Recent Spiritualist Philosophy in France [pp. 679-697]

IN FRANCE.
thought. Each of these philosophers has his own thoughts
which it would be quite difficult to reduce to the same system;
yet all are dominated by one common and fundamental maxim,
namely, that the last analysis must be sought in what is most
elevated, and not in what is inferior; that the ground of all
things is spirit, thought, liberty, and not matter, which, spite of
the cry of the blind senses, is nought but the shade and semblance of reality.
We return to M. Jlavaisson, as making the point of departure
for the younger and more recent form of philosophy which we
propose to study. That philosophy, to say the truth, oftener
consists of brilliant and profound views, uttered in curt and abrupt phrases, in a manner at once spirited and reckless, than of
rigorously defined, closely connected, fully developed doctrines.
Discussion, analysis, precise limitation of ideas, are here subordinated, if not sacrificed, to the synthetic and intuitive method.
The author sees and affirms, it is for you to see as he does; yet
in default of dialectics, the splendor and force of the thought,
the beauty of the expression, the noble grandeur of the philoso phical feeling overcome and captivate us. One is upon the con fines of all the philosophies without knowing precisely with
which he at present has to do. Were it not for the close and
often difficult language of the author, one would be tempted to
refer such a philosophy to the domain of poetry rather than to
that of science. One cannot deny to them the mastery of the
imagination. Clear and exact minds can with difficulty assume
such a mode of thought and expression, yet they are the first to
submit to its charm.
We believe we may say that the whole philosophy of M.
Ravaisson is dominated by the fundamental distinction bor rowed from Aristotle, of matter and form,-matter correspond ing nearly to that which in the modern schools is called sub stance, and form to that which is called attribute; except that
in modern philosophy, substance or substratum seems to be the
very foundation of reality, and of true being, while with
Aristotle and with M. Ravaisson, it is in the form, in the es sence, in the attributes of the being, that reality properly so called exists. What matters it that yonder Jupiter Olympus is
of marble? Its beauty does not consist in that, but in the form
in which it is clothed, and that form is the figure of a god.
1874.]
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