Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative; Vol. 2 of 3: Library Edition (1891), Containing Seven Essays not before Republished, and Various other Additions.Spencer, Herbert
Philosophy
Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative; Vol. 2 of 3: Library Edition (1891), Containing Seven Essays not before Republished, and Various other Additions.
Spencer, Herbert
Philosophy; Political science; Science
[After publication of the letters from which the foregoing are
reproduced, there appeared in _Nature_ certain rejoinders containing
misrepresentations even more extreme than those preceding them.
There resulted a direct correspondence with two of the writers—Mr.
Robert B. Hayward, of Harrow, and Mr. J. F. Moulton, my original
assailant, the author of the article in the _British Quarterly Review_.
This correspondence, in which I demanded from these gentlemen the
justifications for their statements, formed part of this Appendix in
its pamphlet form, as distributed among those who are competent to
judge of the questions at issue. It is needless to give permanence
to the replies and rejoinders. The character of Mr. Moulton’s
allegations, quite congruous with those I have exposed in the “Replies
to Criticisms,” may be inferred from one of the sentences closing my
reply—“Wonderful to relate, my inductive proof that proportionality [of
cause and effect] is taken for granted, he cites as my inductive proof
of proportionality itself!” The result of the interchange of letters
with Mr. Hayward, was to make it clear that “the thing I assert is not
really disputed; and the thing disputed, I have nowhere asserted.”
While, however, the controversial part of the correspondence may fitly
disappear, {308} I retain an expository part embodied in the following
letter to Mr. Hayward.]
38, Queen’s Gardens, Bayswater,
June 21st, 1874.
SIR,—Herewith I send you a copy of your letter with my interposed
comments. I think those comments will make it clear to you that I
have not committed myself to three different definitions of our
consciousness of the Second Law of Motion.
As others may still feel a difficulty such as you seem to have felt,
in understanding that which familiarity has made me regard as simple,
I will endeavour, by a synthetic exposition, to make clear the way in
which these later and more complex products of organized experiences
stand related to earlier and simpler products. To make this exposition
easier to follow, I will take first our Space-consciousness and the
derived conceptions.
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