75. One must confess that there was a darkness and unclearness in the anxiety of that generation about the salvation of souls, since it was a question, not merely of changing the external mediator between God and man, but of needing no external mediator at all and of finding the bond of connection in one's self. Nevertheless, it was perhaps necessary that the religious education of mankind should go through this intermediate state. Luther's own honest zeal gave him more than he sought, and carried him far beyond his own dogmatic system. Once he had successfully overcome the first inward con flicts, produced by his conscientious scruples when he boldly broke away from the whole existing faith, all his utterances are full of jubilation and triumph about the freedom won for the children of God, who assuredly no longer sought for salvation outside themselves and beyond the grave, but were themselves a manifestation of the immediate feeling of salvation. In this he became the pattern for all generations to come, and died for us all. Behold in this also a characteristic of the German spirit. If it but seeks, it finds more than it sought, for it comes into the stream of living life, which flows on of itself and carries the seeker on with it.
76. To the Papacy, when taken and judged according to its own view of the matter, wrong was undoubtedly done by the way in which it was taken by the Reformation. Its utterances were for the most part picked at random 9§ ADDRESSES TO THE GERMAN NATION from the existing language; they exaggerated in Asiatic and rhetorical fashion and were intended to have what ever validity they could; they reckoned on more than due deduction being made in any case, but were never seriously measured, weighed, or intended. The Reforma tion took them with German seriousness at their full weight; it was right in thinking that everything should be taken thus, but wrong in thinking that the others had actually so taken it, and in blaming them for anything more than their natural superficiality and lack of thorough ness. In general, we may say that this is what always happens in every conflict of German seriousness with the foreign spirit, whether the latter is found in foreign or in German lands; the foreign spirit is quite unable to comprehend how anyone can wish to raise such a great to-do about unimportant things like words and phrases.
Foreigners, when they hear it again from German mouths, deny that they said what they did in fact say, and what they go on saying and always will say. So they complain of calumny, or pushing consistency too far, as they call it, when one takes their utterances in their literal sense and as seriously intended, and treats them as part of a logical sequence of thought, which one traces back to its principles and forward to its conclusions; although one is perhaps very far from attributing to them in person a clear consciousness of what they say or any logical consistency. In the demand that one must take every thing as it is meant, but not go further and call in question the right to have opinions and to express them — in that demand the foreign spirit always betrays itself, however deeply it may be concealed.
77. The seriousness with which the old system of religious doctrine was now taken compelled this system itself to be more serious than it had been hitherto, and to undertake a new examination, interpretation, and consolidation of the old doctrine and practice for the future. Let this, and the example that is to follow, be to you an illustration of the way in which Germany has always reacted on the rest of Europe. The general result was that the old doctrine thus obtained, at any rate, such innocuous efficacy as was possible to it, once it had been resolved not to abandon it altogether. But in particular, to those who supported it, it became an oppor tunity for, and a challenge to, more thorough and consistent reflection than had been given to it before. The doc trine, thus reformed in Germany, spread into the neo-Latin countries and there produced the same result, viz., a loftier enthusiasm; but, as this phenomenon was tran sitory, we shall say no more about it here. It is, how ever, noteworthy that in none of the entirely neo-Latin countries did the new doctrine obtain permanent recog nition by the State, for it seems that German thoroughness among the rulers and German good-nature among the people were needed, if this doctrine was to be found compatible and made compatible with the supreme power.
