The World as Will and Idea, Vol. II — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

If a philosopher tries to begin by thinking out the methods in accordance with which he will philosophise, he is like a poet who first writes a system of aesthetics in order to poetise in accordance with it. Both of them may be compared to a man who first sings himself a tune and afterwards dances to it. The thinkiug mind must find its way from original tendency.

Eule and application, method and achievement, must, like matter and form, be inseparable. But after we have reached the goal we may consider the path we have followed. ./Esthetics and methodology are, from their nature, younger than poetry and philosophy ; as grammar is younger than language, thorough bass younger than music, and logic younger than thought.

This is a fitting place to make, in passing, a remark by means of which I should like to check a growing evi] while there is yet time. That Latin has ceased to be the language of all scientific investigations has the disadvantage that there is no longer an immediately commor scientific literature for the whole of Europe, but nationa literatures. And thus every scholar is primarily limitei to a much smaller public, and moreover to a public ham pered with national points of view and prejudices. Thei he must now learn the four principal European languages as well as the two ancient languages. In this it will be great assistance to him that the termini technici of al sciences (with the exception of mineralogy) are, as an in heritance from our predecessors, Latin or Greek. Therefoi all nations wisely retain these. Only the Germans hav hit upon the unfortunate idea of wishing to Germanis the termini technici of all the sciences. This has tw great disadvantages. First, the foreign and also the Ge man scholar is obliged to learn all the technical tern of his science twice, which, when there are many — t

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example, in Anatomy — is an incredibly tiresome and lengthy business. If the other nations were not in this respect wiser than the Germans, we would have the trouble of learning every terminus technieus five times.

If the Germans carry this further, foreign men of learning will leave their books altogether unread ; for besides this fault they are for the most part too diffuse, and are writ-

;en in a careless, bad, and often affected and objectionable

*tyle, and besides are generally conceived with a rude iisregard of the reader and his requirements. Secondly, hose Germanised forms of the termini technici are almost

.hroughout long, patched-up, stupidly chosen, awkward, arring words, not clearly separated from the rest of the anguage, which therefore impress themselves with diffi-

•ulty upon the memory, while the Greek and Latin extressions chosen by the ancient and memorable founders if the sciences possess the whole of the opposite good qualities, and easily impress themselves on the memory

>y their sonorous sound. What an ugly, harsh-soundug word, for instance, is " Stickstoff" instead of azot !

Verbum," " substantiv" " adjectiv," are remembered and istinguished more easily than " Zeitwort" " Nenntvort,"

Beiwort," or even " Umstandswort " instead of "adverium." In Anatomy it is quite unsupportable, and morever vulgar and low. Even " Pulsader " and " Blutader "

re more exposed to momentary confusion than " Arterie "

nd " Vene ; " but utterly bewildering are such expressions

3 " Fruchthdlter," " Fruchtgang," and " Fruchtleiter " in-

;ead of " uterus," " vagina," and " tuba Faloppii," which yet very doctor must know, and which he will find sufficient

I all European languages. In the same way "Speiche " and Elleribogenrohre " instead of " radius " and " ulna," which

II Europe has understood for thousands of years. Where- >re then this clumsy, confusing, drawling, and awkward ermanising? Not less objectionable is the translation ■ the technical terms in Logic, in which our gifted profes- )rs of philosophy are the creators of a new terminology,

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