This drift to idealism is the most distinctive note of the two
volumes taken as a whole. Some of it is a vague if general reaction against the exclusively scientific point of view. Some of it is
a definite and conscious return to the heroes of German idealism
long neglected. But for the most part it is that broader idealism that
Windelband had in mind when in his lectures on Die Philosophie in Deutschen Geistesleben des XIX Jahrhunderts, he concluded with
one on "Die neuen Wertprobleme und die Ruckkehr zum Idealismus."
This return, instead of being arrested, seems to have been quickened
by the war. Whatever the effect on German life and the German
people as a whole, German philosophy, in so far as these volumes
may be taken as an indication, not only recognizes that "wir auch in
geistigen Dingen ganz anders sind als vor dem Kriege," but also
understands where its true strength and inspiration lies.
Wilbur M. Urban.
Hanover, N. H.
