All the difficulties of the conception of a higher world are absent, for the naturalistic position does not admit of its existence.

It gives, too, some purpose to life, even though that purpose is not an ideal one.
Eucken is not reluctant to give the theory all the credit it deserves, and he is prepared to admit that it fulfils to some extent the conditions which he holds a satisfactory solution should fulfil.
He goes, however, immediately to the root of the matter, and finds that the very existence of the theory of naturalism in itself is an eloquent disproof of the theory.

The existence of a comprehensive scientific conception involves an activity which is far superior to nature itself, for it can make nature the object of systematic study.

An intellect which is nothing more than a mirror of sense impressions can get little beyond such sense impressions, whereas the highly developed scientific conception of nature that obtains to-day is far beyond a mere collection of sense impressions.

Nature, indeed, is subdued and mastered by man; why then degrade man to the level of a universe he has mastered?
To produce from the phenomena of nature a scientific conception of nature demands the activity of an independent, originative power of thought, which, though it may be conditioned by, and must be related to, sense impressions, is far above mere sense impressions.
Naturalism, in directing attention to the things that are experienced, fails to take proper account of the mind that experiences them; it postulates nature without mind, when only by the mind processes can man become aware of nature, and construct a naturalistic scheme of life.