The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-18

How is this ascertainables At this point
we find ourselves fronting the great psychological
problems OF the limitations OF knowledge and the
principles OF gertrude. In order to settle these It
ls necessary To examine the principles OF post i've
ana speculative research and then to show That
the principles OF metemplrlcal research must
either DE Internationally rejected, or, If accepted,
must be Isolated from all departments OF knowl-
edge and restricted solely to the unknOwabe.
BY way OF Introduction to this research ana the
succeeding problems the author then proceeds 20
group together the principal rules Of philoso-
phizing Tor the regulation OF the Students EFFORTS.
Then follows an examination OF psychological prin-
ciples, and, though many interesting and impor-
not nave space to mention more than one
or two. One OF these ia the distinction which
animal consciousness and human consciousness
distinction which he maintains Is far greater than
any other distinction which can be established be-
tween animal and man. The psychological medium
interposed between the cosmos and the conscious
ness, and briefly designated by the term ex-
perience, applies both to animals and man. But
in man we must recognize another medium. one
from which his moral and intellectual life Is mainly
Sr Se Gae @a MN Inn az adn
the collective accumuatiOns OF centuries con-
densed IN knowledge, beliefs prejudices, institu-
Of psychoplasm to which the animal is a
stranger: The animal leels the cosmos and
also thinks IT, Again he feels the social world and
thinks 1t. His feelings and his thoughts OF both
are powerfully modified by residua. Hence the
1t Is to the animal for just as what is organ
ized IN the individual becomes transmitted TO OFF
spring. and determines the mode IN which the of
spring will react stimulus 80 what registered in
the social organism determines the mode in which
succeeding generations will feel and think. But
by no conceivable extension OF animal faculties
unaided by that important factor to which IL due
the superiority OF human intelligence could the
and intellectual word which is the habitual
medium OF the civilized human soul. In
nU in and Sn
distinguishing the products of several factors from
the products OF simple factors the group recog.
nized under the class Of Human Intelligence" is
so different from the group Of "Anmai lnteili-
gence" that it requires for its analytical interpre
tation different factors Of corresponding impor-
author, under the head OF 'ReasOned Realsm,n
denies the assumed distinction between noumenOn
and phen omenOn, except as convenient artifce
Tor classification, by which the unknOwable other
ness OF relation" is distinguished from the know
able relation; that IS TO say nOumena standing for
things IN their relations to other forms OF sentence
III there are such) than our own, and phenomena
standing Tor things In every conceivable relation
to sentence like our own. Considering the
noumenon as phantasm that has no existence
for us, consequently, cannot come within our per-
ceptions, nor within any theory OF perception, and
Is therefore altogether banisled from the sphere
OF knowledge, we are led through our psychology
namely, that the external world exists, and
among the modes Of its existence Is the one we
perceive. Nationally interpreted, we may accept
the ordinary belief that color Is quality Of the
object seen, that heat Is in the fire. roughness Is in
the rough surface. &C. and az the same time we
may accept Cne pnJOSOpncr'b assertion tnat all
Psychogeny VIII show US that color, heat, &C.. are,
from one point OF view, both in the objects and
In us: from another point OF view they are
in neither. But Of what has been named
by certain school OF philosophers INTELLECTUAL
Intuition" philosophy is not called upon to take
any account since, for all the purposes OF research
1t is non-exlstent 1t Is musician playing on
violin without strings In the halls Of castle in the
air. Fancy may endOW this musician with SUPER
human skill, since fancy has created him; bat the
melodies are too subtle Tor human ears. TO the
metempirical SPECTATOR may say, Gan expe-
rlence Is against you; yet, II you have any means
OF proving the existence OF an organ which grasps
realities beyond those given through sensible ex-
perence, we shall admit our error; but till this IL
proved We must hold your efforts to be mis-.
directed.n
Mr. Lewes then proceeds to examine the ideas
Of cause and substance. The investigation Of any
phenomenon or group OF phenomena may be Tx
ened to the exploration of the sources OF river,
The wanderer follows the river from the sea-
through valleys and water courses till it is lost in
lake. The exploring mind Is unsatisfed, and
have their origin rvuets, ana these rlvulets in
water-threads oozing from the mountain side. He
tin ay he arrives the vast snow
fields OF the summit. There where earth ceases,
he stands thrilled, awed, perplexed. Before him
sweep Of sky. All traces OF the river nave van
ished and this mystery fronts HIM. The restless
craving for cause or origin is unappeased The
snow was the origin OF the river, but whence
the snow 1t must have cause. 1t ls not an
e the @
proceeds, following the snow into the clouds,
where it appears as delicate vescles of water en-
halatiOn from the sea. The explorer thus returns
to his point OF departure. Whence the sea ? 1t is
no. nos Sne crgn sne Wdter since IL vsn receives
ment runs Further examination disclOses that
every SINGLE particle OF water persists unchanged
through all Its changing fellOwships with other
particles, and with changing heat air, salts, &c,
as 1t successfully forms an integer OF rvulet and
RiVIIpt n 10
an abstraction group OF events The form Of
the river and Its course through the land give 1t
viously determined by the cOnjuncture OF external
events Its individuality at each stage expresses
these conjunctures and that which was a babbling
brook Is now navigabie river only by the CO.
operation of new conjunctures. The thread OF
light, the cloud OF spray, the noating mist and
leaplng cataract the snowflake and the breaker
are embodied histories Each successive form IS
succession OF events, each event having been de-
termined by some prior group. This is the circu-
latiOn OF cause CausatiOn is immanent change.
But throughout these transformations there mas
been something persistent. something that has not
stance" And 1t Is in this persistent value whose
changing positions have determined the events.
stance. Cause and substance, force and matter,
are the lndissOtuble elements OF every phenome-
non. But while the positive thinker accepts the
immediate conditions as the causal conditions, &C
cepting these in full explanation of the why (snce
it Is an explanation OF the howl, the metaphysical
thinker demands that the how or the now, or the
satisfied by regress to antecedent conditions.
On the contrary, he demands a transcendental
condition. Over and above those sensible
condito ns which the physicist assigns
he believes there ia an undeinable some
thing, named power, which causes the OXy-
gen TO unite with hydrogen-a some thing which
gives these conditions their efficiency. This power
he either conceives to be external to the substance
or immanent in them. In the one case he regards
1t as the action of the Deity operating and
through the gases; In the other case the action
OF 1Orce-aff1nity. In both cases the power Is
assumed TO be the efficient agent, and this agent
some theOrzers believe to be movable through an
intuition not dependent upon experience; other
theorlZers declare 1t to be unknowable though un.
denlabe. The objection to both these views Is
that the assumed power is wholly without basis in
sensible experience, and must be excluded from
the province OF research to be relegated to the
province OF the SuprasenSiOle, which demands q
special organ and has no community with positive
knowledge. Nor Is this all. Granting tue pres
ence oil such an agent it would be powerless IN the
absence OF the substantial conditions, and would
vary IN It's effect with every variation OF these
conditions. Since, therefore, the knowable eject
depends on and varies with the known conditions,