An Interpretation of Rudolf Eucken's PhilosophyJones, W. Tudor (William Tudor)
Religion
An Interpretation of Rudolf Eucken's Philosophy
Jones, W. Tudor (William Tudor)
Eucken, Rudolf, 1846-1926
in the history of the world, have been largely shorn of their initiative
and freedom in the case of several of the small nations of Europe.
Superficiality and indifference to deep national and spiritual traits
become the primary things, and the life of the small nations, as time
passes, tends to become mechanical and servile.
When we survey the work of the small nations of the Western world, we
discover achievements which have been of immense [p.230] value in the
civilisation, culture, morals, and religion of Europe. And what a
distressing sight it is to witness the attempts of larger nations to
crush the spirituality of the smaller ones! The attitude of Russia
towards Finland and Poland is known to all. A greed for territory and a
passion for ready-made values are characteristics which are only too
evident to-day in the case of some of the Great Powers of Europe. We
need, as Eucken points out,[83] a new standard of valuing the national
characteristics and the relationship of nation with nation. Such
standard must include moral judgments and human sympathy. It is the
presence of spiritual powers such as these which constitute the really
deep and durable elements in a nation's progress. "When righteousness
goes to the bottom, then there is nothing more worth living for on the
earth." Eucken's philosophy cannot be understood apart from his intense
interest in mankind and its spiritual development. He goes, indeed, so
far as to say that this is the sole goal of philosophy; its message is
to create new spiritual values in the life of the individual and of the
race. Our systems of philosophy are painfully defective in this respect
to-day. Man, as a being with a soul, is little taken into account in
most of them. Is it surprising, therefore, that philosophy has not
succeeded, [p.231] for centuries, in interesting or influencing the
intelligent world at large?[84] It will not succeed in doing this until
the deepest needs of mankind are taken to be something more than objects
of psychological analysis or of logical generalisations.
Eucken's personality is rooted in a deep love for humanity and its
spiritual qualities; and herein lies the essential reason of his
championing of weak nations and pleading for the preservation of their
original spiritual characteristics. These qualities are pearls of too
great a price to be lost in a world where so much tinsel passes as what
possesses the highest value.
It is not difficult to see why the small nations of the North feel that
in Eucken they possess a true friend who sees clearly what they feel
instinctively, and who points out to them the path of their spiritual
deliverance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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