Herbe7't Spencer 143 



4. Those which cannot be imagined and are not beHeved, 

 because they are positively kno^vn to be absolutely impos- 

 sible. 



We need not occupy time with a consideration of the first 

 two kinds, but the latter two require careful discrimination. 

 It is surely somewhat surprising that Mr. Spencer does not 

 discuss the two meanings of the word 'inconceivable,' 

 pointed out long ago in the controversy between Mill and 

 Whewell. The word ' inconceivable ' is sometimes taken to 

 denote simply that which the mind cannot picture in a dis- 

 tinct mental image. At other times it is made use of to 

 signify that which is ' unintelligible ' or ' unthinkable.' But 

 a great number of things which cannot be pictured to the 

 imagination can most certainly be thought and understood, 

 and none of those who uphold the validity of our intuitions 

 of objective necessary truth pretend that that which cannot 

 be iviagined is necessarily untrue. Fortunately in this 

 matter of the declarations of consciousness, the appeal is to 

 facts and experiments — facts that can be observed, experi- 

 ments that can be carried on by every one a Httle advanced 

 in philosophy, and therefore possessing that which is a 

 necessary condition of such advance — namely, a habit of 

 careful introspection. We venture confidently to affirm that 

 we have as certain evidence for this distinction of kind 

 between our o^vn thoughts as we have for the very being of 

 those thoughts themselves. The existence of this distinction 

 as a fact is incontrovertible, and the actual presence in con- 

 sciousness of this declaration should be first carefully noted ; 

 its validity may be considered afterwards. 



The first class of Mr. Spencer's inconceivable propositions 

 (our simply unimaginable ones) are, or, for all we see, may be, 

 the mere results of mental impotence; they are but nega- 

 tively and passively inconceivable. The second class of 

 inconceivable propositions (our necessarily false ones) are 



