Page:Peter Alexeivitch Kropotkin - Modern Science and Anarchism (1912).pdf/106

 which the Idea, which in Logic was the "Idea in itself," and in Nature the "Idea out of itself" (Idee äusser sich), now appears as "The Mind"—as the "Idea in and for itself" (Idee an und für sich). These three forms of the Idea are known as the thesis, the antithesis, and the synthesis. The evil which this philosophy has done in driving scientific research out of the sound ways it had opened by the end of the eighteenth century, and giving a new authority both to the Biblical interpretation of Nature and to the reign of sweeping generalisations based upon the use of metaphysical "words" having a vague and floating sense—can be best appreciated when we see how all the discoveries which were already prepared by the end of the eighteenth century were delayed in appearing for half a century; and also when we see the influence of this philosophy in political matters—the Hegelians maintaining that "all that exists is reasonable," and thus excusing the worst forms of political and religious reaction.

Helmholtz, Hermann-Ludwig (1821–1894), a great German physiologist and physicist. Has done very much for developing and spreading the mechanical comprehension of all physiological activity, and the idea of the unity of physical forces.

Herzen, Alexander (1812–1870), Russian political writer. After having been interned in an eastern province, left Russia and went to Italy and France, where he was friendly with all the advanced Socialists and Radicals. After the defeat of the Revolution of 1848, aided Proudhon in starting the newspaper Le Peuple. Expelled from France, went to England, where he founded the first "Free Russian Press," and at the end of the "fifties" began to publish a Russian paper, Kólokol (The Bell), in collaboration with his great friend Ogareff and Turguéneff, and later on with Bakunin. This paper, in which Herzen (in an admirable style) energetically fought for the abolition of serfdom and laid bare all the horrors of the absolute power, won a great reputation and had a great influence in Russia at the time of the liberation of the serfs. In 1863, when the Polish uprising began, Herzen and Bakunin warmly took up its defence. With the return of reaction the same year, the Kólokol's influence came to an end. On account of his wide knowledge of history and his philosophical training, Herzen was one of the best political writers of his time in Europe; and his "Letters from France and Italy" and "From the Other Bank" ("De l'autre rive"), written after the defeat of the movements of 1848, are real works of art, apart from their political meaning; the same applies to his autobiography, "Past and Thoughts."

Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679), one of the most original of English political writers and philosophers. His chief works were: "Leviathan," "De Cive," "De Corpore Politico." Right, he maintained, is force: there is nothing that would be right or wrong in itself. He considered the savages as creatures continually struggling with each other, and saw