,,religion ,,and ,,science ,,religion ,,and ,,science ,,from ,,galileo ,,to ,,bergson ,,by ,,john ,,charlton ,,hardwick ,philosophy will always be hard1 and what it promises even in the end is no clear theory nor any complete understanding or vision4 ,but its certain reward is a continual evidence and a heightened apprehension of the ineffable mystery of life1 of life in all its complexity and all its unity and worth4 ,f4 ,h4 ,,bradley1 ,essays in ,truth and ,reality1 p4 #ajf4 ,,london ,,society ,,for ,,promoting ,,christian ,,knowledge ,,new ,,york3 ,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4 #aibj ,,to ,,my ,,father ,,preface ,the chapters which follow are not intended as even a slight sketch of the history of ,thought since the ,renaissance4 ,their object is more modest1 i4e4 to illustrate the thesis that mankind1 being incurably religious1 insists 7however hopeless the enterprise may sometimes seem7 upon interpreting the universe spiritually4 ,thus it is quite natural that only a few typical names should find their places here3 and often no sufficient reason may appear for one being included rather than another4 ,for instance1 in the tenth chapter1 ,t4 ,h4 ,green1 ,f4 ,h4 ,bradley1 and ,a4 ,j4 ,balfour are mentioned1 while ,martineau and the ,cairds are passed over4 ,needless to say1 there was no doctrinal prejudice here4 ,again1 in the fourth chapter1 ,pascal is dealt with at some length1 but ,boehme1 an equally important thinker1 is ignored4 ,and so on4 ,i should like to acknowledge here my obligation to ,dr4 ,mercer1 ,canon of ,chester1 for his advice upon books1 especially with regard to material for the final chapters4 ,also to the ,rev4 ,h4 ,d4 ,a4 ,major1 ,principal of ,ripon ,hall1 for suggestions about the general plan of the book2 and to the ,rev4 ,e4 ,harvey 7a mathematical graduate of ,trinity ,college1 ,dublin1 at present studying medicine7 for valuable information about the present position of psychic research4 ,j4 ,c4 ,h4 ,,altringham1 ,march #bcrd1 #aibj4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,introductory ,,page ,religion and ,science defined4 ,accurate and systematic knowledge necessarily affects our attitude to life4 ,can our systematised knowledge sanction a religious attitude8 ,this the religious problem4 ,religious harmony of ,middle ,ages4 ,will it return8 #a ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,dissolution ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,synthesis ,the old ,world-,scheme described4 ,aquinas and ,scholasticism4 ,cusanus criticises conventional ideas of space4 ,the ,new ,astronomy of ,copernicus4 ,bruno and an infinite universe4 ,galileo's telescope4 ,the ,new ,physics and an automatic universe4 ,the ,new ,logic #h ,,chapter ,,iii ,,growth ,,of ,,the ,,mechanical ,,theory ,the ,new ,science creates a ,new ,philosophy4 ,universality of ,mechanics4 ,importance of ,harvey's discovery4 ,descartes extends the mechanical theory to cover physiology and psychology4 ,hobbes and a naturalistic ethic4 ,newton extends the operation of law from the earth to the heavens4 ,religious attitude of these thinkers4 ,significance of their thought #ah ,,chapter ,,iv ,,seventeenth-,,century ,,reactions ,a ,law of ,thought4 ,spinoza4 ,a ,mechanical ,universe spiritually interpreted4 ,natura ,naturans1 what it means4 ,the ,ethics4 ,spinoza's mysticism4 ,his personality4 ,leibniz and a philosophy of personality4 ,his monads4 ,pascal4 ,his significance4 ,the ,pensees4 ,the eternal protest of religion4 ,man defies the universe4 ,results #bh ,,chapter ,v ,,rise ,,of ,,an ,,anti-,,religious ,,science ,anti-clericalism in eighteenth-century ,france4 ,voltaire's propaganda4 ,diderot and the ,encyclopaedists4 ,holbach's ,system of ,nature4 ,laplace's astronomy4 ,lavoisier and the ,new ,chemistry4 ,dalton's atomic theory4 ,results for religion #db ,,chapter ,,vi ,,rise ,,of ,,german ,,idealism ,importance1 for the mechanical view1 of ,locke's theory of knowledge4 ,weakness of speculative philosophy4 ,rise of the critical philosophy4 ,kant4 ,he seeks to solve the problem3 ,how is knowledge possible8 ,kant's view of the mind's function in knowledge4 ,mechanism a form of thought1 subjective not objective4 ,kant's view of reality4 ,can we know reality8 ,the two worlds #eb ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,romantic ,,movement ,kant clears the ground for a new philosophy4 ,significance of ,rousseau4 ,his attitude to culture4 ,the new philosophy in ,germany1 its goal4 ,fichte4 ,hegel a rationalistic-romanticist4 ,his method4 ,hegelianism4 ,significance for religious thought of ,schleiermacher4 ,the autonomy of religion and religious experience #fb ,,chapter ,,viii ,,mechanism ,,and ,,life ,rise of bio-chemistry and bio-physics in ,germany4 ,significance of these movements4 ,the ,origin of ,species4 ,lamarck4 ,the new geology4 ,darwin4 ,results of his theory #gd ,,chapter ,,ix ,,materialism ,,and ,,agnosticism ,early decline of ,romanticism in ,germany4 ,comte and the positive philosophy4 ,materialism in ,germany4 ,darwinism and the argument from design4 ,haeckel4 ,spencerian evolutionism4 ,spencer's moral idealism4 ,his philosophy of religion4 ,agnosticism4 ,rise of philosophic pessimism4 ,significance of ,nietzsche #hd ,,chapter ,x ,,reactions ,,in ,,philosophy ,german idealism naturalised in ,england by ,coleridge and ,carlyle4 ,these writers described4 ,sartor ,resartus4 ,idealism at ,oxford1 ,t4 ,h4 ,green4 ,f4 ,h4 ,bradley4 ,balfour's plea for a philosophy of science4 ,revival of ,idealism in ,germany4 ,lotze4 ,his view of values and reality #ih ,,chapter ,,xi ,,some ,,recent ,,tendencies ,,in ,,philosophy ,a new philosophy of ,science4 ,mach on ,economy of ,thought4 ,abstractness and artificiality of scientific method4 ,boutroux and natural law4 ,james' view of the mind carried further by ,bergson4 ,his view of the intellect4 ,what it can1 and what it cannot1 do for us4 ,intuition4 ,indeterminism and ,pluralism4 ,leibniz revived4 ,ward's philosophy of personality #aaj ,,chapter ,,xii ,,some ,,recent ,,tendencies ,,in ,,science ,the ,new ,physics4 ,new theories of matter4 ,the ,new ,biology4 ,driesch and neo-vitalism4 ,the ,new ,psychology4 ,spiritualism4 ,the outlook for the future #abe ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,some ,,final ,,considerations ,history of ,thought supplies no material for dogmatising4 ,yet a progress of ideas is evident4 ,permanency of spiritual view of reality4 ,its continual revival4 ,sabatier's saying4 ,need of freedom1 alike for religion and for science #acg ,,religion ,,and ,,science ,,chapter ,i ,,introductory4 ,,religion ,,and ,,science ,numerous attempts to define religion have made it evident that religion is indefinable4 ,we may1 however1 say this much about it1 that religion is an attitude towards life3 a way of looking at existence4 ,it is true that this definition is too wide1 and includes things which are not religion--there are certain attitudes to life which are definitely anti-religious--that of the materialist1 for instance4 ,however1 it will serve a purpose1 and we can improve upon it as we proceed4 ,it is a mistake to put too much faith in definitions3 at any rate it is better to have our definitions 7if have them we must7 too wide than too narrow4 ,science is1 fortunately1 much easier to define4 ,accurate and systematic knowledge is what we mean by science--knowledge about anything1 provided that the facts are 7so far as possible7 accurately described and systematically classified4 ,professor ,karl ,pearson1 the highest authority on the principles of scientific method and theory1 writes3 ,the man who classifies facts of any kind whatever1 who sees their mutual relation and describes their sequences1 is applying the scientific method and is a man of science4 ,the facts may belong to the past history of mankind1 to the social statistics of our great cities1 to the atmosphere of the most distant stars1 to the digestive organs of a worm1 or to the life of a scarcely visible bacillus4 ,it is not facts themselves which make science1 but the method by which they are dealt with4 ,the material of science is co-extensive with the whole physical universe1 not only that universe as it now exists1 but with its past history and the past history of all life therein4 ,when every fact1 every present or past phenomenon of that universe1 every phase of present or past life therein1 has been classified1 and co-ordinated with the rest1 then the mission of science will be completed4#a ,science1 then1 is systematic and accurate knowledge2 and when we have systematic and accurate knowledge about everything there is to be known1 the programme of science will be complete4 ,this is only to say that the task it has set itself is one that will never end4 ,so much1 then1 for our definitions4 ,religion is an attitude to life3 science is systematic and accurate knowledge4 ,how does the one affect the other8 ,what are the relations between the two8 ,that is the topic which will occupy our attention during the chapters that follow4 ,to answer the question properly will involve a certain amount of acquaintance with the history of ideas4 ,we must first put the preliminary question3 ,how1 as a matter of fact1 have men's scientific ideas affected their religious ideas 7or vice versa7 in times past8 ,having tried to answer this question1 we shall be in a better position to approach the religious problem as it presents itself to-day4 ,meanwhile a few remarks of a general character will not be out of place4 ,it is evident that science can hardly fail to affect religion4 ,systematised knowledge necessarily affects an individual's 7or a society's7 attitude to life--either by broadening and elevating that attitude1 or by debasing it4 ,our knowledge1 or what we believe to be such1 tends to create certain preconceptions which make our minds hostile to certain beliefs or ideas4 ,a man reared from his cradle on mechanical science will tend to regard miracles with suspicion2 if he be logical 7as he generally is not7 freedom of the will1 even in the most limited sense1 will appear chimerical4 ,nor will his general attitude to life remain unaffected by his views on these points4 ,systematised knowledge may thus conceivably come into conflict with the presuppositions or the ideals of some particular religion4 ,it is then that a religious problem arises4 ,a religion indissolubly associated with a geocentric conception of the universe would tend to become discredited as soon as that conception had been disposed of by systematic knowledge4 ,science may even tend to produce an attitude to life hostile not only to a particular religion but to all religion4 ,if materialism should ultimately be found to be consistent with systematic and accurate knowledge1 it is difficult to see how any attitude to life which could be appropriately described as religion could survive4 ,the religious problem would then1 at any rate1 cease to trouble us4 ,the religious apologists would be free to turn their attention to matters of more moment4 ,but it is not only with the cessation of religion that the religious problem slumbers4 ,there are certain happy periods when religion flourishes undisturbed by obstinate questionings4 ,these classical ages of religion exist when systematised knowledge seems to support the contemporary religious outlook--when science and religion speak with one voice4 ,such unanimity seems to us to-day too good to be possible1 but that is only because our own age is exceptional--not because those happier ages were exceptional2 they1 in fact--if we trace history backwards--would seem rather to have been the rule4 ,primitive man1 it would seem1 was troubled by no discords of the kind which disturb our peace4 ,his systematic knowledge--such as it was--was entirely in accord with his religion1 the two were1 in fact1 in his case practically one4 ,his science was his religion4 ,it may not have been very sound science1 nor very elevated religion1 but it served his purpose admirably4 ,he was too busy with the struggle for survival to indulge in speculation4 ,his religion was severely practical1 and he was faithful to it because experience seemed to indicate that it paid4 ,but the ,stone ,age hardly deserves 7in spite of its freedom from religious difficulties7 to be described as one of the classical ages of religion2 absence of struggle does not necessarily mean richness of life4 ,there are ages which better deserve that appellation4 ,there are times when all existing culture--even of a high level--is closely associated with the current religion1 endorses its ideals1 sanctions its hopes1 puts the stamp of finality upon its faith4 ,such an age cannot perhaps hope to be permanent2 for life means movement1 and movement upsets equilibrium1 and human knowledge tends to increase faster than the human mind can adapt itself to it or digest it4 ,but such ages are looked back upon with regret when they are past1 they shed a golden radiance over history1 their tradition lingers1 they even leave behind them monuments of art and literature which are the wonder1 and the inimitable models1 of succeeding generations4 ,such an epoch was that which left to us our ,gothic cathedrals4 ,these are the creation of one of those classic ages when all existing culture is cast or bent in obedience to the religious idea4 ,when scientist1 scholar and ecclesiastic spoke with one voice and listened to one message2 when prince and peasant worshipped together the same divinities2 when to be outside the religious community was to be cut off from the brotherhood of mankind4 ,the ,church was then co-extensive with civilisation3 those without the fold were barbarians1 hardly worthy of the name of man4 ,that time of splendid harmony1 however1 is now past2 no lamentations will restore it4 ,we have reached another world4 ,but it need not remain only a memory2 it ought also to serve as an inspiration4 ,the conditions of affairs during the classic ages of religion1 however impossible at the moment1 must remain our ideal4 ,head and heart must some day speak again with one voice1 our hopes and beliefs must be consistent with our knowledge4 ,science must sanction that attitude towards existence which our highest instincts dictate4 ,it is only too likely that this consummation is yet distant4 ,yet even if our generation has to reconcile itself to spiritual and moral discord1 it should never overlook the existence of a happier ideal1 and even the possibility of its fulfilment4 ,fortunately for the interests of religion1 men feel they must effect some kind of a reconciliation between the opposing demands which proceed from different sides of their nature4 ,each for himself tries to approximate science and religion1 and the struggle to do this creates in each individual spiritual life4 ,tension sometimes creates light1 and struggle engenders life4 ,so long as there are men sufficiently interested in religion to ask for a solution of its problems1 religion will remain superior to the disintegration towards which all discord1 if unchecked1 proceeds4 ,it is sometimes said that the religious harmony of the ,middle ,ages1 of which we have spoken1 having been due to imperfect knowledge1 is never likely to repeat itself1 unless we sink back into the ignorance of barbarism3 and 7it is urged7 we know too much to be at peace4 ,having tasted of the fruits of knowledge1 the human race is cast forth from its ,paradise4 ,this view is unduly pessimistic4 ,there is no valid reason for excluding the possibility that our knowledge of reality and those ideal hopes which constitute our religion may actually coincide4 ,religion and science1 approaching the problem of existence from contrary directions1 may independently arrive at an identical solution4 ,that the two actually do attack the enigma from different sides has led many people to regard the two as hostile forces4 ,such is not the case4 ,religion and science regard reality from different angles1 but it is the same reality that is the object of their vision1 and the goal of their search4 ,religion looks at existence as a whole1 and attempts to determine its meaning and value for mankind4 ,religion1 we may say1 stands at the centre of existence1 and regards reality from a central position4 ,the province of science1 on the other hand1 is not to take so wide a survey1 but to gain knowledge piece-meal3 to locate points inductively1 and thus to plot out the curve which we believe existence constitutes4 ,if the loci1 as they are successively fixed1 seem to indicate that the curve is identical with the circle which religion has already intuitively postulated1 the problem of existence would have been solved4 ,science and religion working by different methods would have described the same circle4 ,when science has completed its circle1 its centre may be found to stand just at the point where religion has always confidently declared it to be4 ,knowledge and faith will then1 and not till then1 be one4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,dissolution ,,of ,,the ,,old ,,synthesis ,we have seen that there are classic religious periods when faith and knowledge have seemed to approximate to one another4 ,the ,middle ,ages in ,europe constituted such a period2 no ,religion v4 ,science controversy could then be said to exist2 the best scientific knowledge of the time seemed to sanction the popular religious notions4 ,learned and lay thought in the same terms2 the wolf lay down with the lamb4 ,,the ,,old ,,world-,,scheme4--,it is important to grasp the main features of a world-scheme which as late as the fifteenth century passed everywhere without criticism4 ,the father of it was ,aristotle4 ,his conception of the universe rested upon the plain contrast1 which strikes the unsophisticated observer1 between the unembarrassed and regular movements of the heavenly bodies and the disordered agitations of sublunary things4 ,hence the heavenly region was eternal1 and the region of earth transitory3 yonder1 the motions that take place are eternal and regular2 here1 motion and rest alternate1 nothing continueth in one stay4 ,at the centre of the universe stands ,earth3 hence we mount through three sublunary strata to the region of the celestial ether1 which is purer as distance from the ,earth increases4 ,these strata form three concentric spheres which1 solid yet transparent 7like crystal71 revolve around the earth4 ,the first contains the moon--like a fly in amber2 the second1 the sun2 the third1 the fixed stars2 which last sphere is also the first of several successive heavens1 the highest of which is the seat of ,deity4 ,this ,aristotelio-,ptolemaic system#b formed a coherent framework for biblical world-notions4 ,here too1 earth stands still while sun and stars revolve2 here1 too1 the seat of ,deity is the highest heaven4 ,this was an universe where men could feel their feet on firm ground2 their minds found rest in those simple and definite notions which make religious conceptions easy to understand and accept2 their imaginations were not yet disturbed and disquieted by thoughts of space and time without end and without beginning4 ,,aquinas4--,such was the world of nature1 the theatre for that world of grace which ,revelation spoke of1 and which led eventually to the eternal world of glory in which the faithful should have their portion4 ,natura1 gratia1 gloria was the ascending series 7like another set of celestial spheres71 and the whole economy was elaborated into a logical system1 known to the historians of thought as ,scholasticism3 a philosophy which found its most perfect and memorable expression in ,thomas ,aquinas 7#abbg-gd71 the doctor angelicus of ,catholic theology1 canonised less than fifty years after his death4 ,the ,summa ,philosophica1 where ,aquinas deals with the rational foundations of a ,christian ,theism1 and the ,summa ,theologica1 where he erects his elaborate structure of theology and ethics1 together constitute one of the most magnificent monuments of the human intellect1 dwarfing all other bodies of theology into insignificance4#c ,in him the erudition of an epoch found its spokesman2 he was the personification of an intellectual ideal4 ,to his contemporaries he stood beyond the range of criticism4 ,in the ,paradiso 7x4#h4b7 it is ,st4 ,thomas who speaks in heaven4 ,nevertheless1 the ,scholastic world-scheme1 though based on the evidence of the senses1 the investigations of antiquity1 and the authority of the ,church1 and though ,aquinas had set the seal of finality upon it1 was destined to gradual discredit and ultimate extinction4 ,,disintegration ,,begins4--,it was open to attack on two sides4 ,either observations or calculations might be brought forward1 conflicting with it1 or making another conception possible or probable3 ,or the validity of conventional ideas of space might be disputed4 ,the latter type of criticism was the first to occur4 ,nicholas ,cusanus 7#adja-adfd71 an inhabitant of the ,low ,countries1 subsequently bishop and cardinal1 developed unconventional notions about ,space4 ,he suggested that wherever man finds himself--on earth1 sun1 or star--he will always regard himself as standing at the centre of existence4 ,there is1 in fact1 no point in the universe which might not appropriately be called its centre1 and to say that the earth stands at the centre is only 7what we should now call it7 an anthropomorphism4 ,so much for place2 and similarly with motion4 ,here1 too1 there is no absolute standard to apply3 motion may exist1 but be unnoticed if there be no spot at absolute rest from which to take bearings4 ,we are like a man in a boat sailing with the stream1 who does not know that the water is flowing1 and who cannot see the banks3 how is he to discover whether the boat is moving8 ,cusanus1 in fact1 denies the fundamental ,aristotelian dogma that the earth is the central point of the universe1 because1 on general grounds1 there can be no absolute central point4 ,this gave a shock to the geocentric theory from which it never recovered4 ,worse shocks1 however1 were to come4 ,the name of the man who actually 7as ,luther complained7 turned the world upside down1 is notorious enough4 ,poles and ,germans alike have claimed the nationality of ,nicolaus ,copernicus 7#adgc-aedc72 who1 having been a student at ,cracow and in ,italy1 became a prebendary in ,frauenburg ,cathedral4 ,,the ,,new ,,astronomy4--,the general criticisms of ,cusanus were elaborated by ,copernicus4 ,the senses cannot inform us 7when any motion takes place7 what it is that moves4 ,it may be the thing perceived that moves1 or the percipient--or both4 ,and it would be possible to account for the movements of celestial bodies by the supposition that it is the earth that moves1 and not they4 ,copernicus' whole work consisted in the mathematical demonstration that this hypothesis could account for the phenomena as we observe them4 ,in fact1 when these demonstrations were eventually published 7it was only on his death-bed that ,copernicus received a copy of his book--and he had already lost consciousness7 they were introduced by a discreet preface1 which intimated that the whole thing might safely be regarded as a jeu d'esprit on the part of an eccentric mathematician4 ,and this editorial caveto1 though written by another hand1 preserved the ,copernican theories from the notoriety that might otherwise have attended1 and afterwards did attend1 them4 ,copernican conceptions were semi-traditional4 ,the sun displaces the earth as the central point of the universe3 around it revolve the planets--including the earth2 and1 at an immeasurable distance1 is the immovable heaven of the fixed stars4 ,copernicus left it an open question whether or no the universe was infinite4 ,it remained for his successor1 the greatest of the ,renaissance thinkers1 ,giordano ,bruno 7#aedh-afjj7 to declare it to be limitless1 and to contain an infinity of worlds like our own4 ,the fixed stars became1 for him1 suns surrounded by planets4 ,the traditional distinction between the celestial and sublunary spheres had vanished4 ,the bewilderment and indignation excited by these ideas1 revolting to the conscience of his time1 cost their author his life4 ,,galileo4--,the criticism of the old world-conceptions was1 however1 to be based on yet more sure ground by one who relied1 not on general considerations1 but on observation and experiment4 ,galileo 7#aefd-afdb7 studied philosophy1 physics1 and mathematics at ,pisa2 and as professor expounded the old astronomy long after he had ceased to regard it as adequate4 ,not until #afaj1 after he had constructed a telescope and observed the satellites of ,jupiter1 did he openly confess his adherence to the system of ,copernicus4 ,the observation of sun-spots and the phases of ,venus confirmed his opinion4 ,aristotelian astronomers declined to witness these phenomena through his telescope1 and perhaps ,galileo was right in observing with a sigh that were the stars themselves to descend from heaven to bear him witness his critics would remain obdurate4#d ,it was not until #afcb that a complete exposition of the conflict between the two world-systems was produced by ,galileo4 ,it took the form of a dialogue between three speakers--conservative1 mediating1 and extreme4 ,the views of the author1 however1 were not sufficiently concealed1 the book was prohibited1 and ,galileo summoned to ,rome1 and upon threat of torture1 subdued into a recantation and a promise not to offend in the future4 ,that ,galileo perjured himself is not open to doubt1 nor did he change his convictions4 ,a subsequent work1 surreptitiously printed in ,holland1 contained the same heresies expressed with less reserve4 ,,the ,,new ,,physics4--,it might be said1 then1 that the fabric of the universe had been reconstructed by the thinkers whose explorations we have hitherto followed4 ,this achievement1 however1 though sufficiently startling in itself1 was not the only1 and perhaps not the most important1 of their performances4 ,the question still awaited solution3 ,by what forces and laws is the new world-system maintained in activity8 ,the traditional reply had been that the universe was kept in motion by the operation of the ,deity4 ,while the truth of this reply was not questioned by the advocates of the new science1 it did not seem to them to dispel the obscurity surrounding certain points about which they required information4 ,it was ,galileo who observed that the appeal to the divine will explains nothing just because it explains everything4 ,it takes the inquirer back too far--behind those details of method which arouse his speculative interest4 ,this desire to understand those methods of operation which natural objects appear to follow1 led philosophers to enunciate certain laws about them4 ,these served as explanations of particular classes of phenomena4 ,it was the phenomena of motion that especially attracted their attention2 and many ingenious experiments were performed by ,galileo1 in particular1 which led him to conclusions which then seemed paradoxical1 but now serve as axioms of physical science2 for the laws of motion contain the key to all scientific knowledge of material nature4 ,when ,galileo1 after careful experiment1 established the proposition that a body can neither change its motion of itself1 nor pass from motion to rest1 the fundamental law of inertia--of such incalculable importance to the development of modern physics--had been established4 ,,an ,,automatic ,,universe4--,a proposition of this kind may not at first seem to involve important philosophical or theological consequences4 ,but we only have to consider that it provided a natural explanation of the continued and untiring motion of the heavenly bodies4 ,it did not1 it is true1 explain how that motion arose2 but the motion being given1 it had now been shown how it would1 in the absence of obstructions1 be perpetual4 ,in fact1 speculations of this kind opened up the way to the mechanical explanation of nature1 a theory which had been already speculatively held by ,leonardo da ,vinci1 who is already convinced that necessity is the eternal bond1 the eternal rule of ,nature4 ,,science ,,and ,,mathematics4--,it was not only1 however1 the spectacle of a system running automatically that suggested to observers a mechanical theory to explain it4 ,there was also the fact that phenomena were observed to occur in accordance with certain simple mathematical laws4 ,galileo's experiments with falling bodies led him to foreshadow principles which were afterwards elaborated and fully demonstrated by ,newton1 who may be said to have been the first to construct a mechanical universe4 ,the principle had already been formulated by a contemporary of ,galileo--,johannes ,kepler--in the axiom ubi materia1 ibi geometria4 ,,results4--,the thinkers whose speculations have engaged us were indeed responsible for creating a revolution in ideas4 ,for a finite universe whose centre was the earth1 and which was kept in motion by the operation of the ,deity1 they had substituted the conception of illimitable space sown with innumerable systems like our own2 and had created the beginning of a mechanical conception of nature4 ,,the ,,new ,,logic4--,but it was not only the scientific dogmas of the old system that had been so rudely overthrown--the very principles upon which those dogmas rested had been submitted to a destructive criticism4 ,the new science produced a new logic4 ,this order of events is not unusual3 first1 the new scientific discoveries1 and then in the wake of the discoverers1 comes the innovating critic who systematises the logical or scientific methods to which the new knowledge seems to have been due4 ,first1 ,kepler and ,galileo1 who used the inductive method1 and then ,lord ,bacon of ,verulam 7#aefa-afbf71 who discovered the inductive logic1 and established it as a system4 ,,francis ,,bacon4--,bacon's doctrine may be summarised by his own epigram1 ,if a man begin with certainties1 he shall end in doubts2 but if he be content to begin with doubts1 he shall end in certainties4 ,which is really a criticism of what is known as the a priori method1 whereby the inquirer starts with certain predefined theories to which all phenomena must conform1 and which all experience must verify4 ,if facts will not suit the particular theory1 so much the worse for the facts3 one could always disregard them1 and apply a blind eye to ,galileo's telescope4 ,such is always the procedure of the dogmatic mind1 which is already so certain of the truth of its notions that no evidence can persuade it to the contrary4 ,but it is not by