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

battles Is drawn appropriately at Waterloo.
SCIENCE In METAPHYSICS
In "Preblems OF Life and Mind" Mr.. George
Henry Lewes maintains that metaphysical prob
lens have nationally other difficulties than those
which beset all problems, and, when scientifically
treated that they capable of solutions not less
satisfactory and certain than those OF physics.
And 1t may be remarked Of the beginning that in
proposing to DO this he dlsclams even the appear
ance Of unsaying what it has been the chief pur-
pose Of his previous iabors to enforce. He MAN.
tains that to dissuade men from wasting precious
energies upon nsoluble problems anmates his
present efYorrs az much az it animated his
efforts OF thirty years ago. The only difference is
that problems which he formerly regarded as IN
soluble by methods then in use, he now regards as
soluble by the method Of science. and by no
other method. Whatever conceptions can be
reached through logical extensions OF experience
and can be shown to be conformable with it are
legitimate products, capable OF being used as
principles for further research. Whatever lies be-
yOnd the limits or experience and claims another
origin than that OF induction and deduction from
established data is Legitimate 1t can never be-
come principle OF research, but only an object OF
iniertile debate Since we are to rise TO meta
the method OF science, and If. in con-
formity with inductlve principles, we are
never to invoke aid from any higher
source than experience we must discard all in
quiries which transcend the ascertained or ascer-
tainable data Of experience. Hence the necessity
for a new word which win clearly designate this
discarded remainder, o word which must charac-
terize the nature OF the inquiries rejected. II the
empirical" desgnates the domain We include
within the range OF science, the domain excluded
may fifty be styled the "metempirical." The
metempirical region IS the void where speculation
roams unchecked, where sense has no footing,
where experiment can exercise no control and
where calculation ends in impossible quantities.
Physics and metaphysics deal with things and
their relations as these are known to US and as
they are believed TO exist in our universe Metem-
prizes sweeps out OF this region in search OF the
"otherness'' Of things, seeking to behold things
not as they are in our universe not as they to
us; it substitutes for the ideal constructions of
science the ideal constructions Of Imagination. But
the application of a scientific method to problems
hitherto inaccessible may reflect light questions
OF science otherwise hopelessly obscure. The
author anticipates the objection That an empirical
answ to speculative questions can never satisfy
the mind yearnng for insight into the world of
things behind Instrumentation knowledge Of the
"otherness" OF things-for glimpses Of 1.-THE light
that never was on sea or Shore" But we must
remember that, whatever speculative curiosity
may prompt our real and lasting interest is IN
ascertaining the order Of things we know. A SUBJ
lime aspiration after the bitterness OF things is
submely irrational To know things as they are
known to US is all we need knOw-all that Is pos
sible to be known. knowledge OF the SUPRA
sensible were il gained would by the very fact of
coming under the conditions OF knowledge only
be knowledge Of it's relations to u.s. The knowledge
would still be relative. phenomenal.
Having stated these conditions, Mr.. Lewes next
proceeds to explain the experiential method.
This is the metaodizing OF what Is known. The
range Of the known embraces much more than the
sensible. Not only the direct presentations to
sense. but the indirect the verfa-
BILE differences from sense, constitute its elements.
Not only the individual experiences slowly &C.
quired, but the accumulated experience of the
race, organized In language condensed in instru-
ments and axioms and in what may be called in
herited intuitions, form the multiple unity which
is expressed IN the abstract term experience"
whenever a question is cOuched In terms that
ignore experience, reject known truths and In
volve inaccessible data-that is, data inaccessi-
bic through our present means or through any
conceivable extension of those means-it is met
empirical, and philosophy can have nothing
u w Will DuJ any QueSJUu WHlCu CdH
be couched in terms OF experience and
answered on It's data is admissible. The first
operation, therefore, in dealing with any meta
physical problem must be to disengage the metem-
pirical elements and proceed TO treat the empirl-
cal elements, with the view of deducing from them
the unknown elements. If that be practicable. or,
II the deduction be impractlcabe, OF registering
the unknown elements as transcendeutal. The ex
istence OF an unknown quantity las may be proved
by agebraic illustraton) does not necessarily
disturb the accuracy OF calculations founded on the
known functions Of that quantity; and we are led,
thence, to the conclusion that the scientific canon
Of excluding from calculation all incalculable data
places metaphysics on the same level with physics
The search after causes Is futile or fertile &C
cording to the clearncss Of our conception OF what
it is we seek and how it may be found. A tradi
tional perversion makes the essence Of a thing to
conss, in the relations Of that thing to something
and unknowable rather than in its rea-
tons to known or movable that is, it assumes
that the thing cannot be what it is to and other
known things but must be something ''in ITSELF"
unrelated or having quite other relations to other
unknOwabe thlngA In tins contempt OF the actual
In favor OF the vaguely imagined possible, tis neg
lect OF reality In favor OF supposed deeper reality
this disregard or light In search for light behind
the light metaphys icians have been led to seek the
"thing in itself beyond the region Of experience.
TO reflective minds 1t was early appar-
ent that such Q Qssrsttwna was phantom;
and because 1t could not be grasped they |
not that this phantom-essence was be-
yond our reach. but that all essences were impene
trable mysteries. With the reality before them |
they declared 1t was phantom, and that the |
shadow was the reality, the essence. Unless, |
therefore, the general principles Of metaphysics |
have been securely established by science It's ope-
rations WIN be ~ chimercal as those Of calculus