MAJOR PROPHETS OF TO-DAY
BY
EDWIN E. SLOSSON
M.S., PH.D.
LITERARY EDITOR OF "THE INDEPENDENT"
ASSOCIATE IN THE COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM
AUTHOR OF "GREAT AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES," ETC
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1916
TO MY WIFE
MAY PRESTON SLOSSON
WHO WAS THE COMPANION OF MY PILGRIMAGE
TO THE OLD WORLD
IN SEARCH OF NEW PROPHETS
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
PREFACE
Each age has its own prophets, men who bring to it distinctive messagesand present them in such effective form as to sway the currents ofcontemporary thought. No age perhaps has had more diverse theoriesof life and the meaning of things presented to it than our own, andcertainly none has ever given such an opportunity for the originalthinker to reach quickly a world-wide audience as he can now throughthe medium of cheap books and free schools.
This volume originated in my own desire to find out what was beingsaid by certain persons who, I had reason to believe, were worthattention. But unless one is abnormally selfish, he always wants tointroduce others to an interesting acquaintance. It is then simply asintroductions that I would wish the following chapters to be taken.In one way or another such men are influencing the thought of all ofus, but since we mostly get their philosophy at second hand—or atthird, fourth, or nth hand—we fail to recognize its origin and are aptto misconceive its intent. Ideas that reach us in fragmentary form,and often after multiple translation through minds sometimes alienor hostile, are not very useful. It is always safer to drink at thesource. I have endeavored to give some idea of the scope and characterof each man's work, so that the reader may judge for himself whetherit is profitable for him to follow up the acquaintance. If he does, hewill find at the end of the chapter directions how to proceed further.
We imagine we can understand a man better if we can see his face,even his photograph. This may be a superstition, but, if so, itis a superstition worth deferring to by one who aspires to be aninterpreter. So in the summer of 1910 I went to see the six menincluded in this first volume in their homes, not with the hope ofgetting any new and unpublished opinions, not with the expectation ofgaining a personal acquaintance that would give me any deeper insightinto their mental processes, but merely to convince myself that theyare flesh and blood, instead of paper and ink. If I can convince thereader of this, my purpose will be accomplished.
In the choice of names to be included in the list, I was guidedprimarily by the idea that I should be most likely to interest othersin the men who have most interested me. Since the object of the bookis to serve as an introduction to the works of the authors, not as asubstitute for them, the choice was limited to those who have givenexpression to their philosophical views in a sufficiently popular formto be attractive to the general reader. It was necessary to selectrepresentatives of diverse types of thought, and it was not possibleto confine the choice to the philosophi