By RUDOLF EUCKEN Senior Professor of Philosophy in the University of Jena The Truth of Religion The Life of the Spirit Religion and Life Ethics and Modern Thought * * * * * Ethics and Modern Thought A Theory of Their Relations The Deem Lectures Delivered in 1913 at New York University By Rudolf Eucken Professor of Philosophy, University of Jena Translated from the German Manuscript by Margaret von Seydewitz G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1913 COPYRIGHT, 1913 BY RUDOLF EUCKEN The Knickerbocker Press, New York PREFACE These lectures, delivered at New York University from February 20th till March 1, 1913, appeal less to students and philosophers than to the cultured public at large. I take this opportunity of expressing my sincere gratitude to the New York University, and especially to Chancellor Elmer E. Brown, for all the kindness and interest shown to me during my stay in New York. RUDOLF EUCKEN. JENA, June, 1913. CONTENTS PAGE I. THE ETHICAL PROBLEM IN THE PRESENT TIME 1 II. THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 23 III. A DEFENCE OF THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 43 IV. EVOLUTION OF THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 63 V. MORALITY AND RELIGION 87 VI. THE PRESENT STATUS OF MORALITY 107 I THE ETHICAL PROBLEM IN THE PRESENT TIME In former times, nothing seemed more plausible and more certain than morality. It was a tower of strength, where men sought refuge in the midst of all the doubts and conflicts of life. This was especially the case during the Age of Enlightenment. Men were beginning to believe less absolutely in the religion handed down to them, but they clung all the more to morality. Metaphysical speculation and theoretical endeavours to reveal the innermost essence of things encountered growing opposition, yet morality was welcomed as something superior to all complications, and valuable to all. It was held to be the pivot of Archimedes, which gives stability to the whole of life.