such means that knowledge is advanced1 and it was for a reversal of these that ,bacon pleaded4 ,leonardo da ,vinci had already anticipated the ,baconian logic 7which did not wait for ,bacon until it was applied7 when he laid down the proposition that wisdom was the daughter of experience1 and rejected all speculations which experience1 the common mother of all sciences1 could not confirm4 ,hence1 knowledge was the product of time2 the process of collecting material for a judgment must often be slow1 but the results were worth the labour--these would not be speculative1 but true4 ,nor need it be supposed that ,bacon excluded imagination from playing a part in increasing knowledge1 he did not plead only for a mechanical collection of material4 ,it is imagination which in face of abundant material creates the hypothesis which accounts for it being what it is4 ,and he was prepared to admit the value of preliminary hypotheses which might be replaced as further facts were collected1 or as insight became more clear4 ,here1 too1 ,bacon describes the method followed by modern science4 ,,prestige ,,of ,,new ,,methods4--,and so1 by the time when ,bacon had laid down his pen after writing the ,new ,logic1 the work of discrediting the old system1 elaborated with such ingenious industry by ,aquinas1 was tolerably complete4 ,the new science had begun already to be fruitful in results1 both practical and speculative4 ,the successors of ,galileo and of ,bacon applied the new principles with vigour1 and reached astonishing results4 ,justified by these1 the new methods secured a prestige which has not decreased for three centuries4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,growth ,,of ,,the ,,mechanical ,,theory ,,decline ,,of ,,scholasticism4--,by the time of ,lord ,bacon1 the ,scholastic philosophy might have been described as extinct2 it no longer survived as a living system4 ,the loss was a serious one to mankind1 which was poorer by the discrediting of an authoritative body of thought1 a possession it seems ill able to dispense with4 ,the ,baconian philosophy was an imperfect substitute2 it was little more than a system of enquiry1 a manual of scientific procedure1 for ,bacon himself was not in the philosophical sense a profound or constructive thinker1 though he was one of those men of talent who can give utterance to the tendencies of an epoch4 ,,the ,,new ,,philosophy4--,the task1 however1 of constructing a new philosophy of the universe was courageously taken in hand by a succession of thinkers1 and the energy of thought which the great problem generated is characteristic of perhaps the most vigorous century of ,european history--the seventeenth4 ,the tendency of the new discoveries in science had not been obscure1 and ,modern ,philosophy starts with an attempt to represent the universe as a self-working machine--a co-ordinated whole1 throughout which the principles of mathematics are universally valid4 ,the trend of ideas set in motion by the new discoveries in astronomy seemed to point in this direction4 ,but to introduce mechanics into the celestial regions1 though an important step1 was but a beginning4 ,mechanics must be universally valid--even in the human body--or the new teaching was vain4 ,exceptions may prove a rule1 but they destroy a philosophy4 ,,the ,,subjugation ,,of ,,physiology4--,it was an ,englishman who provided the necessary facts to fill the gravest gap in the mechanical theory4 ,it was already known in the previous century that the blood of animals circulated throughout the body2 the existence and use of veins and heart-valves was also known1 but it was ,william ,harvey 7#aegh-afeg7 who discovered the heart to be the organ responsible for maintaining the circulation of the blood1 by purely mechanical means4 ,this was a fact of the utmost significance4 ,in the sphere of physiology1 where theories about mysterious powers of blood or soul had been hitherto authoritative1 it effected a revolution4 ,indeed it is true to say that ,harvey is to physiology what ,galileo was to physics4 ,he proved that the general laws of motion are valid within as well as without the organism--an important extension of the mechanical theory4 ,,descartes4--,among the leading men who accepted ,harvey's theory1 one of the first was ,rene ,descartes 7#aeif-afej74 ,well might this thinker welcome it1 for it was a most important contribution to the imposing philosophic fabric for which he was industriously collecting materials4 ,descartes1 apart from his philosophical speculations1 is an interesting character1 being a ,frenchman of noble birth who was educated by the ,jesuits1 saw something of contemporary life in ,paris1 served as a military officer in ,holland and ,germany1 and made some original discoveries in mathematics4 ,the mathematical mind1 accustomed as it is to deal with highly abstract ideas1 takes kindly to metaphysics4 ,and it very often solves the mystery of the universe by expressing all its contents in mathematical terms4 ,such1 at least1 was ,descartes' method4 ,the simplest and clearest ideas which we can have of anything are mathematical1 i4e4 extension and mobility4 ,and it is by concentrating our attention upon this simple and mathematical aspect of things that we shall arrive at a proper understanding of all that goes on in the material world4 ,,universality ,,of ,,mathematics4--,a phenomenon was1 in ,descartes' eyes1 explained only when a cause which is its exact mathematical equivalent1 has been indicated4 ,the cause and the effect are two sides of a mathematical equation 7,causa aequat effectum74 ,anything that happens in the material world 7the fall of a stone1 the beat of a heart1 the rising of the sun7 is really nothing more than a redistribution of portions of that sum of motion which1 once generated at the ,creation1 has remained unaltered1 and unalterable1 in the universe ever since4 ,the sum of motion is constant1 there can be no addition to or subtraction from it4 ,in this sense it would be true that there is nothing new under the sun3 only ever-new distributions of the old4 ,,the ,,universe ,a ,,machine4--,once assume that all phenomena can be interpreted in terms of motion1 and add the proposition 7already enunciated by ,galileo7 that motion once set going will proceed for ever1 unless some impediment from outside intervenes1 and the mechanical view of the universe is complete4 ,the universe is a machine1 i4e4 a thing that works 7#a7 according to mathematical principles1 7#b7 automatically4 ,,elaborations ,,of ,,the ,,mechanical ,,theory4--,the importance of ,descartes lies not in his having invented this conception 7we have already seen it in the hands of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,galileo1 and others71 but in his having elaborated it4 ,this he did in two directions3 7#a7 he attempted to supply a mechanical theory of the evolution of the world-system2 i4e4 to show how the heavenly bodies came into being by natural and mechanical processes2 7#b7 he applied the mechanical theory to organisms2 animals and men were complex machines4 7,here1 as we have seen1 the discovery of ,harvey was of prime importance47 ,it is hardly necessary to describe at length ,descartes' mechanical theory of the evolution of the world-system1 though an interest attaches to it as being the ancestor of the modern nebular hypothesis4 ,matter in whirling motion around fixed centres is the original datum from which ,descartes evokes the universe4 ,with regard to the mechanical theory of organisms1 ,descartes developed it at some length in various treatises4 ,all the functions and actions of animals were regarded by him as entirely involuntary and mechanical4 ,that the lamb flees at the sight of a wolf happens because the rays of light from the body of the wolf strike the eye of the lamb1 and set the muscles in motion by means of the 'reflex' currents of the animal spirits4 ,in the case of human beings1 owing to the phenomenon of consciousness1 ,descartes felt compelled to assume a soul--a thinking substance in reciprocal action with the material substance 7of the brain74 ,this1 too1 is an anticipation of the modern theory of psycho-physical parallelism4 ,,cartesianism4--,the ideas of ,descartes had considerable influence among his contemporaries1 and ,cartesianism1 as it was called1 became fashionable in intellectual circles4 ,it developed a tendency towards free enquiry and independent thought2 and it was even more significant as an atmosphere than as a system of ideas4 ,though in this respect too1 it was both important and vital2 as we have observed1 modern mechanical theories find their parent in ,descartes4 ,nor was it only1 we may remark1 among philosophers and men of science that ,cartesian ideas were popular2 they were accepted and elaborated by the religious thinkers who hoped to harmonise and humanise theology and science4 ,pascal1 ,bossuet and ,fenelon1 the finest minds in the ,french ,church1 were eager ,cartesians4#e ,this aspect of the matter1 i4e4 the significance of ,cartesianism for religion1 we can for the present postpone4 ,,results ,,so ,,far4--,successive breaches in the ,scholastic system have now been noted4 ,copernicus had introduced a new astronomy1 ,galileo a new physics1 ,descartes 7with the help of ,harvey7 a new physiology1 and the beginnings of a new psychology4 ,,contributions ,,of ,,hobbes4--,the step that remained was taken by an ,englishman1 ,thomas ,hobbes 7#aehh-afgi71 who attempted to provide a system of ethics and a theory of politics upon a purely naturalistic basis4 ,hobbes was a particularly energetic thinker4 ,he worked out a psychology of the feelings1 which reduced everything to the impulse of self-preservation and the instinct for power4 ,men were induced by these instincts to agree to certain rules of conduct1 for the sake of expediency4 ,social life seems essential if men are to live together--the instinct of self-preservation demands it--and social life in turn demands certain renunciations3 thus fidelity1 gratitude1 forbearance1 justice1 etc41 must be practised4 ,thus ,hobbes attempted to banish all mysterious or obscure forces from morality1 which was the characteristic and inevitable product of human nature and human circumstances4 ,this way of looking at things seemed strange to all1 and even revolting to some1 of ,hobbes' contemporaries4 ,as the mystical powers of motion which the ,scholastics had believed in were banished by the new physics and the new physiology1 so the new psychology could allow of no mystical faculty which can decide in all problems of good and evil4 ,with ,hobbes1 then1 a naturalistic view of the universe may be said to have been tolerably complete3 it embraces physics1 psychology1 and ethics4 ,there still remained1 of course1 a number of gaps in scientific knowledge1 and consequently any philosophy based thereupon could not yet be regarded as secure4 ,these gaps1 however1 as research proceeded and successive discoveries were made1 tended to diminish both in size and quantity4 ,,newton4--,the seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries were fruitful in revelations of this kind1 and natural knowledge steadily and even rapidly progressed4 ,and one thinker1 who may be regarded as a link between the seventeenth century and that which succeeded it1 may now claim our attention4 ,the name of ,newton 7#afdb-agbg7 is as familiar to ,englishmen as that of ,shakespeare1 and the discovery by him of the law of gravitation is one of those scraps of information which we acquire1 and perhaps fail to understand1 in early childhood4 ,newton's scientific method is a no less important aspect of his work than its results4 ,the ,principia1 in which he gave his discovery to the world1 is a model for all scientific investigations which has never been surpassed4 ,it was1 indeed1 a brilliant application of the principle of inferring the unknown from the already known1 without any dogmatic leaps in the dark4 ,the principle with which he began was that what is true in the narrower spheres of experience 7e4g4 in the case of an apple falling7 is true also in the wider spheres 7e4g4 in the movements of the celestial bodies74 ,he then made a careful mathematical deduction of what would happen in the case of the planets1 assuming that the laws of falling bodies on the earth were applicable to them also4 ,and he concluded by showing that what would happen according to mathematics under this assumption actually does happen4 ,the conclusion follows that the same force1 i4e4 attraction1 operates in both cases4 ,it is no wonder that this final and successful operation was performed by ,newton in a state of excitement so great that he could hardly see his figures4 ,,significance ,,of ,,his ,,discovery4--,the philosophic importance of the discovery that the motions of the planets may be explained by the law of gravitation was twofold4 ,in the first place1 it now became possible to understand how the universe held together 7a problem which the new astronomy had not solved72 and in the second place1 the theory constituted a large extension of the mechanical view4 ,it demonstrated that the physical laws which hold good on the surface of the earth are valid throughout the universe1 so far as we can know anything of it4 ,thus the area of existence in which physical law held good was at once infinitely widened4 ,the mechanical theories of ,galileo1 ,descartes1 and others1 not only received confirmation1 but became more comprehensive than before4 ,so that ,newton may be said to have put the finishing touch upon the achievements of his predecessors1 and to have crowned their labours with success4 ,and his work has the characteristic of permanency3 his gravitation formula has stood the test of time4 ,it still stands there1 says a careful and authoritative writer1 as almost the only firmly established mathematical relation1 expressive of a property of all matter1 to which the progress of more than two centuries has added nothing1 and from which it has taken nothing away4#f ,,religious ,,corollaries4--,it would be a profound mistake to assume that the creators of the mechanical view1 as it has hitherto met us1 were animated by any hostility to religion4 ,nor did they believe their theories to involve any disastrous consequences in that sphere4 ,the new astronomy of ,copernicus had actually been made the basis of a spiritual view of the universe by the profound genius 7both philosophical and religious7 of ,giordano ,bruno4 ,and the fact that the ecclesiastical authorities rejected his view need not divest it of importance or of value in our eyes4 ,bruno's own faith was not disturbed by the infidelity of his persecutors4 ,ye who pass judgment upon me feel1 maybe1 greater fear than ,i upon whom it is passed1 were his last words to them4 ,had they believed1 they need not have been afraid1 and might have been content with the policy of ,gamaliel4 ,as for ,descartes and ,hobbes1 their notions were no doubt distasteful to conservative minds 7the ,jesuits were no friends to either71 but ,descartes regarded himself1 and would fain have been regarded by others1 as a good ,catholic2 and ,hobbes1 theologically1 was what in these days we might call a ,liberal ,protestant4 ,cartesianism1 as we have seen1 came to be a name for a type of thought which studied to harmonise science and theology1 and one of the most profound religious geniuses of any age--,pascal1 was 7as we have seen7 a ,cartesian4 ,as for ,newton1 his view of the universe was essentially a religious one1 though he did not allow theological speculations to intrude upon his strictly scientific work4 ,his attitude is indicated by a reply to the inquiry of a contemporary theologian as to how the movements and structure of the solar system were to be accounted for4 ,to your query ,i answer that the motions which the planets now have could not spring from any natural cause alone4444 ,to compare and adjust all these things together 7i4e4 quantities of matter and gravitating powers1 etc47 in so great a variety of bodies1 argues the cause to be not blind and fortuitous1 but very well skilled in mechanism and geometry4#g ,still1 the mechanical view contained within it sinister possibilities2 and the instincts of conservative thinkers were not altogether at fault4 ,the mechanical view in itself need not be hostile to a spiritual and rational religion 7though it is fatal to most forms of superstition72 and yet that view can be used in the interests of anti-religious prejudice--and1 as we shall see1 it was so used1 and with considerable effect4 ,meanwhile1 however1 we shall pass on to consider the work of three thinkers who are typical of a revolt from what was in danger of becoming the all-absorbing tyranny of mechanics4 ,this reaction 7for so it may be termed7 we shall proceed1 in the following chapter1 to examine4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,seventeenth-,,century ,,reactions ,a ,,law ,,of ,,thought4--,whenever a tendency of thought has been vigorously prosecuted for any length of time1 a reaction invariably displays itself4 ,this rule is illustrated by the history of thought in the seventeenth century4 ,mechanical categories1 as we have seen1 had been steadily extending themselves for the better part of two centuries1 and with the materialism of ,hobbes the process seemed fairly complete4 ,meanwhile1 however1 human thought began to explore other avenues4 ,though reaction from mechanical ways of thinking did not 7at any rate1 in the circles with which we are concerned7 take the form of an obscurantist retreat into prejudice or superstition1 the results of the new science and its attendant mechanistic philosophy served as a base for further explorations4 ,the principles which ,descartes and ,hobbes had laid down were criticised by being carried out to their logical conclusions4 ,,spinoza4--,the philosopher with whom we shall first concern ourselves was a ,jew of ,spanish extraction1 living in what was then the freest country in ,europe--,holland4 ,spinoza 7#afcb-afgg7 was undoubtedly the greatest thinker of his own age1 which was highly fertile in that respect1 and he still stands as one of the most notable figures in the long history of ,european thought4 ,not only is his outlook comprehensive1 and his thought many-sided1 but his standpoint was detached to a degree hitherto unknown4 ,he was untainted1 so far as a human being ever can be1 by anthropomorphism2 he endeavoured to transcend the merely human outlook4 ,here is always the dividing line between the great and the merely mediocre thinker4 ,,spinoza',s ,,method4--,spinoza's philosophical ancestry may be traced back to ,bruno1 whose acquaintance we made in a previous chapter1 but in whose company we did not long remain4 ,this highly original mind had already1 by the doctrine of the infinitude and the divinity of nature1 shown how the concept of ,god and the concept of nature might be closely bound up together4 ,by similar means1 ,spinoza hoped to indicate the reality of the spiritual1 without disturbing the mechanical world-conception which the new science and new philosophy had created between them4 ,he wished somehow to find ,god not outside1 but in ,nature2 not in disturbances of the order of ,nature1 but in that order itself4 ,,the ,,term ,,nature4--,it would be a misapprehension to suppose that the terms ,god and ,nature are regarded by ,spinoza as interchangeable1 though his numerous critics were accustomed to declare that this was the case4 ,on the contrary1 ,spinoza1 in order to anticipate the misunderstanding which he saw might arise on this point1 reintroduced into philosophy a pair of terms which the ,scholastics had long before brought into currency1 but which had since fallen out of fashion--,natura naturans and ,natura naturata4 ,we might perhaps translate the former of these1 ,creative ,nature1 and the latter1 ,created ,nature4 ,natura naturans is equivalent to ,nature as a creative power1 or ,the creative power immanent in ,nature4 ,natura naturata is equivalent to ,nature as it is when created1 or ,the results of the creative power immanent in ,nature4 ,and the ,natura naturans is active in the ,natura naturata at all points3 the creative power is immanent in creation4 ,as ,spinoza puts it in one of his letters3 ,i assert that ,god is 7as it is called7 the immanent1 not the external cause of all things4 ,that is to say1 ,i assert with ,paul1 that in ,god all things live and move4444 ,but if any one thinks that the ,theologico-,political ,treatise 7one of his works7 assumes that ,god and ,nature are one and the same1 he is entirely mistaken4#h ,thus1 for ,spinoza1 the order of nature1 which had seemed to so many of his contemporaries1 from the religious point of view1 such a devastating conception1 as leaving no room for the spiritual1 was itself only explicable if interpreted spiritually4 ,whatever is1 is in ,god1 and nothing can exist or be conceived without ,god 7,ethics i4 #ae7 sums up his attitude4 ,all things may be1 as the new science taught1 'determined' but they are determined by the necessity of the divine nature 7,ethics i4 #bi74 ,,the ,,ethics4--,spinoza may rightly be termed a man of one book4 ,in his ,ethics is to be found a complete and final expression of his philosophy4 ,how boundless1 says ,goethe of this great book1 is the disinterestedness conspicuous in every sentence1 how exalted the resignation which submits itself once for all to the great laws of existence1 instead of trying to get through life with the help of trivial consolations2 and what an atmosphere of peace breathes through the whole6 ,according to its teaching the true happiness and highest activity of men is to be found in what ,spinoza terms the intellectual love of ,god4 ,the phrase seems to have been used to designate that full and clearer knowledge which is aware that we ourselves and all the conditions of our life are determined by the infinite ,nature1 by ,god ,himself1 who moves in us as well as in all things acting upon us4 ,the initiated no longer regard themselves as single1 isolated1 impotent beings1 but as included in the divine nature4 ,themselves and all things are seen under the form of eternity4 ,this thought is1 according to ,spinoza1 the fruit of the highest activity of the human mind2 this is the amor intellectualis dei2 and the supreme good for man4 ,his doctrine of immortality is bound up with this intellectual form of religious mysticism--knowledge of ,god involves participation in ,his immortality3 ,death is the less harmful the more the mind's knowledge is clear and distinct1 and the more the mind loves ,god4444 ,the human mind may be of such a nature that the part of it which we showed to perish with the body may be of no moment to it in respect to what remains4 ,he who is affected with love towards ,god has a mind of which the greater part is eternal4 ,thus the soul achieves its emancipation by identifying itself with ,god--who is the object of its knowledge and love4 ,the path is arduous1 and the closing passage of the ,ethics admits this3 ,if the road ,i have shown is very difficult1 it can yet be discovered4 ,and clearly it must be very hard when it is so seldom found4444 ,but all excellent things are as difficult as they are rare4 ,,spinoza ,,and ,,religion4--,it is interesting to note that ,spinoza1 though a free-thinking ,jew1 adopts towards the fundamental dogma of ,christianity an attitude which approximates to the classical expression of it in the ,fourth ,gospel4 ,he held that ,god's eternal wisdom1 which reveals itself in all things1 and especially in the human mind1 has given a special revelation of itself in ,christ4 ,perhaps his ethic1 like that of the ,stoics1 with whom he had so much in common1 was better adapted to satisfy the needs of the philosopher than of the ordinary man4 ,but1 in the seventeenth century1 it was the philosophers and learned men that were in need of a spiritual interpretation of the universe2 common men had theirs already1 in the traditional pietism which philosophers are often too ready to despise4 ,to ,spinoza--and this is one of the many indications of the genuine profundity of his thought--the simple believers seemed already to be in possession of too much of the truth for it to be desirable or profitable for them to indulge in speculation4 ,to the question of his landlady at the ,hague as to whether she could be saved by the religion which she professed1 his reply was that her religion was good1 that she should seek no other1 and that she would certainly be saved by it if she led a quiet and pious life4 ,,spinoza',s ,,personality4--,the figure of ,spinoza stands as one of the most imposing and attractive in the whole history of philosophy1 and his was an unworldliness1 a simplicity1 and a humility purely ,franciscan4 ,like all ,jews then1 he knew a trade--that of lens grinding--and by this he was able to live frugally1 while he elaborated his thought4 ,he dedicated his life to the labour of quiet contemplation2 nor was he ambitious of recognition1 which indeed generally came to him in the form of abuse4 ,he did not escape the exquisite rancour of theological hatred1 but it was his belief1 and the conviction inspired his life1 that-- ,neither riches1 nor sensuous enjoyment1 nor honours1 can be a true good for man2 but on the contrary1 that the only thing which is able to fill the mind with ever-new satisfaction is the striving after knowledge1 by means of which the mind is united with that which remains constant while all else changes4 ,the ,god-intoxicated1 was the name given to ,spinoza long afterwards in ,germany4 ,he died 7like ,st4 ,francis7 at forty-five1 worn out with the toil of thought4 ,and it renews one's faith in the perspicacity of commonplace people to learn that his barber1 sending in a bill after the death of the philosopher1 alluded to his late customer as ,mr4 ,spinoza of blessed memory4 ,it was left to a contemporary theologian to describe him as an unclean and foul atheist4 ,,leibniz4--,spinoza had taken over from ,descartes and ,hobbes their mechanical and determinist conception of nature1 though he gave to it1 as we have seen1 an interpretation of his own4 ,his attitude was a blend of that rationalism and mysticism which were characteristic of so much seventeenth century thought4 ,a far more complete reaction1 however1 displays itself in the system of a contemporary of ,spinoza's--,gottfried ,wilhelm ,leibniz 7#afdf-agaf72 who1 when already a youth1 had become an enthusiastic devotee of the new science2 the study of ,kepler1 ,galileo and ,descartes caused him to feel as though transported into a different world4 ,though a ,german by birth1 ,leibniz lived continuously in ,france1 and wrote habitually in the language of that country4 ,,contrast ,,to ,,spinoza4--,spinoza and ,leibniz stand as examples of two distinct methods of eluding the despotism of mechanics--methods which will meet us again in the course of our survey4 ,spinoza accepts the mechanical view as being inevitable and even desirable1 but subjects it to a spiritual interpretation--he regards it as the way in which the ,natura naturans works4#i ,leibniz1 on the other hand1 viewed existence from an entirely different standpoint4 ,he was bold enough to reject the mechanical view altogether2 or rather he preferred to regard it as a convenient abstraction1 or a useful formula1 which might reflect certain aspects of reality1 but could not do justice to its concrete richness and complexity4 ,a ,,philosophy ,,of ,,individuals4--,leibniz's criticism of ,descartes and the mechanical school proceeded along different lines from that of ,spinoza1 who1 as we have seen1 accepted the mechanical view as the basis of his speculation4 ,an axiom of that view was 7as we know7 the conservation of motion4 ,for this conservation of motion1 ,leibniz substitutes the conservation of force as being logically the more fundamental concept4 ,true reality1 according to him1 is not motion itself1 but the force which is its cause4 ,force and existence became for him identical terms2 to work and to exist were the same4 ,that force is the true reality1 ,leibniz expressed in the language of his time by saying1 ,force is substance1 and all substance is force--a proposition which would not be repudiated by modern science--and upon this statement his philosophy is built4 ,but it was not force in general or some universal force that was regarded by him as the final reality3 ,leibniz was not a forerunner of ,herbert ,spencer4 ,reality for him consisted in individual centres of force--a multitude of individual and independent beings1 each with its own idiosyncrasy1 and following its own lines4 ,existence was1 in fact1 for him1 individual4 ,it was the individual centres of force--not general principles1 universal substances1 laws or forces--that make up reality4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,,monads4--,this view of reality was formulated by ,leibniz in his famous doctrine of monads4 ,monad was the technical name applied by him to those absolute individuals which he regarded as constituting true reality4 ,the word1 meaning unity1 was simple and appropriate4 ,and he declared that the monad1 to be rightly understood1 must be regarded as analogous to our own souls4 ,this principle of analogy was described by ,leibniz as mon grand principe des choses naturelles4 ,thus reality was interpreted by him not in physical but in psychical terms1 or if the expression be preferred1 in terms of personality4#aj ,of these monads there exist1 according to this view1 infinitely many degrees4 ,in fact all existence differs only in degree from our own4 ,even between mind and matter there is only a quantitative and not a qualitative gulf4 ,for there are sleeping1 dreaming1 and more or less waking monads2 and matter is a form of unconscious mind2 the monads which compose material objects being minds without memory1 momentary minds4 ,let ,leibniz speak for himself3-- ,each portion of matter is not only infinitely divisible1 but is also actually subdivided without end4444 ,whence it appears that in the smallest particle of matter there is a world of creatures1 living beings1 animals1 entelechies1 souls4 ,each portion of matter may be conceived as like a garden full of plants1 or like a pond full of fishes4444 ,thus there is nothing fallow1 nothing sterile1 nothing dead in the universe4444#aa ,leibniz may indeed be said to have been the first to outline a theory of panpsychism 7as it is termed71 according to which there is nothing that is not1 in its degree1 alive4 ,as we shall have occasion to observe1 ,leibniz was here 7as