78. In another respect, however, Germany exercised a general and permanent influence on other countries — though, indeed, not on the common people, but on the educated classes — by its reformation of the Church. By means of this influence Germany once more made other countries its forerunners and its instigators to new creations. Free and spontaneous thinking, or philo sophy, had frequently been stimulated and practised in the preceding centuries under the dominion of the old doctrine; not, however, to bring forth truth out of itself, but solely to show that the doctrine of the Church was true and in what way it was true. Among the ioo ADDRESSES TO THE GERMAN NATION German Protestants, philosophy was at first given the same task in regard to their doctrine, and with them it became the handmaid of the gospel, just as with the Schoolmen it had been the handmaid of the Church. In foreign countries, which either had no gospel or else had not apprehended it with pure German devotion and depth of soul, this free-thinking, fanned into flame by the brilliant triumph it had achieved, rose higher and more easily, unfettered by a belief in the supersensuous. It remained fettered, however, by a belief of the senses in the natural understanding \Verstand~\ that develops without mental or moral training. Far from discovering in the reason [Fernunft\ the source of truth which rests upon itself, the utterances of this raw understanding were to this way of thinking exactly what the Church was for the Schoolmen and the gospel for the first Protes tant theologians. As to whether they were true, not the slightest doubt was raised; the only question was how they could maintain this truth against hostile assertions.
But, as this way of thinking did not even enter the domain of the reason, whose Opposition would have been more important, it found no opponent except the exist ing historical religion. This it easily disposed of by applying to it the measure of understanding or common sense, which was presupposed, and thereby proving to its own satisfaction that this religion was in direct con tradiction to the latter. Hence it came about that, as soon as all this was made quite plain, the word " philo sopher " became synonymous with " irreligious atheist " in foreign countries, and both designations served as equally honourable marks of distinction.
79. This attempt at complete emancipation from all belief in external authority, which was the right thing about these struggles in foreign countries, acted as a fresh GERMAN CHARACTERISTICS i«i stimulus to the Germans, from whom it had first pro ceeded by means of the reformation of the Church. It is true that second-rate and unoriginal minds among us simply repeated this foreign doctrine — better the foreign doctrine, it seems, than the doctrine of their fellowcountrymen, though this was to be had just as easily; the reason being that they took the former to be more distinguished — and these minds tried to convince them selves about it, so far as that was possible. But where the independent German spirit was astir, the sensuous was not enough, and there arose the problem of dis covering the supersensuous (which is, of course, not to be believed in on external authority) in the reason itself, I and thus of creating for the first time tru£__ghilosophy I by makin£_free_thought the sourcejofjndependent truth, as it should be. To that end Leibniz strove inTiis conflict with that foreign philosophy; and the end was attained by the true founder of modern German philo sophy,1 not without a confession of having been aroused to it by the utterance of a foreigner, which had, however, been taken more profoundly than it had been intended.
Since that time the problem has been completely solved among us, and philosophy has been perfected. One must be content for the present with stating this as a fact, until an age comes which comprehends it. On this condition, the result once more would be the creation in the German mother-country, on the stimulus o^ antiquity which has come to it through neo-Latin lands,! of a new age such as never existed before.
80. We, their contemporaries, have seen how the inhabitants of a foreign country2 took up lightly, and 1 [Kant, who confessed to having been roused from his " dogmatic slumber " by Hume.]
2 [The reference is to the French Revolution.]
with fervent daring, another problem of reason and philo sophy for the modern world — the establishment of the perfect State. But, shortly afterwards, they abandoned this task so completely that they are compelled by their present condition to condemn the very thought of the problem as a crime, and they had to use every means to delete, if possible, those efforts from the annals of their history. The reason for this result is as clear as day; the State in accordance with reason cannot be built up by artificial measures from whatever material may be at hand; on the contrary, the nation must first be trained [< and educated up to it. Only the nation which has first solved in actual practice the problem of educating p perfect men will then solve also the problem of the u perfect State.
Since our reformation of the Church, the last-men tioned problem of education has more than once been attempted by foreign countries in a spirited fashion, but in accordance with their own philosophy; and among us a first result of their efforts has been to stimulate some to imitation and exaggeration. To what point the German spirit once more has finally brought this matter in our days we shall relate in more detail at the proper time.
