

Kedney's short analysis of the

entire work,-f-

and

Mr. Hastie's translation of Michelet's short "Philo-

sophy of Art,"

prefaced

by Hegel's

Introduction,

partly translated and partly analysed.

I

wholly disapprove of analyses (among which

may be

reckoned Michelet's summary above men-

tioned) as representations of Hegel's writing, which

*

New

York, Appleton and Co.

t Chicago,

Griggs and Co., 1885.

% Edinburgh, Oliver

and Boyd,

1886.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
is

attractive
detail.
I

chiefly

by the

force

and freshness of
be

its

am

convinced that Hegel should

allowed to speak for himself, and that failing the

translation

of

the whole

"JSstketik,"

or

of very

copious
I

selections,
in

the best

course

is

that which

have adopted
the
entire

the present volume,

viz. to trans-

late

Introduction, including the chapter

entitled,

"Division of the Subject."

in

This Introducfar
all,

tion

is

Hegel's best manner

so

as he can

be said to have literary manner at

in a

especially

work which has been produced by

editors from
itself.

lecture-notes,
It is

and

is

tolerably complete in

not contained as a whole in any of the aboveI

mentioned works.
Mr.
Hastie's

ought to say, however, that

is

translation

excellent in style
it

but

after the first thirty-four

pages

also

becomes an

analysis.
I

Nor

is it

wholly free from serious mistakes.

have hoped that the present volume

may

be of

interest to

many who, without being

students of philoI

sophy, are intelligent lovers of art.

have therefore

done

my
I

best to interpret philosophical expressions,

instead of merely furnishing their technical equivalents.

have also added a few short notes, either

to explain literary allusions, or to complete the in-

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
terpretation of technical terms.

The

prefatory essay

was written with a

similar intention, not as original

speculation, but as an assistance to general readers

in

apprehending the point of view from which Fine

is
I

Art

regarded by Hegel and kindred writers.

have broken up the " Einleitimg" or Introduc-

tion proper,

which

is

continuous

in

the original, into

four chapters,* hoping that the arrangement of the

discussion

may be

thus rendered

easier

to follow.
V.,
is

The

" Eintheilungl'

which forms

my

Chapter

a separate chapter in contents

is

the original.

The

table

of

translated from the original, excepting

it

those portions of
brackets,
[
J.

which are enclosed

in

square

My

literary notes are entirely

borrowed from the

late Mrs. F. C. Conybeare's translation of Scherer's

" History of

German

Literature

"

work invaluable

to the

English student, whose gratitude must for

long be saddened by the

translator.
*

untimely death of the

Of these, Chapter
it

III. is subdivided into

two Parts, because

of the disproportionate length of the division in the original to

which

corresponds.

CONTENTS.
PAGE

Prefatory Essay by the Translator

..

...

vii

CHAPTER
The Range of ^Esthetic
[a.

I.

defined, and some Objections against the Philosophy of Art refuted (1-25).
Beauty of Art ... Treatment ? Treatment appropriate to Art ?
Scientific
...
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
...

.(Esthetic confined to

... ... ... ... ...

2
5

0.
y.
5.
*.

Does Art merit

Is Scientific

8
13

Answer Answer

to

j8.

... ...

...

to 7.]

20

CHAPTER

II.

Methods of Science Applicable to Beauty and Art

[1.

(26-42).
...

Empirical Method
(a) Its
(b)
(c)

Art-scholarship
... ...

...
...

...
... ...

27 27

is

Range

...

It generates

Rules and Theories

of Genius...
... ...

... ... ...

...

28
3s

The Rights

...

2. 3.

Abstract Reflection

...

...

...

4
41

The

Philosophical
...

Conception of Artistic Beauty, general

...
...

notion of]

...

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
III.

The Philosophical Conception of

Artistic Beauty, beginning with current ideas of art (43-105).

PAGE

Part I. The Work of Art as Made and as Sensuous 1. Work of Art as Product of Human Activity ...
[(a)
(b)
(c)

...43-78
... ...
... ...

Conscious Production by Rule

Artistic Inspiration...
...

...
...

Dignity of Production by

Man

...

...
... ... ... ... ...

...

48 48 50 54
57

2.

produce Wqrks of Art] Work of Art as addressed to Man's Sense Pleasant Feeling ? ... [() Object of Art
(d)

Man's Need

to

...60-78

60
...

(b)
(<r)

Feeling of Beauty
Art-scholarship

Taste
... ...

