Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 126

102

THE SPIRITUAL SCIENCES

§ 42.

[Div. II

and Social sciences, etc. And though it might this would destroy the subjective character of by the greater part of the investigations within the domain

Political

seem that far

of the sj^iritual sciences,

not so.

it is

All study of law, for

would be inconceivable by a scholar who did not have the sense of right, however imperfectly, in himself. The

instance,

study of language

is

only possible because

tions between the soul, thought

we know the

rela-

and sound, from our own

Statesmanship can only be studied, because by The nature man is an active partner in all public affairs. starting-point and the condition for the prosecution of these subject.

sciences consequently always

lie

in our

own

subjective sense.

In the vestibule of Psj'chology the psychic phenomena of animal life receive ever greater attention, which study offers

no mean contribution

to the

knowledge

of simple percep-

tions but the leading scientists unanimously protest against the conclusions drawn from this for the knowledge of the social life of animals, such as those for instance of Sir John Lubbock for the world of ants. If the possibility might be born at any time to determine by analogy that there are psychological and sociological relations in the world of aniEven then it would mals, it could not affect our position. not be the world of animals that interprets to us the world of man, but on the contrary it would still be our own subjective sense, from which by analogy a world is concluded analogous to ours just as Theologians have set us the example ;

;

with respect to the world of angels. Neither should we be misled by the fact that the objective character predominates in by far the larger part of the labor expended upon spiritual studies. If it is true that with Psychology for instance the physico-psychic experiment, and the comparative study of psychic expression and ethnologicalhistoric investigations offer very considerable contributions to this department of science, it must not be forgotten that all these preliminary studies are impelled and directed by the psychic sense

itself,

and that

after these preliminary studies

the real construction of Psychology only commences.

more objective

side of

The

these studies has a twofold cause.

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