81. In what has been said you have a clear conspectus of the whole history of culture in the modern world, and of the never-varying relationship of the different parts of the modern world to the world of antiquity. True religion, in the form of Christianity, was the germ of the modern world; and the task of the latter may be feummed up as follows: to make this religion permeate rthe previous culture of antiquity and thereby to spiritualize land hallow it. The first step on this path was to rid this religion of the external respect of form which robbed it of freedom, and to introduce into it also the freethinking of antiquity. Foreign countries provided the stimulus to this step; the German took the step. The second step, which is really the continuation and com pletion of the first, namely, to discover in our own selves this religion, and with it all wisdom — this, too, was pre pared by foreign countries and completed by the German. The next step forward that we have to make in the plan \ of eternity is to educate the nation to perfect manhood. \ Without this, the philosophy that has been won will never be widely comprehended, much less will it be generally applicable in life. On the other hand, and in the same) way, the art of education will never attain complete! clearness in itself without philosophy. Hence, there is an interaction between the two, and either without the other is incomplete and unserviceable. If only because the German has hitherto brought to completion all the steps of culture and has been preserved in the modern world for that special purpose, it will be his work, too, in respect of education. But, when education has once been set in order, the same will follow easily with the other concerns of humanity.
82. This, then, is the actual relationship in which the German nation has hitherto stood with regard to the development of the human race in the modern age. We have still to throw more light upon an observation, which has already been made twice, as to the natural course of development which events have taken with our nation, viz., that in Germany all culture has proceeded'^ from the people. That the reformation of the Church waTs ""first brought before the people, and that it succeeded only because it became their affair, we have already seen. But we have further to show that this single case was not an exception; it has, on the contrary, been the rule.
83* The Germans who remained in the motherland had retained all the virtues of which their country had formerly been the home — loyalty, uprightness, honour, a"nd simplicity; but of training to a higher and intellectual life they had received no more than could be brought by the Christianity of that period and its teachers to men whose dwellings were scattered. This was but little: hence, they were not so advanced as their racial kinsmen who had emigrated. They were in fact good and honest, it is true, but none the less semi-barbarians. There arose among them, however, cities erected by members of the people. In these cities every branch of culture quickly developed into the fairest bloom. In them arose civic constitutions and organizations which, though but on a small scale, were none the less of high excellence; $nd, proceeding from them, a picture of order and a love m it spread throughout the rest of the country. Their extensive commerce helped to discover the world. Their league was feared by kings. The monuments of their architecture are standing at the present day and have defied the ravages of centuries; before them posterity stands in admiration and confesses its own impotence.
84. It is not my intention to compare these burghers of the German imperial cities in the Middle Ages with the other estates of the same period, nor to ask what was being done at that time by the nobles and the princes. But, in comparison with the other Teutonic nations — leaving out of account some districts of Italy, and in the fine arts the Germans did not lag behind even these, whereas in the ^ useful arts they surpassed them and became their teachers — leaving these out of account, I say that the German burghers were the civilized people, and the others the barbarians>-iThe history of Germany, of German might, German enterprise and inventions, of German monuments and the German spirit — the history of all these things during that period is nothing but the history of those cities; and everything else, for example the mortgaging of petty territories and their subsequent redemption and so on, is unworthy of mention. More over, this period is the only one in German history in which this nation is famous and brilliant, and holds the rank to which, as the parent stock, it is entitled. As soon as its bloom is destroyed by the avarice and tyranny of princes, and as soon as its freedom is trodden under foot, the whole nation gradually sinks lower and lower, until the condition is reached in which we are at present. But, as Germany sinks, the rest of Europe is seen to sink 1 with it, if we regard, not the mere external appearance, but the soul. ^ The decisive influence of this bu,rgh^rxla.ss^ which was 1 in fact the ruling power, upon the development of the German imperial constitution, upon the reformation of the Church, and upon everything that ever character ized the German nation and thence took its way abroad, is everywhere unmistakable; and it can be proved that everything which is still worthy of honour among the Germans has arisen in its midst.
