74 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Akt. XI. — The Ultimate Problem of Pliilosophy. 



By William W. Caelile. 



[Bead before the Wellington Philosopliical Society, 21st Aug^ist, 1895.] 



With regard to all the great problems that in previous ages 

 had occupied more than any others the intellect of mankind, 

 we have become accustomed of late years in England to be 

 told that what is golden is silence. Since the days of Berkley, 

 for several generations speculation in regard to first principles 

 was practically banned among us, as far as the systematic 

 work of science and philosophy was concerned; and, looking^ 

 back on that period, we are forced to inquire, Was the result 

 from any point of view satisfactory ? The outcome was that 

 what was best in English thouglit took flight from the uni- 

 versities and found refuge in the poetry of Wordsworth, and 

 subsequently in that of Tennyson, Browning, and Arnold; 

 while speculation in regard to historical, political, and social 

 questions was only saved from shallowness and triviality by 

 the influence of German literature, reflected in the writings 

 of Thomas Carlyle. Galileo is reported to have said that for 

 one hour of his life that he had spent on mathematics he had 

 spent seven on philosophy ; and it seems to be the case that, 

 somehow or other, the world is so constructed that inquiries 

 into matters that seem at first sight wide enough from im- 

 mediate practical requirements — investigations into the na- 

 ture of identity and causalicy, of the human soul, and of the 

 genesis of the world — are capable of putting thought on the 

 right track even with regard to subjects of scientific detail. 

 How otherwise can we account for the fact that Leibnitz, 

 deduced from first principles a doctrine that closely resembles 

 the doctrine of the conservation of energy some two hundred 

 years before its time, and the same great thinker, in his theory 

 of the continuous gradation of created beings, arrived at con- 

 clusions that approximate to the modern doctrine of evolu- 

 tion ? 



A notable change, however, has taken place in the trend of 

 English thought in reference to such matters during the last 

 five-and-twenty years. Hegel, who, while the influence of his- 

 philosophy was at its zenith in Germany, was apparently, for 

 the most part, regarded as a more or less fantastical mystic 

 among ourselves, then began to number among his_ disciples 

 and expositors many of the most competent of English philo- 

 sophers, including such men as the late Mr. Green ; Professor 

 Edward Caird, the present master of Balliol ; Mr. F. H. Brad- 

 ley; Professors Wallace, of Oxford; Jones, of Glasgow; Wat- 



