do no more with respect to the latter, than designate the philosophical position which it occupies, especially as it is my design in another monography to review more closely the group of these French philosophers. While this book constitutes an independent work in itself, distinct from my general work on the history of modern philosophy, I will own that it is so far related to it that the subject treated there is not treated here. This is in accordance with the object of the book; for Bacon and his successors, although they form a necessary supplement to modern philosophy, and are not without influence on the idealistic branch of it, nevertheless, have a separate and independent direction of their own, which does not decline towards the opposite side. For the fact that both tendencies meet in Kant, is a result of the power of attraction that was exercised upon Kant by realism. The relation of Bacon to antiquity, and that of his philosophy to Kant, were the first points of my subject to which I directed my glance, and which I made clear to myself. In the explanation of these points consisted my first attempts at the present work. This proved of practical importance to myself, as it was in a public lecture on the relation of Bacon to the ancients, that for the first time, after a lapse of seven years, I once AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xvii more discoursed from an academical chair. The philosophical faculty of Berlin, to whom I am indebted for that memorable honour, will allow me, in remembrance of it, to dedicate to them this book with silent gratitude. Heidelberg: 27th January, 1856. KUNO FISCHER. a CONTENTS. Invention as the Problem of the Baconian Philosophy I. The Baconian Point of View.-Discovery and II. The Dominion of Man (Regnum Hominis) 1. Conviction opposed to Authority 2. Real opposed to Verbal Knowledge 3. Natural Analogy opposed to Human Analogy 81 |