85. In what spirit did this German burgher class bring forth and enjoy this period of bloom? In the spirit of piety, of honour, of modesty, and of the sense of community. For themselves they needed little; for public enterprises they set no limits to their expen diture. Seldom does the name of an individual stand out or distinguish itself, for they were all of like mind and alike in sacrifice for the common weal. Under precisely the same external conditions as in Germany, free cities had arisen in Italy also. Compare the his tories of both; contrast the continual disorders, the internal conflicts, nay, even wars, the constant change of constitutions and rulers in the latter with the peaceful unity and concord in the former. How could it be more clearly demonstrated that there must have been an inward difference in the dispositions of the two nations? The German nation is the only one among the neo-European nations that has shown in practice, by the example of its burgher class for centuries, that it is capable of enduring a republican ^aastitution. >f.
86. Of the separate and special means of once more raising the German spirit a very powerful one would be in our hands if we had a soul-stirring history of the Germans in that period — one that would become a book for the nation and for the people, just as the Bible and the hymn-book are now, until the time came when we ourselves had again achieved something worthy of record. But such a history should not set forth deeds and events after the fashion of a chronicle; it should transport us by its fascinating power, without any effort or clear con sciousness on our part, into the very midst of the life of that time, so that we ourselves should seem to be walking and standing and deciding and acting with them. This it should do, not by means of childish and trumpery fabrications, as so many historical novels have done, but by the truth; and it should make those deeds and events visible manifestations of the life of that time. Such a work, indeed, could only be the fruit of extensive know ledge and of investigations that have, perhaps, never yet been made; but the author should spare us the exhibi tion of this knowledge and these investigations, and simply lay the ripened fruit before us in the language of the present day and in a manner that every German without exception could understand. In addition to this historical knowledge, such a work would demand a high degree of philosophical spirit, which should display itself just as little, and above all things a faithful and loving disposition. 87. That age was the nation's youthful dream, within a narrow sphere, of its future deeds and conflicts and victories, and the prophecy of what it would be once it had perfected its strength. Evil associations and the seductive power of vanity have swept the growing nation into spheres which are not its own; and, because it there sought glory too, it stands to-day covered with shame and fighting for its very life. But has it indeed grown old and feeble? Has not the well of original life con tinued to flow for it, as for no other nation, since then and until to-day? Can those prophecies of its youthful life, which are confirmed by the condition of other nations and by the plan of civilization for all humanity-f can they remain unfulfilled? Impossible! O, tbt. someone would bring back this nation from its false path, and in the mirror of its youthful dreams show it its true disposition and its true vocation! There let it stand and ponder, until it develops the power to take up its vocation with a mighty hand. May this challenge be of some avail in bringing out right soon a German nan equipped to perform this preliminary task!
' SEVENTH ADDRESS A CLOSER STUDY OF THE ORIGINALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A PEOPLE 88. IN the preceding addresses we have indicated and proved from history the characteristics of the Germans Jis an original people, and as a people that has the right tb call itself simply the people, in contrast to other ^anches that have been torn away from it; for, indeed, Je word " deutsch " in its real signification denotes vt.at we have just said. It will be in accordance with our purpose if we devote another hour to this subject •and deal with a possible objection, viz., that if this is something peculiarly German one must confess that at.the present time there is butjdttlej^ftjhat is German among the Germans themselves. As we are quite unable to deny that this appears to be so, but rather •intend to acknowledge it and to take a complete view of it in its separate parts, we propose to give an explana tion of it at the outset.
