Excerpt from Popular Works the Nature of the Scholar, the Vocation of Man, the Doctrine of Religion: With a Memoir

Over forty years have elapsed since these translations of the popular philosophical works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte were first published in 1845-49. At that time comparatively little attention had been directed in this country to the strictly philosophical literature of Germany, and no one had even attempted any popular exposition of transcendental idealism. But many varied influences, - notably the writings of Coleridge, Emerson, and Carlyle, - had combined to awaken among us a sense of dissatisfaction with the common philosophy, and a desire for higher and more spiritual views of man and the universe. In the hope of contributing to the fulfilment of that desire, I ventured to undertake the task of making known to my fellow-countrymen, in their own tongue, a new mode of thought in which this highest region of enquiry had been approached by a profound and earnest German thinker, of whom it had been truly said that "a soul so calm, so lofty, massive, and immovable, has not mingled in philosophical discussion since the time of Luther." The hope thus entertained has been realized to an extent far beyond what I could then anticipate. By kind acknowledgments that have reached me from many quarters, both here and in America, as well as by the issue of successive editions of these writings, I am warranted in the belief that the seed thus sown has borne fruit in due season and in many fields. In the preparation of these volumes for a fourth edition they have been once more subjected to careful revision; and in now taking final leave of them I venture again to indulge the hope that, favoured by the wider interest now taken in the higher philosophy, they may still be found a help and encouragement to the earnest student in his search, amid the doubts and confusion of our time, for some reassuring glimpse of the 'Divine Idea of the World.'

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