CHAPTER II. Main Currents Since 1851

MAIN CURRENTS SINCE 1851

Introductory: Influence of events of 1848-1851—Reactionary character of Second Empire—Disgust of many thinkers (e.g., Vacherot, Taine, Renan, Renouvier, Hugo, Quinet)—Effects of 1870, the War, the Commune, and the Third Republic.

General character of the Philosophy of the Period—Reaction against both Eclecticism and Positivism.

THE THREE MAIN CURRENTS.

I. Positivist and naturalist current turning upon itself, seen in Vacherot, Taine, and Renan.

II. Cournot, Renouvier, and the neo-critical philosophy.

III. The New Spiritual Philosophy, to which the main contributors were Ravaisson, Lachelier, Boutroux, Fouillée, Guyau, Bergson, Blondel, and Weber.