elsewhere7 a forerunner of much recent philosophy4 ,the significance of the ,spinozist and ,leibnizian systems of thought1 though regarding existence from such diverse standpoints1 was1 for practical purposes the same4 ,both alike led out1 though by different paths1 beyond the mechanical theory of the universe4 ,they1 indeed1 represent two types of thought which attempt to reach the same end by different methods4 ,their counterparts will meet us again as this history proceeds4 ,,pascal4--,but before passing out from the seventeenth century1 one thinker ought to detain us2 for from more than one point of view he was a notable personality1 and of first-rate importance in the history of religious1 as distinct from purely philosophical thought4 ,he was indeed one of those figures who are distinguished among distinguished men of all times4 ,blaise ,pascal was born in #afbc1 and was a boy of precocious mathematical ability4 ,by the age of twelve he is said to have worked out independently most of the first and second books of ,euclid2 at sixteen he wrote a treatise on ,conics which attracted the attention of ,descartes2 at nineteen he completed a calculating machine--a device that had never been dreamt of before4 ,at this point it is not surprising to learn that his health broke down4 ,pascal is not a systematic philosopher2 but his acute intellect was united to an inner restlessness of soul4 ,neither science nor philosophy could bring him peace1 for his needs were far deeper than any merely rational systematisation of ideas could satisfy4 ,some have said of him that he was fundamentally a sceptic1 but one for whom religious faith was essential2 certainly in him were united an acute critical faculty and an intense religious experience4 ,perhaps the two are not so incompatible after all4 ,,the ,,pensees4--,pascal is chiefly famous for two works1 the ,lettres ,provinciales and the ,pensees4 ,the former is controversial literature1 but yet a classic of the ,french language3 in sum1 it is an attack on the ,jesuits2 but it need not here detain us1 for with theology1 as such1 we are not concerned1 and still less with ecclesiastical systems4 ,the ,pensees is a collection of fragments1 the material for an ,apology for ,christianity which was never written4 ,the autograph ,,ms4 preserved in the ,bibliotheque ,nationale at ,paris is made up of scraps of paper of all shapes and sizes1 written often on both sides 444 and dealing with all sorts of subjects4 ,one is reminded of the mythical scraps of manuscript from which the genius of ,carlyle distilled the philosophy of the sagacious ,teufelsdroech4 ,but it is in these detached fragments that ,pascal has expressed his spiritual and intellectual struggles2 they contain his philosophy of life4 ,and1 however unsystematic in arrangement1 they do reveal a fairly definite temper and attitude of mind4 ,,pascal',s ,,philosophy4--,in the first place1 the ,thoughts voice a reaction against the ,cartesian intellectualism which was then the prevalent tendency in scientific and philosophical circles4 ,the last attainment of reason is to recognise that there is an infinity of things beyond it might perhaps have been published by ,pascal's predecessors4 ,to laugh at philosophy is to be a true philosopher would have seemed like blasphemy or nonsense to most of his contemporaries1 but it was neither of these4 ,behind sayings of this description lay the strong conviction that mere logic was incapable of probing the depths of existence4 ,the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing1 is sound psychology1 and not scepticism or obscurantism4 ,of course it all depends what one means by reason4 ,too many of ,pascal's contemporaries applied the word to a more or less shallow rationalism utterly opposed to a spiritual view of things1 whereas reason properly understood is the logic of the whole personality4#ab ,that ,pascal was no mere narrow anti-rational obscurantist is evident1 not only from his own extraordinary insight1 but from his continual reiteration of his idea that the essential dignity of man lies in his thought3 ,all bodies1 the firmament1 the stars1 the earth and its kingdoms1 are not worth the smallest mind1 for a mind knows them1 and itself1 and bodies know nothing4 ,here lies the true greatness of man4 ,in respect of material bulk he is nothing1 but his thought cannot be measured4 ,man is only a reed1 the feeblest reed in nature1 but he is a thinking reed4 ,the saying has become famous1 and the words that follow are hardly less so2 they remove the overpowering and crushing incubus of man's illimitable material environment1 which1 since ,copernicus1 had weighed upon thinkers like a nightmare3 ,were the universe to crush him1 man would still be more noble than that which slays him1 because he knows that he dies1 and the advantage that the universe has over him3 of this the universe knows nothing4 ,thus all man's dignity lies in his thought4#ac ,,pascal',s ,,pessimism4--,it has been said that an unbridgeable gulf lies between those who believe and those who disbelieve in mankind4 ,it is to the latter category that ,pascal belongs4 ,his faith in the dignity of man is paradoxically associated with a realisation of his weakness and imbecility3 ,what a chimera1 then1 is man6 ,what an oddity1 what a monster1 what a chaos1 what a subject of contradiction1 what a prodigy6 ,judge of all things1 senseless earth-worm2 depository of truth1 cloaca of uncertainty and error2 the glory and the refuse of the universe4 ,we desire truth1 and find in ourselves only uncertainty2 we seek happiness1 and find only misery and death4 ,we are unable not to wish for truth and happiness1 and incapable either of certainty or felicity4 ,in fact1 we may say that ,pascal was the first1 in an age of exaggerated reverence for logic 7the damnosa hereditas of the ,scholastic theologians7 to understand that the best arguments for religion are the facts of human experience1 and the conditions of human life4 ,in vain1 ,o men1 do ye seek within yourselves the cure for your troubles6 ,all your knowledge can only teach you that it is not within yourselves that ye find the true or good6 ,here we have the language of religious experience4 ,the result of ,augustine's meditation upon life was the same3 ,inquietum cor nostrum dum requiescat in te4 ,it is a tongue that the psychic man can never understand2 it seems to him affectation2 such language is foreign to the easy optimism of an age of confidence4 ,indeed ,pascal1 though so intensely modern1 is a stranger1 and his words often enigmas to our time4 ,vanitas vanitatum is thus the verdict that he passes upon human experience4 ,the last act is tragic1 however fine the comedy of all the rest4 ,,significance ,,of ,,pascal4--,it is not as a systematic thinker that ,pascal is of importance to the historian of thought4 ,he typifies that more or less inarticulate and unreasoned revolt which the arrogance and optimism of a new science or a new philosophy arouse against themselves4 ,he voices the eternal protest that it is not by bread alone that men live4 ,as is generally the case with such protests1 the pessimism of ,pascal was no doubt exaggerated2 but exaggeration is necessary if minds are to be impressed2 and those who feel strongly see only one side of a question4 ,,results4--,thus in the three figures that have passed before us1 we see a threefold protest against that exclusion of the spiritual from the human view of life4 ,spinoza1 the pantheist1 sees ,god everywhere2#ad ,leibniz finds in every recess of nature the principle of personality2 ,pascal finds the only cure for human frailty and misery in religion4 ,,chapter ,v ,,rise ,,of ,,an ,,anti-,,religious ,,science ,,atmospheric ,,conditions4--,as we have seen1 a mechanical view of the universe was not felt by thinkers like ,descartes or ,newton1 or even ,hobbes1 to involve any consequences that were necessarily hostile to religion4 ,the new science sometimes might be anti-theological1 because the current theology still seemed too much infected with ,scholasticism1 but it was not1 in the hands of its most notable exponents1 anti-religious4 ,science had no quarrel with religion as such1 nor even with a rational type of theology4 ,of course the new views aroused many suspicions1 and did not escape criticism at the hands of ,church authorities1 both ,protestant and ,catholic4 ,and 7as we have seen7 some early scientists paid very dearly for their allegiance to the spirit of scientific enquiry2 but as time went on1 actual persecution became impossible1 morally and practically4 ,but theologians were never1 during the seventeenth century at least1 quite reconciled to a science and a philosophy which seemed to them to be leading men towards areas quite uninhabitable for religion4 ,but in spite of suspicions on either side1 and the prevalence of some measure of intolerance1 it cannot be said that relations between the scientists or philosophers and the theologians were very seriously strained until well on in the eighteenth century4 ,,anti-,,religious ,,propaganda4--,that this comparatively pacific state of affairs came to an end was the fault1 primarily1 at least1 neither of the theologians nor of the scientists4 ,a different atmosphere gradually began to envelop and to embitter the controversy4 ,orthodox religion1 especially in ,catholic countries1 came to be associated with political reaction1 and the most envenomed onslaughts began to be made upon what seemed to be the chief stronghold of a discredited regime4 ,especially was this the case in ,france1 where corrupt political conditions were aggravated by the intense social misery which they had created4 ,thus ,france became the cradle of the phenomenon known as anti-clericalism1 which is the product not so much of disbelief in a creed as of hatred of a system2 it was the correlative of a ,church in which religion was extinct1 for genuine ,catholicism had been rooted out of ,france early in the eighteenth century1 just as ,protestantism had been drowned in blood a century before4#ae ,,science ,,popularised4--,in two respects ,france1 during the second half of the eighteenth century1 was far in advance of other countries4 ,no other literature of that age can be compared with the ,french for the skill and charm with which scientific views were expressed4 ,there was no lack of first-rate propagandists4 ,and not only in the popularisation1 but in the systematic teaching of science1 ,france for a long period led the way4#af ,whereas the history of ,english or ,german literature of the eighteenth century could be written almost without reference to science1 it is with scientific problems that the names of some of the most brilliant ,french litterateurs are associated4 ,and whereas in ,england1 scientific men worked 7in spite of the existence of the ,royal ,society7 more or less in isolation1 in ,france the savants have always been a brotherhood4#ag ,,voltaire4--,one of the most notorious names associated with the type of propaganda referred to is that of ,voltaire 7#afid-aggh74 ,voltaire's polemic cannot be described as anti-religious1 for he himself was a theist4 ,it was1 rather1 political in character4 ,the object of his attack was the ,catholic ,church as existing in ,france in his day1 which he regarded as the chief surviving obstacle to human progress4 ,ecrasez l'infame was his motto2 and if this seems a trifle fanatical1 let us not forget1 as an acute critic has observed1 that what ,catholicism was accomplishing in ,france in the first half of the eighteenth century was not anything less momentous than the slow strangling of ,french civilisation4#ah ,voltaire was an industrious and prolific writer 7his works are numbered by scores71 but he was also a master of ,french prose1 and he was universally read4 ,from the point of view of the history of ,european thought his importance lies in his popularisation in ,france of the ,newtonian physics4#ai ,newtonisme was a word coined by him1 and became associated with a mechanical view of nature4 ,he also conducted a vigorous polemic against certain religious notions1 then current1 but now out-of-date1 and which need not here detain us4 ,voltaire was an anti-clerical1 but he was not hostile to religion2 he was chiefly regarded as an exponent of ,english 7i4e4 progressive7 ideas4 ,,la ,,mettrie4--,an advance in the materialistic direction was taken1 however1 by ,la ,mettrie 7#agji-agea71 who approached the problem from the side of physiology 7he was a physician by profession74 ,his two important contributions were ,histoire naturelle de l'ame 7#agde71 and ,l',homme ,machine 7#agdh74 ,the titles are sufficient to indicate the scope of these works4 ,that of the latter points back to ,descartes1 who had applied the mechanical theory to animals only1 and not to man4 ,la ,mettrie extended his application to include man4 ,the implications of this theory did not escape ,la ,mettrie's contemporaries4 ,,diderot ,,and ,,his ,,encyclopaedia4--,a definite period in the history of thought is certainly marked by the successful attempt on the part of a group of progressive thinkers1 to extend the circle open to scientific ideas by the publication of an ,encyclopaedia which should contain all the latest knowledge and speculation4 ,the credit for this notable performance was due to ,diderot1 who in spite of immense difficulties1 which were aggravated by the ecclesiastical authorities and the supporters of reaction in general1 carried the work through to a triumphant conclusion4 ,the first volume appeared in #agea4 ,the work was composed with an eye to current prejudices2 the language was guarded1 but the anti-clerical tendency of the whole was by no means obscure4 ,diderot1 however1 did not obtrude in the ,encyclopaedia the definitely anti-religious opinions which he had developed and which are revealed in his correspondence4 ,,holbach4--,a disciple of the ,encyclopaedist--,holbach1 a young ,german settled in ,paris--was bolder than his master1 and published1 under the name of a savant who had recently died1 a book which became widely notorious1 and has been called the ,bible of materialism--the ,systeme de la ,nature 7#aggj74 ,like ,voltaire's ,elemens1 and ,la ,mettrie's ,l',homme ,machine1 it was published in ,holland4 ,the book is materialism reduced to a system4 ,it contains no really new thoughts4 ,its significance lies in the energy and indignation with which every spiritualistic and dualistic view was run to earth on account of its injuriousness both in practice and in theory1#bj is the estimate of a distinguished and impartial writer4 ,rumour gave the credit of its authorship to ,diderot1 who was so disturbed by the compliment as hastily to leave ,paris for the frontier4 ,his admiration of it is1 however1 recorded4 ,after proclaiming his disgust at the contemporary fashion of mixing up incredulity and superstition1 he observes that no such fault is to be found in the ,system of ,nature4 ,the author is not an atheist in one page1 and a deist in another4 ,his philosophy is all of a piece4 ,certainly to those with an appetite for negative dogmatism the work left nothing to be desired4 ,the following passage indicates the attitude and method of the author1 who1 in the matter of style1 did not fall short of the ,french tradition3 ,if we go back to the beginning1 we shall always find that ignorance and fear have created gods2 fancy1 enthusiasm or deceit has adorned or disfigured them2 weakness worships them2 credulity preserves them in life2 custom regards them1 and tyranny supports them in order to make the blindness of men serve its own ends4 ,the philosophy of religion which inspired these sentences may appear to us sufficiently crude4 ,and indeed an impartial reader will have to confess that much of this eighteenth century polemic against religion1 however well-intentioned1 is singularly wide of the mark4 ,it is all characterised by an imperfect knowledge of the psychological foundations of religion1 and quite devoid of what is now termed the historic sense4 ,the faults of ,voltaire and ,holbach1 however1 were those of their age1 which was often short-sighted in its recognition of facts1 and superficial in its reasoning from them4 ,even ,dr4 ,johnson1 who found this section of contemporary ,french literature so distasteful1 never laid his finger upon its real weakness2 the fundamental fallacies upon which it rested escaped him4 ,he1 like ,voltaire and the rest1 was a child of the age4 ,,propaganda ,,not ,,science4--,it is very doubtful whether the genuine scientists1 who devoted themselves not to propaganda but to research1 could have been ready to sanction the uses to which their own discoveries were put4 ,from the exhaustive references of ,lange in his ,history of ,materialism 7,engl4 ,trans41 ,vol4 ,,ii1 pp4 #di-abc71 it is evident that the extreme views of ,la ,mettrie1 ,diderot1 and ,holbach cannot be fathered on any of the great scientists or philosophers1 but were an attempt to supply scientific principles to the solution of philosophical1 ethical1 or religious questions1 frequently for practical and political purposes4#ba ,there are certainly risks attached to the popularisation of the results of scientific research4 ,theories have to be presented with an appearance of finality which does not legitimately belong to them1 and sometimes in a somewhat startling aspect1 otherwise the reader is left cold1 for it is excitement rather than genuine information that attracts the majority4 ,as a judicious writer has observed3 ,no ideas lend themselves to such easy1 but likewise to such shallow generalisations as those of science4 ,once let out of the hand which uses them in the strict and cautious manner by which alone they lead to valuable results1 they are apt to work mischief4 ,because the tool is so sharp1 the object to which it is applied seems to be so easily handled4 ,the correct use of scientific ideas is only learnt by patient training1 and should be governed by the not easily acquired habit of self-restraint4#bb ,,scientific ,,progress4--,alongside of this rigorous propaganda1 which prepared the way for the upheaval of #aghi1 genuine scientific progress was being made1 especially in the regions of ,astronomy1 ,botany and ,chemistry4 ,the ideas of ,newton were taken up and elaborated by means of more efficient mathematical processes--especially the theory of infinitesimals--by the distinguished astronomer1 ,laplace1 in his ,systeme du ,monde 7#agif71 and in the successive volumes of his ,mechanique ,celeste 7#agii-ahbe71 which has been called a new ,principia4 ,important advances in chemistry are associated with the name of ,lavoisier 7#agdc-agid71 who introduced into that science a principle which has become axiomatic1 and which to-day remains the foundation of all work in the laboratory4 ,to ,lavoisier belongs the merit of introducing what is known as the quantitative method into chemistry1 and thus establishing that science upon the exact--that is to say mathematical--basis1 where it now rests and putting exact research in the place of vague reasoning4 ,his principle was that in all chemical combinations and reactions1 the total weight of the various ingredients remains unchanged2 there is 7in spite of appearances7 neither loss nor gain of actual matter4 ,the quantity of matter is the same at the end as at the beginning of every operation4 ,it was ,lavoisier who finally established the correct theory of combustion2 that it consisted in the combination of a special element called oxygen1 with other bodies or elements4 ,,the ,,atomic ,,theory4--,lavoisier had opened a door to researches which naturally led the way to the establishment of the atomic theory of matter on an experimental1 and not merely a theoretical basis4 ,that theory is indeed nothing more than the elaboration of ,lavoisier's own principle4 ,john ,dalton 7#agff-ahdd71 a ,manchester quaker1 published in #ahaj his ,new ,system of ,chemical ,philosophy1 where highly important conclusions are drawn both from ,lavoisier's facts and from experimental results of other chemists4 ,of these1 ,dalton gave an account and an explanation which has ever since been the soul of all chemical reasoning4 ,this explanation is known as his ,atomic theory4 ,the two facts of which ,dalton's theory is an explanation are as follows4 ,first 7,lavoisier's fact71 that the total weight of substances remains always the same1 be they combined in ever so many different ways4 ,second1 that all substances1 be they in large or in small quantities1 combine with each other1 or separate from each other1 in definite and fixed proportions4 ,the theory of ,dalton was that these combinations take place between independent particles of matter1 which are indestructible and indivisible4 ,these atoms of the various elements have definite weights which are responsible for the proportion in which they are found to combine4 ,these facts of proportion in combination1 or chemical affinity1 could not be accounted for by the theory which regards matter as continuous1 but only by the opposite theory that it is discrete 7i4e4 divided up into particles74 ,,philosophical ,,corollaries4--,these strictly scientific theories associated with the name of ,laplace1 ,lavoisier1 and ,dalton tended to strengthen in the popular estimation1 the philosophical conclusions of writers like ,holbach4 ,the scientists themselves remained agnostic with regard to questions that lay outside their scope3 they maintained here the correct attitude for scientific research4 ,the question put by ,napoleon to ,laplace1 why he had not introduced the name of ,god into the ,mechanique ,celeste1 was out of place1 and deserved the crushing reply it received4 ,scientific research is not concerned with questions of philosophy4 ,still1 it did not escape popular attention that the old pillar of a mechanistic view of the universe now seemed to be reinforced by another4 ,the theory of the conservation of energy was now supplemented by that of the indestructibility of matter 7,lavoisier74 ,and to crown all1 the old atomic theory1 which ,lucretius had made the foundation of his dogmatic materialism1 was now re-established on an experimental basis4 ,so far as physical science was concerned1 the situation seemed menacing to a religious view of life4 ,men felt that they inhabited a world of indestructible matter1 moved by a certain measure of force1 unchangeable and fixed4 ,the prison of determinism and matter was closing around them4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,rise ,,of ,,german ,,idealism ,,an ,,unstemmed ,,tide4--,in spite of those important reactions of thought which we have associated with the name of ,spinoza1 ,leibniz1 and ,pascal1 the mechanical view had not ceased1 as the last chapter has shown us1 to extend itself during the eighteenth century1 when it became highly fashionable in progressive circles4 ,,common-,,sense ,,philosophy4--,the strength of this mechanical view lies in the fact that it stands on the shoulders of a natural science which itself has its feet firmly planted on the irrefragible rock of sense-experience4 ,the mechanical view thus rests1 in the last resort1 upon the belief 7which is held everywhere with confidence by plain men7 that sense-experience is a sound foundation for knowledge4 ,the importance of this belief had been recognised by the ,english philosopher1 ,locke 7#afcb-agjd71 who in his ,essay concerning ,human ,understanding 7#afij71 lays it down that all human knowledge is based1 ultimately1 upon sense-experience4 ,this highly important work had an immense influence1 and1 under ,locke's tutelage1 many thinkers regarded with suspicion any knowledge which might seem not to be derivable1 in one way or another1 from that source4 ,as the strength of ,samson lay in his unshorn hair1 so the strength of the mechanical theory lay1 and still lies1 in the acceptance of ,locke's theory of human knowledge1 i4e4 that it is all derived from the senses4 ,and the ,delilah who can shear away ,locke's conclusions1 leaves ,samson helpless2 mechanical materialism becomes a discredited theory4 ,hence the truth of the saying that the problem of knowledge is the preliminary question for philosophy4 ,,weakness ,,of ,,speculative ,,philosophy4--,spinoza and ,leibniz may be said to have dispensed with this foundation4 ,taking the scientific knowledge of their time for granted1 they drew certain conclusions therefrom2 but their results1 however imposing1 were felt to be the result rather of speculation than of reason4 ,such was the more or less unexpressed estimate of their work4 ,it was undervalued1 for both ,spinoza and ,leibniz were thinkers of the first calibre2 and yet there was some justice in the charge4 ,by the end of the eighteenth century the days of merely speculative philosophy were past4 ,,the ,,critical ,,philosophy4--,the time was ripe for a new metaphysic--for a fresh step forward in philosophic method4 ,that step was taken by the celebrated ,immanuel ,kant1 who is the originator of what is known1 in the history of thought1 as the ,critical ,philosophy4 ,the word critical signifies a particular method of approaching the problem of existence1 a method which must be contrasted with that of the speculative philosophy1 of which ,spinoza and ,leibniz are examples4 ,the critical philosophy1 before attempting 7as ,spinoza had done7 to tackle the problem of existence1 first attacked the problem of knowledge4 ,before asking ,what is the truth8 it put the preliminary question1 ,what are the means at man's disposal for reaching the truth8 ,it prefaced all philosophical enquiry by an examination into the nature and scope of human thought4 ,such was the preparatory investigation which was to place metaphysics upon a secure and scientific foundation4 ,for the new philosophy1 the gateway to all sound knowledge is the reflection of the human mind upon itself4 ,know thyself1 is its advice to the inquiring spirit of man4 ,here1 if anywhere1 is to be found the philosopher's stone4 ,,immanuel ,,kant4--,the celebrated ,immanuel ,kant was born at ,koenigsberg in #agbd1 and died in his native town in #ahjd4 ,between those dates he lived the industrious and uneventful life of a university professor4 ,the ,seven ,years' ,war and the ,french ,revolution left him undisturbed1 though not unmoved4 ,he was a man of quiet1 regular habits1 and his fellow-townsmen would set their clocks by his daily promenade4#bc ,but the adventurous originality of his thought serves as a contrast to this peaceful picture4 ,kant1 indeed1 laid the foundations of philosophy afresh4 ,with characteristic insight1 he went to the very root problem of all1 and challenged human thought itself4 ,before we can know anything1 we must first of all demand the credentials of the instrument by which knowledge is gained4 ,before asking1 ,what do ,i know8 the preliminary question should be1 ,how do ,i know8 ,otherwise we cannot say whether we are in a position to give any answer to those ultimate problems1 the answers to which constitute philosophy4 ,it is far from easy to present ,kant's criticism of knowledge at once simply and accurately4 ,this philosopher has a not undeserved reputation for obscurity1 and had he written in any other language than ,german1 he would perhaps have found no readers4 ,,the ,,problem ,,of ,,knowledge4--,it had already been realised by the predecessors of ,kant that what is called sense-experience is a less simple process than it seems1 and that our senses cannot be said to reveal to us any object as it actually is4 ,john ,locke himself was not the first to point out that the so-called secondary qualities of any material object 7i4e4 colour1 taste1 etc47 are produced just as much by the person who perceives1 as by the object which is perceived4 ,galileo1 ,descartes1 and ,hobbes1 besides others1 had been aware of this fact1 which indeed becomes evident to the most superficial analysis of sense-experience4 ,the primary qualities1 i4e4 density1 extension1 etc41 continued to be regarded as subsisting in the objects themselves1 and independently of any perceiving consciousness4 ,but even this view did not prove permanent1 and it was the episcopal philosopher1 ,george ,berkeley 7#afhe-agec7 who demonstrated in his ,new ,theory of ,vision that not even these qualities could rightly be regarded as subsisting independently4 ,thus it had already been realised1 long before ,kant wrote his ,critique of ,pure ,reason 7published1 #agha71 that our senses are far from revealing to us things as they are2 it is only the appearances of things and not the things themselves that the senses present to us4 ,indeed1 as is well known1 the ,scotch philosopher ,david ,hume 7#agaa-aggf71 who was a master in the art of raising problems1 extended this line of criticism until it reached to pure scepticism4 ,he put the question1 ,if all our knowledge is derived from sense-experience1 and if sense-experience only supplies us with appearance and not reality1 what degree of trustworthiness can there be in human knowledge8 ,and he was not afraid to give the logical answer--,none4 ,hume may thus be said to have brought things to an impasse4 ,as a matter of fact1 what he had done was to refute ,locke's theory of knowledge 7i4e4 that it is derived entirely from sense-experience7 by means of a reductio ad absurdum4 ,,the ,,kantian ,,criticism4--,kant says that it was ,hume who awoke him from his dogmatic slumbers4 ,by this he meant that ,hume made him realise that it was no use indulging in philosophic speculation generally1 or listening to the speculations of others1 until the ,problem of ,knowledge was satisfactorily solved4 ,to this problem ,kant applied himself4 ,and recognising ,locke to be the fons et origo malorum1 he subjected his theory of human knowledge to a close analysis1 and exposed it as being fallacious4 ,far from sense-experience being responsible for all our knowledge1 ,kant proved that important elements of knowledge are quite independent of sense-experience2 especially was this so in the case of certain mathematical propositions4 7,hence the question1 ,how is pure mathematics possible8 was put by ,kant at the beginning of his philosophy47 ,but it is neither necessary nor desirable to enter into the arguments by means of which ,kant proved his thesis1 which was that the human mind contains in itself certain principles of knowledge 7e4g4 the idea of cause and effect1 the ideas of mathematics1 and so on7 which it does not owe to sense-experience4 ,,kant',s ,,copernican ,,hypothesis4--,kant called these principles of knowledge1 forms of thought or categories4 ,the name1 perhaps1 is