Page:A Brief History of Modern Philosophy.djvu/139

 ''(Über den Beweis des Geistes und der Kraft). ''He likewise places the everlasting search for truth upon a higher plane than the slothful possession of it (Duplik). The continuity of spiritual evolution does not consist in results and dogmas, but in the inner strivings to which the former owe their origin.—In aesthetics he is likewise guided by the sense for the original and characteristic. In his Hamburgischen Dramaturgie—contrary to the dominant classicism —he refers to Shakespeare as the unrivalled model of dramatic poetry, and in his Laokoön he attempted to define the sphere of sculpture and poetry.

Lessing's own religious attitude is best described by the statement that it is impossible to base our knowledge of the eternal uniformity of reality upon particular historical events. The various positive religions must be understood as stages of human spiritual evolution, or, as Lessing expresses it figuratively, as disciplinary forces. Revelation bears a relation to the human race similar to that of education to the individual. The Old and New Testaments are ''"the primers of the human race." ''The time will come when such books will be unnecessary. For the present it is important that the pupil should regard his Primer as the highest science,—but the third kingdom, the new everlasting Gospel will come (Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts,—Gespräche über die Freimaurer).

From the purely philosophical point of view Lessing (according to Jacobi's account in his Briefe über die Lehre des Spinoza) is closely related to Spinoza; if he were to name himself after anyone, he knows of no one else more suitable. He wanted a purely natural theory of the universe and of life, free from any transcendental leaps. (Cf. Chr. Schrempf: Lessing als Philosoph., 1906.)