The Metaphysic of Mr. F. H. Bradley (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from The Metaphysic of Mr. F. H. Bradley I hope the present moment will not be an unfavourable one for attempting an impartial examination of Mr. Bradley's metaphysical position. As this paper will be chiefly critical, I should like to begin by saying that I am one of those who do place Mr. Bradley among the classics of Philosophy. When Appearance and Reality came out, Dr. Edward Caird said that it was the greatest thing since Kant. I should like respectfully to subscribe that dictum at least in the form 'there has been nothing greater since Kant'. It is not likely, indeed, that Mr. Bradley's actual reputation will ever place him quite in this position. The greatest and most enduring philosophical reputations will always be those of men who have not merely offered a new solution of the technical problems of Philosophy but have expounded some new and characteristic attitude towards life. Mr. Bradley - apart from a few obiter dicta which in all spheres except the religious are for the most part of an extremely conservative cast - has touched little on practical questions. Perhaps therefore his writings will never become quite as classical as they deserve to be. But just because I regard Mr. Bradley as a classic, I shall venture to handle him with the freedom which we all employ towards the great names of Philosophy. One is almost tempted to say that the greatest thinkers are just those who have made the greatest mistakes. We are all agreed that there are huge inconsistencies in Kant: much the same thing is beginning at least to be whispered about Hegel, and yet we do not cease to regard Kant or even Hegel as great men. I trust therefore that, if I venture to point out similar inconsistencies in Mr. Bradley, I shall not be supposed to be wanting in respectful admiration for his work. I need not say that it is only in the most inadequate way that in such a paper as this I can attempt an examination even of one or two central points in his elaborate construction - if the word can be applied to a system which is so much more destructive than constructive. A full examination of Appearance and Reality would demand a work at least as long. If criticism must be brief, exposition must be briefer. And yet, even before an audience whose adequate acquaintance with the book may be pre-supposed, I can hardly begin to criticize without some slight attempt to state the positions I am attacking - if only for the purpose of indicating incidentally what are the elements of Mr. Bradley's thought which I regard as constituting his real philosophical importance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.