...

63
65 66 67 68 70 72 74 78

...

(d)

Profounder Consequences of Sensuous Nature of Art ... (0) Relations of the Sensuous to the Mind ... ... ... (00) Desire ...
(00)

Theory

...

...

... ...

(77) Sensuous as
(0)

Symbol of
...

Spiritual

The Sensuous Element, how Present

Artist
...
... ...

in
...

the

(7)

The Content
Art.

of Art Sensuous]

...

/J.art II. The End of

3.

[The Interest or End of Art (a) Imitation of Nature ?

(o)

... ... ...

...
... ... ... ...

...

(79-106)
...

Mere Repetition
(00) Imperfect
(77)

of Nature

is

79 79

... ...

(00) Superfluous
...

...

...

(0)
(7)

Amusing merely as What is Good to Imitate ?

Sleight of
...

Hand
...

...

80 80 82
83 85
87

(b)
(<r)

Humani nihil ?
(a)

Some

Arts cannot be called Imitative

... ...

... ...

... ...
...

Mitigation of the Passions

... ...

90
91

(0)

Bow Art mitigates the Passions How Art purifies the Passions
(aa.)

... ...

...

94
95 9c

must have a Worthy Content (00) But ought not to be Didactic...

It

...

(77)
(a)

Nor

explicitly

addressed
...

to

Moral
...

Purpose
Art has
its

...

gg
...

own Purpose

as Revelation of

Truth

ick

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

IV.

Historical Deduction of the True Idea of Art in Modern Philosophy (107-132).

PAGE
I.

Kant
[()
(b)
(c)

...

...

...

...

... ... ...

...

...

107

Pleasure in Beauty not Appetitive

Pleasure in Beauty Universal
...

110
...

l/~

111

The

Beautiful in its Teleological Aspect

...

... ...
... ...

112
113

[d)
^.
3.

Delight in the Beautiful necessary though felt\

Schiller,

Winckelmann, Schilling
...

...
...

...

116
...

The Irony

...

...

120

CHAPTER

V.

Division of the Subject (133-175).

[1.

The Condition

of Artistic Presentation

is

the Correspondence

of Matter and Plastic

2. Part
3.

Porm
..

Part

I.The Ideal II.The Types

Symbolic Art Classical Art Romantic Art
Architecture

133 141

of Art

144

(a)
(j8)

H5
148
IS'

(7)
4.

Part III. The Several Arts

(a)
(/3)

157 160

Sculpture

162 164
167 169
171

(y)

Romantic Art, comprising

(i.)

Painting

(ii.)

Music
Poetry
...

(iii.)

5.

Conclusion]

173

PREFATORY ESSAY BY THE TRANSLATOR.

ON THE TRUE CONCEPTION OF ANOTHER WORLD.

"With such barren forms of thought, that are always in a Its object is world beyond, Philosophy has nothing to do. always something concrete, and in the highest sense present." Hegel's Logic, Wallace's translation, p. 150.

It will surprise many readers to be told that the words which I have quoted above embody the very
essence of Hegelian thought.

The

Infinite,

the supra-

sensuous, the divine, are so connected in our minds

with

futile

rackings of the imagination about remote

matters which only distract us from our duties, that

a philosophy which designates
its

problems by such

terms as these seems self-condemned as cloudy and

inane.

But,

all

appearances to the contrary notwithis

standing, Hegel
concrete.

faithful to the

present and the

In the study of his philosophy

we

are

always dealing with

lay,"

human

experience.

"

My stress

says Mr. Browning,* "on the incidents in the

*

Preface to " Sordello."

PREFATORY ESSAY.
development of a soul
;

little

else

is

worth study."

For "a soul" read "the mind," and you have the subject-matter to which Hegel's eighteen closeprinted

volumes are devoted.

The
on

present introthis neglected

ductory remarks are meant

point of view.
I

to insist

wish to point out, in two or three

salient instances, the transformation

speculative notions

undergone by when sedulously applied to life, and restrained from generating an empty " beyond." By so doing I hope to pave the way for a due
appreciation of Hegel's philosophy of fine
art.

That

the world of mind, or the world above sense, exists

as an actual

and organized whole,

is

a truth most

easily realized in the study of the beautiful.

And

to

grasp this principle as Hegel applies

less
life.

it

is

nothing

than to acquire a new contact with spiritual

The

spiritual

world, which

is

present, actual,

and concrete, contains much besides beauty. But to apprehend one element of such a whole constitutes
and presupposes a long step towards apprehending
the
first

rest.