irrelevant to our purpose2 all that we need to understand is that ,kant turned the tables upon ,locke4 ,locke said that the mind was a tabula rasa which passively received impressions from outside4 ,kant said that the mind is nothing of the kind2 it is not passive1 but active2 it does not receive whatever is offered1 it selects what it wants2 and it imposes its own forms of thought upon the outside world4 ,photography had not been invented at the time of this controversy1 but ,kant might have said3 ,the mind is not a photographic plate receiving impressions from without1 it rather resembles the lens which impressions must pass through1 and be transformed by1 before they can create a picture4 ,kant had1 in fact1 by this theory1 instituted a revolution4 ,his new dogma was3 ,the mind is the mould into which all our knowledge must be cast2 and the constitution of our mind predetermines the shape that our knowledge takes4 ,thus ,kant had discovered that not only sensuous perception1 but rational understanding also1 has its forms and presuppositions4 ,just as we become aware of objects only by means of senses which perhaps hide or distort as much as they reveal2 so also our rational knowledge is conditioned by the nature of our understanding1 which dictates to reality the forms under which it can be understood and known4 ,,mechanism ,,undermined4--,how did this affect the mechanical theory8 ,the connection is obvious4 ,mechanism is nothing but one of the forms of thought that the mind imposes on phenomena4 ,just as ,copernicus had discovered that it is due to our position on the earth that the heavenly bodies appear to move round us1 so ,kant had discovered that it is due to the nature of our senses and understanding that we perceive things in space and time1 and understand them as being mechanically determined4 ,the space and time1 and the mechanical determinism are not in the things1 but in our minds4 ,the fact is that we can only grasp things under these forms4 ,space1 time1 mechanical causation are forms and laws1 not of nature1 but of the human intellect1 which is so constituted as to see things in this way4 ,thus those axioms of science and of mathematics which lie at the base of all exact knowledge1 and which had hitherto been regarded as objective1 i4e4 as inherent in the nature of things1 were shewn by ,kant to be1 as a matter of fact1 subjective1 that is 7in ,kant's own phrase7 they express the conditions under which alone we are able to apprehend or understand the object4 ,thus all knowledge is conditioned by our nature1 by the framework1 so to speak1 not only of our senses but of our minds4 ,in this way the mechanical view was outflanked2 that view certainly seems to us inevitable and certain1 but this is due to the constitution of our minds2 the world seems to us to be determined1 just as it seems blue to a person wearing blue spectacles4 ,but there is no sufficient reason for supposing that it is either determined or blue4 ,the law of mechanical causation is an axiom1 but it is a subjective axiom4 ,,appearance ,,and ,,reality4--,this may not seem much of an advance on ,hume's position4 ,human knowledge still seems precarious1 if we assume the mind to be a kind of dictator which imposes its own laws upon nature4 ,and ,kant indeed frankly admitted that neither our senses nor our reason were able to reveal to us things as they are1 but only things as they seem2 we grasp appearance1 not reality1 and 7to use ,kant's phraseology7 phenomena not noumena4 ,thus ,kant cut away the ground from under all rationalistic dogmatism2 he shewed its presumptuous futility4 ,,the ,,pathway ,,to ,,reality4--,kant1 however1 did not remain satisfied with the negative results of his critical philosophy1 valuable as these were4 ,reality1 it is true1 lies out of range of the human reason1 but it is not entirely inaccessible to us1 and scepticism about the ultimate nature of things is not the necessary corollary of ,kant's1 as it was of ,hume's1 philosophy4 ,kant drew a distinction between the ,theoretical ,reason1 which his ,critique of ,pure ,reason had dealt with1 and the ,practical ,reason1 which he discusses in his ,critique of ,practical ,reason 7#aghh74 ,,the ,,practical ,,reason4--,by the practical reason ,kant meant the moral consciousness1 and the law of the practical reason is the moral law1 the fulfilment of which constitutes duty4 ,this law springs neither from outside authority nor from experience2 it is autonomous4 ,and it is upon the existence of this autonomous moral consciousness that ,kant plants his foothold in his endeavour to find a refuge from the philosophic agnosticism to which his analysis of the theoretical reason had led2 and upon this rock he founded his belief in ,god1 ,freedom1 and ,immortality4 ,by means of his practical reason1 man gets into touch with that real world1 which his theoretical reason is unable to reach4 ,in fact1 the practical reason itself 7or moral consciousness7 is an element in man's nature which belongs to the real1 as opposed to the phenomenal world4 ,for man himself is a citizen of both worlds1 and has 7so to speak7 a dual nature1 a foot on either shore4 ,he is an inhabitant both of the world of mechanical phenomena1 and of the timeless world of freedom1 which lies altogether outside of all mechanical conceptions4 ,,kant ,,and ,,religion4--,religion we must seek in ourselves1 not outside ourselves1 is a saying of ,kant's that gives the clue to his general attitude4 ,it is only in that world which cannot be interpreted mechanically 7i4e4 the inner world of freedom of which we never cease to be conscious7 that we may seek1 or can hope to find the source of religion4 ,it is not the spectacle of the mechanically determined world of nature1 but the demands of the moral consciousness that create religion4 ,for instance1 it is the gulf that yawns between the ideal commands of the moral law1 and the actual possibilities 7so poor and meagre7 of fulfilling and satisfying them1 that creates1 in the view of ,kant1 the need of ,god and immortality4 ,these alone can guarantee the realisation of the ideal claims of the moral consciousness4 ,,religious ,,faith4--,thus the practical reason leads on to convictions concerning what lies beyond the limits defined by the theoretical reason4 ,the nature of the demands of the moral consciousness give us an insight into the nature of the super-phenomenal 7transcendental1 noumenal7 world4 ,that world must be of such a kind as to sanction and guarantee our moral ideals2 it must be friendly and not hostile or indifferent to those ideals which man cherishes1 but which his phenomenal experience seems to contradict4 ,thus we see the truth of the saying that ,the universe as a moral system is the last word of the ,kantian philosophy4#bd ,,kant',s ,,influence4--,kant was one of those thinkers who are responsible for turning the stream of thought into fresh channels4 ,through his researches into the nature of human knowledge1 he discovered the conditions upon which it rests1 and defined the limits beyond which it cannot pass4 ,thus1 once for all1 he put an end to dogmatism4 ,and to ,kant also belongs the credit of having established the reality and validity of inner experience4 ,the rock upon which his philosophy is built is no external fact or event--nothing in time or space--but the moral consciousness itself4 ,and thus he restores1 as the central interest of philosophy1 the human individual1 with all his experiences of need1 of hope1 and of insight4 ,personality is the principle of his philosophy4 ,in this he is the true successor of the ,reformation4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,romantic ,,movement ,,kant ,,and ,,after4--,with ,kant the hey-day of rationalism terminated4 ,he had put an end to the superficial psychology upon which it rested4 ,for the rationalists1 the life of the mind had consisted in intellectual ideas2 but a more careful analysis indicated the presence of deeper-lying elements1 which had hitherto been disregarded2 there existed other important constituents besides the intellectual4 ,kant's criticism of pure reason did much to discredit the old view2 and by founding his philosophy upon the non-intellectual moral consciousness1 he heightened the prestige of feeling as against reason 7in the narrow and limited sense of that word74 ,thus ,kant is not undeservedly called the father of a philosophy which succeeded him1 and which was based upon the idea of the supremacy of feeling4 ,but1 at the same time1 that title is more accurate as an estimate of another philosopher of rather different characteristics4 ,,rousseau4--,jean ,jacques ,rousseau 7#agab-aggh7 was a man of unique genius whose figure occupies a prominent position not only in the annals of philosophy1 but in social1 political1 and literary history4 ,even more than ,voltaire was he responsible for sowing seeds of thought which bore fruit in the events of the ,revolution4 ,and indeed1 it is as the author of the notorious ,contrat ,social that he is most widely known4 ,,rousseau',s ,,sensibility4--,rousseau was one of those philosophers whose character is the formative element which gives shape to their doctrines4 ,his was a profoundly emotional temperament4 ,he left behind him an invaluable document which lays bare all the psychological sources of his philosophy4 ,the ,confessions reveal to us a man highly sensitive and morbidly introspective1 the slave of unreasoning impulses and passions4 ,in the eyes of some short-sighted persons1 these first-hand revelations will obscure or cast doubt upon the capacity and genius of the man1 for they do little to prejudice opinion in his favour4 ,,he ,,defies ,,the ,,zeitgeist4--,rousseau's profound originality lies in his having dared to dispute a dogma to which the prestige of an axiom then attached4 ,he endeavoured to undermine the popular faith in scientific and philosophic culture4 ,he went right back to ,pascal1 who1 a century before1 had raised the question as to the value of scientific knowledge for personal life1 by proclaiming ,the whole of philosophy is not worth an hour's study4 ,rousseau's first philosophical work was occasioned by the offer of a prize on the part of a provincial academy for a thesis on the problem ,whether the restoration of the sciences and arts has contributed to purify manners8 ,the question pierced ,rousseau's soul like a flash of lightning4 ,he felt 7he tells us7 that he saw a new world1 and felt a new man2 he saw no longer the world of culture1 of science1 of philosophy 7which he felt to be as artificial as it was ineffective and vain71 but the real world of personality1 of living feeling1 of the inner life4 ,it flashed upon him that it was the primitive and elementary feelings1 the great and simple relations of life1 which gave to existence its value4 ,the rest was superficial and irrelevant4 ,,rousseau ,,and ,,religion4--,the intellectualist is ever the aristocrat4#be ,voltaire and the philosophers of the enlightenment spoke of the unenlightened multitude as la canaille4 ,its beliefs were superstitions4 ,rousseau knew that the things which men have in common are more vital than those in which they differ1 and the primitive instincts of the race which we all share1 are the most important part of our nature4 ,among these primitive instincts1 indomitable and irrepressible1 is the instinct of religion4 ,thus ,rousseau transferred the religious problem from the sphere of external observation and explanation of the world 7to which the rationalists had promoted or degraded it71 back to inner personal feeling4 ,this marked an epoch in the philosophy of religion4 ,moreover1 ,rousseau was able to write in a convincing fashion of religion1 because 7and here he differed from the intellectuals of his day7 he had personal experience of what it meant4 ,hence wherever he alludes to religion his language has the ring of sincerity2 it is always spontaneous1 and sometimes it is passionate and poetic4 ,his religious experience took the form of nature-mysticism1 undogmatic 7because non-intellectualist71 but rich and deep3 ,i can find no more worthy adoration of ,god than the silent admiration which the contemplation of ,his works begets in us1 and which cannot be expressed by any prescribed acts4444 ,in my room ,i pray seldomer and more coldly2 but the sight of a beautiful landscape moves me1 ,i cannot tell why4 ,i once read of a certain bishop1 who1 when visiting in his diocese1 encountered an old woman whose only prayers consisted in a sigh ',oh6' ,the bishop said to her1 ',good mother1 always pray like that2 your prayer is worth more than ours4' ,my prayer is of that kind4#bf ,here we have one form of the religious spirit2 for the mystic it is always true that there is neither speech nor language4 ,the mystic and the dogmatist stand at opposite poles1 for dogmatism is always an attempt at definition even when that which is to be defined is indefinable2 and here is to be found the common denominator between ,kant and ,rousseau4 ,the former1 by his analysis of reason1 discredited dogmatism3 the latter1 by his apotheosis of feeling1 contributed towards the same result4 ,,romanticism ,,in ,,germany4--,this strong movement of feeling1 created on the one hand by ,kant's ,critique1 and by the mysticism of ,rousseau1 took different forms in the two countries to which these two philosophers belonged4 ,in ,france the new philosophy became the hot-bed of revolutionary ideas2 whereas in ,germany it found vent in a ferment of speculative systems1 and in an outcrop of artistic production4 ,it produced the philosophies of ,fichte1 ,schelling1 and ,hegel1 and the prose and poetry of ,goethe and ,schiller4 ,it was the age of 'beautiful souls' and of 'noble hearts'2 men believed themselves capable of the highest things2 the immediate needs of the heart were set over against reason 444 under many successive forms ,romanticism prevailed in literature1 effecting the re-birth of human fancy after the long labour of intellect4#bg ,,the ,,goal ,,of ,,philosophy4--,philosophic young ,germany had set itself an ambitious programme4 ,kant1 indeed1 had cleared the ground for them1 but his warnings that an eagle cannot soar beyond the atmosphere which supports it1 were disregarded4 ,the philosophy of ,kant himself was felt by the successors to be lacking in the idea of totality--in the conception of a whole4 ,his division of existence into ,appearance and ,reality seemed to indicate a certain lack of finish in his philosophy2 and they set themselves to explore the root of reality which to ,kant seemed undiscoverable1 but in which the sensuous and super-sensuous worlds are united1 and from which they have emerged4 ,this task became and remained the grand problem of philosophy for a whole generation of thinkers4 ,all externality1 isolation1 and division were to disappear1 all existence must be shown to be but degrees and phases of the one infinite reality4 ,spinoza's work had to be done again in the light of increased psychological knowledge4 ,,fichte4--,of the thinkers who addressed themselves to this ambitious task1 only two need be considered here2 and these are chosen because they attacked the problem from different directions4 ,in the first place1 ,johann ,gottlieb ,fichte 7#agfb-ahad71 who had been the first to lay down the programme of thought with explicitness1 realised and admitted that the task which philosophy had set itself was beyond the powers of any logical train of thought4 ,the higher unity of existence1 the demonstration of which was the goal of philosophy1 could be reached only by a process of intellectual intuition1#bh it must be guessed or divined2 for it presents itself 7and this is a characteristically ,romanticist idea7 to the human mind in the immediacy of feeling1 and not by discursive thought4 ,it was of the essence of ,fichte's philosophy1 as it had been of ,spinoza's1 that a point may be attained where the mind feels itself to be at one with the truly real1 and only when this point is reached--i4e4 sub specie aeternitatis1 will it arrive at and retain the conviction of the universal order and unity of existence4 ,from this standpoint1 and from this alone1 does it become possible to grasp the meaning of those dualities and contrasts which we find around and in us1 the differences of self and not-self1 of mind and matter1 of subject and object1 of appearance and reality1 of truth and semblance4 ,,hegel4--,it has been said1 perhaps with justice1 that philosophy is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct4 ,the remark might seem1 at least in the eyes of some1 to be particularly applicable to the work of ,georg ,wilhelm ,friedrich ,hegel 7#aggj-ahca74 ,not because his arguments are bad1 but because he attempted to establish by strict logic the conclusions which ,fichte sought to reach by means of intuition1 and which perhaps are only attainable by that method4 ,hegel attempted to climb1 by a strict process of reasoning1 to the position from which the ,fichtean landscape might spread itself below as a logical whole3 he claimed to be a reasoner as well as a seer4 ,and thereby he may be said to have furnished the programme of thought for a certain class of intellects which will never die out4 ,thus ,hegel was something of a hybrid1 and may be described as a rationalistic-romanticist4 ,nor are his arguments the easiest to understand4 ,the only thing that is certain1 writes a commentator who stands at an opposite philosophical pole1 is that whatever you may say of his procedure1 some one will accuse you of misunderstanding it4 ,i make no claim to understanding it2 ,i treat it merely impressionistically4#bi ,and this is all we can do here4 ,,hegel',s ,,method4--,hegel proceeds by means of what he calls the ,dialectical ,method4 ,he understands by dialectic 7#a7 a property of all our thoughts in virtue of which1 each particular thought necessarily passes over into another2 and also 7#b7 a property of things1 in virtue of which every particular thing necessarily belongs to1 or is related to1 all other things4 ,a thing by itself is nothing4 ,hence a similarity or parallelism between the method of thought and the nature of things4 ,logic is of the nature of things4 ,the way in which thought reaches truth is also the way in which things exist4 ,hegel expressed this in his well-known saying the real is the rational1 and the rational is the real4 ,perhaps more poetically or obscurely the same proposition is expressed by declaring3 ,when we think existence1 existence thinks in us1 and ,the pulse of existence itself beats in our thinking4 ,hegel's logic may1 in fact1 be described as an attempt to conceive the movement of thought as being at the same time the law of the universe4 ,logic 7to repeat what we said before7 is of the nature of things3 reality is rational1 and what is rational is real4 ,thus logic for ,hegel did not mean 7as it meant for ,kant7 the forms or laws of thought3 it signified the very core of reality4 ,for all that ,kant knew1 reality might or might not be rational3 all he asserted was that the human mind rationalised reality 7or parts of it74 ,for ,hegel1 logic or reason was the living and moving spirit of the world4 ,the essence of reality and the essence of thought were one4 ,the absolute reality was spirit4#cj ,,hegelianism4--,hegel's philosophy may be described as an attempt to reach the standpoint of religious mysticism by means of purely rational processes4 ,it is the finding of rational grounds for supra-rational intuitions4 ,the attempt is laudable1 and1 in the eyes of many1 it was successful4 ,and1 as we shall see1 ,hegelianism had an important future1 especially in ,england2 nor1 as a system of thought1 is it yet extinct4 ,its central conception is that which1 in one shape or another1 will never cease to appeal to mankind--that existence is1 at bottom1 spiritual in character--that spirit is the only ultimate reality4 ,that ,hegelianism provides a rational basis for a spiritual religion is obvious enough2 nor is it necessary to indicate the possibilities of linking up the ,christian doctrine of the ,logos with a philosophy for which ,reason was the very core and ground of existence4 ,hegel may indeed be said to have laid the foundation of ,christian theology afresh2 or rather to have restored what was best in the old theology1 and given it the prestige of modernity4 ,,religion ,,and ,,philosophy4--,in fact1 for ,hegel as for all rationalists whose attitude is also religious1 religion and philosophy were two forms of the same thing4 ,religion contains philosophic truths under the form of imagination3 philosophy contains religious truth under the form of reason4 ,the difference is one of form only1 not of content4 ,this had not been the view of ,rousseau1 nor is it the deepest view2 and it was not the view of a thinker of the ,romantic school who did more than any individual among his predecessors to bring the religious problem to the point where it now stands4 ,,schleiermacher4--,while the sun of ,romanticism was at its zenith1 the spirit of ,kant's critical philosophy was kept alive by a thinker of as deep spiritual and intellectual insight as ,hegel himself4 ,friedrich ,ernst ,daniel ,schleiermacher 7#agfh-ahcd7 brought the religious problem down from those altitudes to which ,romanticist metaphysics had raised it1 to what ,kant had called the fertile bathos of experience4 ,he approached religion from the side of inner experience1 the point of view of psychology4 ,the profound insight of ,kant had already shown that this was the direction on which future thought would travel1 by tracing back the religious problem to a personal need more clearly and penetratingly than ever before--a need set up by the incongruity of the real and the ideal4 ,,his ,,view ,,of ,,religious ,,ideas4--,just as ,rousseau1 owing to his own religious experience1 was in a better position to attack the religious problem than the philosophers of the enlightenment1 so ,schleiermacher had the advantage of some ,romanticists4 ,as a boy1 he had been put to school with the ,moravians1 and throughout his own life he never ceased to declare that the years spent among them had been of vital importance to the development of his views4 ,in #ahja he writes3 ,my way of thinking has indeed no other foundation than my own peculiar character1 my inborn mysticism1 my education as it has been determined from within4 ,and his own experience of religion established in him the conviction that the innermost life of men must be lived in feeling1 and that this alone can bring man into immediate relation to the highest4 ,his acceptance of ,kant's criticism of reason led him to understand that intellectual concepts1 in the religious sphere1 7i4e4 dogmas7 must always be of secondary importance3 experience comes first4 ,and his profound originality lies just here1 and it is just here that ,schleiermacher stands out as the forerunner of the modern view4 ,he it was who first made it evident that religious ideas derive their validity from that inner experience which they are an attempt to describe4 ,if a dogma is an expression of an experience felt by man in his innermost life1 it is a valid dogma1 even if philosophic criticism hesitates to sanction it4#ca ,,what ,,is ,,religion8--,the distance of this position from that of the eighteenth century intellectualism which regarded religion either as a form of philosophy or of superstition1 is obvious4 ,schleiermacher attacks two intellectualist prejudices in particular3 7#a7 ,that according to which religion is conceived of primarily as a doctrine 7either revealed1 or grounded on reason71 and 7#b7 ,that which regards religion as merely a means towards morality4 ,religion1 according to ,schleiermacher1 has an existence independent of 7though1 no doubt1 associated with7 philosophy1 superstition1 or morality4 ,its essence consists neither in speculation nor in action1 but in a certain type of feeling1 of inner experience4 ,schleiermacher characterised this particular type of feeling as a feeling of dependence3 the immediate consciousness that everything finite exists in and through the infinite1 everything temporal in and through the eternal4 ,that ,schleiermacher should have described the specifically religious feeling in this particular way is comparatively irrelevant so far as our present purpose is concerned4 ,the point of importance is that he was the first to recognise the independence of religion1 to see in it a legitimate and natural form of human activity1 which exists1 not for the sake of knowledge or of morality1 but for its own sake1 and on its own account4 ,here1 though ,hegel took a different view1 ,schleiermacher is one in spirit with the ,romantic school2 indeed1 he may be said to have drawn the logical conclusions of ,romanticism4 ,the independence and originality of religion is the necessary consequence of a philosophy which set itself against the unbalanced intellectualism of the enlightenment4 ,the permanent significance of ,romanticism lies here3 ,that it discredited once for all the notion that there is only one road to reality--that of logic4 ,it is not only philosophy1 but religion and art that remove the veil which hides the supra-sensible world from us4 ,and to close our eyes to the facts of religious experience1 or to attempt to discredit them by the application of irrelevant terms such as superstition1 is not only to display ourselves as philistines1 but also to forsake the highest traditions of science--veneration for experience1 and the realms of fact4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,mechanism ,,and ,,life ,,recapitulatory4--,we have already observed the mechanical theory1 in the hands of ,descartes1 expanding itself to cover organisms and the phenomena of life1 and in ,la ,mettrie's ,l',homme ,machine1 reducing even human beings to the status of automata4 ,these theories were1 however1 known to be insecurely based upon somewhat hasty generalisations1 for1 in point of fact1 the science of biology was as yet in its infancy2 the data for a complete vindication of the mechanical position were as yet wanting4 ,,advance ,,of ,,biology4--,biological science1 however1 during the first half of the nineteenth century made considerable advances1 and research continually kept bringing to light facts which seemed to substantiate the brilliant1 if premature1 hypothesis of ,descartes4 ,it will not be necessary for us to do more than take hasty note of certain important developments4 ,it was in #ahbh that the ,german chemist ,whoeler 7#ahjj-ahhb7 for the first time in biological history prepared an organic compound 7urea7 from inorganic materials--an achievement universally recognised to be of the utmost significance4 ,as a distinguished historian of the science of chemistry puts it3 ,this discovery destroyed the difference which was then considered to exist between organic and inorganic bodies1 viz4 that the former could only be formed under the influence of vegetable or animal vital forces1 whereas the latter could be artificially produced4#cb ,ten years later another ,german1 ,schleider 7#ahjd-ahha7 propounded the cellular theory of the structure and growth of plants1 a theory which was soon extended to animal organisms by ,schwann 7#ahaj-ahhb74 ,the publication of this famous theory was described by a contemporary as a burst of daylight2 it indeed illuminated what had hitherto been buried in mystery and mythology--the structure and method of growth of plants and animals4 ,it seemed to render superfluous any form of the old conception of a vital force to explain the phenomena of growth1 if it could now be assumed that the cells automatically absorbed outside material1 increased in number by the division of individuals1 and built up the organism by continual repetition of this process4 ,schwann was also responsible for initiating a number of minute physiological investigations which led to a far more intimate knowledge of the action of nerves and muscles1 and interpreted these in mechanical terms4 ,investigations which were carried on with all the resources of modern physics regarding the phenomena of animal movements1 gradually substituted for the miracles of the 'vital forces' a molecular mechanism1 complicated1 indeed1 and likely to baffle our efforts for a long time to come1 but intelligible1 nevertheless1 as a mechanism4#cc ,subsequent researches1 notably of ,helmholtz 7#ahba-ahie7 and ,meyer1 lent strong support to this interpretation4 ,the conception of the conservation of energy 7an important axiom of the mechanical theory7 was successfully applied by them to the economy of organisms4 ,the organism was found not to create energy1 but only to contain remarkably efficient means of deriving it from materials absorbed as food4 ,thus animal warmth and the power of motion are originally sunlight transformed in the organism of the plant1 and afterwards appropriated by the animal4 ,the power with which we move our limbs is as much the product of combustion as is the power of a steam engine1 the only difference being that the organism is1 of the two1 the more efficient converter of energy4 ,,the ,,mechanical ,,theory ,,substantiated4--,thus1 whether biologists were considering the structure or the behaviour of organisms1 they were arriving at the same conclusions4 ,the structure was revealed as physical and chemical structure1 and the behaviour as the resultant of familiar physical and chemical processes4 ,hence biology came to be regarded as a compartment of physics and chemistry1 for life itself was nothing but a complex physical or chemical phenomenon4 ,life could thus be satisfactorily expressed in terms of matter and energy4 ,the speculations of ,descartes seemed to be established by experimental science4 ,,the ,,final ,,obstacle4--,the situation1 already satisfactory to those whose hope it was to see the mechanical theory impregnably established1 was marred1 however1 by one untoward circumstance4 ,the phenomena of organic structure1 growth1 and behaviour having been reduced to order1 and expressed in terms of physics and chemistry1 certain important facts still resisted explanation1 and stood out as a last stronghold of the older view4 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,species4--,the existence of definite forms of animal and vegetable life1 whose infinite variety and complexity was continually being increased by research#cd--still remained a mystery4 ,how did these innumerable species naturally and automatically come into being8 was the question that must be satisfactorily answered before the mechanical view could be held to cover all