Abstract

Eucken's Philosophy of Life

This article focuses on the sudden and widespread popularity of Rudolf Eucken's philosophy in England and the U.S. Eucken is now in his sixty-seventh year. Although his first work of importance appeared in 1878, his larger popularity is a matter of five or ten years past. His introduction to English readers, dates mainly from 1909, when his best work, ""Lebensanschauungen der grossen Denker," was translated under the title of "The Problem of Human Life." For clearly, one of the secrets of Eucken's influence, at least in his later works, is a certain impressive eloquence, a peculiarly German impressiveness, which is hardly reproduced in English. His own idea of life may be approached through his analysis of existing systems, in which, it may be noted, he is at his best. Among the older systems, he has the highest regard for Christianity, which alone, he thinks, contains the elements of absolute religion.