It is for this

reason that

propose, in the

by prominent examples, the conception of a spiritual world which is present and actual, and then to let Hegel speak for himself on the particular sphere of art. So closely connected indeed are all the embodiments of mind, that the
place, to explain,

Introduction

to

the

"

Philosophy of Fine Art

''

is

almost a microcosm of his entire system.

THE OTHER WORLD.

We
it is,

know, to our

cost,

the popular conception of

the supra-sensuous world.

as
is

commonly thought
to say,
if

of,-

Whatever that world is, not here and not now.

it

That

here and now,

is

so

by a

sort of

miracle, at

which we are called upon to wonder, as

when angels are said to be near us, or the dead to know what we do. Again, it is a counterpart of our
present
world,

and
its

rather

imperceptible

to

otir

senses, than

in

nature beyond contact with sense

as such.

It is

peopled by persons,

who

live eternally,

which means through endless ages, and to whose

actual

communion with

us, as also to

our

own with

God, we look forward

in the future.

It

even perhaps

contains a supra-sensuous original corresponding to

every thing and movement in this world of ours.

'

And
of

it

does not necessarily deepen our conception

it.

life,

but only reduplicates

Such a world, whatever we may think about

actual existence,
is

its

not the " other world " of philo-

sophy.
are

The

" things

not seen

"

of Plato or of Hegel of the existing

not a double or a
Plato,

projection

world.

indeed,

wavered

between

the

two

conceptions in a

way

that should have warned his

interpreters of the divergence in his track of thought.

But

in Hegel, at least, there

spirits

is

no ambiguity.

The
spirit

world of

with him

is

no world of ghosts.

When we

study the embodiments of mind or

in his pages,

and read of

law, property,

and national

PREFATORY ESSAY.
unity
;

of fine

art,

the religious community, and the

attained
scientific

intellect

that has

self-conscious-

we may miss our other world with its obscure "beyond," but we at any rate feel ourselves to be
ness,

and with the deepest concerns of life. We may deny to such matters the titles which philosophy bestows upon them we may say that this is no "other world," no realm of
dealing with something
real,
;

spirits,
little

nothing

infinite or divine

but this matters

we know what we are talking about, and are talking about the best we know. And what we discuss when Hegel is our guide, will always be some great achievement or essential attribute of the human mind. He never asks, "Is it?" but always
so long as

"What

is

it?" and therefore has instruction,

for those to

drawn
of

from experience, even

his inquiries

whom

the

titles

seem fraudulent or bombastic. These few remarks are not directed to maintaining any thesis about the reality of nature and of
sense.
falls

-.

Their object
within

is

to enforce a distinction which

I

the world which

between the world

we know, and not we know and another which we

is

do not know.
life.

This distinction

real,

and governs

am

not denying any other distinction, but

am

insisting

on

this.

No

really great philosopher,

\

nor religious teacher, neither Plato, nor Kant, nor St. Paul can be understood unless we grasp this antithesis in the right way. All of these teachers

I
*

THE OTHER WORLD.

have pointed men to another World.
perhaps, were led at times
reality of their

All of them,
force

by the very

and

own thought
its

into the fatal

separa-

tion that cancels

So strong was their sense of the gulf between the trifles and the realities
meaning.
of
life,

that

they gave
in

occasion

to

the
in

indolent

imagination

themselves

and
defies

others

to

transmute
into

this gulf

from a measure of moral

that
this

effort

an
their

inaccessibility

apprehension.
inaccessi-

But

purpose was to overcome

it.

bility,

not to heighten
hardest of
all

The

lessons in interpretation

is

to

We believe that great men mean what they say. are below their level, and what they actually say seems impossible to us, till we have adulterated it
to suit our

own

imbecility.
realities,

Especially

when they

speak of the highest

of reality to

we

attach our notio n

thus we Ban^every attempt to deep en our_Jdeas_gi the woridltT which we live." The work of intelligence
is

what

they

pronounc e to be rea L_

And

hard

that of the sensuous fancy

is

easy

and so

we substitute the latter for the former. '^We are told, for instance, by Plato, that goodness, beauty, and truth are realities, but not visible or tangible.
Instead of responding to the call so made on our intelligence by scrutinizing the nature and conditions
of these intellectual facts though we know well how tardily they are produced by the culture of ages we

PREFATORY ESSAY.
apply forthwith our idea of 'reality as something separate in space and time, and so "refute" Plato
with ease, and remain as wise as

we were
ideas

before.

