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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



But we liave here also an explana- 

 tion of the powerful hold of this system 

 on the instructed and independent mind 

 of the period. Dr. Fairbairn truly says 

 that "to conceive a system so positive 

 and universal as Mr. Spencer's is itself 

 an education to an age." But more 

 t!ian this is true ; for if, as confessed, 

 this system has attained a "remarkable 

 influence," that influence has actually 

 been an educational power on a great 

 scale. What is it that Spencer has 

 brought to his contemporaries which 

 they had not before, and which is so 

 adapted to the general condition of 

 thought that barely to conceive it is 

 " an education to an age " ? Dr. Fair- 

 bairn having omitted the most impor- 

 tant answer to this question, we are 

 now prepared to give it for him. 



Mr. Spencer, as we have intimated, 

 has first given to the world a philoso- 

 phy that is an outgrowth of science, and 

 answers the clear requirements of ad- 

 vancing knowledge. The older philos- 

 ophy, with its lofty scorn of truth as 

 an end and its emptiness of everything 

 useful, had so trifled with the common- 

 sense of mankind that its very name 

 fell into reproach. Spencer has re- 

 deemed it and vindicated its rightful 

 supremacy by showing that its sphere 

 Is the realities of nature and experience, 

 and its function to formulate the deep- 

 est interpretation and the widest ascer- 

 tainable truth of the universe. Philos- 

 ophy, as he views it, is not merely a 

 skillfully reasoned body of speculation ; 

 it is nothing, if not true nothing, unless 

 it compels assent as the highest of veri- 

 ties. Science passes into philosophy as 

 it furnishes generalizations from all or- 

 ders of phenomena which merge into 

 truths that are universal. Claiming no 

 ideal perfection or completeness, it gath- 

 ers established principles from all sci- 

 entific sources into systematic expres- 

 sion, and thus acquires a harmony as 

 perfect as the discovered harmonies of 

 nature, and a unity as absolute as the 

 demonstrated unity of the universe. 



The formation of such a philosophy im- 

 plied a reorganization of knowledge 

 that should bring its hitherto diverse 

 branches into closer relations of de- 

 pendence, the separate orders of truth 

 into higher coordination, and thus give 

 a strength to the fabric derived from 

 the validity of its scientific elements. 

 Such a philosophy must widen its scope 

 and grow ever more consistent, more 

 congruous, and more comprehensively 

 unified with every extension of knowl- 

 edge. Who expects that the transcen- 

 dental and metaphysical systems will 

 ever be brought into mutual confirma- 

 tion or any possibility of agreement? 

 Concord has only given us a new illus- 

 tration of the old and hopeless discord. 

 Spencer's philosophy has made its au- 

 spicious way because it gave to the 

 age what it imperatively needed. Men 

 were wearied by futile speculation on 

 the one hand, and appalled by the 

 growing details of science on the other ; 

 and they wanted a higher synthesis of 

 verified truth, a constructive philosophy 

 of science. It is as a new organon of 

 knowledge that Spencer's philosophy 

 has gained its commanding influence 

 over the active mind of the period, and 

 it is this trait that has made it one of 

 the most widening, elevating, and po- 

 tent educative agencies of the age. 



Another feature of the synthetic 

 philosophy, though implied in what has 

 been said, is so important in account- 

 ing for its "remarkable influence " that 

 it requires to be brought out more ex- 

 plicitly. Spencer's system is sharply 

 contrasted with preceding philosophi- 

 cal systems by its recognition of the 

 great value of knowlege for useful ends. 

 Plis philosophy is animated by a grand 

 utility. Holding that truth is to be su- 

 premely valued for its own sake, and 

 that philosophy is justified in its truth 

 alone, Mr. Spencer finds that the high- 

 est truth involves also the highest good, 

 and his system thus becomes nobly 

 tributary to the advancement of human 

 welfare. Science has sufficiently exem- 



