Philosophy or Metaphysics, as the doctrine of consciousness and its
contents in general, or of the whole of experience as such, does not
appear in the list, because it does not at once pursue the investigation
which the principle of sufficient reason prescribes, but first has this
principle itself as its object. It is to be regarded as the thorough bass
of all sciences, but belongs to a higher class than they do, and is almost
as much related to art as to science. As in music every particular period
must correspond to the tonality to which thorough bass has advanced, so
every author, in proportion to the line he follows, must bear the stamp of
the philosophy which prevails in his time. But besides this, every science
has also its special philosophy; and therefore we speak of the philosophy
of botany, of zoology, of history, &c. By this we must reasonably
understand nothing more than the chief results of each science itself,
regarded and comprehended from the highest, that is the most general,
point of view which is possible within that science. These general results
connect themselves directly with general philosophy, for they supply it
with important data, and relieve it from the labour of seeking these
itself in the philosophically raw material of the special sciences. These
special philosophies therefore stand as a mediating link between their
special sciences and philosophy proper. For since the latter has to give
the most general explanations concerning the whole of things, these must
also be capable of being brought down and applied to the individual of
every species of thing. The philosophy of each science, however, arises
independently of philosophy in general, from the data of its own science
itself. Therefore it does not need to wait till that philosophy at last be
found; but if worked out in advance it will certainly agree with the true
universal philosophy. This, on the other hand, must be capable of
receiving confirmation and illustration from the philosophies of the
particular sciences; for the most general truth must be capable of being
proved through the more special truths. Goethe has afforded a beautiful
example of the philosophy of zoology in his reflections on Dalton’s and
Pander’s skeletons of rodents (_Hefte zur Morphologie_, 1824). And like
merit in connection with the same science belongs to Kielmayer, Delamark,
Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Cuvier, and many others, in that they have all
brought out clearly the complete analogy, the inner relationship, the
permanent type, and systematic connection of animal forms. Empirical
sciences pursued purely for their own sake and without philosophical
tendency are like a face without eyes. They are, however, a suitable
occupation for men of good capacity who yet lack the highest faculties,
which would even be a hindrance to minute investigations of such a kind.
Such men concentrate their whole power and their whole knowledge upon one