Eucken shows that any true Life-system has to start with Life itself. There may be interpretations needful which have no implications for Life, and these have a right of their own; but when such interpretations are carried further, when the subject who _knows_ such interpretations and who _uses_ them is taken into account, then the interpretations found on this level are something quite different from what they were when the whole spirit of man was not taken into account. Eucken consequently comes to the conclusion that philosophy has not completely fulfilled its vocation until it has become a philosophy of _Life_--until the truest meaning of every object is discovered in its relation to all the necessities of the spirit. And it is here that his teaching comes into conflict with so much that goes by the name of Idealism. How can any system be more than a half-truth when its final meaning is presented with but little attention to the highest aspect we know in the world --to human life in its struggles and conquests, [p.210] in its living and loving, and its forward movement towards some distant goal? The special value of Eucken's teaching lies, then, in the fact that it interprets what happens, can happen, and ought to happen within life itself. No system which leaves out the soul with its possibilities is complete. This has been done too often in the past, and is being done to-day. Is it, then, a wonder that philosophy has given so very little help to Life in its complex problems without and its sharp opposites and contradictions within? Life is more and needs more than a philosophy of words, devoid of power, can offer it. Life, when at its best, believes in the all-power of its own spiritual potency; it has faith in the possibility of ascent from height to height, as well as in the possibility of an incessant progress not only of individuals but of the whole of mankind.[72] A System stands or falls according as it is able to conceive of Life in such a manner. And Eucken has done this as probably no other living philosopher has done it.