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206 THE WILL IN NATURE.
source. They like to place him in a line with, nay above,
Kant, having at times the assurance to call him the
greatest of all G-erman philosophers. Now, compared with
Kant, Leibnitz is a poor rushlight. Kant is a master
mind, to whom mankind is indebted for the discovery of
never-to-be-forgotten truths. One of his chief merits is
precisely, to have delivered us from Leibnitz and his subtle
ties : from pre-established harmonies, monads and identitas
indiscernibilium. Kant has made philosophy serious and I
am keeping it so. That these gentlemen should think dif
ferently is easily explained ;
for has not Leibnitz a central
Monad and a Theodicee also, with which to deck it out ?
Now this is quite to the taste of my gentlemen of the
philosophical trade. It does not stand in the way of
earning a honest livelihood ; it allows one to subsist ;
"
whereas such a thing as Kant s Critique of all Speculative
makes one s hair stand on end. Kant is con
Theology,"
sequently a wrong-headed man and one to be set aside.
Vivat Leibnitz ! Vivat the philosophical
trade ! Vivat
old woman s philosophy ! These gentlemen really imagine
that, according to the standard of their own petty aims, they
can obscure what is good, disparage what is great, and
accredit what is false. They may perhaps succeed in
doing so for a time, but certainly not in the long run, nor
with impunity. Notwithstanding all their machinations
and spiteful ignoring of me for forty years, have not
even I at last made my way ? During those forty years
however I have learnt to appreciate Chamfort s words :
"En examinant la ligue des sots contre les gens d* esprit, on
croirait voir une conspiration de valets pour
ecarter les
maitres"
We do not care to have much to do with those whom we
dislike. One of the consequences of this antipathy for
Kant, therefore, has been an incredible ignorance of his
doctrines. I can scarcely believe my eyes at times, when