Collected Essays and Reviews

Whether the position be that of a citizen properly filled with Nationalbewusstsein, of a competitor in the egoistic struggle for existence, of a subject of the Categorical Imperative, or of a Moment in the Weltprozess, is all one — we find everywhere that same cold-blooded self- corroboration and merging of the personal deed in universal considerations which, more than material spoliation and Draconian discipline, exasperated the French during the late invasion, and have made them call the Germans “hypocrites” ever since. Perhaps as striking an illustration of this overweening tendency to theorize as can be found is afforded by the popular German school of pessimistic philosophy, of which Professor Pfleiderer’s pamphlet is the latest and one of the ablest criticisms. In other countries, aristocratic misanthropes, dyspeptic pleasure-seekers, and unappreciated geniuses have existed, and their utterances never passed beyond the sphere of splenetic or pathetic individuality.