And

it

is

true

that

Plato, handling

of vast

import with the mind

and

language of his day,

sometimes by a similar error refutes himself.* He makes, for instance, the disembodied soul see the
invisible ideas.

Thus he

travesties his things of the

mind

as

though they were things of sense, only not of

our sense

thereby
That
that
is

destroying the deeper difference

in

of kind that alone enables them to find a place

our world.

his

doctrine of ideas

was

really

rooted, not in mysticism, but in scientific enthusiasm,

is

truth

veiled

from

us

partly

by

his

inconsistencies, but far

more by our own erroneous

preconceptions.!

There
" this "

is,

however, a genuine distinction between

"

world and the

other

"

world, which

is

merely

parodied by the vulgar antitheses between natural

and supernatural, finite and infinite, phenomenal and noumenal. We sometimes hear it said, " The
*

" Endless duration

is

whiter,"
ideas,

one of
is

Aristotle's

makes good no better, nor white any comments on Plato's " eternal

and

just,

unless " eternal " conveys a difference of

kind.
t Whewell, I think, misinterprets Plato's language about astronomy in this sense. Plato is not decrying observation, but demanding a theoretical treatment of the laws of motion, a remarkable anticipation of modern ideas.

THE OTHER WORLD.

world
is

quite changed to
"

me

since

knew such a

person," or
to

studied such a subject," or " had suggested

me

such
;

literally true

an idea." The expression may be and we do not commonly exaggerate,

its

but

vastly

underrate

import.

We

read,

for

instance, in a

good

authority,

"These twenty kinds

for the

of birds (which Virgil mentions) do not correspond

so

much

to our species as to our genera

I

Greeks and Romans,

as

need hardly say, had only

classification, just

very rough-and-ready methods of

is

the case with uneducated people at the present

day."*

Any one may

a "butter-c

verify the

the observation of
is

flower/i.

same fact as regards Every yellow ranunculus

white umbel-

called

everjy large
wijth
t

lifer

"

hemlock."

Ti

hundreds of other
the surroundings in

differences of percepti

which men consciousl

considerable degree
ofj

ulve^it least as
s

much

as a
It
is

or blindness.

no metaphor, but
environment
his
is
is

liter;

say that man's whole

the training even of
al objects.

transfo

mere apprehension
I

But there
into

more in the matter t

wish b

Without going

metaphysics, which

oid, I cannot, indeed,

maintain that mind

enabling us to

"m
per*

ural objects, although

by makes our immediate

*

m
ma
!Jf

it

unquestionably

world.

My individual
Tutor.

consciousness does not

"

create the differences

Year with the Birds.

%n an Oxford

PREFATORY ESSAY.
between the species of ranunculus, although
create
it

doi
corr

my

knowledge of them.

But when we

to speak of the world of morals or art or politic

we may

venture

much

further in our assertions. /Tr

actual facts of this world

do

directly arise out of an

intelligence
;

are causally sustained

by conscious

an

these facts form the world above sense.

of a Christian church or congregation
fact of life
;

The
;

unit

is

a governin
so,

so

is

that of a family or a nation

may
is

hope, will that of humanity

come

to be.

Wh;
tr.

this

unity?

Is

it

visible

and

tangible, like

unity of a
that
is
is,

it

human body? /ho, the unity is exists in the medium of thought

of

"ideal;

only

made up
is

of certain sentiments, purposes, and idea

What
unity

even

an

army?

Here,

too,

an

ide;

Without mutu; intelligence and reciprocal reliance you may ha\ a mob, but you cannot have an army. But all the: conditions exist and can e:- ist in the mind only. A
army, qua army,
only does
it

the mainspring. of action.

is

not a mere fact of sense

it

for nc

need mind to perceive

it

does that

but

a heap of san
make
it.

also needs

mind

to

The world

of these governing facts of

life

is

tl

world of the things not seen, the object of reaso the world of the truly infinite and divine. It is,
bodily eye and
.

course, a false antithesis to contrast seeing with tr

seeing eye

is

seeing with the mind's eye. Tr always the mind's eye. The distinctic

THE OTHER WORLD.

between sense and
within
the
spirit or intellect is
is

a distinction
opposition

mind, just as
spirit

St.

Paul's

between the

and the

flesh.

