ABSTRACT
A certain philosophical standpoint occupies a prominent place in a philosopher's system, or expresses the opinion of the speaker that metaphysics is the most important philosophical discipline, and that one's attitude to it must therefore be taken to indicate one's philosophical attitude in general. The only way to be accurate is always to say in what department of philosophy the particular philosopher belongs to a particular school. This chapter distinguishes schools or tendencies of thought not only in the contents attributed to a given science, but also in the general significance attached to it as a whole. Thus different schools give very different definitions of the problems of logic and psychology and epistemology. A man's general philosophical attitude must, within certain limits, determine his attitude to special problems. In epistemology, Paulsen recognises four principal schools: those of realistic empiricism, realistic rationalism, idealistic empiricism, and idealistic rationalism.
