INTRODUCTORY 21 



be mechanical, we must ask whether this contradiction is real or 

 only apparent. As this question has, in one form or another, vexed 

 the mind of man for untold ages, no one would be so bold as to 

 attempt a final answer in few words; but I hope all who follow 

 me to the end may find reason to ask themselves whether the con- 

 tradiction may not, after all, be a matter of words rather than a real 

 difficulty, for I shall try to review, at one time and another, some 

 of the evidence which has convinced many thoughtful men that this 

 apparently insoluble puzzle has arisen from an erroneous and un- 

 scientific conception of the meaning of the mechanism of nature. 

 This evidence seems so clear and conclusive that I cannot see how 

 any one who has mastered it can find any contradiction between 

 anything we find in our nature and the ultimate reduction of all 

 nature, including all the phenomena of life and of mind, to mechani- 

 cal principles; for most students of the principles of science agree 

 that natural knowledge is no more than the discovery of the order 

 of nature; although a moment's thought is enough to show that the 

 fact that events do take place in order is no reason why they should, 

 or even why they should take place at all. Order is no explanation, 

 but a thing to be explained. 



The proof that there is no necessary antagonism between me- 

 chanical explanations of human life and belief in volition and duty 

 and moral responsibility seems to me to be very simple and easy 

 to understand. If the subject takes us into deep waters, this is 

 because we are compelled to examine the reason why the impres- 

 sion that these things are antagonistic has so widely prevailed; for 

 the view of the matter to which I hope to call your attention is, in 

 itself, by no means difficult or obscure. 



Science is still in its infancy, and we know so little that I have 

 no sympathy with those who discount the possibilities of future dis- 

 covery and assert that life is merely a question of matter and 

 motion, although I know no reason why this should not, some day, 

 be proved, nor am I able to see why any should find this admis- 

 sion alarming. 



However this may be, I am convinced that they stand on 

 treacherous ground, who base positive opinions on negative evi- 

 dence, and believe that anything in our nature is inconsistent with 

 mechanics. 



