Section XXIII.. The Idealistic Method.

The Idealistic Method.

Any one who has read a goodly number of idealistic works treating of public economy (the state, law etc.) cannot have failed to be struck by the enormous differences, and even contradictions, as to what theorizers have considered desirable and necessary. There is scarcely an important point which the highest authorities may not be cited for or against. We must not close our eyes to this fact. “The giddiness that comes from contemplating the depths of knowledge is the beginning of philosophy, as the god Thaumas was, according to the fable, the father of Iris.” (Plato.) In a precisely similar manner, the student of public economy (politics, the philosophy of law etc.) must familiarize himself with the variations that have taken place in what men, at different periods of history, have required of the state and public economy, until he is lost in wonder at the contemplation.