the facts4 ,the direction in which to look for a reply had been indicated by a number of thinkers4 ,the ,french naturalist ,buffon1 the philosopher ,kant1 and the poet ,goethe--besides other thinkers--had already in the eighteenth century familiarised the idea that species are not immutable1 but that1 by some means or other1 new forms of life are derived from pre-existing ones4 ,the conception had gained a firm foothold in ,england1 where it was hospitably entertained by ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 and where it formed the staple of a book which caused a good deal of controversy in its day1 and which is not yet forgotten4#ce ,,lamarck4--,the evolutionary idea1 however1 though attractive to philosophers1 and even to men of science1 was insufficient as an explanation of the origin of species so long as the processes of transformation remained obscure4 ,naturalists could not accept an hypothesis for which there seemed to be such imperfect evidence4 ,an ingenious ,french scientist1 ,j4 ,baptiste de ,lamarck 7#agdd-ahbi7 had indeed1 in #ahji1 propounded the theory--ever since known by his name--that the use or disuse of particular organs might1 after a long series of generations1 result in the formation of new species4 7,the ideas denoted by the words environment1 adaptation1 acquired habits--now so familiar--may be said to have been introduced by him74 ,but the scientific prejudices of the time were against ,lamarck's theories1 and he had to lament their inhospitable reception4 ,indeed ,lamarck's critics did not hesitate to exercise their powers of ridicule1 or to make fun of the giraffe who derived his long neck from the attempts of his ancestors to browse on high trees4 ,darwin himself talks of ,lamarck's nonsense1 and of his veritable rubbish--language1 however1 which he was subsequently able to retract4 ,,the ,,new ,,geology4--,perhaps the most stubborn obstacle which ,lamarckian theories had to meet was the current prejudice as to the age 7or youth7 of the earth4 ,contemporary geologists were by no means prepared to grant ,lamarck the illimitable periods of time which his transformation processes seemed to require4 ,consequently it is not surprising that the new theories1 perhaps for the first time1 received a measure of justice at the hands of one who himself became responsible for a revolution in the science of geology4 ,i devoured ,lamarck en voyage1 writes ,charles ,lyell1 describing a journey from ,oxford in #ahbg4 ,his theories delighted me more than any novel ,i ever read1 and much in the same way1 for they address themselves to the imagination4444 ,that the earth is quite as old as he supposes1 has long been my creed4#cf ,in spite of the fascination of these theories1 however1 ,lyell was not carried away by them1 and it was not for some years that he estimated them at their true value4 ,meanwhile the new geology made its appearance with the publication of the three volumes of his own ,principles of ,geology1 between #ahbi and #ahcc4 ,the significance of the book for biological speculation--for theories of the origin of species--lay in its thesis that the present condition of the earth is the product of geological processes incalculably long4 ,hitherto the catastrophic theory had been dominant--the notion that a series of immense catastrophic events 7like the ,deluge7 had been responsible for the present condition of the earth's surface4 ,for this ,lyell substituted his ,evolutionary ,theory1 according to which the almost invisibly slow geological processes which we may now see operating around us1 are typical of the behaviour of the crust of this planet for incalculable periods of time2 for even the slowest changes1 if sufficient time is allowed them1 are capable of producing the most stupendous results4 ,lyell may be said to have extended the age of the earth ad infinitum4 ,just as ,galileo removed all barriers of space1 ,lyell removed those of time4 ,their joint achievement was to present to humanity a universe infinite both in space and time--a staggering conception4 ,,results ,,of ,,lyell',s ,,theory4--,though ,lyell's boldness disturbed a good many of his contemporaries1 those biologists who were engaged upon seeking the origin of species were thankful to one who had removed the chief obstacle to the solution of their difficulties4 ,they were now relieved of one embarrassment3 ,lyell gave them the power to draw on the ,bank of ,time to any extent2 bankruptcy was no longer possible4#cg ,indeed1 ,lyell seems himself to have been convinced of the evolutionary origin of species 7though the mode of its operation still remained a mystery for him no less than for the biologists themselves74 ,in fact1 it became quite evident that the idea of continuity which the ,principles of ,geology had established in the inorganic world1 must be equally applicable to the organic world4 ,,darwin4--,the theory of a common descent of species had occurred1 as early as #ahcg1 to an enthusiastic student of ,lyell's writings1 who was also a personal friend4 ,charles ,darwin had collected much geological1 botanical1 and zoological matter on his voyage with the ,beagle round the world1 and continued for twenty years to accumulate an immense volume of data to substantiate a theory which had first suddenly suggested itself to him in #ahch as the result of reading for amusement ,malthus' ,essay on the ,principle of ,population4 ,this celebrated book1 first published in #agih1 had attempted to describe the forces which ensure the multiplication1 or check the increase of population4 ,the proposition laid down by ,malthus was that population tends to vary with the means of subsistence4 ,he had studied his problem from a social or political point of view1 but the same principle was seen by ,darwin to apply to all living creatures4 ,two forces are seen everywhere in conflict3 7a7 the luxuriant powers of reproduction possessed by and exercised by each species2 7b7 the difficulties and obstacles by which the species tend to be eliminated4 ,the contest between the powers of reproduction and those of elimination--this over-production and crowding-out--is what was afterwards termed the struggle for existence4 ,,natural ,,selection4--,darwin's momentous theory was that this struggle1 proceeding for untold ages1 had resulted in the continual formation of new species4 ,granted that the numerous offspring of any individual member of a species tend to vary1 those variations survive which happen to be best fitted to cope with the environment4 ,these in their turn leave offspring1 the variations and the selections are repeated1 and so on ad infinitum2 and the result is that entirely new species are formed by a long process of insignificant changes4 ,this1 briefly put1 is the celebrated theory of ,natural ,selection4 ,the habit of scientific caution was characteristic of ,darwin1 who at first would not write down even the briefest sketch of his hypothesis1 but devoted nearly twenty years to the accumulation of evidential data4 ,his friends continually warned him that he would be forestalled1 and this actually occurred1 as is well known1 in #aheh1 when the book which was to give the new theory to the world was already half written4 ,the naturalist1 ,alfred ,russell ,wallace1 on a collecting expedition in the ,east ,indies1 in a flash of insight while sick with fever1 found the same solution of the mystery that had puzzled biologists so long4 ,wallace's letter to ,darwin1 containing the abstract of his theory1 came like a bolt from the blue4 ,the behaviour of the two men was worthy of the highest traditions of scientific research4 ,the matter was put into the hands of ,lyell1 and ,wallace's paper1 together with certain extracts from ,darwin's unpublished notes1 were read before the ,linnean ,society1 and the preparation of ,darwin's book was hurried on4 ,in ,november1 #ahei1 ,the ,origin of ,species was published4 ,,results ,,of ,,darwin',s ,,theory4--,the importance 7for the general trend of thought7 of this joint achievement of ,darwin and ,wallace was considerable1 and could not but be regarded as an extension of the mechanical theory4 ,the origin of species might still to some extent remain mysterious 7for natural selection was soon realised to be only one of many factors at work in evolution71 yet the area of mystery was patently reduced1 and the inexplicable driven further back4 ,a formula had been provided1 which seemed to be as valid1 and likely to prove as permanent and fruitful in biological research as ,newton's law of gravity had been in the realm of physics4 ,in point of fact1 ,darwin had only substituted new problems of variation and heredity for the old one of the diversity of species2 but an impression was created by the new discoveries that a purely mechanical explanation of the origin of life and even of mind was within reach4 ,,the ,,descent ,,of ,,man4--,with regard to mind1 the impression was re-inforced by ,darwin's next book--the ,descent of ,man1 where the gap between man and the animals was finally bridged4 ,the work was merely an extension of the principles previously applied by him1 and as a theory it had been present to ,darwin's mind as far back as #ahcg4 ,as soon as he had become convinced that species were mutable productions1 he could not avoid the belief that man must come under the same law4#ch ,indeed the ,descent was nothing more than a corollary to the ,origin of ,species4 ,the earlier work contains the whole of ,darwinism4 ,,the ,,position ,,reached4--,and with the full publication of ,darwin's theories a point was reached when a more or less consistently materialistic position seemed possible4 ,the foundations of such a position had been strengthened by the scientific atomism of ,dalton1 and the results of ,german research in the field of organic chemistry seemed to open up possibilities of expressing even life in terms of matter4 ,and1 finally1 the evolutionary hypothesis had reduced some of the most obscure biological problems to manageable proportions4 ,the prospects for a purely naturalistic philosophy were phenomenally bright4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,materialism ,,and ,,agnosticism ,,from ,,science ,,to ,,philosophy4--,the record of certain important scientific discoveries has occupied us in two recent chapters1 and it is now time to examine the philosophic results that were drawn from them4 ,it is true that the generalisations drawn from the results of scientific research were sometimes hasty1 and not always sanctioned by the gifted minds to whom these results were due2 yet they were assured a popular reception1 and exercised an immense influence4 ,it is not always the most accurate thinkers whose ideas gain the widest currency4 ,,discredit ,,of ,,romanticism4--,the ,idealistic movement in philosophy which we have seen flourishing in ,germany at the beginning of the nineteenth century1 had begun1 after the lapse of a generation1 to decline4#ci ,the causes of decline1 as often happens1 were in part1 at least1 other than intellectual4 ,hegelianism had become associated with political reaction1 and a philosophy has lost its charm when it enters the service of absolutism4 ,and a rising spirit of enterprise in commerce and industry also contributed to a change of attitude1 for as material interests develop1 men have less leisure for speculation1 and often lose their taste for ideals4 ,probably there should also be taken into account the sentimentality that had attached itself to ,romanticism and with which men were sated4 ,this revolt has its most pointed expression in the prose writings of the poet ,heine1 who attacks with satiric bitterness the new troubadours1 so morbid and somnambulistic1 so high-flown and aristocratic1 and altogether so unnatural4 ,,metaphysics ,,rejected4--,the reaction against the philosophy of ,romanticism took the form of a complete revolt against speculative philosophy4 ,but instead of going back to ,kant1 and taking up a vigorously critical attitude1 it took refuge in the prejudices of common sense4 ,the new movement must be associated in the first place with a ,french thinker1 ,auguste ,comte 7#agih-aheg71 who made the attempt to substitute scientific and positive knowledge for the vague speculations which had hitherto passed for philosophy4 ,he was1 in fact1 the founder of that system of ideas known as ,positivism1 which 7as we shall see7 gained great vogue later1 especially in ,england4 ,comte's doctrine was that1 all spheres of ,nature now being brought under the sway of positive science1 the time had arrived for men1 when constructing their conceptions of life and the world1 to reject all but such ideas as positive science can accept4 ,the age of theology and speculation was past2 the new age of positive science1 where both imagination and argumentation should be subordinate to observation1 was at hand4 ,comte1 as is well known1 became the founder of what he hoped might develop into a new ,catholicism--the ,religion of ,humanity1 and an atmosphere of moral idealism permeates his thought4 ,,german ,,extremists4--,in ,germany1 the home of ,romanticism1 the revolt took a radical shape in the hands of writers like ,ludwig ,feuerbach 7#ahjd-gb7 and ,buechner4 ,i unconditionally repudiate absolute1 self-sufficing speculation--speculation which draws its material from within1 says the former1 in the ,introduction to his ,essence of ,christianity#dj 7#ahda7 and asserts that he places philosophy in the negation of philosophy4 ,buechner1 a far less acute thinker than ,feuerbach1 adopts a similar attitude1 protests against pedantry1 and appeals 7the appeal is always dangerous7 to common sense3 ,expositions which are not intelligible to an educated man are scarcely worth the ink they are printed with4 ,whatever is clearly conceived can be clearly expressed4 ,it is not surprising that the book ,force and ,matter 7#ahee7--;in the preface to which these sentiments are expressed--went through sixteen editions in thirty years and was translated into most ,european languages4 ,it is an extreme expression of the most thorough-going materialism1 and the circumstance that its conclusions were acceptable neither to cautious scientists nor to critical philosophers1 did not compromise its authority with the general public4 ,as was only natural1 for materialism is a creed for which the evidence is all on the surface1 and to which the objections1 being less obvious1 escape notice4 ,and ,buechner's pleas for intelligibility and clearness1 though in some sense justified by the inconceivable pedantry of much ,german metaphysics1 was1 in point of fact1 only a form of cant2 for there are difficulties lying in the subject-matter itself which cannot be banished from the sphere of philosophy4 ,appeals to popular prejudices are not a more legitimate form of philosophic1 than of scientific controversy2 serious thinkers do not thus stoop to the expedients of the politician4 ,,effects ,,of ,,darwin',s ,,theory4--,it would be a serious mistake1 then1 to imagine that materialistic naturalism had to wait for the publication of the ,origin of ,species 7#ahei7 before it could become a formidable theory4 ,and yet the appearance of ,darwin's book had important effects1 and among these is to be reckoned a certain weakening of the old ,argument from ,design1 according to which the complexity and delicacy evident everywhere in the world of nature1 could not be attributed to chance1 but pointed to the existence and activity of a divine ,designer4 ,paley1 during the eighteenth century1 had elaborated the argument with a wealth of detailed instances of contrivance3 ,the pivot upon which the head turns1 the ligament within the socket of the hip-joint1 the pulley or trochlear muscles of the eye2 the epiglottis1 the bandages which tie down the tendons of the wrist and instep1 and so on4 ,and it was not so much the doubt cast by it upon the separate creation of particular species that was the disturbing element in ,darwin's hypothesis 7few men now regarded the book of ,genesis as a manual of natural science1 or faith in it1 as such1 as a matter of religious obligation72 it was rather that the new doctrine of natural selection seemed to invalidate the argument from design4 ,design or chance had been the alternatives offered by ,paley1 and chance only had to be mentioned to be rejected2 but ,darwin made it possible to escape from the dilemma4 ,he showed how1 if certain conditions were granted1 the whole process of the manufacture of species would naturally and inevitably follow4 ,neither design nor chance was the explanation3 there was another alternative1 the influence of environment4 ,thus ,paley's instances of elaborate contrivance were explained by ,darwin as instances of adaptation4 ,the environment under which these organs had developed had made them what they were2 they could not1 under the given circumstances1 have been different4 ,as a very lucid writer puts it3 ,before ,darwin's great discovery1 those who denied the existence of a ,contriver were hard put to it to explain the appearance of contrivance4 ,darwin1 within certain limits and on certain suppositions1 provided an explanation4 ,he showed how the most complicated and purposeful organs1 if only they were useful to the species1 might gradually arise out of random variations1 continuously weeded by an unthinking process of elimination4#da ,,darwinism ,,exploited4--,in fact1 it became evident that popular materialism had been strongly reinforced by the new biology2 and though ,darwin himself was cautious in adding philosophic or religious corollaries to his own propositions1 some of his more eager disciples did not hesitate to fill in his blanks1 and to draw conclusions which the master was too conservative1 too blind1 or perhaps too scientific to sanction4 ,the distinguished zoologist ,haeckel 7#ahcd-aiai7 may be reckoned the most notable amongst these4 ,he was one of the first ,german scientists to give his adherence to ,darwin1 who seems to have considered him too zealous a disciple4 ,your boldness sometimes makes me tremble1 he wrote 7,november #ai1 #ahfh74 ,it is not every scientist who can perceive the limits of an hypothesis1 or who insists so conscientiously as ,darwin did1 upon the necessity for its verification4 ,,herbert ,,spencer4--,though there were not wanting in ,england writers to exploit ,darwinian theories in the interests of a narrow secularism1 their work was not of first-rate importance1 and need not detain us4 ,a new evolutionary philosophy was1 however1 worked out by a conscientious thinker of a different calibre--,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer4 ,he indeed may be described as the ,aristotle of a new world-view4 ,he attempted to co-ordinate and unify all human knowledge1 and to present the world with a final philosophy based upon the data supplied by natural science4 ,to this ambitious task he devoted a lifetime of patient work1 broken by intervals of ill-health4 ,in #ahej the ,system of ,synthetic ,philosophy was projected2 its ,first ,principles were published in #ahfb1 but it was not until #ahif that the gigantic enterprise was complete4 ,spencer was inspired neither by hostility to religion in general1 nor to ,christianity in particular4 ,the motive of his work was a more honourable one4 ,he felt1 with many of his contemporaries1 that the foundations of the old religion were no longer secure1 and that the old sanctions of morality were already gravely compromised2 and he wished to supply a new creed and a new discipline in the place of these4 ,his principal objects were social and ethical4 ,and in this important respect he may be associated with ,comte4 ,both were sociologists and moralists before they were philosophers1 which accounts for their overlooking and underestimating various important philosophic difficulties4 ,a few remarks about ,spencer's system are here not out of place4 ,he attempted to reduce experience to a unity by seeking evidence for the existence of a single and universal law4 ,this unifying principle he found in a general law of evolution4 ,he formulated this law in language which is perhaps less obscure than it seems1 and which practically amounts to this1 that there is a perpetual process going on which reduces disorder to order1 undifferentiated sameness to specialised variety4#db ,the ,first ,principles was published before the ,origin of ,species1 and the confirmation which ,darwin's work supplied to ,spencer's theory must have recommended the latter to the minds of scientifically trained thinkers4 ,moreover1 ,spencer sanctioned a hopeful outlook2 evolutionary optimism was an attractive and an idealistic1 as well as a reasonable philosophy4 ,it demanded the subordination of the individual to society1 it urged the necessity of self-discipline and of industry1 and pointed 7if these conditions were fulfilled7 to a brighter future1 and to a new humanity4 ,the generous idealism of the following passage is characteristic of ,spencer's outlook1 and of those who thought--and hoped--with him2 it occurs at the end of his ,principles of ,ethics3 ,the highest ambition of the beneficent will be to have a share--even though an utterly inappreciable and unknown share--in 'the making of ,man4'444 ,as time goes on1 there will be more and more of those whose unselfish end will be the further evolution of ,humanity4 ,while contemplating from the heights of thought that far-off life of the race never to be enjoyed by them1 but only by a remote posterity1 they will feel a calm pleasure in the consciousness of having aided the advance towards it4 ,spencer1 then1 evidently deserves the important place that he occupies in the history of thought4 ,for though he was forced1 for lack of those final scientific results which he vainly hoped might soon be forthcoming1 to leave some vital gaps in his scheme1#dc he had made an imposing attempt to systematise and unify all human experience4 ,and his attempt to base an idealistic morality upon sure grounds of natural science was valuable and important4 ,,spencer',s ,,philosophy ,,of ,,religion4--,at the same time1 ,spencer could not remain satisfied with a mere description of natural phenomena1 however complete and comprehensive such description might seem2 he desired to offer1 besides this1 an explanation of these phenomena--how did they come to be1 and how do they continue to exist8 ,to provide this explanation1 ,spencer postulated the existence of an ,unknown ,power which is at once the origin and the sustaining ground of everything4 ,this power he regarded as lying quite out of range not only of the human senses1 but of the human intellect4 ,it was not only unknown but unknowable4 ,this celebrated doctrine of the ,unknowable is not the least interesting or important part of ,spencer's system1 and it is perhaps more germane than any other speculation of his to our present subject1 as this terra incognita was allotted by him to religion as its peculiar province4 ,he hoped that the undisputed possession and occupation by religion of this territory might put an end to its perpetual conflict with science1 and substitute for this a reasonable1 if not cordial1 understanding4 ,science might contentedly appropriate the sphere of the knowable1 and leave to religion the undefined and perhaps infinite area of the unknowable2 and he hoped this division of labour would be both fruitful and permanent4 ,,the ,,victorian ,,agnostics4--,through this doctrine of the ,unknowable1 ,herbert ,spencer was the father of that form of belief or disbelief which was pertinently named ,agnosticism by the most celebrated of its exponents--,huxley4 ,this combination of ,positivism in science with ,agnosticism in religion and philosophy1 became highly popular in a wide circle in ,england during the last third of the nineteenth century1 especially among the scientifically educated4 ,leslie ,stephen1 with the pride of a disciple and the pardonable zeal of a propagandist1 claimed for it the distinction of being the religion of all sensible men4 ,this austere faith owed much to the qualities of those who preached it4 ,their wide culture1 their power of literary expression1#dd their intellectual vigour1 and above all their moral earnestness and social enthusiasm recommended what had otherwise seemed a barren and unpromising creed4 ,the generous humanitarian sympathies of ,comte supplied the idealistic elements without which no faith can become popular1 and the apparent stability of its scientific basis seemed to those impatient of speculative doubt1 a great rock in a desert of shifting sand4 ,this new scientific ,humanism had an immense vogue1 and its effects upon national life were1 on the whole1 of a quite healthy character4 ,occasional lapses into intolerance1 no doubt1 occurred2 but much may be excused in the self-confidence of a new faith1 not yet tested by the experiences and the criticisms of years4 ,,theological ,,polemics4--,the attacks of orthodox apologists upon this new orientation1 though carried through with the best intentions1 were too often conducted on mistaken lines and certainly on too narrow a front4 ,a particular theory of scriptural inspiration 7now widely abandoned71 and of the miraculous1 seemed to obsess the controversialists4 ,nor were the ,agnostics 7it must be confessed7 any more alive to the real issues4 ,hence1 to the modern student1 an oppressive atmosphere of deadness and sterility seems to brood over these vigorous but superannuated polemics2 and hence the complete oblivion into which this literature has fallen4 ,the saying is profoundly true that nothing so quickly waxes old as apologetics4 ,even the contributions to the subject by so accomplished a journalist as ,huxley--his ,essays on ,science and ,christian ,tradition--can only be read by those whom an almost ,teutonic industry characterises4 ,once so eagerly perused and earnestly pondered1 the controversial literature of this interesting epoch 7which now seems so remote7 reposes on the higher shelves of libraries1 accumulating the peaceful dust of oblivion4 ,these projectiles have1 in fact1 done their work1 and if they have proved less fatal than was hoped by those who launched them1 they were dispatched with good intentions1 and their explosion cleared the air4 ,the most effective method of attack would have been to suggest that what was good in the new system was as old as ,christianity1 and that the rest was disputable science and still more disputable philosophy4 ,the latter half of this task was1 as we shall subsequently find1 creditably performed by an important school of critical thinkers4 ,but its former half1 i4e4 the task of proving that what was valuable in the new ,humanism1 was ,christian--might1 one would suppose1 have been more successfully performed by the official champions of orthodoxy4 ,these might have left science to the scientists1 to have left off advertising their own incompetence in that sphere by passages of arms such as took place between ,bishop ,wilberforce and ,huxley at the ,oxford meeting of the ,british ,association in #ahfj1 which are never very desirable1 and always discreditable to the discomfited party4#de ,,illogicality ,,of ,,naturalistic ,,idealism4--,in point of fact1 the religion of all sensible men 7in spite of its philosophic weakness7 was equivalent to ,christian stoicism2 its social enthusiasm1 its humanitarianism1 its conscientious truthfulness1 were the fruit of a stock grown on ,christian soil4 ,its ethical presuppositions were entirely ,christian1 nor were they sanctioned 7in spite of ,herbert ,spencer's elaborate apologetic7 by the new biology4 ,nietzsche was a far more legitimate child of ,darwinism than was ,huxley4 ,indeed1 towards the close of his life1 some doubts invaded the mind of the latter1 and he was constrained by an intellectual sincerity which does him and his school the highest credit1 to utter a word of warning4 ,we refer to his famous ,romanes ,lecture of #ahid4 ,the thesis of this important utterance was that the field of human interests is a narrow heritage carved out from a hostile environment into which it is destined one day to relapse4 ,it is a cultivated garden with the wilderness all around2 created only at the cost of infinite sacrifice and perpetual toil1 and preserved only with difficulty4 ,the implacable jungle seeks everywhere to encroach on the borders of the clearing1 whose ultimate engulfment can only be postponed1 not prevented4 ,two quotations may suffice3 ,let us understand1 once for all1 that the ethical progress of society depends1 not on imitating the cosmic process1 still less in running away from it1 but in combating it4 ,the theory of evolution encourages no millennial expectations4 ,if1 for millions of years1 our globe has taken the upward road1 yet1 sometime1 the summit will be reached1 and the downward route will be commenced4 ,the most daring imagination will hardly venture upon the suggestion that the power and intelligence of man can ever arrest the procession of the great year4#df ,,pessimism4--,coming1 as it did1 at the end of a generation of dogmatic optimism1 this pronouncement is symptomatic of a certain disillusionment which had already begun to mar the fair picture of ,positivist prophecy4 ,the human race seemed destined to an ambiguous future2 the parabola of progress would one day reach its summit1 and the fall begin4 ,at last upon our planet the episode of ,life would pass1 and be neither forgotten nor remembered2 the world would sink into the eternal silence1 from which for one transitory and insignificant moment1 it had awakened4#dg ,,nietzsche4--,as might have been expected1 it was in ,germany that the logical conclusions of a naturalistic outlook were drawn4 ,here1 philosophic pessimism had already been introduced by ,schopenhauer 7#aghh-ahfj71 and his disciple ,nietzsche was not afraid to formulate a scheme of ethics based on the conception of the survival of the fittest1 and equivalent to an apotheosis of barbarism4 ,the virtues of self-assertion1 ruthlessness1 and pride were to eradicate the vices of abnegation1 pity1 and humility4 ,christian morality was a disease2 ,christianity itself was the appropriate product of the degenerate epoch1 and of the loathsome environment that gave it birth4 ,this radical thinker1 free from ,english compromise1 could be satisfied with no morality which was parasitic upon ,christianity4 ,he had clearness of vision to see whither the naturalistic road would carry its pious wayfarers4 ,to him the moral idealism of ,spencer was moonshine or stupidity--the milk of pious sentiment4 ,,significance ,,of ,,nietzsche4--,nietzsche