New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-09

~ .Iat 10 FORM as we'll Of its contents He
- NHat KANT never had-an overwhelming
sense OF space and its inevitable concon1itanf@
uHle. by the logic OF his own svster, he sbo,,id
t5 Ignt OF them as belonging wholly to the
il1A.N' anu lhat ne could never do In the effort
TO harTuonize his desire for defnitive cer+airtv
win MS unconquerable tendency to some con-
CePtons Whlch ne was forced to look upon as
uncomfortable. he invented such cnptro djctioDs
as verbally Ineligible but literally unthink
able" and used them boldly in the most init
mate 1uNtapositlon. Il was the philosophical
system OF Wolff which furnished the occasiR
Tor Crusluss oracular saying. the inconceiva-
nle is false Though Spencer. directly or
through German scientists. was Influenced bv
Wolff, just as Kant was influenced by him on
the side Of what may be called schoolbook
metaphysics Yet to the sweeping dictum lust
quoted he might have replied: Not at all The
conceivable Is the definite. the relative; but
beyond the bounds OF definition and RELATIVELY
there IS ~ uneXplored region Just as outside OF
form thert is space. It is incoEceivabe, but il
Is fact" To this, the only reply would be
that Spencer's Uncomfortable" and VOLTS 'un-
begreifich' were two very different things.
THE ULTIMATE FACTS OF SCIENCE.
It is not at all improbable that spencer's eight
years training as a civil engineer had something
10 do with the vividness of his concept Of ex-
tension. 1t Is doubtful If a thoroughbred practi-
cal acknowledgements may be said of
man confined to the study or teaching OF theo
retical mathematics-could rid himself Of the ex-
ternal necessity Of space. He could not accept
merely subjective that which he measured and
calculated and so to speak. handled every day of
his life. But. though this phase Of his practical
life may have given him vivid belief in what
he declares TO be wholly incomprehenstble, he
does rest this belief, which he is conscious OF
and which he deems universal, upon experiment
or the data OF the senses. This is important
fact 70 remember, for il marks his departure
from the sceptic sensationalsm Of Hume. The
latter had supposed that the notions of space
and time We're derivable through the senses.
His queer Illustration about space being coupre-
hended by means Of colored points must be ia
rnilar tc every reader. Kant demolished this
opinion by showing that the notions OF space
and time must be subjective-that is, necessary
part Of the forms of thought-whether objective
or not, and Spencer has really nothing TO add to
this, though the paragraphs in which he trav-
estes the doctrine OF Kant will stand as a wit
ness IN the history Of philosophy that his
pacity for abstract thought. at all events
for the expression Of abstract thought, was linn
tied. Impatient of every effort to think that is
not pictorial, he went to the length OF declaring
that If space and time forms of thought
they can never be thought Of; since it is impos-
sible for anything to be at once the form OF
thought and the matter of thought" as If a
thought had length, breadth, thickness like ex-
ternal objects Having in view his use Of the
word conception. II is easy to that within the
limits Of that definition he was right in saying
that the immediate knowledge which we have
Of Space and Time proves when examined TO
be total ignorance" and to agree with his con-
cluslOn that all ultimate scientific ideas-space.
time. matter. motion, force, the ego-are beyond
the possibility of being realized in thought But
they cannot be got rid Of, and they must there
fore represent realities-'reaIities that cannot
be cOmprehended." So from the empirical point
OF view nothing be more true-speaking
with due allowance for the rhetoric which Spen-
GERS method of thinking forced upon him even
in the coolest realms of philosophy-than the
following:
oo After no matter how great progress in the
ing Of limited and derivative truths in truths that
fundamental as M
beyond reach as ever. The explanation OF that
which is expicable does but bring out into greater
elearness the inexplicableness Of that which
mains behind Alike in the external and internal
midst OF perpetual changes of which he can dis
back The evolution Of things, he allows himself to
entertain the hypothesis that the universe once
possible 10 conceive how this came to be so: and
e4uaiIy' II he speculates on the future: he can
manner if he looks inward he perceives that both
ends Of the thread Of consciousness are beyond his
grasp nay, hey ond his power to think Of as having
existed or az existing in time 10 come When again
IeLal or internal 70 their intrinsic nature, he is
ylsI as nuch al fauIt; Supposing him in every
case able to resolve the appearances, properties
force IN space and time, he still finds that force,
space and time pass all understanding. Similarly,
materials out Of which iii rbnnsht i me 9IIsna ma
he is little forwarder. for he can give no account
either Of sensations themselves or of that some
thing which is conscious Of sensations Objective
and subjective things thus ascertans 10 be alike
inscrutable in their substance and genesis In ali
face to face with insoluble enigma he learns at
inteliect-its power in dealing with all that comes
within the range Of experience: its impotence in
realizes with special vfvidness the utter incon,-
prehensibleness Of the simplest fact considered in
In It's ultimate essence nothing can be known.
APPEAL TO CONSCIOUSNESS.
BY this leap in the dark Spencer landed
mate essence" Of a thing be except Rants
thing in itself" and how can that be appre-
hended-not TO say OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
empirically or experimentally? But if knowl-
edge is wholly relative, the result Of observation
and experiment, what right has any one to sup
pose that there are any ultimate facts of
science? The man who has achieved the most
in science is the man who is best aware that
human investigation has barely touched the
fringe OF the movable. II he asserts now,
when there is so vast a region UNEMPLOYED, that
this region is not infinite, but has definite
boundaries. which he can name and render
verbally Ineligible" if not literally think
able" he must be enabled TO do it by reason not
OF objective certainty due 70 sclentihc ooserVa-
ton and experiment but to a subjective GER
tainty due to laws Of the mind which post these
ultimate facts with or without the consent or
experience. To any one who examines the para
graph just quoted il viii be plain that Spencer
never once er,erges from the recesses Of his
own mind while demonstrating the certainty of
the ultimate facts Of science But he took issue
with Kant upon a point which the Sage Of
K6nigsberg would have deemed frivolous. He
appealed 10 consciousness TO prove that these
ultimate facts appeared TO the mind eXter-
nal. Exactly" Kant might have answered
.practicaIlv / do not question the testimony of
consciousness but from the point Of view Of
philosophical criticism | demand proof of the
right OF consciousness to testify in the case-a
proof as irrefragable that which establishes
a proposition in geometry" The pages of Spen-
Ger viii be scanned in vain for any dernonstra-
10 bN-f h2U al