The philosopher who was directly or indirectly the cause of the realist tendency was Herbart (1776-1841), who succeeded Kant at Königsberg, and afterwards was Professor at Göttingen. Concerning his system, see Morell's History of Philosophy, ii. 206, &c. Chalybaüs, ch. iv. and v. He followed out the material, as distinct from the formal, system of the Kantian philosophy, and strove to develop it.
The schools of modern Germany may be reckoned as four:—
(1). The young Hegelian school; e.g. of the younger Fichte, which, though professedly idealistic, and adopting Hegel's method, is really affected largely by realistic tendencies, and seeks for a philosophy of matter as well as form. See Taillandier in Revue des Deux Mondes for 1853, vol. iii. p. 633; and also Oct. 1858; Morell's History of Philosophy, ii. 216, &c. Kahnis, p. 252. This school manifests decidedly realistic tendencies in Kuno Fischer, Weisse, and Branis.
(2.) That which shows a tendency to approach the subject of mental phenomena from the physiological side, in Drobisch, Waitz, and Volkmann, somewhat in the manner of the English writer Herbert Spencer.
(3.) A school decidedly materialist, e.g. Vogt, Moleschott, and Büchner. See Taillandier, Rev. des Deux Mondes, Oct. 1858.
These three tendencies form a gradation from the ideal, and approach the real, until at last the ideal itself is destroyed. The other tendency, if such it may be called, stands apart, and is akin to the older ideal ones. It is (4.) that of Schopenhauer (1788-1860), and tries to solve the problem of existence from the side of the will, instead of the intellect, and bears a remote resemblance to that of Maine de Biran. His system has long been before the public, but since his death has been much discussed. It has been explained by Frauenstädt. It is also well described in the Westminster Review, April, 1853.
We now pass from the schools of philosophy to theology.
We have implied that there are three great schools of it in Germany; the Neo-Lutheran, the Mediation school, and the Tübingen; and have seen that they are each in course of transition into slightly new forms in younger hands. The “Neo-Lutheranism” [pg 439] has assumed a more ecclesiastical position, which has been called “Hyper-Lutheranism.” The “Mediation” school of Schleiermacher is replaced by a newer form, modified by Hegelianism in Dorner. It remains to add, that the Tübingen school is giving place to another, of which C. Schwarz himself is a representative—a kind of derivation from the Tübingen school and that of De Wette. Its organ is the Protestantische Kirchenzeitung; and to it are said[1070] to belong Dr. Dittenberger, court preacher at Weimar, C. Schwarz, who holds the same position at Gotha; Ellester of Potsdam, Sydow of Berlin, and Schweizer of Zurich. Their position seems to be more ethical and less evangelical than the members of the party of free thought in the protestant church of France.