But I do not for a moment wish to go in thought beyond physical
nature--I do not suppose that in thought we can. To the mind it is only
the body that appears, and all that I hope to do is to show material
relations, mechanism, arrangements.
But much depends on what kind of material relations we perceive outside
us. A human being, an animal and a machine are to the mind all merely
portions of matter arranged in certain ways. But the mind can give an
exhaustive account of the machine, account fairly well for the animal,
while the human being it only defines externally, leaving the real
knowledge to be supplied by other faculties.
But we must not under-estimate the work of the mind, for it is only by
the observation of and thought about the bodies with which we come into
contact that we know human beings. It is the faculty of thought that
puts us in a position to recognize a soul.
And so, too, about the universe--it is only by correct thought about it
that we can perceive its true moral nature.
And it will be found that the deadness which we ascribe to the external
world is not really there, but is put in by us because of our own
limitations. It is really the self elements in our knowledge which make
us talk of mechanical necessity, dead matter. When our limitations fall,
we behold the spirit of the world like we behold the spirit of a
friend--something which is discerned in and through the material
presentation of a body to us.
Our thought means are sufficient at present to show us human souls; but
all except human beings is, as far as science is concerned, inanimate.
One self element must be got rid of from our perception, and this will
be changed.
The one thing necessary is, that in matters of thinking we will not
admit anything that is not perfectly clear, palpable and evident. On the
mind the only conceivable demand is to seek for facts. The rock on which
so many systems of philosophy have come to grief is the attempt to put
moral principles into nature. Our only duty is to accept what we find.
Man is no more the centre of the moral world than he is of the physical
world. Then relegate the intellect to its right position of dealing with
facts of arrangement--it can appreciate structure--and let it simply
look on the world and report on it. We have to choose between
metaphysics and space thought. In metaphysics we find lofty
ideals--principles enthroned high in our souls, but which reduce the
world to a phantom, and ourselves to the lofty spectators of an arid
solitude. On the other hand, if we follow Kant’s advice, we use our
means and find realities linked together, and in the physical interplay
of forces and connexion of structure we behold the relations between
spirits--those dwelling in man and those above him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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