l embrace the
first principles of reality. Now, were one to divide and arrange the
problems of philosophy upon this basis, it is evident that one would not
have deduced the arrangement from the general problem of philosophy, but
from a single attempted solution of that problem. It might serve as an
exposition of Hegel, but not as a general philosophical programme.

Another case in point is provided by the present-day interest in what is
called "_pragmatism_."[151:2] This doctrine is historically connected
with Kant's principle of the "primacy of the practical reason," in which
he maintained that the consciousness of duty is a profounder though less
scientific insight than the knowledge of objects. The current doctrine
maintains that thought with its fruits is an expression of interest, and
that the will which evinces and realizes such an interest is more
original and significant than that which the thinking defines. Such a
view attaches a peculiar importance to the springs of conduct, and in
its more systematic development[152:3] has regarded _ethics_ as the
true propaedeutic and proof of philosophy. But to make ethics the
key-stone of the arch, is to define a special philosophical system; for
it is the very problem of philosophy to dispose the parts of knowledge
with a view to systematic construction. The relation of the provinces of
metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and ethics cannot, then, be defined
without entering these provinces and answering the questions proper to
them.

[Sidenote: The Dependence of the Order of Philosophical Problems upon
the Initial Interest.]

Sect. 56. Since the above terms exist, however, there can be no doubt
but that important divisions within the general aim of philosophy have
actually been made. The inevitableness of it appears in the variety of
the sources from which that aim may spring. The point of departure will
always determine the emphasis and the application which the philosophy
receives. If philosophy be needed to supplement more special interests,
it will receive a particular character from whatever interest it so
supplements. He who approaches it from a definite stand-point will find
in it primarily an interpretation of that stand-point.

[Sidenote: Philosophy as the Interpretation of Life.]

Sect. 57. There are two sources of the philosophical aim, which are
perennial in their human significance. He, firstly, who begins with the
demands of life and its ideals, looks to