<Nevertheless,__the
er ceptio n
*

mind

that only sees colour

sense or sense-p
_sees_

is

different

from th e mind that

beauty, ifl__

self-conscious spirit.

The

latter includes the former,

latter.

but the former does not include the

To

the
it

one the colour

is

is

the ultimate fact

to the other

an element

in

a thing of beauty.

This relation

prevails throughout between the world of sense

and

the world

above

sense.

The "things not

seen,"

philosophically speaking, are no world of existences

or of intelligences co-ordinate with
this

and severed from

import,

present world.

They

are a value, an

a significance, superadded to the phenomenal world,

which

may
house,

thus be said, though with some risk of

misunderstanding, to be

degraded
the

into

a symbol.
robe,

The

the

cathedral,

judge's

the

general's uniform, are ultimate facts for the child or

the savage

but

for

the

civilized

man

they are

symbols of domestic
State.
its
*"

life,

of the Church, and of the

Even where the supra-sensuous world has

beings,
it

purest expression, in the knowledge and will of

intelligent

presupposes a sensuous world

as the material of ideas

and of

actions.

"

This " world

and the "other" world are continuous and inseparable, and all men must live in some degree for both. But the completion of the Noumenal world, and the

PREFATORY ESSAY.
apprehension of
its

reality

and completeness,

is

the

task by fulfilling which humanity advances.

I

pass to the interpretation, neither technical noi

controversial, of one or

two of Hegel's most alarming

phrases.

/
life

The

"infinite"

seems to practical minds the ver>

real, present,

opposite of anything
the description of

or valuable.

As
it

life, it is

the mere negation o f the

i<

we knowTas

the description of a purpose,

the very

a"oEthesjs_of_any
;

purpose that

we can con
predicate

ceive to be attainable
it?

as the description of a being

appears

to"

be

fcTfned

by denying every

which we attach to personality.

that Hegel

And
is

could wis!

had not selected

in
life.

this

much-abused tern

as the distinctive predicate of

most precious
because his
of

He

most real anc adhered to it, no doubt

tha
the place and meet!
I

what

infinity,

though

different in nature to
fills

common

logic,

yet rightly

the problem of that conception.

will

attempt

t(

how this can when we read about

explain

be,

and what ve are

discussing

infinity in the

Hegelian philo

sophy.
It is

an obvious remark, that

infinity

was a symbo

of evil in Hellenic speculation, whereas to Christiai

and modern thought

idle talk has arisen

it is

identified with good.

Mud
Finit

on

this account, as to the limita

tion of the Hellenic mind.

For

in fact, the

ascribed to Pythagoras, and the idea of limit and pro

THE OTHER WORLD.

portion in Plato or in Aristotle, are far more nearly-

akin to true infinity than

is

the Infinite of

modern

popular philosophy.
limit.

Infinite
infinity,

means the negation of

which

Now, common

may be

identified

in general

with enumeration ad infinitum,

infinity of Hegel

the false

is

the attempt to negate or transcend

'It arises

a limit which inevitably recurs.

from attempt-

ing a task or problem in the wrong way, so that

may go on
towards
its

for

ever

we without making any advance^

All quantitative infinity

achievement.
its

^
*

which of course has

reservations

definite uses, subject to proper

is

of this nature.

process_ does not

change

its

character by_ mere continuance, and the

is

"aggregate of a million units

limitation than

no more

._

free

from

the aggregate of ten.

"A

defect in

kind cannot be compensated by mere quantity. We see the fallacious attempt in savage, barbaric, or
vulgar
art.

Meaningless
size,

iteration, objectless labour,

jj

enormous

extravagant costliness, indicate the

effort to satlify

marTTheed Of expiessferfby the mere

accumulation of work without adequate idea or purBut such efforts, however stupendous, never pose.
attain their goal.

They
ad

constitute a recurrent failure

limit,

to transcend a recurrent

precisely

analogous

to enumeration

infinitum.

hundred thousand

pounds' worth of bricks and mortar comes no nearer to the embodiment of mind than a thousand pounds'
worth.

To

attempt adequate expression by mere

PREFATORY ESSAY.
aggregation of cost or size
is

therefore to

fall

into the

infinite process or the false infinity.

Another well-known instance

happiness
sake."
in

is

the pursuit of

the form

of

"

pleasure for pleasure's

The recurrence of unchanging units leaves us where we were. A process which does not change
remains the same, and
at
first,

if it

did not bring satisfaction

will

not do so at last.*

We

might as well go

on producing

parallels to infinity, in the

hope that
infinite

somehow
straight
infinity

or
line

somewhere they may meet.

