the
substratum both of the _Ego_ and _Non-ego;_ a reality of which all
things, whether within or without, are only so many "modes" or
manifestations. And it is at this point that his subjective Idealism
passes into Pantheism, and that we mark the close affinity between his
speculations and those of Spinoza. There is, in some respects, a wide
difference between the two; Spinoza assumed, Fichte denied, the
existence of matter; the former affirmed Substance to be the absolute
and infinite Essence; the latter proclaimed a spiritual universe, whose
essence was the infinite reason, or the Divine idea: but still, with
these and other points of difference, there existed a real, radical
affinity between the two systems, that of Fichte, not less than that of
Spinoza, being based on _the identity of existence and thought_; and
both systems being directed to show that there is but one Absolute
Being, of which all phenomena, whether material or mental, are only so
many modes or manifestations.

3. The philosophy of "the absolute," as applied in support of German
Pantheism, depends on the doctrine of "Identity," and must stand or fall
along with it.[140] The "absolute" is described as being at once
_ideal_ and _real_, pure _being_ and pure _thought_, and as developing
itself in a great variety of forms. The philosophy of the "absolute" is
represented as the _only science_, properly so called: it is assumed
that there can be no science of the finite, the variable, the
contingent, the relative, but only of the absolute, the unchangeable,
and the infinite. To constitute _this_ science, the doctrine of
"identity" is indispensable; the subject and the object of thought,
knowledge and being, must be reduced to scientific unity. Realism and
Idealism are thus blended together, or rather identified in the
philosophy of the "absolute." The idea of the "absolute," in which
_being_ and _thought_ are identical, is the only foundation of science,
and the ultimate ground of all certitude. And Pantheism is inferred from
this idea; for the "absolute," in which _being_ and _thought_ are
identified, is properly _the sole existence_, which develops and
manifests itself in a great variety of finite forms.

We are not disposed to treat the philosophy of the "absolute" either
with levity or with scorn. We feel that it brings us into contact with
some of the most profound and most deeply mysterious problems of human
thought. Finite as we are, we are so c