DEPARTMENT OF SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY.. 



THE METAPHYSICAL BASIS OF SCIENCE. 



BY PROF. S. n. CARPENTER, LL. D., 



Univeri-ity of Wisconsin, M«di80u. 



All knowledge is essentially one. The object-matter upon- 

 which intellect exerts itself, does not affect the subjective act- 

 of knowing. Physics, when stripped of that which is merely 

 contingent, becomes metaphysics. Physical science deals with 

 object-matter, and discusses the signs by which nature com-- 

 municates her message — that is, phenomena. Metaphysical 

 science has to do with the subject-mind, and discusses the" 

 meaning of the message. The one converts God's hieroglyph- 

 ics into easily-intelligible language; the other translates this- 

 language into Idea. If this be true, there must be a unity of 

 method in all science, however great the diversity of the ob- 

 ject-matter investigated. This method is subjectively deter- 

 mined, that is, by the constitution of the mind, and not by the- 

 particular form of matter upon which intellectual energy may be 

 exerted. If there is an essential unity in all knowledge, it Ifl- 

 because there is a corresponding unity of method in all mental 

 activity. It is only when we look upon what is to be known, 

 that truth separates into sciences ; but particular truths become 

 particular sciences only under assumed relations to the whole 

 of which they form a part. 



Objectively considered, science is classified knowledge; sub-- 

 jectively viewed, it is the laws or principles according to which 

 knowledge is classified. Every actor implies an act — every' 



