HERBERT SPENCER AND HIS WORK. 441 



truths, then, have the character of universality which constitutes 

 them parts of philosophy, properly so called. " They are truths 

 which unify concrete phenomena belonging to all divisions of 

 Nature, and so must be components of that complete coherent 

 conception of things which Philosophy seeks." * But none the less 

 they are truths of the analytical order, and " no number of ana- 

 lytical truths will make up that synthesis of thought which alone 

 can be an interpretation of the synthesis of things." f The prob- 

 lem now before us will be set in clearer light if we remember the 

 relation, already stated, between the partially unified knowledge 

 which we call science, and the completely unified knowledge 

 which is the aim of philosophy. The various sciences advance 

 from the resolution of their phenomena into the actions of certain 

 factors, to the larger question how from such combined actions 

 result the given phenomena in all their complexity ? They thus 

 arrive at special syntheses. But such syntheses, even up to the 

 most general, are more or less independent of one another. The 

 business of philosophy, as now defined, is therefore to establish a 

 universal synthesis comprehending and consolidating such special 

 syntheses. "Having seen that matter is indestructible, motion 

 continuous, and force persistent having seen that forces are 

 everywhere undergoing transformation, and that motion, always 

 following the line of least resistance, is invariably rhythmic, it 

 remains to discover the similarly invariable formula expressing 

 the combined consequences of the actions thus separately formu- 

 lated." X 



It is from this point that Mr. Spencer proceeds to reduce to 

 systematic and comprehensive expression the laws of that con- 

 tinuous redistribution of matter and motion which is going on 

 throughout the universe in general and in detail. All sensible 

 existences, and the aggregates which they compose, have their 

 history, and this history covers the entire period between their 

 emergence from the imperceptible and their final disappearance 

 again into the imperceptible. The redistribution of matter and 

 motion which brings about this passage from the imperceptible, 

 through the various stages of the perceptible, and back to the 

 imperceptible, comprises two antagonistic processes: one char- 

 acterized by the integration of matter and the dissipation of 

 motion ; the other by the absorption of motion and the disinte- 

 gration of matter. The former produces consolidation and defi- 

 niteness; the latter, diffusion and incoherence. These two uni- 

 versal antagonistic processes are evolution and dissolution. The 

 entire universe is in a state of continual change, and it is in 

 terms of these processes that all changes, small or great, inor- 



* First Principles, 89. f Ibid., 90. % Ibid., 92. 