has come in for a fair share of abuse1 but it is only just to say that philosophy stands heavily endebted to this thinker4 ,he was not afraid to draw logical conclusions1 and to put questions which more conventional philosophers had preferred should remain in the background4 ,it is well for a moralist to arise1 once in a generation1 who will clear his own mind of cant and1 without undue respect for the conventions1 approach the really fundamental questions in a spirit of sincerity4 ,the extravagant impieties of ,nietzsche may have shocked his hearers1 but they have cleared the air4 ,he exposed1 perhaps with too little finesse1 the nakedness of ,naturalism1 and tore off that mantle of idealism under which it had been masquerading4 ,and he may be said1 by so doing1 to have written finis at the foot of a chapter in the history of philosophy4 ,,chapter ,x ,,reactions ,,in ,,philosophy ,,vicissitudes ,,of ,,idealism4--,at the beginning of the last chapter we noticed the early collapse of idealism in ,germany4 ,but the prophets of ,romanticism1 when they were no longer honoured at home1 found an hospitable reception elsewhere1 and especially in ,england4 ,indeed1 even before the prestige of idealism had begun to decline in ,germany1 ,englishmen had been introduced to it by the writings and translations of ,s4 ,t4 ,coleridge 7#aggb-ahcd7 and ,thomas ,carlyle 7#agie-ahha74 ,these two popularisers of ,german ideas were litterateurs rather than professional philosophers1 but for that very reason their vogue and influence were the wider4 ,,coleridge4--,coleridge was in spirit a genuine ,romanticist2 being1 as were some of the most notable of the ,german school--e4g41 ,goethe and ,schiller--a poet as well as a philosopher4 ,in his ,biographia ,literaria he has left behind the story of his intellectual and spiritual development4 ,he acknowledges his debt to ,kant1 to the ,romanticists1 and in particular to ,schelling1 whose intuitionism was naturally congenial to him4 ,coleridge was never able to embody his philosophical creed in any single work2 he does not seem to have possessed the necessary power of application4 ,he was unfortunate in being a man of weak character1 and his ineffectiveness struck his contemporaries4 ,but in spite of these disadvantages--his sentimentality1 the lack of clearness of his thought1 his weakness for opium--he certainly exercised an important influence1 especially in the realm of theology4 ,his ideas1 though vague1 were calculated to awaken the speculative habit1 and1 introduced as they were1 to a wide circle1 were fruitful and stimulating4 ,english theology had been1 in the eighteenth century1 of an arid kind1 and the ,english philosophical tradition lacked1 for the most part1 appreciation of those deeper aspects of reality which had appealed to ,german thinkers4 ,coleridge1 by introducing ,german speculation to his countrymen1 was able to free theology of some of its narrowness1 and to deepen and enlarge the spiritual outlook of his age4#dh ,,thomas ,,carlyle4--,carlyle was a man of a very different temper1 whose attitude towards ,coleridge was half contemptuous1 half compassionate4 ,a typically ,carlylean characterisation of him may be found in the ,life of ,sterling3 ,he was thought to hold--he alone in ,england--the key of ,german and other ,transcendentalisms4444 ,a sublime man1 who alone in those dark days escaped from black materialisms and revolutionary deluges with ,god1 ,freedom1 ,immortality1 still his4 ,the practical intellects of the world did not much heed him1 or carelessly reckoned him a metaphysical dreamer2 but to the rising spirits of the young generation he sat there as a kind of ,magus1 girt in mystery and enigma4444 ,the good man 444 gave you the idea of a life that had been full of sufferings 444 the deep eyes1 of a light hazel1 were as full of sorrow as inspiration2 confused pain looked mildly from them1 as in a kind of mild astonishment4 ,the whole figure and air1 good and amiable otherwise1 might be called flabby and irresolute2 expressive of weakness under possibility of strength4444 ,he spoke as if preaching--preaching earnestly and hopelessly the weightiest things4 ,carlyle himself had all the character and industry that ,coleridge lacked1 and it was another side of ,german idealism that had appealed to him4 ,the ,scotchman was of the same fibre and stock as that other half-,scotchman1 ,kant4 ,here was the source from which he had drawn his inspiration4 ,we see in ,carlyle the same moral earnestness1 the same toughness of thought1 the same absence of sentimental moonshine4 ,from ,kant1 too1 he derives a vigorous independence of thought1 a religious respect for individuality1 a horror of shams and affectation4 ,kant was a true child of the ,reformation1 and ,carlyle is a genuine disciple4 ,in a single important respect1 however1 he differed from 7and improved upon7 his master4 ,kant lacked1 or at least did not display1 the saving grace of humour2 in ,carlyle this quality looks out from every page--keen1 satirical1 sometimes bitter1 sometimes grotesque2 he ridiculed his own generation1 its vices1 its prejudices1 its superstitions4 ,,sartor ,,resartus4--,for our purpose1 ,sartor ,resartus--that profound and humorous book--is ,carlyle's masterpiece3 here all the characteristic ,kantian doctrines may be found4 ,the philosophy of clothes--which is the quaint title behind which ,kantian idealism is made to masquerade--starts from the thought that just as an acquaintance with his clothes will not reveal to us the man1 so an acquaintance with phenomena 7which is all that science can claim to give us7 cannot reveal to us the real ground of existence1 which remains an inscrutable mystery4 ,we must look on clothes till they become transparent1 if we could understand reality4 ,to the eye of vulgar ,logic what is man8 ,an omnivorous biped that wears breeches4 ,to the eye of pure ,reason what is he8 ,a ,soul1 a ,spirit1 and divine ,apparition4 ,and so with ,nature2 to science it is a mechanism1 to the understanding heart it is the living garment of ,god4 ,it is written1 the ,heavens and the ,earth shall fade away like a ,vesture2 which indeed they are3 the ,time-,vesture of the ,eternal4444 ,the whole ,external ,universe and what it holds is but ,clothing4444 ,the visible world is but a symbol of a profound and awful reality2 and all ,nature's products1 in their degree1 symbols as well3 but of these1 man is the highest4 ,the true ,,shekinah is ,man3 where else is the ,,god',s ,,presence manifested1 not to our eyes only1 but to our hearts1 as in our fellow-man8 ,this leads up to the essential doctrine of the ,kantian system3 that man is a creature of two worlds1 who has a foot in either2 hence in the phenomenal world he can never find satisfaction4 ,man's ,unhappiness1 as ,i construe1 comes of his ,greatness2 it is because there is an infinite in him1 which1 with all his cunning1 he cannot quite bury under the ,finite4 ,will the whole ,finance ,ministers and ,upholsterers and ,confectioners of modern ,europe undertake1 in jointstock company1 to make one ,shoeblack ,happy8 ,they cannot accomplish it1 above an hour or two1 for the ,shoeblack also has a ,soul quite other than his ,stomach4444 ,there is in man a ,,higher than ,love of happiness3 he can do without happiness and instead thereof find ,blessedness6 has it not been to preach forth this same ,,higher that sages and martyrs 444 have spoken and suffered2 bearing testimony to the ,god-like that is in man8 ,,carlyle',s ,,influence4--,in spite of ,carlyle's strange literary mannerisms and his grotesquely ,germanic phrases1 his writings had great attractiveness for those of his contemporaries who felt themselves smothered by the materialism and utilitarianism of early ,victorian ,england4 ,he was able to re-vitalise idealism amongst them4 ,moreover he appealed strongly to those to whom the ,coleridgean speculations were uncongenial4 ,the strongly developed moral element1 both in his writings and in his own somewhat stern and austere personality--what ,taine called his puritanism--appealed strongly to a certain side of ,english feeling4 ,his countrymen felt that his was a native genius that they could understand4 ,in fact we may say that the influence of ,carlyle1 especially among the young and generous minded1 has been incalculable in extent and invaluable in quality4 ,spiritual life in ,england stands under a deep obligation to him4 ,,romanticism ,,at ,,oxford4--,englishmen were thus not entire strangers to ,german idealism1 which had possessed its interpreters in the earlier half of the nineteenth century4 ,not1 however1 until it had experienced a decline in ,germany 7a reaction which occupied our attention in the last chapter71 did ,romanticism become naturalised in ,england by being adopted in academic circles4 ,among the most notable of ,english idealists was ,t4 ,h4 ,green--fellow and tutor of ,balliol ,college1 ,oxford4 ,in this thinker we have a widely different type of mind from that of either ,coleridge or ,carlyle4 ,he was a thinker rather than a poet or a prophet1 and he belonged to what we have noticed as the intellectualist--i4e4 ,hegelian--wing of ,romanticism4 ,green's chief work was his ,prolegomena to ,ethics 7published posthumously in #ahhc71 where arguments1 which were familiar to those acquainted with ,hegel1 presented themselves4 ,green begins with an analysis of experience1 and leads to the conclusion that ,nature--if by it we mean the connected order of experience--implies something other than itself1 as the condition of its being what it is4 ,and of that 'something' we are entitled to say1 positively1 that it is a self-distinguishing consciousness 7section #eb74 ,if these conclusions be valid1 the bottom falls out of ,naturalism1 for if nature implies something other than itself1 it does not stand alone2 and that nature does stand alone is the beginning and end of all naturalist theory4 ,and1 furthermore1 this something other than itself1 which ,nature involves1 is a self-distinguishing consciousness2 i4e4 something to which we can attribute personality4 ,,green ,,and ,,spencer ,,contrasted4--,this theory has only to be compared with that of ,herbert ,spencer for a fundamental difference to declare itself4 ,the two systems do indeed adopt as axiomatic the conception of the uniformity and unity of nature1 which works in accordance with a single law4 ,but ,spencer saw in that law the expression of a blind force1 an unknowable power1 of which it would be no more and no less true to say that it was spiritual than that it was material4 ,but for ,green the law was the expression of a spiritual principal analogous to our own intelligence--a manifestation 7to use theological language7 of ,god4 ,f4 ,h4 ,,bradley4--,undoubtedly the most notable of ,english ,hegelians is ,f4 ,h4 ,bradley1 whose metaphysical essay1 ,appearance and ,reality1 was a work of genuine originality4 ,the book is not of a type to make much appeal outside academic circles1 though it is written in an easy and attractive style3 its results may seem1 to the unsophisticated reader1 somewhat too ambiguous4 ,ultimate ,doubts is the title of the last chapter1 and ,it costs us little to find that in the end ,reality is inscrutable1 is a remark not uncharacteristic of the author4 ,yet this really profound thinker and acute reasoner played an important part in helping to discredit that negative dogmatism which was so much in vogue during his own lifetime4 ,he pointed out the limits beyond which natural science could not transgress without lapsing into dogmatic superstition4 ,too often the science of mere ,nature1 forgetting its own limits and false to its true aims1 attempts to speak about first principles4 ,it becomes transcendent1 and offers us a dogmatic and uncritical metaphysics 7p4 #bhd74 ,though the fault has not always been on the side of the scientists3 ,metaphysics itself1 by its interference with physical science1 has induced that to act1 as it thinks1 in self-defence1 and has led it1 in so doing1 to become metaphysical4 ,and this interference of metaphysics ,i would admit and deplore1 as the result and the parent of most injurious misunderstanding4444 ,so long as natural science keeps merely to the sphere of phenomena and the laws of their occurrence1 metaphysics has no right to a single word of criticism 7p4 #bhe74 ,this critical handling of the problem of the relations of science and philosophy did much to draw attention to the confusion of thought lying at the base of much popular materialism4 ,it began to be realised that the principles of physical science are only fruitful of good results in the sphere properly belonging to them2 and that the uncritical use of these principles results in a hybrid philosophy1 which is neither sound science nor rational metaphysics4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,balfour4--,before ,bradley's essay was published1 a somewhat similar line of criticism had been developed by ,mr4 ,a4 ,j4 ,balfour in his ,defence of ,philosophic ,doubt 7#ahgi74 ,its title sounds unpromising1 but the book voiced a demand for a rational philosophy of science which was practically non-existent at that time2 and consequently1 in the absence of any adequate examination of the principles of science1 uncritical dogmatism flourished quite unchallenged4 ,balfour1 elsewhere1 indicates the objects with which he wrote the book--to elicit from the disciples of natural science a rationale of their method3 ,a full and systematic attempt1 first to enumerate1 and then to justify1 the presuppositions on which all science finally rests1 has1 it seems to me1 still to be made4 ,after the critical examination which ,i desiderate has been thoroughly carried out1 it may appear that at the very root of our scientific system of belief lie problems of which no satisfactory solution has yet been devised4#di ,thus ,balfour drew attention to the fact that the common-sense philosophy of naturalism rested upon a tacit agreement to overlook certain important problems which are the indispensable preliminaries to any thinking which can be called critical1 or lay claim to be regarded as philosophy in the strict sense4 ,that some of these problems seem artificial1 and the questions raised by them gratuitous1 to the eye of common sense is an irrelevant consideration1 for nothing stands more in need of demonstration than the obvious4 ,,naturalism ,,checked4--,thus ,bradley and ,balfour between them1 merely by adopting a critical attitude1 created an embarrassing situation for naturalism4 ,between them these writers administered a serious check to that naively uncritical dogmatism which1 backed by the prestige of natural science1 had sought to impose itself on the world as a new orthodoxy less liberal1 in some ways1 than the old4 ,nor did they stop short at negative criticism1 but substituted 7according to the idealistic tradition7 a spiritual view of reality for the mechanistic materialism that had become so popular4 ,appearance and ,reality is a book of which the trend might seem too obscure1 but it ends with a note that is definite enough3 ,outside of spirit there is not1 and there cannot be1 any reality2 and1 the more that anything is spiritual1 so much the more is it veritably real1 are ,bradley's closing words4 ,as for ,balfour1 he leads his readers up to a point which he describes as the threshold of ,christian ,theology4 ,and having propounded the perplexities in which the common sense philosophy 7on which naturalism depends7 is involved1 he says3 ,i do not believe that any escape from them 7the perplexities7 is possible1 unless we are prepared to bring to the study of the world the presupposition that it was the work of a rational ,being1 who made it intelligible1 and at the same time made us1 in however feeble a fashion1 able to understand it4#ej ,,revival ,,of ,,idealism ,,in ,,germany4 ,,lotze4--,we have perhaps dwelt at too great length upon the backwash of the idealistic wave in ,england1 for idealism is not a native philosophy amongst us2 possibly1 because we are not metaphysically-minded in the same sense as are the purer ,teutonic breed4 ,and it is time to pass on to pay a brief tribute to the work of a ,german philosopher who accepted the mechanical theory in its totality1 without sacrificing what we may call the spiritual values of existence4 ,hermann ,lotze 7#ahag-ahha7 was inclined to feel that the weakness of ,romanticism lay in a tendency to despise or overlook what ,kant had called the fertile bathos of experience4 ,the ,romanticists had too often neglected natural science1 which1 in the shape of naturalistic materialism1 had its revenge by destroying them4 ,buechner was the ,nemesis of an idealism which was at once vague and sentimental4 ,,lotze',s ,,microcosmos4--,lotze's attitude and method are conspicuous in his well-known work1 which took him eight years to complete 7#ahef-ahfd7--the ,microcosmos4 ,after guiding his readers through the realms of natural phenomena and historical evolution1 thus constructing a sufficiently stable basis out of facts--he leads them on to an ideal world composed of what he calls values4 ,his position may thus be summarised3 ,the world presents itself to the observer in three aspects--7#a7 ,the world of individual things1 which are bewildering and intricate2 7#b7 the laws 7i4e41 laws of nature7 which the human intellect has discovered among them1 thus finding regularity and order2 7#c7 the values which the human soul applies to things1 and which it is the human task to cultivate4 ,this world of ideals or values 7#c7 is that for the sake of which the worlds of phenomena and law 7#a and #b7 exist4 ,these 7#a and #b7 constitute respectively the material in which1 and the forms through which1 the world of values is to be realised4#ea ,thus phenomena and law are the raw material out of which values are created2 and these values themselves constitute 7in the eyes of ,lotze7 a higher reality4 ,thus the central doctrine of his system is that the truly ,real is what has supreme worth3 it is worth that creates reality4 ,the paradoxicality of this may make it difficult to accept2 but ,lotze is only expressing in his own way the fundamental thesis of all forms of idealism1 that the ideal is the real2 that the world of phenomena is secondary to and dependent upon a world of spirit1 or an ideal world4 ,lotze himself in the introduction to the ,microcosmos1 expresses what is at once the foundation and the kernel of his system3 he says it is his purpose to show how absolutely universal is the extent1 and at the same time how completely subordinate the significance1 of the mission which mechanism has to fulfil in the structure of the world4 7,e4,t41 p4 xvi47 ,mechanism is universal1 because it is the raw material1 so to speak1 out of which reality is to be made4 ,that reality can be expressed in terms of mechanism is true1 just as a poem can be described as a scrap of paper scratched upon with a pen2 but this reduction of reality to its lowest terms1 ends by emptying reality of content4 ,mechanism is a universal feature1 but it is a subordinate feature1 of reality4 ,nature requires1 if we are to arrive at the truth about it1 not only to be described and analysed1 but also interpreted in the light of the idea of value or worth4 ,,lotze ,,and ,,theology4--,lotze's theories exercised an important influence upon the development in ,germany and elsewhere of a type of theology known as ,ritschlianism4 ,albrecht ,ritschl1 a disciple of ,lotze1 attempted to dissociate religion from metaphysics1 and to base it upon judgments of value4 ,christian dogma1 for instance1 is an attempt to express1 in philosophical terms1 the unique value to humanity of the moral and religious consciousness of ,christ4 ,so far as a dogma is faithful to that central idea1 and makes a genuine attempt to express it1 so far--and so far only--is it true4 ,this type of theology1 uniting itself with certain philosophical tendencies which will engage our attention later1 became the basis of what was known as the ,modernist movement in the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,,conclusions4--,thus in the nineteenth century1 in ,england 7and indeed on the continent also7 the idealistic attitude1 though it sometimes might seem compromised1 was never submerged2 in spite of the materialistic outlook of an age only too preoccupied with scientific discovery and commercial expansion4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,some ,,recent ,,tendencies ,,in ,,philosophy ,,the ,,philosophy ,,of ,,science4--,in the last chapter we heard ,a4 ,j4 ,balfour complaining of the absence of a full and systematic attempt1 first to enumerate1 and then to justify1 the presuppositions on which all science finally rests4 ,and ,mr4 ,f4 ,h4 ,bradley also drew attention to the absence of any critical philosophy of science in ,england4 ,the need was for scientific standpoints to be investigated de novo2 and the process had1 as a matter of fact1 already been begun on the ,continent4 ,,mach4--,ernst ,mach1 ,professor of ,physics at ,prague1 and subsequently ,professor of ,physics at ,vienna 7thus combining the roles of scientist and metaphysician--always a highly instructive and fruitful combination7 had as early as #ahfc laid it down as the task of science to give an economic presentation of the facts4 ,by which phrase he meant that science takes account only of the salient features of phenomena1 selecting only those which seem strictly serviceable to its own purpose4 ,,science ,,abstract ,,or ,,selective4--,mathematical science 7which is the pure science par excellence7 deals not--as is generally supposed--with things1 but with certain selected aspects of things4 ,for example1 for purposes of arithmetic1 every leaf on a tree is an unit 7i4e4 all are identical72 but1 in point of fact1 there exist no two leaves that are alike1 as ,leibniz1 long ago1 pointed out4 ,again1 for geometrical purposes two fields may be regarded as of like area2 but no two fields are1 or ever have been1 so4 ,thus mathematics--where scientific method is seen at its purest--proceeds by deliberately disregarding individuality2 it regards the differences between individuals as non-essential1 and irrelevant to its purpose4 ,,economy ,,of ,,thought4--,and mathematical science is justified in acting in this way4 ,this method1 highly abstract as it is--in fact1 just because it is highly abstract--leads to invaluable results4 ,it's justification is that it is economical of thought2 disregarding all irrelevant considerations1 it is able1 by using a short-cut1 to reach its goal4 ,did the mathematician have to take into consideration all the manifold and complex aspects of each concrete thing 7whether it be leaf1 or field1 or lever1 or what not7 with which he deals1 he would never be able to cut his way through the jungle4 ,his method of abstraction carries him at once to his goal4 ,,mach ,,on ,,the ,,mechanical ,,view4--,mach's criticism of the mechanical view of nature proceeded upon similar lines4 ,he termed that view analogical1 by which he meant that mechanical laws of nature serve us as formal patterns to which the processes of nature may 7for convenience sake7 be represented as conforming4 ,a clear account1 though not a complete account1 of all physical processes may be given in terms of mechanical law4 ,and in fact it remains a question1 ,mach observed1 whether the mechanical view of things1 instead of being the profoundest1 is not in point of fact1 the shallowest of all4#eb ,,science ,,not ,,invalid ,,but ,,incomplete4--,this line of criticism of scientific method--i4e4 that it deals with abstractions and analogies rather than with things1 for the sake of economy and convenience of thought--does not deprive science of validity1 but only invalidates that superficial dogmatism which had crept into so many investigations4 ,a critical estimate of scientific methods makes it evident how much and how little we have the right to expect from them4 ,they will enable us to give a simple description of phenomena as they are seen when reduced to their simplest terms of matter and motion2 but of ultimate and final causes they will tell us nothing4 ,the system of conceptions by which the exact sciences try to describe the phenomena of nature 444 is symbolic1 a kind of shorthand1 unconsciously invented and perfected for the sake of convenience and for practical use 444 the leading principle is that of ,economy of ,thought 7,merz1 ,vol4 ,,iii1 p4 #egi74 ,,boutroux4--,this criticism of the mechanical method of dealing with reality was seconded by ,boutroux's criticism of the principle of ,natural ,law4 ,emile ,boutroux 7#ahde-aiah7--,professor at the ,sorbonne--in two important treatises1 examines with great minuteness this aspect of the scientific method4 ,in the earlier of these works1 ,the ,contingency of the ,laws of ,nature 7#ahgi7 he suggests that these laws only give1 so to speak1 the habits which things display4 ,they constitute1 as it were1 the bed in which the stream of occurrence flows1 which the stream itself had hollowed out1 although its course has come to be determined by this bed 7,hoeffding1 ,modern ,philosophers1 p4 #aja74 ,in his ,natural ,law in ,science and ,philosophy 7#ahie71 ,boutroux lays it down that the laws of nature1 as science describes them1 may indeed represent1 but are by no means identical with1 the laws of nature as they really are4 ,the laws of science are true1 not absolutely but relatively1 i4e4 are not elements in1 but symbols of1 reality4 ,the notion that everything is determined 7i4e4 the opposite of contingent71 though absolutely indispensable to the mechanical theory1 is nevertheless a way of looking at things rather than a faithful picture of reality--a way in which we see things rather than the way things exist in themselves4 ,as ,boutroux himself puts it in his final chapter3 ,that which we call the 'laws of nature' is the sum total of the methods we have discovered for adapting things to the mind1 and subjecting them to be moulded by the will4 ,,results4--,here we have ,boutroux approaching very closely to the standpoint of ,mach2 indeed the theories of the two men are complementary to one another4 ,for ,mach1 the mechanical view is a way of looking at things1 distinctly useful for understanding and using them--an economy of thought4 ,for ,boutroux1 the determinist view is also a way of looking at things that is useful for the same purposes4 ,thus the interpretation of reality in terms of mathematics and unalterable law1 is artificial2 an abstract way of thinking which deals not with reality itself but with certain deliberately selected aspects of it4 ,,rise ,,of ,a ,,new ,,philosophy4--,this examination of the principles of natural science was the beginning of what afterwards proved to be a revolution in thought4 ,what had been more or less negative criticism in ,mach and ,boutroux1 became the basis of a new philosophy in the hands of ,william ,james and ,bergson4 ,the names1 and even the ideas1 of these two original thinkers are familiar far outside strictly philosophical circles1 and it will almost be possible to presume upon a certain acquaintance with them on the part of our readers4 ,,william ,,james4--,james himself1 like ,mach1 was led to philosophy by the road of scientific investigation4 ,he was a psychologist1 and it is as the author of his ,principles of ,psychology that his name will be remembered4 ,this work is notable as containing the first complete application of the ,darwinian theory to the evolution of mind4 ,mental action is there represented as a capacity developed by the organism to enable it to deal with its environment4 ,as an exponent of ,james puts it3 ,the mind1 like an antenna1 feels its way for the organism4 ,it gropes about1 advances and recoils1 making many random efforts and many failures2 always urged into taking the initiative and doomed to success or failure in some hour of trial4#ec ,the corollary which attaches to propositions of this kind is that knowledge in all its varieties and developments arises from practical needs4 ,and the mind 7here is an echo of ,mach7 selects those aspects of reality which concern it1 and out of that selected material makes up a new 7mental7 world of its own4 ,which world is far from being a picture of reality1 but which is symbolic of it 7here is another memory of ,mach74#ed ,this view obviously cuts the ground from under dogmatic materialism4 ,the world which that philosophy regards as reality1 is1 to the critical eye1 a collection of abstractions1 a mental creation arising out of the practical needs of life4 ,,henri ,,bergson4--,this line of criticism1 that of the evolutionary psychologist1 opened up by ,james1 has been carried to extreme lengths by the ,french philosopher ,bergson4 ,dig to the very roots of nature and of mind is his advice4 ,he begins by asking1 ,how1 as a matter of history1 has human intellect developed8 ,he then1 and then only1 proceeds to put the question 7which uncritical thinkers always put first71 ,what can the intellect do for us8 ,his theory of the origin of intellect is the same as that of ,william ,james4 ,life 7through the evolutionary process7 has produced it4 ,but the conclusion that he draws from this hypothesis is that the intellect1 being itself a product of life1 or a form of life1 cannot understand the whole of life4 ,this thesis is elaborated with a wealth of illustration and erudition1 both scientific and philosophic1 and with a literary grace and charm possible only for a ,frenchman1 in the famous work ,evolution ,creatrice 7#aijg74 ,,bergson',s ,,advance ,,on ,,mach ,,and ,,james4--,those thinkers who had made a serious attempt at a philosophy of science1 had demonstrated that the mechanical view of nature was a mental abstraction1 and not a complete representation of reality4 ,such is the debt of philosophy to the researches of ,mach1 ,boutroux1 ,james1 and others who worked along their lines4 ,but it remained for ,bergson to demonstrate that the mechanical view was the inevitable product of the mental processes which we describe by the word intellect4 ,the path which led ,bergson to this goal will have to be briefly indicated by us4 ,,characteristics ,,of ,,the ,,intellect4--,what is the intellect1 to which we look in vain for any complete explanation of existence8 ,this is the preliminary question4 ,our intellect is1 as ,james had taught1 a faculty developed by the evolutionary process in our species to enable it to deal with its material environment4 ,and ,bergson was the first to point out that as a consequence of its having been developed