An

may

serve as

a type of the kind of

we

are considering.

Infinity in the Hegelian sense does not partake

in

any way of this endlessness, or of the unreality which

it.

attaches to
faction.

Its root-idea
is

is

self-completeness or satis-

That which
it

" infinite " is

without boundary,
explanation,

because

does not refer beyond

;

itself for
all

or for justification

and therefore.in

human existence

or production infinity can only be an aspect or element.

picture, for instance,

regarded as a work of fine

art, justifies itself,

and without raising questions of cause or of comparison, and is in this sense i.e. in respect of its beauty regarded

gives satisfaction directly

as "
this

infinite.''

When, on

the other hand,

we

consider

same work of art

as an historical
e.g.

phenomenon, as

a link in a chain of causation

as elucidating the

development of a school, or proving the existence of

*

See note above,

p. xii.

THE OTHER WORLD.

a certain technical process at a certain date

then we
finite is
<

go beyond
depress
it

itself for its interest

and explanation, and

object

at

once into a

finite

The
;

that which presents

itself as

incomplete

the infinite

that which presents itself as complete, and which,

therefore, does not force
tation.

upon us the

fact of its limita-

This character belongs

in the highest

degree

to self-conscious mind, as realized in the world above

sense

and

in

some degree

to

all

elements of that
in as far as

world

for instance, to the State

they

represent man's realized self-consciousness.

It is the

nature of self-consciousness to be

infinite,

because

it

what was opposed to is its organized sphere it, and thus to make itself into an that has value and reality within, and not beyond If false infinity was represented by an infinite itself. straight line, true infinity may be compared to a
nature to take into
itself

circle or a sphere.

between true and false infinity is moral import. The sickly yearnof the profoundest ing that longs only to escape from the real, rooted

The

distinction

in the antithesis

between the

infinite

and the actual

"

" or concrete, or in the idea of the monotonous infini " " abtme" or the gouffre," is which is one with the

appraised
to rest

by

this test at its true value.

It is

seen

on a mere

pathetic fallacy of thought

and

sentiment.

So

far

from

the infinite

being remote,

can be truly abstract, unreal,' nothing but the infinite

PREFATORY ESSAY.
present, concrete,

and

real.

The

finite

always refers

us

of

away and away through an endless series of causes, effects, or of relations. The infinite is individual,

attainment.

and bears the character of knowledge, achievement, In short, the actual realities which we
in

have

mind when,

in philosophy,
is

we speak

of the
its

infinite,

are such as a nation that

will,

conscious of

unity and general

or the realm of fine art as

1

the recognition of man's higher-na ture,

the religious

""community with its""cbnviction of arnncTwelling Deity.

Now, whether we

like the

term

Infinite or
life

not,

whether or no we think that man's

can be ex-

plained and justified within the limits of these aims and these phenomena, there is no doubt that these matters are real, and are the most momentous of
realities.

In acquainting ourselves with their struc-

ture, evolution,

and

relation to individual

life,

we

are

at least not wasting time, nor

treating of matters

beyond human intelligence. There is a very similar contrast in the conception of human Freedom. " Free will " is so old a vexed
question, that though the conflict
still

rages

fitfully

round
turn

it,

the world hardly conceives that

its

much can

upon

decision.
free
?

But when
"

in place of the

abstract, " Is

concrete inquiry, "

man

are confronted with the what, and as what, does carry out his will with least hindrance and with

man

we
in

When,

fullest

satisfaction?"

then

we have

before us

the

THE OTHER WORLD.

actual

phenomena of

civilization, instead of

an

idle

and abstract Yes or No. Man's Freedom, in the sense thus contemplated, lies in the spiritual or supra-sensuous world by which his humanity is realized, and in which his will finds
fulfilment.

The
first

family, for example, property,

and

law are the

steps of man's freedom.

In them

the individual's will obtains and bestows recognition

as an agent in a society
i.e.

existing only in consciousness

whose bond of union is ideal and this recog;

nition develops into duties

and

rights.
for,

It is in these

that

man

finds

something to

live

something

in

which and

for the

sake of which to assert himself.

