* *

CHAPTER XII [p.206]

PRESENT-DAY ASPECTS OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

In this chapter some of the most important problems of the present day
will be touched upon in the light of Eucken's Philosophy of Religion.
Reference has already been made to Eucken's account of the limitations
of various Life-systems, of their struggle with one another, and of the
necessity for a religious synthesis which will include their most
important results within itself.[71] The answer as to the possibility
and necessity of such a synthesis constitutes the kernel of Eucken's
Philosophy of Religion. He has succeeded in a remarkable manner in
assessing the results of science, philosophy, sociology, art, and
religion. In them all he has discovered the presence of a reality which
is non-sensuous in its nature, and, which reveals itself [p.207] in
judgments of value that carry within themselves their own _necessity_
and _self-subsistence_. This is his conclusion in regard to the work of
the spirit of man on whatever plane of knowledge or experience that
spirit works. Man's spirit has to carry all its knowledge and experience
into its own conative spiritual potencies. We thus see that everything
becomes an aid to the unfolding of an ever greater degree of reality
within the spirit of man. It is then within the _spirit_ of man that
everything finds its interpretation and value. Whatever interpretation
is given to anything apart from the union of the _whole_ potency and
cognition of man's spirit is only a partial interpretation. And it is in
the failure to recognise this truth that so many Life-systems have set
themselves against the higher aspects of philosophy and religion. The
most important question has not been asked: What is the relation and
value of all results in connection with the deepest potency and
necessity of man's spirit? Are these results capable of enriching that
spirit of man when he becomes conscious of them? These are the questions
which Eucken continually asks and answers in his great works; and it is
this fact which makes his teaching so valuable and superior to all the
Life-systems of our day. It is difficult to think of any aspect of
experience which Eucken has left out of account. He has not, indeed,
interpreted [p.208] in detail all the Life-systems in vogue, and no
human being is capable of achieving such a task; but he has clearly
perceived the flaws which lie in them all. And this discovery of his has