Panlogism

PANLOGISM. - From the Greek πᾶν, all, and λόγος, reason, it is “the doctrine according to which everything that is real is wholly intelligible and can be constructed by the spirit according to its own laws” (A. Lalande, Vocab. techn. et critique de la philos., 5th ed., Paris 1947, pp. 713–14); or, more precisely, the doctrine that resolves all reality into the spirit as a logical-rational process. In this sense the term, coined by J. E. Erdmann, was applied by him (Versuch einer wissenschaftl. Darstellung d. Gesch. d. neuer. Philos., III, part 2, Leipzig 1853) to the Hegelian system, which posits Reason as the supreme and only true reality (v. HEGEL). In its fairly frequent use today, the term is extended to Neo-Hegelian tendencies. Whereas the reference to Hegelianism appears justified, the identification of p. idealism (v.) is, in many respects, inaccurate.