As

society develops he lives on the whole

more

in

the civilized or spiritual world, and less in the savage

or purely natural world.
'

His

will,

which

is

himself,

expands with the

its

institutions

and ideas that form

is

purpose, and the history of this expansion

the

history of

human

freedom.
irrational,

Nothing

is

m ore shallow,

more barbarously
tions.

than to regard the pro- 7

necessary" aspect of

gTESs of civilizafion" as the accumulation of restric-

Laws

ImcT'T-nie's

are "a

extended

capacities.

Every power that we gain has

therefore involves
positive positive condition has negative

a positive nature, and

conditions,
relations.

and every

To

accomplish a particular purpose you

must go to work in a particular way, and in no other way. To complain of this is like complaining of a

PREFATORY ESSAY.
house because
it

has a definite shape.

If
is

freedom
"

" freer means absence of attributes, than any edifice. Of course a house may be so ugly that we may say we would rather have none at all.

empty space

Civilization

may

bring

such horrors that

"
;

we may

say
are
it

" rather

savagery than this

but in neither case

civilization,

we

serious.

Great as are the vices of

is

only in_^ivj3jzaIIanVthat

man becomes human,,

spiritual,

and

free.

The
this

effort

to ^grasp

and apply such an idea as

It

can hardly be barren.

brings us face to face

with concrete facts of history, and of man's actual

motives and purposes.

True philosophy

here,

as

everywhere, plunges into the concrete and the real

it is

the indolent abstract fancy that thrusts problems

into the

away
tion.

remote

"

beyond

"

or into futile abstrac-

Plato, the philosopher,

is

mind
wills.

free

when

it

knows well that the achieves what as a whole it truly

and
to

But

Plato,

the allegorist
soul's

imaginative
a fleeting

preacher,

refers

the

freedom

moment
to
I

of ante-natal choice, which he vainly strives

influence.

exempt from causal

with
its
is
it

'Pictorial imaginain

tion,

ready reference to occurrences

impossible to omit

past

'

and

future,

the great foe to philosophic intelligence.

is

Finally,

all

reference to

the notion of an

immanent Deity, which forms the

very centre of Hegel's thought.

tive English reader first

When

an unspecula-.

meets with Hegel's passionate

THE OTHER WORLD.

insistence

that

God

is

not unknowable, that

He

necessarily reveals himself as

a Trinity of persons,

and that
heathen

to

deny

this is to represent

men

as "the

who know

not God," he

feels as if
is

he had

taken sand into his mouth.

He

inclined to ask

what these Neo-Platonic or mediaeval doctrines are

doing
in the nineteenth century,

and why we should

that

resuscitate

dead
for

logomachies
life

can

have
I

possible .value

or

conducts. Now,
difficult

no must

not attempt here to discuss the

question of

Hegel's ultimate conception of the being of God,

and.

am bound
by
,

to
I

these pages that

warn any one who may read only profess to reproduce one most prominent

though

far the

side

of that

conception.

But, subject to this reservation, I have

in saying, that our

no hesitation
matter
is

own

prejudices form

the only hindrance to our seeing that Hegel's subjecthere, as elsewhere,

human

life.

He

gives
will

us what he takes to be the

literal truth,

and we

Verbally contradicting have it to be metaphor. Kant, he accepts, completes, and enforces Kant's " Revelation can never be the true ground thought.
of religion," said
accident,

Kant
"

" for revelation is

an historical

and

religion

is

a rational necessity of man's

is

intelligent nature."

Revelation

the only true know-

ledge of

God

and ground of religion," says Hegel,

of God in

" because revelation consists in the realization

man's

intelligent nature!"

We

are,

however, not unac-

PREFATORY ESSAY.
customed to such phrases, and our imagination
equal to
its
is

habitual task of evading their meaning.

We

take them to be a strong metaphor, meaning

that God,
off, is,

who

is

a sort of ghostly being a long

is " in "

way

notwithstanding, more or less within the know-

ledge of our minds, and so

them, as a book

London may be in my memory when I am in Scotland. Now, right or wrong, this is not what Hegel means. He means what he says that God is spirit or mind,* and exists in the medium
which
is

actually in

of mind, which
rate,

is

actual as intelligence, for us at any

only
is

in

the

human
its

self-consciousness.

thought

hard from

very simplicity,
it.

The and we
imagine

stru ggle, as always, to avoid grasping

spirits as

We

made

of a sort of thin matter, and so as

existing just like bodies, although

embodied.

form as
spirit to

we call them diswe think of this disembodied an alternative to human form, and suppose have somehow a purer existence apart from

And

then

body. This error really springs from imagining the two as existences of the same kind, and so conflicting, and from not realizing the notion of
spirit as

human

mind

or self-consciousness, which
its

is

the only

way

of conceiving

actual presence in our world.

