The only criterion, then, which we have been able to find for the
fulfilment of the purpose, for the truth of the idea as representing an
object in the absolute system, is the sense of wholeness, the "pause of
satisfaction," which we experience in realizing such specific purposes
as "singing in tune." And if it be said again: "Precisely so; this only
shows how intimate is the relation between our experience and the
absolute system of ideas;" then must it also be said once more, either
that the absolute system can be nothing more than an abstraction of the
element of wholeness or wholing in our experience, or that thus far the
relation appears to rest upon sheer assumption.
Again, it may be insisted, as suggested at the outset of this
discussion, that the idea can well have two purposes: one to help
constitute and solve the specific problems of daily life; the other to
represent the absolute system. Very well, we must then make out a case
for the latter. If the purposes are to be different, the purpose to
represent the Absolute should have a criterion of its own. This we have
not been able to find. On the contrary, whenever pushed to the point of
stating a criterion for the representation of the absolute system, we
have had to appeal, in every case, to the fulfilment of a specific
finite purpose. And even if this purpose to represent the absolute
system had some apparent standard of its own, we should not be content
to leave the matter so. We should scarcely be satisfied to observe as a
mere matter of fact that the idea has a reconstructive function, and
_also_ a representative function. Such a brute dualism would be
intolerable.
IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
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