for this particular purpose 7i4e41 dealing with a material environment71 intellect is never quite at its ease1 never entirely at home1 except when it is working upon inert matter4 ,if it has to deal with living matter1 it treats it as inert1 without troubling about the life that animated it4 ,such is the first characteristic of the intellect3 it feels at home in dealing with dead matter1 and living matter it prefers to treat as inert4 ,another characteristic of intellect is that1 just as it treats the living as if it were non-living1 so it prefers to treat the mobile as though it were motionless4 ,motion is a thing which the intellect simply cannot grasp2 it has to treat it artificially1 and represent a process which in reality is continuous and indivisible1 as discontinuous and divisible--a succession of points1 out of which no magic can conjure motion4 ,philosophy became aware of this as soon as it opened its eyes4 ,hence the paradox of ,zeno1 that ,achilles will never overtake the tortoise1 if the latter once gets a start4 ,for if space and time are infinitely divisible 7as intellect holds them to be71 by the time ,achilles has reached the tortoise's starting point1 the tortoise has already got ahead of that starting point1 and so on ad infinitum2 the interval between them being endlessly diminished1 but never disappearing4 ,zeno's paradox arises because of an innate fault in the intellectual method of dealing with motion2 a method which ,bergson calls cinematographical1 because it regards a single movement as a succession of infinitely small motions4 ,that method is hopeless2 and if we expect to understand motion by its means1 ,you will always experience the disappointment of the child1 who tries1 by clapping its hands together to crush the smoke4 ,the movement slips through the interval1 because every attempt to reconstitute change out of states implies the absurd proposition that movement is made up of immobilities4#ee ,so that the intellect is best fitted to deal1 not with living and moving1 but with dead and motionless matter4 ,of the latter it can form a clear idea2 but in dealing with the former1 it finds itself at a loss2 it has to abstract the life and the motion from what lives or moves1 and what it cannot grasp1 it must treat as non-existent4 ,,bergson',s ,,anti-,,intellectualism4--,a penetrating remark of ,james' will help us1 at this point1 to understand the significance for philosophy of these new theories4 ,in spite of sceptics and empiricists1 in spite of ,protagoras1 ,hume1 and ,james ,mill1 rationalism has never been seriously questioned1 for its sharpest critics have always had a tender place for it in their hearts1 and have obeyed some of its mandates4 ,they have not been consistent1 they have played fast and loose with the enemy1 and ,bergson alone has been radical4#ef ,bergson's philosophy is1 in fact1 a reaction against intellectualism or rationalism2 by which is meant the theory that pure reason is competent by its nature to give a complete and exhaustive account of reality4 ,but according to ,bergson1 intellect1 which is a faculty developed to enable men to subdue and turn to advantage their material environment1 and which is1 as it were1 fascinated by the contemplation of inert matter1 will not reveal the true meaning and nature of existence2 it gives us a translation of life in terms of inertia1 and can do no more4 ,this criticism of the intellect 7if it be sound71 though it does not invalidate the work of that faculty in its own proper sphere1 necessarily involves its discredit as a key to the unlocking of the final mysteries of life and of being4 ,these things lie outside its province4 ,whether it wants to treat of the life of the body1 or the life of the mind1 it proceeds with the rigour1 the stiffness1 and the brutality of an instrument not designed for such use4#eg ,,intellect ,,and ,,instinct4--,since intellect1 by its methods1 has induced men to turn their backs on reality1 and to look on abstractions instead1 the only hope of reaching reality is through an entire change of method and direction4 ,there is1 according to ,bergson1 a non-intellectual variety of knowledge1 which 7from his point of view7 it was a kind of original sin ever to depart from2 an original sin which has vitiated all our philosophic thinking from the days of ,plato4 ,this variety of knowledge is more original and fundamental than any which the processes of the intellect1 vitiated as these are by certain inherent perversions1 can give us4 ,intellect cannot correct itself2 we must call in the aid of some other faculty if we would understand reality4 ,bergson finds this faculty in what he calls instinct4 ,according to him1 consciousness has developed in two divergent directions--instinct and intellect2 and the difference between these is not one of intensity or degree1 but of kind4#eh ,they are two divergent developments of the same original consciousness1 of which common origin they both retain traces1 for they are not entirely dissimilar1 nor is either of them ever found in a pure state4 ,intellect is characteristic of man4 ,instinct is most highly developed among certain insects1 notably the hymenopterae 7i4e41 bees and ants74#ei ,,blindness ,,of ,,intellect4--,and the difficulty of the philosophical problem for man arises from the anomalies of his own constitution 7as interpreted by ,bergson in the light of his theory of instinct and intellect74 ,as he puts it3 ,there are things that ,intelligence 7or intellect7 alone is able to seek1 but which1 by itself1 it will never find4 ,these things instinct alone could find2 but it will never seek them4 7,creative ,evolution1 p4 #aei74 ,if the consciousness which slumbers in instinct were to wake up 444 if we knew how to question it1 and if it knew how to reply1 it would deliver to our keeping the most intimate secrets of life4 ,thus ,bergson regards it as impossible that intellect should ever supply us with the complete truth about reality2 there are things1 e4g4 life itself--which altogether elude its grasp4 ,,intuition4--,the situation1 however1 is not entirely hopeless4 ,man possesses some measure of instinct1 which1 when it has become disinterested1 self-conscious1 and capable of reflecting upon its object1 ,bergson calls intuition4 ,by means of this faculty1 man is able1 darkly perhaps but not ineffectually1 to grope his way towards an understanding of reality4 ,,characteristics ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,philosophy4--,just as the criticisms of ,cusanus and others freed thought from an incubus which seemed likely to prevent its further development1 so the movement initiated by ,mach and culminating 7for the present7 in ,bergson1 has done much to discredit a certain new scholasticism that has grown up during the latter half of the nineteenth century around the physics of ,galileo1 as the old scholasticism grew up around ,aristotle4#fj ,mechanical determinism was characteristic of much nineteenth-century thought in ,europe1 not only amongst materialists1 but also1 in certain cases1 amongst idealists as well4 ,against this aspect of contemporary philosophy1 the work of ,james and ,bergson has been a revolt4 ,indeterminism1 i4e4 a belief in the reality of freedom and spontaneity1 is an essential part of their system4 ,their indeterminism is indeed the necessary and logical accompaniment of their anti-intellectualism4 ,for determinism is a fabrication of the intellect1 a device which makes reality more manageable1 more amenable to logic1 more easily systematised4 ,freedom1 like life and motion1 eludes the categories of the intellect4 ,,the ,,mechanical ,,view ,,assailed4--,such are the lines upon which the new criticism of the mechanical view 7the most radical criticism it has had to meet since ,kant7 proceeds4 ,that view1 and the idea of predetermined human action which it involves1 is an inevitable product of an intellect naturally incapable of understanding freedom and spontaneity4 ,these1 as they destroy its scheme of thought1 it casts out as an illusion4 ,incorrigibly presumptuous1 it insists on interpreting freedom by means of those notions which suit inert matter alone1 and therefore always perceives it as necessity4 ,so that all life1 far from being subjected to mechanical necessity1 as had seemed the inevitable conclusion of naturalistic philosophy1 was spontaneity 7so to speak7 materialised and embodied3 ,all the living hold together1 and all yield to the same tremendous push4 ,the animal takes its stand on the plant1 man bestrides animality1 and the whole of humanity 444 is one immense army galloping beside and before and behind each of us in an overwhelming charge1 able to beat down every resistance and clear the most formidable obstacles1 perhaps even death4#fa ,we have indeed travelled a long way from the austere abstractions of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer4 ,the new evolutionism is very different from the old4 ,it substitutes for mechanism another conception--that of dynamism1 according to which the process of evolution is something undetermined and impredictable--creative1 in fact4 ,the world of organic life is embodied creative activity1 and what this creative activity is1 we ourselves experience every time we act freely4 ,,pluralism4--,the philosophy of ,bergson is a reaction against the mechanical evolutionism 7i4e4 naturalism7 of the nineteenth century4 ,closely allied with it is another movement of thought1 known as pluralism4 ,this1 too1 is a reaction1 not so much against naturalism1 as against certain forms of idealism4 ,idealism1 it will be remembered1 seeks to interpret reality in terms of mind or spirit4 ,and it does this in certain cases--notably in the case of ,f4 ,h4 ,bradley--by regarding all phenomena as forms or aspects of the one absolute mind or spirit4 ,this has seemed to many thinkers a philosophy too abstract and too remote from the world of experience4 ,hence the question arose whether it might not be possible to interpret nature in terms of mind without being compelled to take refuge in the abstractions of absolutism4 ,and pluralism is an attempt to solve the problem4 ,,leibniz ,,revived4--,leibniz' system of monads1 the nature of which will hardly have been forgotten1 has been the model to which philosophers have looked in constructing their new system4 ,and the ,monadology may be taken as the type to which all modern attempts to construct a pluralistic philosophy more or less conform4 ,the essence of pluralism--whether ,leibnizian or other--lies in the proposition that there exists an indefinite variety of beings1 some higher1 some lower than ourselves4 ,the pluralist agrees with the idealist in declaring that the essence of reality is spirit1 but differs from him in declining to allow independent spirits to be absorbed by an all-devouring ,absolute4 ,,pluralism ,,and ,,theism4--,william ,james himself1 in a work ,a ,pluralistic ,universe 7#aiji7 outlined a philosophy of spirit radically opposed to ,absolute ,idealism1 which he subjects to a good deal of criticism4 ,another important work1 written from a similar point of view1 is ,professor ,james ,ward's ,pluralism and ,theism 7#aiaa74fb ,with regard to modern pluralism1 the notable features are two4 ,in the first place1 it is a philosophy of personality1 which it regards as the most fundamental form of reality2 and also1 that it is theistic in a sense peculiar to itself4 ,it believes in a ,god who may be termed the supreme monad1 i4e4 the head of a system of monads2 but whose power may be said1 in certain respects1 to be limited4 ,and indeed some such position seems to be the logical conclusion that follows from the premises with which pluralists start1 and also 7we may add7 from the facts of experience4#fc ,pluralists unite in affirming that their ,god is 7what they deny the idealistic ,absolute to be7 the ,god of the religious consciousness4 ,james elaborates this thesis with his usual resourcefulness and skill4 ,the controversy1 however1 is one into which it does not seem necessary for us to enter4 ,pluralism and idealism are or may be both definitely spiritual philosophies1 and perhaps they appeal to different types of mind4 ,we1 at any rate1 shall not undertake to judge between them4 ,both alike are preferable to dogmatic naturalism4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,some ,,recent ,,tendencies ,,in ,,science ,,scientific ,,method4--,in the last chapter1 attention was drawn to some important attempts to supply science with a sound philosophy of method1 i4e4 to give a critical account of those processes1 logical and otherwise1 which issue in what is called scientific knowledge4 ,the general results of these attempts was to re-enforce the validity of sound scientific method within its own sphere4 ,but1 at the same time1 it was felt likely to prove an unreliable guide elsewhere4 ,,the ,,new ,,physics4--,meanwhile1 while the logic of science was being scrutinised by philosophers1 scientific research was itself going steadily forward1 and fresh discoveries of a highly important nature were coming to light4 ,in the sphere of physical science1 more especially1 revolutions of ,copernican proportions quietly took place4 ,the whole subject of physics is of a highly technical nature1 quite unsuitable for discussion here1 and1 indeed1 entirely beyond the range of the present writer4 ,to indicate the nature of the discoveries which were made1 however1 involves few technicalities3 though the method by which these were demonstrated and established must remain obscure to all but mathematical specialists4 ,,collapse ,,of ,,the ,,atomic ,,theory4--,dalton's theory of atoms was described in a previous chapter4 ,it is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance attached by materialists1 ever since ,lucretius1 to the conception of indivisible and indestructible atoms4 ,it was regarded as integral to materialism1 and never was the prestige of this theory higher than during the nineteenth century1 which will go down in scientific history as the era of the atomic theory of matter4 ,towards the close of the century1 the theory collapsed4 ,atoms were found to be neither indivisible nor indestructible2 and the process of the breaking up of the atom has actually been observed4 ,as is very generally known1 it is in the case of a particular element1 radium1 that this phenomenon occurs4 ,that substance1 wherever it occurs1 is undergoing a continual process of disintegration2 radium atoms are continually breaking up into more elementary bodies4 ,were it not for the fact that radium itself is the product of the disintegration of another element1 it would be impossible to account for its survival4 ,it continually evaporates 7the life of radium is only #bejj years7 but it is as continually renewed by the infinitely slower disintegration of uranium4 ,,electrons4--,the particles into which the radium atom disintegrates are known as electrons4 ,and according to the new theory of matter1 not only radium atoms1 but the atoms of all the other elements 7hitherto regarded as irreducible7 are composed of electrons1 differently grouped4 ,the radium atom is infinitely more unstable than the atoms of the other elements2 but it is possible to conceive of the disintegration of these also4 ,they are all alike composed of the same elementary particles--different compounds of the same primitive substance4 ,,matter ,a ,,form ,,of ,,electricity4--,and the most remarkable part of the new theory is that these primitive particles of which material atoms are composed1 are themselves the units which constitute what we call electricity4 ,thus matter and electricity are now expressed in common terms--they are regarded as different manifestations of the same substance4 ,and of the two conceptions--matter and electricity--it is the latter that is the more simple and fundamental4 ,as a high authority puts it3 ,whereas through the greater part of the nineteenth century1 'matter' was the concept which was looked upon as fundamental in physical science1 and of which there was a curious accidental property called electricity1 it now appears that electricity must be more fundamental than matter1 in the sense that our more elementary matter must now be conceived as a manifestation of extremely complex electrical phenomena4#fd ,as to whether the electrons themselves1 in their turn1 are irreducible units1 there may be room for doubt4 ,according to ,professor ,j4 ,larmor the electron is a nucleus of intrinsic strain in the ether4#fe ,if this view be sound1 matter may be regarded as a manifestation of the ether2 a persistent strain-form flitting through an universal sea of ether4 ,as to the nature of the ether1 that is a subject of speculation among physicists4 ,it is variously described as an elastic fluid1 and as a fairly close packed conglomerate of minute grains in continual oscillation4#ff ,it may indeed be said that modern physical theories have succeeded in reducing matter1 which seems comparatively knowable1 to a substance of which little is known and1 therefore1 of which much can be postulated2 it can be called sub-natural1 or super-natural1 according to taste4 ,we may1 perhaps1 satisfy ourselves with the words of ,professor ,tait3 ,we do not know1 and are probably incapable of discovering1 what matter is2 and ,the discovery of the ultimate nature of matter is probably beyond the range of human intelligence4#fg ,and yet we can agree with ,mr4 ,arthur ,balfour when he says#fh we know too much about matter to be materialists4 ,that1 in itself1 a generation ago would have been regarded as a large admission from the standpoint of physical science4 ,,results ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,physics4--,the reduction of knowable and tangible matter to intangible electricity or unknowable ether may not seem to be much of an advance from the point of view of those who are interested in establishing a spiritual theory of the universe4 ,but electricity is a species of energy which can be expressed in terms of will--which is the only kind of energy that we are acquainted with at first hand4 ,what is objectively energy is subjectively will2 or1 in other words1 manifested energy is the visibility of will4#fi ,and so far as the unknowable ether is concerned1 it gives less scope to those powers of dogmatism1 the exercise of which characterised scientists of the old materialistic school2 and it is the habit of oracular pronouncements which does the harm1 by rendering any intellectual or spiritual progress impossible4 ,in any case1 whatever be the substitute which is to replace the old theory1 we may congratulate ourselves1 with ,professor ,j4 ,s4 ,haldane1 that we have parted once for all with the notion of a real and self-existent ,material universe2 and we must remember where we now are4#gj ,,the ,,new ,,biology4--,but if the results of the new physics have been disturbing to those who had hoped that materialism was a finally established theory1 the results of recent biological research have been equally embarrassing to them4 ,the anti-mechanistic trend of recent biological theory is only too evident4 ,the organism is regarded no longer by the majority of biologists as fully explicable in terms of mechanics and chemistry4 ,to quote ,professor ,haldane again1 ,the main outstanding fact is that the mechanistic account of the universe breaks down completely in connection with the phenomena of life4444 ,in the case of life1 the facts are inconsistent with the physical and chemical account of phenomena4#ga ,the organism can no longer be regarded as even an extremely complex kind of machine2 that word will not cover the facts1 and biologists are compelled to look elsewhere for a less misleading terminology4 ,to describe the organism as a machine1 is to give to that word a very comprehensive connotation4 ,for the organism is a machine different in kind from any that has been constructed by man2 it is a self-stoking1 self-repairing1 self-preservative1 self-adjusting1 self-increasing1 self-producing engine4#gb ,,the ,,researches ,,of ,,driesch4--,just as modern physics is concerned with the infinitely small--the ultra-microscopic1 in fact--so modern biologists are concentrating attention upon microscopic organisms1 where life is seen at its lowest terms1 and where 7if anywhere7 they may expect to discover what are the differentia of life1 i4e4 what are the qualities that distinguish living organic from inorganic matter4 ,perhaps the most notable of the researches conducted in this sphere1 of recent years1 have been those of ,professor ,driesch1 who expounded his results in the ,gifford ,lectures for #aijg-aijh 7,the ,science and ,philosophy of the ,organism74 ,the phenomena upon which ,driesch lays considerable stress are those which occur upon a division of certain living embryos4 ,an embryo1 when cut in half1 displays remarkable powers of self-adjustment and continued development4 ,each half can1 as it were1 regulate itself1 and make a fresh start2 a process which results in two self-contained organisms1 though of smaller size than would have resulted from a single undivided organism4 ,the cells which compose the organism seem able to adapt themselves to whatever demands are made upon them4 ,like workmen building a bridge1 all of them can do every single act--if need arise--and the result of their labours is a perfect bridge1 even if some of the workmen fall sick or are killed or injured in an accident4 ,driesch sums up the results of his researches by saying3 ,there is something in the organism's behaviour--in the widest sense of the word--which is opposed to an inorganic resolution of the same 7i4e4 to its complete expression in terms of chemistry and physics71 and which shows that the living organism is more than a sum or aggregate of its parts2 that it is insufficient to call the organism 'a typically combined body' 7i4e41 a machine71 without further explanation4#gc ,,the ,,problem ,,of ,,life4--,the problem is3 ,what is it in an organism which causes it to behave in a fashion so impossible for any machine8 ,to answer this question satisfactorily would be to have solved the mystery of life4 ,biologists do not answer the question2 they do not say what this peculiar potency is1 but they give it a name4 ,driesch calls it entelechy1 i4e4 purposiveness1 and he also speaks of psychoids1 i4e4 primitive minds4 ,names do not carry us very far2 but the mere fact that biologists have gone to the trouble of providing a name1 is important4 ,it constitutes an admission on their part that there is something mysterious about the organism2 for it has been a principle of modern science since the days of ,galileo never to appeal to mysterious causes if known ones can be found4 ,the deus ex machina method seems to them fundamentally unsound1 and so it is4 ,if every difficulty were considered solved merely by the word mystery1 knowledge would never advance4 ,labelled ignorance is still ignorance4 ,it is not names1 but things that are important4 ,but in this particular instance the application of the name entelechy indicates that1 in the opinion of such an authority as ,driesch1 at any rate1 something exists which no merely physical or chemical term can completely describe4 ,and ,driesch is typical of the trend of much modern biology4 ,it is only the very extreme optimists who now look for a final explanation of the living organism in terms of physics and chemistry4 ,,results ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,biology4--,but if life resists all attempts to reduce it to matter and motion1 we are confronted with the breakdown of the mechanical theory of the universe1 which has been slowly but progressively elaborated since the days of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 and applied impartially to the organic and the inorganic spheres4 ,but this ultra-dogmatic theory now seems too cramped to contain the facts2 even scientists resent the claims of materialist-mechanical orthodoxy4 ,some indeed adopt not merely a critical1 but a provocative attitude1 and seek to discredit the prestige of mechanics4 ,professor ,j4 ,s4 ,haldane not only vindicates the freedom1 but prophesies the speedy advance of biology to a position of pre-eminence4 ,not only are biological phenomena irreducible to terms of mechanics1 but it is mechanics that will have to be re-interpreted in terms of biology4 ,it is at least evident that the extension of biological conceptions to the whole of nature may be much nearer than seemed conceivable even a few years ago4 ,when the day of that extension comes1 the physical and chemical world as we now conceive it--the world of atoms and energy--will be recognised as nothing but an appearance 444 it will stand confessed as a world of abstractions like that of the pure mathematicians4#gd ,,the ,,new ,,psychology4--,not only physical and biological1 but psychological science will contribute very largely to the reconstruction of view which is now taking place4 ,particular attention is due to those branches of psychology which deal experimentally with the subconscious1 with instincts1 with the phenomena of thought transference1 psychotherapy1 and of so-called spiritualism4 ,in none of these spheres can research yet be said to have proceeded far enough to justify the luxury of dogmatising over results4 ,considerable confusion of opinion may still exist1 but it is now generally recognised that there is a wide sphere of research in psychical regions which is practically a terra incognita4 ,and those most competent to judge of results seem to be most cautious in their statements4 ,we are in the position of not knowing what a day may bring forth2 and an expectant agnosticism with regard to many problems is perhaps the right attitude to adopt4 ,the somewhat arrogant negations of the last generation are now out of place2 they were never1 in the strict sense1 scientific1 and they are now demodes4 ,it is extremely difficult to imagine a return to the view which dismisses mind from the universe as being an obscure by-product of matter1 or a comparatively insignificant epiphenomenon accompanying certain obscure chemical or mechanical processes4 ,the old theories1 gratifying in their simplicity1 will no longer cover the facts4 ,,psychical ,,research4--,one particular branch of experimental psychology1 which has attracted a large measure of public attention1 calls for a few remarks4 ,the attempt has been made to give experimental proof of the existence of disembodied spirits1 human or otherwise4 ,the whole subject1 exceptionally exposed as it is to the influence of prejudices of various kinds1 requires to be treated with great caution1 and it is inadvisable1 in the present condition of the problem1 to make dogmatic statements in any direction4 ,what appears to be certain is that the occurrence is well established of various phenomena which it is extremely difficult to explain in accordance with our present knowledge of matter1 of space1 or of mental action4 ,the occurrence of such phenomena is no longer disputed2 but it is over the explanation of them that controversy is active4 ,and it seems quite certain that the very least in the way of concessions that these new facts will force from conservative scientists is a radical revision of current notions of the range of human mental action4 ,the mind is evidently capable of producing certain effects--even upon matter--which would have seemed incredible a short while ago4 ,so much is the least that may be expected4 ,but in the view of many competent and highly scientific observers1 some far more radical revision of our notions may be necessary4 ,some scientists of good repute 7e4g4 ,sir ,oliver ,lodge1 in ,england1 and ,flammarion and others on the ,continent7 are convinced that the facts can only adequately be explained by reference to another world--interlocked1 as it were1 with this4#ge ,and it has to be admitted that this1 what may be called more advanced explanation1 is more in accordance than the other with a rather universal tradition or assumption of mankind in all ages4 ,it will be easily seen that the whole subject is one of the most extreme difficulty4 ,there is a general hesitancy in accepting what is called the spirit hypothesis1 so long as any other can be found2 a hesitancy justified in view of the extreme complexity of the world we live in 7where so much is even yet unknown71 and in view of the great difficulty which there seems to be in adducing exact proofs of the spirit theory4 ,a ,,reasonable ,,attitude4--,we shall1 no doubt1 be wise at present to refuse to cry ,proven1 and whilst admitting that all things are possible--perhaps even probable--to await with patience the results of further investigation4 ,it has to be admitted that1 while many people are superstitious and easily attracted by picturesque theories1 there are others who are as prejudiced1 in their way1 against new ideas1 as were those astronomers who1 being committed to ,ptolemaic views1 refused to look through ,galileo's telescope4 ,it is not only theologians who have1 in the history of thought1 been guilty of obscurantism4 ,in the early days of hypnotic experiments the scientific world in general pooh-poohed the idea of hypnotism2 and it took a considerable time before it would allow itself to be convinced that such a thing was possible4 ,facts1 in the end1 were too strong even for prejudice4 ,it is facts1 eventually1 that decide matters2 and1 no doubt1 before a very long period has elapsed1 sufficient facts will have accumulated to allow the scientific world to form more definite and better-grounded opinions than are possible to-day4 ,meanwhile1 the ordinary man will do well to remember that the universe is really a very wonderful place1 and that the knowledge of the wisest of us about it can only be described as infinitesimal4 ,the traditions of nineteenth-century materialism are still strong amongst us1 even with those who are least conscious of them4 ,but there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in that philosophy4 ,,results4--,these new conceptions of matter1 of life1 and of mind1 which are the products of the new physics1 the new biology1 and the new psychology respectively1 may be confidently left to themselves to work out their own salvation4 ,they have the strength of youth4 ,what is evident is that we have crossed the threshold of a new era in the history of science4 ,the outlook of the future will be as different from that of the recent past as was the new science of ,galileo1 ,descartes1 and ,newton from the dogmatic but fanciful notions which the ,scholastic theologians had