* The fusion of these meanings in the German " Geist gives a force to his pleading which English cannot render. He appeals, e.g., triumphantly to " God is a Spirit," i.e. not "
ghost " but " mind."

THE OTHER WORLD.

Mind
uses sensuous existence as
it.

its

symbol

perhaps

even needs
so nearly,*

The poet who has

here
:

hit Hegel's

thought

fails

" This weight of

body and limb,

Are they not sign and symbol of thy

division from

Him?"

Here we leave the track of the higher Pantheism

for that

of vulgar mysticism.
as

Spiritual

being

is

conceived
shape,

somehow incompatible with

because
incapable
it

bodily

either

of

any concrete

embodiment, or because
of
its

has a quasi-material shape

just

own.

Now,

this

is

the reverse of the

it
is

Hegelian idea.

According to Hegel,
notion

only in the
its full

human

formJ:hat intelligence can for us find

expression.

The

of a spiritual body other

than and incompatible with the natural body does

not
arise.

Spirit^exists in the

ness, not in a peculiar kind of matter.

medium of consciousThe spiritualiand gesture,

zation of the natural

body

is

not to be looked for in

an

astral or angel body, but in the gait

the significance and dignity, that malce the" body- of the civilized
distinguislT

man

the outward image of his soul, and

as from the animal.
itself,

The human
*

him from the savage soul becomes actual

and

visible to
fine

See Tennyson's " Higher Pantheism," especially the

lines

" Speak to Him thou, for meet,

He

hears,

and

Spirit with Spirit

can

Closer

is

He

than breathin?, and nearer than hands and

feet."

t-iicr/i i ujtr

00/1/,

by moulding the body into its symbol and instrument. It ought to have been an axiom of physiology, Hegel says, that the series of animated forms must necessarily lead up to that of man. For
others, only
this is the

only sensuous form in which mind could

attain adequate manifestation.

Thus anthropomoris

phism
to

in fine art

is

no accident, nor an unworthy

If the
in

portrayal of divinity.
sense,
it

Deity

to be symbolized

must be

the image of man.

The

symbol is not indeed the reality, as the sensuous image is not conscious thought but this is a defect
;

inherent in artistic presentation, and not attributable

to

anthropomorphism
It is

in particular.

obvious that in the light of such a conception,

a speculative import can be attached to the doctrine

of the Incarnation, and Hegel's reading of Christian
ideas
sense.
is,

in

fact,
is

to

be interpreted entirely

in

this

This

not the place to go deeper into such

views, which,
to

however profound,

may

perhaps continue

seem non-natural expositions of Christian dogma. I am only concerned to show how here, also, the speculative idea, operating upon the concrete and actual, generates a fresh and inspiring insight into life and conduct. Few chapters of anthropology are more thorough, profound, and suggestive than Hegel's,
"

account of the

actual soul

"

i.e.

of the habits and

attributes which

make

the

body

distinctively

by stamping

it

with the impress of mind.

human Nor has

THE OTHER WORLD.

philosophic insight ever done better service to the
history of religion than in grasping the essence of
Christianity as the unity, (not merely the union) of the divine

Among

and human nature. the things which are

spiritually discerned,
.

an important place belongs to beauty.

As

a bounit

dary and transition between sense and thought,

is

peculiarly fitted to illustrate the reality which

we

claim, in contradistinction to

mere sensuous appear-

ance, for

what

is

best

life.

Many who
fine art

distrust

Hegelian formulae are convinced thafbeauty at least

is

real.

They

will

admit that

and the recogl;ff>

''<

nition of beauty are not

trifles,

not amusements, but

rank high among the interests that gjyf

Vf^pp All such will find themselves in sympathy with the

purpose of a great philosopher who has bent

all

the

power of

his genius

and

his industry to vindicating

a place for art as an embodiment of the divine nature.

The
that

Introduction to Hegel's "./Esthetic," which

it

is

all

was possible
treatise.

to reproduce in the present volume,

lacks, of course, the solidity

and detailed elaboration care for thorough and of the noble thought on a great subject, and for a defence of their faith in the true spiritual realities, I have

Yet

to all

who

hope that the ensuing pages, however marred by

imperfect translation, will be welcome.