Rudolph Eucken | Page 8

impressions, is far above mere sense impressions.
Naturalism, in directing attention to the things that are experienced,
fails to take proper account of the mind that experiences them; it
postulates nature without mind, when only by the mind processes can
man become aware of nature, and construct a naturalistic scheme of life.

"To a thorough-going naturalism, naturalism itself is logically
impossible." Hence the impossibility of the naturalistic theory as an
explanation of life.
Then it fails to provide a high ideal for life, and to release man from
sordid motives. It gives no place for love, for work for its own sake, for
altruistic conduct, or for devotion to the high ideals of life. The aim of
life is limited to this world--man has but to aim at the enjoyment and
preservation of his own life. The mechanical explanation of life, too,
does away with the possibility of human freedom and personality, and
it is futile to urge man to greater efforts when success is impossible. It
is a theory which does justice merely to a life of pleasure and pain, its
psychology has no soul, and its political economy bases the community
upon selfishness.
In this way Eucken disproves the claim of naturalism; in doing so he
points out that a satisfactory solution must take account of the life of
nature in a way which religion and idealism have failed to do.
Of late years Socialism and Individualism have come into prominence
as theories of life. Eucken attributes the movements in the first instance
to the receding into the background of the idea of an overworld which
gave meaning and value to life. When doubt was thrown upon religion
and idealism, when confidence in another world was shaken, man lost
to an extent his moral support. Where could he turn now for a firm
basis to life? He might, of course, turn from the invisible world to the
world of sense, to nature. But the first result of this is to make man
realise that he is separate from nature, and again he fails to find support.
He is an alien in the world of nature, and disbelieves the existence of a
higher world. When both are denied him he turns naturally to his
fellow-men--here at least he can find community of interest--here at
least he is among beings of his own type. Hence he confines his
attention to the life of humanity, and in this, the universe of mankind,
he hopes to find an explanation of his own life, and a value for it.
The progress of humanity, then, must become the aim of life--all our
strength and effort must be focussed upon human nature itself. But an
immediate difficulty arises. Where are we to find Man? "Is it in the

social community where individual forces are firmly welded together to
form a common life, or among individuals as they exist for themselves
in all their exhaustless diversity?" If we put the community first, then
the social whole must be firmly rooted in itself and be independent of
the caprice of its members. The duty of the individual is to subordinate
himself to the community--this means socialism. If, on the other hand,
the great aim is to develop the individual and to give him the maximum
of opportunity to unfold his special characteristics, we arrive at an
opposing theory--that of individualism.
In the history of society we find an age of socialistic ideas followed by
one of individualistic ideas, and vice versa, and there is much that is
valuable in each, in that it tends to modify and disprove the other's
extreme position.
The present wave in the direction of socialism arises, to an extent, in
reaction from the extremely individualistic position of previous ages.
Man is now realising that the social relations of life are of importance
as well as the character of his own life. He realises the interdependence
of members of a community, and the conception of the State as a whole,
a unit, instead of a mere sum of individuals, grows up. The modern
industrial development and the organisation of labour have, too,
emphasised the fact that the value of the individual depends largely
upon his being a part of society. His work must be in co-operation with
the work of others to produce the best effect; for in such co-operation it
produces effects which reach far beyond his own individual capacity.
Hence his life appears to receive value from the social relations, and the
social ideal is conceived. The development of the individual no longer
becomes the aim but rather the development of the community. In
setting out the development of society as his aim, the individual makes
considerable sacrifices. All that is distinctly individual must go, in
character, in work, in science, and art,