f such an order. With his
idealistic followers it is possible to define the spiritual setting of
the moral life, but with Kant it is only possible to define the
antagonism of principles. Hence the greater optimism of the
post-Kantians. They know that the higher law is the reality, and that he
who obeys it thus unites himself with the absolute self. That which for
Kant is only a resolute obedience to more valid principles, to
rationally superior rules for action, is for idealism man's
appropriation of his spiritual birthright. Since the law is the deeper
nature, man may respect and obey it as valid, and at the same time act
upon it gladly in the sure knowledge that it will enhance his eternal
welfare. Indeed, the knowledge that the very universe is founded upon
this law will make him less suspicious of nature and less exclusive in
his adherence to any single law. He will be more confident of the
essential goodness of all manifestations of a universe which he knows to
be fundamentally spiritual.

But it has been urged, secondly, that the Kantian ethics is too formal,
too little pertinent to the issues of life. Kant's moral law imposes
only obedience to the law, or conduct conceived as suitable to a
universal moral community. But what is the nature of such conduct in
particular? It may be answered that to maintain the moral
self-consciousness, to act dutifully and dutifully only, to be
self-reliant and unswerving in the doing of what one ought to do, is to
obtain a very specific character. But does this not leave the
individual's conduct to his own interpretation of his duty? It was just
this element of individualism which Hegel sought to eliminate through
the application of his larger philosophical conception. If that which
expresses itself within the individual consciousness as the moral law be
indeed the law of that self in which the universe is grounded, it will
appear as _objective spirit_ in the evolution of society. For Hegel,
then, the most valid standard of goodness is to be found in that
customary morality which bespeaks the moral leadings of the general
humanity, and in those institutions, such as the family and the state,
which are the moral acts of the absolute idea itself. Finally, in the
realm of _absolute spirit_, in art, in revealed religion, and in
philosophy, the individual may approach to the self-consciousness which
is the perfect truth and goodness in and for itself.

[Sidenote: The Peculiar Panthei