IT has not been possible to indicate the aim of the
present work by means of an unequivocal title. Some
introductory explanation as to the purpose of the
following investigations should not, therefore, be super-
fluous. The reader has a claim to know for what end
his attention is demanded; the author, again, has the
right to defend himself against the misapprehensions
to which the name of his book may give rise.

The subject I propose to treat is connected with
the theory of Art, and the questions dealt with in the
following pages have all been apprehended as aesthetic
problems; but in the treatment of these problems other
methods have been used than those of purely aesthetic
inquiry. The further the work proceeded, the more
evident became the necessity of taking into considera-
tion phenomena connected only indirectly with man's
artistic activity. Thus an investigation which was in-
tended to move within only a limited department, has
spread itself little by little over a far wider field of
study.

According to the original design, this book was to

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