Page:Ferrier's Works Volume 3 "Philosophical Remains" (1883 ed.).djvu/565

Rh (for that is the fundamental question, the decision of which decides all); while again, his opponents must be pronounced triumphant if they have proved that intelligent natures differ from each other entirely, and have no point or principle in common. On both sides the terms of the dispute, as here adjusted, have been only partially adhered to. Schelling often loses himself in the unintelligible; his opponents have not seen the exact point of the problem: so that the "philosophy of the unconditioned" still calls for a patient and impartial reconsideration.

The philosophical character and influence of Schelling are well summed up by Mr Morell in the following remarks (see Modern German Philosophy; Manchester papers, 1856):—"The later phases of Schelling's philosophy," says Morell, "are chiefly characterised by unavailing attempts to reconcile the pantheistic stand-point which he first assumed, with the notion of a personal Deity, and with the fundamental dogmas of the catholic faith. In doing this he lost the freshness and charm of his first philosophic principles on the one hand, without solving the problem of religion, or satisfying the practical religious requirements of humanity on the other. He merely glided step by step into a strained, unintelligible mysticism, and, without acknowledging it, became a foe to all purely philosophic speculation, and a tacit abettor of an antique romanticism. The followers of Schelling formed two distinct schools. Those who