Page:(1856) Scottish Philosophy—The Old and the New.pdf/14

14 found one word or one thought in Hegel which was available for my system, even if I had been disposed to use it. There is a joke current about Hegel, that, towards the close of his career, he remarked that there was only one man in Germany who understood him, and that he mis-understood him. And yet this is the philosopher on whom croakers and canters would affiliate my doctrines, which, whatever other faults they may have, do not err, certainly, on the side of obscurity. If Hegel follows (as I do) the demonstrative method, I own I cannot see it, and would feel much obliged to any one who would point this out, and make it clear. In other respects, my method is diametrically opposed to his: he begins with the consideration of Being; my whole design compels me to begin with the consideration of Knowing. But anything to serve a purpose! Any expedient, however vile, is legitimate when employed to accomplish the ends of fanaticism. The only circumstance which gives any colour to this mean device is, that, when I have mentioned the name of Hegel, I have done so without indignation and abhorrence. But a man who has looked even a very short way under the surface of human life, and seen something of the practical world, contemplates very calmly all speculative aberrations, and can speak even of Hegel with composure.

Another great name which has been conjured up against me is that of Spinoza. Is not that a horrible man to be in any way related to? Do not undefined terrors seem to encircle the very letters of his name? A poor Jew of Amsterdam, a needy grinder of glass lenses for his frugal livelihood, the most peaceful, and, by all accounts, the most amiable and disinterested of men—this thinker, more terrible than Swedish Charles, in all his sweeping forays,

The world, methinks, grows pale at very little. I owe no fealty to Spinoza. I preach none of his opinions. Indeed, I am not charged with adopting anything of his except a method, which he has in common with all rigorous reasoners. But this I will avouch, that all the outcry which has been raised against Spinoza has its origin in nothing but ignorance, hypocrisy, and cant.