89. We have seen that the relationship in which the original people of the modern world stood to the progress of modern culture was as follows: the former received • from the incomplete, and never more than superficial, efforts of foreign countries the first stimulus to more profound creative acts, which were to be developed from its own midst. As it undoubtedly takes time for the stimulus to result in a creative act, it is plain that such a relationship will bring about periods of time in which the original people must seem to be almost entirely amalgamated with foreign peoples and similar to them, because it is then being stimulated only, and the creative act which is to be the result has not yet forced its way through. It is in such a period of tirnejthat Qermany •( finds itself a£jyie_£r£S£nt-^^ in regard to trie great \ majority of its educated inhabitants; and that is the^ reason for those manifestations of a love of everything foreign which are a part of the very inner soul and life of this majority., In the preceding address we saw that the means by which foreign countries stimulate their motherland at the present time is philosophy, which we I f define'd as free-thinking released from all fetters of belief I A in external authority. Now, when this stimulus has not ' resulted in a new creative act — and it will result thus in extremely few cases, for the great majority have no con ception of what creation means — the following effects are observable. For one thing, that foreign philosophy which we have already described changes its own form again and again. Another thing is that its spirit usurps the mastery over the other sciences whose borders are contiguous with philosophy, and regards them from its own ^oint of view. Finally, since the German after all can never entirely lay aside his seriousness and its direct influence on life, this philosophy influences the habits of public life and the principles and rules that govern it. We shall substantiate these assertions step by step.
90. First of all and before all things: man does not form his scientific view in a particular way voluntarily and arbitrarily, but.it is^-Qr^edJqr him by his life, and is in reality the inner, and to him unknown, root oL his ownjife, wEich has become his way of looking at _tlimgs7 no ADDRESSES TO THE GERMAN NATION It is what you really are in your inmost soul that stands forth to your outward eye, and you would never be able to see anything else. If ypjii_aj^-4ux_se^.difFerently, you must first of all becomejiiflfirent. Now, the inner essence of nonrGerman ways, or of non-originaliffit is the belief in something that is__final, fixed, and settled beyond the possibility of change, the belief in a border-line, on the hither side of which free life may disport itself, but which it is never able to break through and dissolve by its own power, and which it can never make part of itself. This impenetrable border-line is, therefore, inevitably present to the eyes of foreigners at some place or other, and it is impossible for them to think or believe except with such a border-line as a presupposition, unless their whole nature is to be transformed and their heart torn out of their body. Thgy ine_vitably_believe in jeath as Alpha and Omega, the ultimate source of all things and, therefore, of life itself.
91. Our first task here is to show how this fundamental belief of foreigners expresses itself among Germans at the present time.
It expresses itself first of all in their own philosophy. German philosophy of the present day, in so far as it is worthy of mention here, strives for thoroughness and scientific form, regardless of the fact that those things are beyond its reach; it strives for unity, and that also not without the example of foreign countries in former times; it strives for reality and essence — not for mere appearance, but to find for this appearance a foundation appearing in appearance. In all these points it is right, and far surpasses the philosophies prevailing in foreign countries at the present day; for German philosophy in its love of everything foreign is far more thorough and _more consistent than the foreign countries themselves.
CLOSER STUDY OF CHARACTERISTICS in Now this foundation, which is to be the basis of mere appearance, is for those philosophies, however much more incorrectly they may fur trier' define it, alwaj^s which is just what it is and nothing more, chained in itself aftd-baunji_±jQj^ De^th, therefore, and alienation from originality, winch are within them, stand forth before their eyes as well. Because they them selves are unable by any effort to rise out of themselves to life as such, but always need a prop and a support for their free upward flight, they do not get beyond this support in their thinking, which is the image of their life, That which is not Something is to them inevitably s Notfiing, "for their eyes see nothing else"...^between that / Being in which growth has ceased and the Nothing, J because their life has nothing else. Their feeling, which is their sole possible authority, seems to them infallible. If anyone does not acknowledge this support of theirs, they are far from assuming that to him life alone is enough; on the contrary, they believe that he merely lacks the cleverness to perceive the support, which they have no doubt supports him too, and the capacity to raise himself by his exertions to their high point of view. It is, therefore, futile and impossible to instruct them; one would have to construct them, and to construct them differently, if one could. Now, in j this matter German philosophy of the present day is j not German, but a product of the foreign spirit.
92. True philosophy, on the other hand, which has been perfected in itself and has penetrated beyond I appearance to the very kernel of appearance, proceeds [ from the one,jpure, divine life — life simply as such, which it remains for all eternity, and always one — but not from this or that kind of life. It sees how it is only irTappearance that this life ceaselessly closes and opens again, ii2 ADDRESSES TO THE GERMAN NATION nd how it is only in accordance with this law that life attains Being and becomes a Something. In the view of /this philosophy, Being arises, whereas the other presup-|£oses_Jt. So, then, this philosophy is in a very special sense German only — that is, original. Vice versa, if anyone were but a true German, he could not philoso phize in any way but this.