borrowed from ,aristotle1 and sought to impose as a permanent revelation4 ,the current of thought is never stayed4 ,the future is obscure1 but one thing is certain1 that the coming generations will see catastrophic changes in the outlook of science2 and the materialistic and mechanistic weltanschauung1 which lately seemed so formidable1 may soon become as superannuated as astrology4 ,the theory which overshadowed the religious life of a century1 and which had become more and more menacing as scientific knowledge increased in extent and popularity1 has fallen into discredit4 ,its prestige will not revive4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,some ,,final ,,considerations ,,value ,,of ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,philosophy4--,it may perhaps be felt that our protracted excursion has not advanced us far beyond the position at which we stood in the opening chapter4 ,indeed1 the history of philosophy may seem not to establish any very definite conclusions2 and those who study the subject in the hope that it will supply them with material for dogmatising are likely to be disappointed4 ,we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that the riddle of the universe has as yet received no final solution at the hands of the metaphysicians4 ,it is only too evident that1 as the poet says3 ,our little systems have their day1 ,they have their day1 and cease to be4 ,and yet it would be an error to suppose that this lack of finality about philosophical opinion1 or the want of unanimity among philosophers1 indicates that no progress has been made4 ,there are certain landmarks in the history of philosophy--such as ,kant's ,critique of ,pure ,reason--which mark a point behind which we shall not again regress 7assuming that our culture and civilisation is preserved74 ,even if we have not grasped the whole truth about things yet1 we are still justified in assuming that we are gradually1 if painfully1 getting nearer to the goal4 ,but surely we are entitled to believe that it is not the crude appetite for metaphysical dogma that attracts men to the history of philosophy4 ,its fascination rather resembles that of the history of religion3 both are1 as it were1 ,odysseys of the human spirit2 nor is there any activity of man that has not its appeal to the human heart3 for cor ad cor loquitur4 ,and1 again1 we should reflect that those who ask for final conclusions1 forget that the search for truth may be1 in and for itself1 of the highest spiritual value4 ,the best starting-point for the history of philosophy is a famous passage from ,lessing4 ,not the truth which is at the disposal of every man1 but the honest pains he has taken to come at the truth make the worth of a man4 ,for not through the possession1 but through the pursuit of truth do his powers increase1 and in this alone consists his ever-increasing perfection4 ,possession makes us quiet1 indolent1 proud4444 ,if ,god with all truth in ,his right hand1 and in ,his left the single1 unceasing striving after truth1 even though coupled with the condition that ,i should ever and always err1 came to me and said1 ',choose6' ,i would in all humility clasp this left hand and say1 ',father1 give me this6 ,is not pure truth for ,thee alone8'#gf ,but there is another respect in which some knowledge of the history of thought may be an important advantage4 ,it may not bestow upon us the liberty of dogmatising ourselves1 but it does bestow upon us a certain imperturbability in the face of the dogmatisms of others4 ,airs of systematic omniscience1 the pride of a pretended knowledge1 will leave us unimpressed and undismayed4 ,the latest pretentious product of popular philosophy will1 in the majority of cases1 be recognised as an old heresy in a new garb2 new thought will not impress 7at least1 by its novelty7 those who know that it is old4 ,but it is against the crudities of materialistic naturalism that even a slight acquaintance with the history of ideas will form an antidote4 ,the various exposures of it1 from ,hume and ,kant to ,bergson1 will be to some extent familiar2 and it will be a recognised fact that its chief popular attraction is at the same time its chief philosophic weakness2 and this is that it is nothing more or less than a systematisation of the prejudices of common sense4 ,as a theory of first principles1 the best that can be said of its pretensions is that they are ridiculous4#gg ,,some ,,deductions ,,from ,,history4--,but1 it may be asked1 what definite conclusions have the foregoing chapters to offer8 ,some1 if we are not mistaken1 of a genuinely positive character4 ,it will be necessary to recall certain facts and reflections to the minds of our readers4 ,in the early chapters we noted the rise of an independent science1 and the collapse of the medieval world view with which popular religious notions were associated so closely1 that many conservative thinkers expected to see both involved in a common ruin4 ,science seemed to threaten the existence of a religion bound up with conceptions of space and of force which were being brought into discredit4 ,these misgivings turned out1 however1 to be ill-founded4 ,certain advantages1 no doubt1 of simplicity and definiteness1 which had belonged to the old notions1 had been irrecoverably lost2 but thinkers like ,giordano ,bruno showed that the conception of an infinite universe was by no means hostile to religion2 but that1 on the contrary1 it might be a conception of the highest spiritual value4 ,such are the sentiments expressed in some sonnets which precede ,bruno's dialogue ,on the ,infinite ,universe4 ,it seemed to ,bruno as if he had never breathed freely until the limits of the universe had been extended to infinity1 and the fixed spheres had disappeared4 ,no longer now was there a limit to the flight of the spirit1 no 'so far and no further'2 the narrow prison in which the old beliefs had confined men's spirits had now to open its gates and let in the pure air of a new life4#gh ,the scientific did not seem to him incompatible with a fundamentally religious conception of the world1 at least for those who were not afraid to take ship upon the seas of the infinite4 ,,dangers ,,of ,,the ,,mechanical ,,view4--,thus it was not science that was hostile to religion4 ,this was not the case until science began to be associated with a certain fairly definite philosophy of a mechanistic1 and later of a materialist1 description4 ,religion could not have survived the final establishment of such a philosophy as this1 for the indispensable element in a religious attitude of life is the idea that somehow there lies behind things a power or essence that has something in common with our own natures--something that can1 without an abuse of language1 be called personal4 ,any philosophy that rules out this idea creates an atmosphere in which religion cannot breathe4 ,and it was just this atmosphere that the mechanistic view1 unless amplified by considerations of another kind 7as it was e4g4 in the case of ,spinoza7 tended to create4 ,,the ,,mechanical ,,view ,,never ,,unchallenged4--,and with regard to this mechanistic philosophy1 we have to observe that it never seems to have commended itself1 as a final and complete solution1 to the best minds4 ,in the seventeenth century1 it will be remembered1 the mechanical conception was transcended 7though in entirely different ways7 by ,spinoza and by ,leibniz1 and the religious consciousness of the age1 in the person of ,pascal1 protested against it4 ,and although1 during the eighteenth century1 this philosophy persisted1 and was considerably reinforced 7with the help of further discoveries in the realm of physics7 by the school of ,holbach and ,diderot1 yet it had still to face the radical criticism of ,kant4 ,this criticism1 as we shall remember1 indicated that the mechanical view is a way in which the human mind--owing to its constitution--regards phenomena4 ,if it is to understand them1 the human mind cannot help viewing them in that fashion2 it must subject things to the mould in which all its thought is cast4 ,mechanism is the medium through which the mind understands phenomena4 ,it belongs not to the things in themselves1 but to our way of understanding them4 ,and attached to this radical criticism of mechanical notions1 was an idealistic philosophy of the most genuinely religious and spiritual character4 ,kantian idealism is one of those contributions to human thought behind which we shall not again regress4 ,it is a phenomenon of incalculable value and importance4 ,the immediate results of ,kant's critical idealism was a luxuriant growth of a spiritual type of philosophy upon the ground he had cleared and prepared4 ,romanticism may be regarded as a revolt of those sides of human nature upon which the tyranny of mechanism pressed hardest--religion1 speculation1 poetry1 music1 art4 ,you may expel nature with a pitchfork1 but she persists in returning4 ,the ,horatian remark is true also of the human mind2 you may try to weed out religion and poetry1 but your success will only be temporary2 for nature herself is more persistent than the most earnest of materialists and 7what is more7 she outlives him4 ,and with regard to the materialist or mechanistic view1 it is highly interesting to note that its greatest attraction has consisted in something which1 strictly speaking1 is not its own property4 ,in the eighteenth century in ,france1 and in the nineteenth century in ,germany and ,england1 the popularity of this view was derived from its altogether illegitimate association with a high moral and social idealism1 which 7it is only too evident7 had been borrowed--without sufficient acknowledgment--from the ,christian tradition4 ,the rather self-conscious atheism 7for instance7 of ,shelley or ,byron--which they had presumably derived from ,diderot and his contemporaries--was less a denial of ,god than an affirmation of the rights of humanity4 ,this generous philosophy of revolt from contemporary tyranny and pharisaism is atheistic only in name4 ,the callous and cynical powers1 both political and ecclesiastical1 that were the object of their bitter attacks were the embodiments of atheism1 for ,he alone is the true atheist to whom the predicates of the ,divine ,being1 e4g4 love1 wisdom1 justice1 are nothing4#gi ,,the ,,present ,,situation4--,during the nineteenth century the mechanical view received some accession of strength owing to the reduction of biology to what seemed like subjection4 ,but1 at the same time1 an idealistic philosophy had taken a strong hold in ,england1 and towards the end of the century critical students of scientific method cast doubt upon the finality of the mechanical view4 ,they regarded it as artificial1 abstract1 and symbolic only of reality4 ,this critical movement may be associated with the names of ,mach1 ,boutroux1 and 7perhaps above all7 of ,bergson4 ,moreover1 towards the end of the century1 a number of new facts in physics1 biology1 and psychology came to light and tended to discredit the mechanical view as a final explanation of reality4 ,the indestructibility of matter1 even the conservation of energy and of mass 7corner stones of the mechanico-materialist view7 began openly to be questioned1 not by metaphysicians1 but by men of science themselves4 ,the foes of materialism were those of its own household4#hj ,thus assailed from without by the philosophers1 and from within by the scientists themselves1 the mechanical view1 after a reign of three centuries 7disturbed though these may have been by successive rebellions7 seems destined to disappear4 ,it may indeed subsist as an approximate and convenient way of regarding reality1 of which it will no longer pretend to give an absolute and complete account4 ,it will continue to reign as a constitutional monarch1 but the days of its tyranny are at an end4 ,and it is not unlikely that future generations will look with surprise upon our respect for a theory which to them will wear something of the same aspect as medieval astrology now presents to ourselves4 ,,some ,,deductions4--,if the history of thought showed no other results than the impaired prestige of naturalism1 it would be worth attention and study4 ,the facts undoubtedly compromise that prestige1 for history indicates that at no period has naturalism been able to impose itself permanently4 ,if there has been a movement in that direction1 it has elicited a corresponding reaction4 ,the human mind seems unable to remain satisfied with the negations which systematised common sense seeks to impose upon it4 ,there is an instinctive appetite in humanity for a spiritual view of things1 and ,sabatier was undoubtedly right in observing that mankind is incurably religious4 ,neither ,hobbes1 nor ,holbach1 nor ,buechner1 with the best will in the world1 can exorcise from the human heart that instinct which seeks for itself personal relations with the universe--which sees a mind behind phenomena4 ,this is one of those instincts of which it is true that the more you repress them the more insurgent they become--they will have their way in the end4 ,thus naturalism1 blind to the mutilation of our nature of which it is guilty1 is psychologically unsound4 ,and yet1 our nature is not so easily mutilated after all4 ,naturalistic dogmatism has it in its power to create an atmosphere which is unhealthy for religion1 but that growth has its roots too deep for it to be easily destroyed4 ,springing as it does from the depths of our nature1 it will prove as permanent as humanity itself4 ,this is not to deny that this type of dogmatism may do1 as it actually has done1 a great deal of harm4 ,a plant may be strong and vigorous1 but under unceasing bitter weather1 it will tend to become discouraged4 ,otherwise it would not be worth while to write criticisms of naturalism4 ,,freedom4--,perhaps the best service we can do is to protest against indulging an appetite for negative dogmatism4 ,such an attitude is a negation of the freedom of thought4 ,and it is in an atmosphere of freedom that both religion and science flourish best4 ,a hard and fast naturalistic outlook may prove1 and actually has proved1 an incubus from which even scientists themselves may pray to be delivered4 ,nor has religion always enjoyed that full measure of freedom which is indispensable to its vigorous life4 ,the curious and sad fact is that the human mind seems to delight in creating prisons for itself4 ,the scientific spirit created a mechanico-materialistic scheme which has ended by becoming the enemy of scientific research1 and which 7besides this7 asks1 as a sacrifice1 the mutilation of our spiritual instincts4 ,and so with religion4 ,the religious instinct 7like the scientific7 tends to create its prisons4 ,the pride of1 a pretended knowledge reduces to a mechanical scheme the mysteries of life and death2 it provides superficial standardised solutions for the problems of existence4 ,of course1 it is clear enough1 that in religion as in science1 we cannot1 even if we would1 start each of us from the beginning4 ,we have to accept and to revere the riches of knowledge and experience accumulated by those who have gone before4 ,and yet1 in religion as in science1 life consists in movement2 we must go forward4 ,the past may be an inspiration1 but it must not be the limit of our thought1 or it becomes an incubus4 ,the glance must be forward not backward2 the stream flows1 and we are borne on its bosom4 ,humanity1 like an explorer1 has its face set towards the unknown4 ,both science and religion are children of freedom1 without which the creative spirit in man is crushed4 ,and here1 with this note of warning 7though perhaps rather of encouragement7 we may close4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,the ,grammar of ,science1 pp4 #ab1 #ac4 #b ,ptolemy of ,alexandria3 #abg-aea ,a4,d4 #c ,j4 ,m4 ,heald in art4 ,aquinas in ,encyclopaedia of ,religion and ,ethics4 #d ,monks and theologians were betrayed into some controversial asperities4 ,ye men of ,galilee1 why stand ye gazing up into heaven formed the appropriate text for a sermon by a ,dominican4 #e ,in spite of this1 however1 ,descartes' works1 in #affc1 appeared in the ,index of forbidden books3 and his doctrines were banned by ,royal decree from the ,french universities4 ,jesuit influences1 which were not at all favourable to native religion in ,france 7or elsewhere671 may have been responsible for this obscurantist policy4 #f ,merz1 ,history of ,european ,thought in the ,nineteenth ,century1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #chd4 #g ,quoted by ,ward1 ,naturalism and ,agnosticism1 p4 #d4 #h ,hoeffding1 ,history of ,modern ,philosophy1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #cae4 ,it may set the scruples of some at rest to be reminded that ,aquinas himself applied the term ,natura ,naturans to ,god as the cause of all existence4 ,eckhart and ,bruno had made a similar application of it 7cf4 ,martineau1 ,study of ,spinoza1 p4 #bbf74 #i ,here we may note1 by way of an anticipation1 a truth that ,kant afterwards was the first to grasp clearly3 that it is only when the mechanism of phenomena is proved1 that religion can be purged of materialism4 #aj ,cf4 letter to ,arnauld1 quoted by ,hoeffding1 ,i1 p4 #cdg3 ,the substantial unity presupposes a complete1 indivisible being4 ,nothing of this kind is to be found in figure or motion 444 but only in a soul or a substantial form similar to that which we call an ',i4' #aa ,the ,monadology 7quoted by ,pattison1 ,idea of ,god1 p4 #ahj74 #ab ,inge1 ,christian ,mysticism1 p4 #ai4 #ac ,cf4 ,with space the universe encloses me and engulfs me like an atom1 but with thought ,i enclose the universe4 ,a great saying4 #ad ,novalis called him the ,god-intoxicated3 a bold phrase4 #ae ,we refer1 of course1 to the promulgation of the ,bull ,unigenitus1 procured from ,pope ,clement ,,xi by the ,jesuits2 when their opponents1 the ,jansenists of all professions and classes1 were subjected to imprisonment1 confiscation1 and every species of oppression 7,jervis1 ,student's ,history of ,france1 p4 #dae74 ,the manoeuvre is characterised by another historian as a struggle of narrow-minded fanaticism1 allied to absolutely unscrupulous political ambition1 against all the learning and virtue which the ,french clergy still possessed 7,chamberlain1 ,foundations of the ,nineteenth ,century1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #cgi74 #af ,even before the age of the ,revolution1 ,paris possessed many great schools4 ,the ,college de ,france was founded in #aecj2 there was the ,college et ,ecole de ,chirurgie1 the ,jardin des ,plantes1 the ,ecole royale des ,mines1 etc4 7cf4 ,merz1 ,history of ,european ,thought1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #ajg74 #ag ,merz says of ,newton3 ,in his own country that fruitful co-operation which can only be secured by an academic organisation and by endowment of research was wanting 7,i1 p4 #ii74 ,as late as #agdj the whole revenue of the ,royal ,society was only ,l#bcb per annum4 #ah ,morley1 ,voltaire1 p4 #da4 #ai ,he published his ,elemens de la ,philosophie de ,newton in #agch4 #bj ,hoeffding1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #dha4 #ba ,see note in ,merz1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #ade4 #bb ,merz1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #adc4 #bc ,the receipt and perusal of ,rousseau's ,emile1 are said to have interrupted the walk on one occasion1 to the great astonishment of the ,koenigsbergers4 #bd ,pringle ,pattison1 ,idea of ,god1 p4 #bf4 #be ,atheism is aristocratic1 was the reply of ,robespierre to one who mocked at his ,etre ,supreme4 #bf ,confessions1 ,book ,,xii4 #bg ,hoeffding1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #i4 #bh ,fichte's word is ,anschauung1 for which the ,english language possesses no exact equivalent4 ,it implies something akin1 though perhaps superior to1 seeing or perceiving by means of the senses1 and it approaches less closely to inspiration than does the ,english word intuition4 ,the term acquired a meaning somewhat akin to the amor intellectualis ,dei of ,spinoza1 which we have met before4 7,see note in ,merz1 ,,iii1 p4 #dde47 #bi ,william ,james1 ,a ,pluralistic ,universe1 p4 #ib4 #cj ,here again a certain ambiguity surrounds the ,german word4 ,geist is inadequately translated by either mind or spirit3 it comprises the meaning of both words 7cf4 ,merz1 ,,iii1 p4 #dff74 #ca ,this does not mean that what is not good enough for philosophy is good enough for religion4 ,the idea behind ,schleiermacher is that what philosophy cannot sanction1 religious experience can sanction4 ,and it has to be remembered that1 as a follower of ,kant1 he assigned very definite limits to the powers of philosophy4 ,he was not an ,hegelian--,hegel's and ,schleiermacher's views of the religious problem are quite incompatible--the one believed1 the other did not believe1 that reason could solve that problem4 #cb ,kopp1 ,geschichte der ,chemie1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #ddb 7quoted by ,merz1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #aia74 #cc ,merz1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #bah4 #cd ,according to one authority 7,judd1 in his ,coming of ,evolution7 the number of known species of plants and animals must be placed at #fjj1jjj 7p4 #aj74 #ce ,vestiges of ,creation1 published anonymously in #ahdd1 passed through nine large editions by #ahec4 ,the author was ,robert ,chambers 7#ahjb-ga71 a geologist4 #cf ,life and ,letters1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #afh 7vide ,judd1 ,coming of ,evolution1 p4 #hi74 #cg ,as a matter of fact1 biologists soon demanded more than even ,lyell's geology could give them4 ,recent discoveries about the nature of matter have1 however1 further extended the possible age of our planet4 #ch ,darwin1 ,life1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #ic4 #ci ,if we wish to fix a definite point to describe as the end of the idealistic period in ,germany1 no such distinctive event offers itself as the ,french ,revolution of ,july1 #ahcj 7,lange1 ,history of ,materialism1 ,e4,t41 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #bde74 #dj ,a famous book which1 though negative in its conclusions1 places its author alongside ,schleiermacher as one of the founders of the modern science of ,religious ,psychology4 #da ,balfour1 ,theism and ,humanism1 p4 #cf4 #db ,evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion1 during which the matter passes from an indefinite incoherent homogeneity to a definite coherent heterogeneity1 and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation4 #dc ,spencer confessed that of the ,synthetic ,philosophy two volumes are missing1 the two important volumes on ,inorganic ,evolution1 leading to the evolution of the living and of the non-living 7cf4 criticisms by ,professor ,james ,ward in his ,naturalism and ,agnosticism1 ,lecture ,,ix74 #dd ,for an instance of the masterly work turned out by this school and of the attractiveness of their propaganda1 read ,huxley's lecture1 ,on a ,piece of ,chalk1 delivered to the working men of ,norwich during the meeting of the ,british ,association in #ahfh4 #de ,for this famous encounter1 see ,life of ,huxley1 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #agi-hi1 and ,life of ,j4 ,r4 ,green1 pp4 #dd1 #de4 #df ,as we shall subsequently find1 this cosmic pessimism is less well grounded than ,huxley believed4 ,still1 ,spencer's own scientific presuppositions were the same as ,huxley's1 so that the passage remains a pertinent criticism of the ,evolutionary ,philosophy as elaborated by him4 #dg ,it is instructive to observe that a similar note of latent pessimism is struck by the last notable survivor of the ,school we have endeavoured to describe4 ,viscount ,morley at the end of his ,recollections 7#aiag71 questioned as to the outcome of those generous hopes entertained with such confidence by his contemporaries1 is compelled to ejaculate with philosophic brevity1 circumspice1 as he contemplates a spectacle of unparalleled horror4 #dh ,storr1 ,development of ,english ,theology in the ,nineteenth ,century1 p4 #cbi4 ,see which book for a valuable chapter upon ,coleridge4 #di ,foundations of ,belief1 p4 #ih4 #ej ,foundations of ,belief1 p4 #cji4 #ea ,for this summary of ,lotze's doctrine1 see ,merz1 ,vol4 ,,iii1 p4 #fae and ff4 #eb ,quoted by ,ward in ,pluralism and ,theism1 p4 #ajc4 ,for a brief yet adequate treatment of ,mach's criticisms see ,hoeffding's ,modern ,philosophers1 pp4 #aae-ba4 #ec ,r4 ,b4 ,perry1 ,present ,philosophical ,tendencies1 p4 #cea4 #ed ,it is impossible to go deeper into ,james' theory of knowledge without using technical language4 ,a few of his own phrases1 however1 may help to elucidate things4 ,abstract concepts 444 are salient aspects of our concrete experiences which we find it useful to single out 7,meaning of ,truth1 p4 #bdf74 ,elsewhere he speaks of them as things we have learned to cut out from experience1 as flowers gathered1 and as moments dipped out from the stream of time 7,a ,pluralistic ,universe1 p4 #bce74 ,i owe these quotations to ,perry1 op4 cit4 #ee ,creative ,evolution1 p4 #cbe4 #ef ,a ,pluralistic ,universe1 p4 #bcg4 #eg ,creative ,evolution1 p4 #agd4 #eh i4e4 ,intellect is not 7as it is generally represented to be7 a developed form of instinct1 nor instinct an embryonic form of intellect4 #ei ,the extraordinary and miraculous phenomena of instinct--especially as celebrated by the distinguished ,french scientist ,fabre--cannot be rightly understood by trying to interpret them in terms of intellect4 ,this is to misread them completely4 #fj ,bergson's characterisation of ,spencerian ,evolutionism 7,creative ,evolution1 p4 #cia74 #fa ,creative ,evolution1 p4 #bhf4 #fb ,other notable pluralists in ,england are ,f4 ,c4 ,s4 ,schiller and ,dr4 ,mac,taggart4 #fc ,the logical conclusion1 we say1 though this may not be the ultimate truth about the matter4 ,the most attractive theories are often the most superficial4 #fd ,professor ,cunningham in ,pearson's ,grammar of ,science1 ,part ,i1 p4 #cef4 #fe ,quoted by ,w4 ,c4 ,d4 ,whetham in his ,recent ,development of ,physical ,science1 p4 #bhj4 ,no reference is given by him4 #ff ,one theory attributes the existence of matter to occasional misfits among these grains4 #fg ,quoted by ,bishop ,mercer4 ,problem of ,creation1 ,appendix ,b4 #fh ,in ,theism and ,humanism4 #fi ,mercer1 op4 cit41 p4 #ajf4 #gj ,mechanism1 ,life1 and ,personality 7#aiac71 p4 #ha4 #ga ,op4 cit4 pp4 #fd1 #ff4 #gb ,professor ,j4 ,arthur ,thomson1 in an article entitled1 ,is there one ,science of ,nature8 7,hibbert ,journal1 ,oct41 #aiaa74 #gc ,the ,science and ,philosophy of the ,organism1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #cch4 #gd ,op4 cit4 p4 #aja4 #ge ,other names of distinguished scientists holding this view are3 ,sir ,w4 ,crookes the ,physicist and ,sir ,w4 ,f4 ,barrett1 ,f4,r4,s41 in ,england1 ,dr4 ,hodgson and ,prof4 ,james ,hyslop in ,america1 ,lombroso in ,italy1 ,richet in ,france4 #gf ,from his ,duplik4 ,quoted by ,hoeffding1 ,history of ,philosophy1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #ba4 #gg ,f4 ,h4 ,bradley on ,phenomenalism 7,appearance and ,reality1 p4 #abf74 #gh ,hoeffding1 op4 cit41 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #abi4 #gi ,feuerbach1 ,essence of ,christianity1 p4 #ba4 #hj ,we now learn that conceptions of space of a highly unorthodox character are entertained by physicists and mathematicians1 as the result of recent researches in the sphere of the gravitation of light4 ,,index ,agnosticism1 #ib ,anti-clericalism1 #dc ,aquinas1 #i f41 #cj n4 ,aristotle1 #h1 #acf ,atomic theory1 the1 #di collapse of1 #abf ,bacon1 ,lord1 #af f4 ,balfour1 ,a4 ,j41 #aje f41 #aaj1 #abh ,bergson1 #aae-aba1 #adc ,berkeley1 #ee ,boutroux1 #aab f41 #adc ,bradley1 ,f4 ,h41 #ajd f41 #aaj1 #abb1 #aci ,bruno1 #ab1 #be1 #bi f41 #adj ,buechner1 #hf1 #add ,buffon1 #gg ,carlyle1 ,thomas1 #ch1 #ii-ajb ,coleridge1 ,s4 ,t41 #ih f4 ,comte1 #he1 #hi1 #ib ,copernicus1 #aa1 #bb1 #be1 #eh ,cunningham1 ,prof41 #abg ,cusanus1 #aj ,dalton1 #di1 #hc1 #abf ,darwin1 #hj-hc1 #hg f4 ,descartes1 #ai-bb1 #bf1 #cg1 #dc1 #ee1 #gd1 #acf ,design1 ,argument from1 #hg f4 ,diderot1 #de f41 #dh1 #ada1 #add ,driesch1 #acj f4 ,eckhart1 #cj n4 ,encyclopaedia1 ,the1 #de ,electrons1 #abf ,feuerbach1 #he1 #ie ,fichte1 #fe-fg ,galileo1 #ab-ae1 #bb1 #ee1 #gi1 #acf ,goethe1 #cj1 #fe ,green1 ,t4 ,h41 #ajc f4 ,haeckel1 #hh ,haldane1 ,prof4 ,j4 ,s41 #abi1 #acb ,harvey1 ,william1 #ai1 #bb ,hegel1 #fg-gj ,heine1 #he ,helmholtz1 #ge ,hobbes1 #bb1 #bf1 #dc1 #ee1 #add ,holbach1 #df-dh1 #ada1 #add ,hume1 #ee f41 #eh ,huxley1 #ib f41 #ie ,inge1 #ch n4 ,james1 ,william1 #aad f41 #abc ,jansenists1 the1 #dc n4 ,jesuits1 the1 #bb n41 #bf1 #cg1 #dc n4 ,johnson1 ,dr41 #dg ,kant1 #ec-fa1 #ff1 #gj1 #gg1 #he1 #acg1 #ada and ,hegel compared1 #fi and ,locke compared1 #eg and ,rousseau compared1 #fe ,kepler1 #ae ,lamarck1 #gg ,la ,mettrie1 #de1 #dh1 #gd ,lange1 #dg1 #hd ,laplace1 #dh f4 ,larmor1 ,prof4 ,j41 #abg ,lavoisier1 #di f4 ,leibniz1 #cc-cf1 #da1 #eb f41 #abb1 #ada ,leonardo da ,vinci1 #ad1 #af1 #acb ,lessing1 #ach ,locke1 #eb f41 #ee f4 ,lodge1 ,sir ,o41 #acd ,lotze1 #ajg-aji ,lyell1 #gh-hj ,mach1 #aaj-aad1 #adc ,malthus' ,essay on ,population1 #hj ,meyer1 #ge ,mc,taggart1 #abc n4 ,modernism1 #aji ,monads1 #ce f41 #abb ,natural ,selection1 #ha1 #hg ,newton1 #bc-bf1 #dc1 #dd n41 #dh1 #hb1 #acf ,nietzsche1 #id1 #if f4 ,paley1 #hg ,pascal1 #bb1 #cf-da ,pearson1 ,prof4 ,karl1 #a ,pessimism1 #ie ,positivism1 #he1 #ie ,ritschl1 #aji ,rousseau1 #ed n41 #fb-fe1 #hj ,sartor ,resartus1 #ajj ,schelling1 #fe ,schiller1 #fe ,schiller1 ,f4 ,c4 ,s41 #abc n4 ,schleider1 #ge ,schleiermacher1 #gj-gb ,spencer1 ,herbert1 #ce1 #gg1 #hi-ib1 #abb ,spinoza1 #bh-cc1 #da1 #eb f41 #fg1 #ada ,spiritualism1 #acc-acf ,stephen1 ,leslie1 #ib ,tait1 ,prof41 #abh ,thomson1 ,prof4 ,j4 ,a41 #acj n4 ,voltaire1 #dd f4 ,wallace1 ,alfred ,russell1 #ha f4 ,ward1 ,prof4 ,james1 #bf n41 #ia n41 #abc ,whoeler1 #gd ,zeno's paradox1 #aag ,printed in ,great ,britain at ,the ,mayflower ,press1 ,plymouth4 ,william ,brandon ,son1 ,ltd4 ,,transcriber',s ,,notes3 ,passages in italics are indicated by italics4 ,punctuation has been corrected without note4 ,spelling1 grammatical and typographical errors have been corrected in the text3 ,page #fh3 understand changed to understands ,page #gj3 fom changed to from ,page #abh3 subjectly changed to subjectively ,page #ach3 ,odyssies changed to ,odysseys ,inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original4