THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS 13 



of much greater difficulty than that of Critical 

 Philosophy or of Natural Science. Hence, 

 Natural Science has only begun to make rapid 

 progress since its separation from Speculative 

 Philosophy. Despite the closest attention of 

 the acutest intellects since the age of Greece, no 

 general consensus of opinion has been reached by 

 metaphysicians. Materialism, Dualism, Idealism, 

 inconsistent views of the nature of reality, are 

 all of them still held by competent philosophers : 



Myself when young did eagerly frequent 

 Doctor and saint, and heard great argument 



About it and about : but evermore 



Came out by the same door where in I went. 



The slow and laborious methods of observa- 

 tion and experiment have been pursued from the 

 earliest times for purposes of common life and 

 technical industry. They were first considered 

 philosophically though inadequately by Bacon, 

 and by their help a firm ground has been 

 obtained for the edifice of Natural Science. 

 In contrast with the results of Speculative 

 Philosophy or Metaphysics, a general consensus 

 of scientific opinion upon fundamental points 

 has been obtained. No physicist doubts the 

 validity, within narrow limits of error, of relations 

 established accurately by experiment, though the 

 theories by which those relations are explained 

 may be subject to periodic revision. 



But observation and experiment can be 

 directed only to the examination of our concep- 

 tions. In this way we gain materials for the 

 construction and examination of the mind's model 

 of reality ; we do not touch reality itself. If 

 this be doubted, we must reflect that we can 