93. That system of thought, although it dominates the / majority of those who philosophize in German, is nevertheless not really a German system. Yet, whether it is consciously set up as a true system of philosophical doctrine, or whether, unknown to us, it is merely the basis for the rest of our thinking, it influences the other scientific, views of the age. Indeed, jt is a main effort of our age, stimulated by foreign countries as we are, not merely to lay hold of the material of science with the memory, as our forefathers may be said to have done, but to turn it over_in ou£^ own_inde£enden^ thought and to philosophize uj)on_it. So farjas the effort is concerned, our age is in the..right; but. when, iiLthe execution of this.^hilosophizing, it proceeds, as is to be expected, from the deathcreed.of foreign philosophy, it will be in the wrong. In this place we propose to glance only at those sciences which are most closely connected with our whole plan, and to trace the foreign ideas and views which are so widespread in them.
94. In holding that the establishment and government of States should be looked upon as an indepejadeiit art having its_own fixed rules, non-German countries have undoubt edly.sermdjujs^sJiQrerunners, and they themselves found their pattern in antiquity. But what will be regarded as tfye art of-fehe-State bjf_such a non^Geiman country, which in its language, the very element of its thinking and willing, has a support that is fixed, closed, and dead?
What, too, will all who follow its example regard as the art of the State? Undoubtedly it will be the art of finding v7 a similarly fixed and dead order of things, from which \\ condition of death the living movement of society is ta proceed, and to proceed as this art intends. This inten-7 / tion is to make the whole of life in society into a large I / and ingeniously constructed clockwork, pressure-machine, \ />. in which every single part will be continually compelled X by the wffoIe~To~~serYe-^^ — The -intention is to/J do a sum in arithmetic with finite and given quantities, and produce from them an ascertainable result; and thus, on the assumption that everyone seeks his own well-being,*^ to compel everyone against his wish and will to promote j the general well-being. Non-German countries have re- " peatedly enunciated this principle and produced ingenious specimens of this art of social machinery. The mother- \ land has adopted the theory, and developed its application in the construction of social machines; and here, too, as always, in a manner that is deeper, truer, more thorough going, and much..superior to its models. If at any time there is a stoppage in the accustomed process of society, such artists of the State can give no other explanation than that perhaps one of the wheels has become worn out, and they know no other remedy than to remove the defective wheels and insert new ones. The more deeply rooted anyone is in this mechanical view of society, and the better he understands how to simplify the mechanism by making all the parts of the machine as alike as possible and by treating them all as if they were of the same material, the higher is his reputation as an artist of the State in this age of ours: and rightly so, for things are even worse when those in control hesitate and come to no decision and are incapable of any definite opinion.
ii2 ADDRESSES TO THE GERMAN NATION ; 95. This view of the art of the State enforces respect by its iron consistency and by an appearance of sublimity which falls upon it; and up to a certain point, especially when the whole tendency is towards a monarchical con stitution, and one that is always becoming more purely monarchical, it renders good service. But^ when it reaches that point, its_impotence is apparent to everyone. I will suppose that you have made your machine as perfect as you intended, and that each and every lower part of it is unceasingly and irresistibly compelled by a higher part, which is itself compelled to compel, and so on up to the top. But how will your final J>art, from which proceeds the whole compelling power present in the machine, be itself compelled to__coinjgel? Suppose you have overcome absolutely all the resistance to the main spring that might arise from the friction of the various parts, and suppose you have given that mainspring a power against which all other power vanishes to nothing, which is all you could do even by mechanism, and suppose you have thus created a supremely powerful monarchical constitution; how are you going to set this mainspring itself in motion and compel it without exception to see it? Tell me how you are going