NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY. xLii 



Bociul progress, without which there can be no successful regula 

 tion of the affairs of society. Mr. Spencer s mind has long been 

 occupied with these important questions, as the reader will find 

 by referring to his able work upon &quot; Social Statics,&quot; published 

 oeveral years ago. 



Lastly, in Part Fifth, Mr. Spencer proposes to consider the 

 Principles of Morality, bringing to bear the truths furnished by 

 Biology, Psychology, and Sociology, to determine the true theory 

 of right living. He will show that the true moral ideal and limit 

 of progress is the attainment of an equilibrium between constitu 

 tion and conditions of existence, and trace those principles of 

 private conduct, physical, intellectual, moral, and religious that 

 follow from the conditions to complete individual life. Those 

 rules of human action which all civilized nations have registered 

 as essential laws the inductions of morality will be delineated, 

 and also those mutual limitations of men s actions necessitated by 

 their coexistence as units of society, which constitute the founda 

 tion of justice. 



It cannot be doubted that the order here indicated, as it cor 

 responds to the method of nature, is the one which Philosophy 

 must pursue in the future. It combines the precision of science 

 with the harmony and unity of universal truth. The time is past 

 when Biology can be considered with no reference to the laws of 

 Physics ; Mind with no reference to the science of Life, and So 

 ciology, without having previously mastered the foregoing sub 

 jects. The progress of knowledge is now toward more definite, 

 systematic, and comprehensive views, while it is the highest func 

 tion of intellect to coordinate and bind together its isolated and 

 fragmentary parts. In carrying out his great plan, therefore, 

 Mr. Spencer is but embodying the large philosophical tendencies 

 of the age. 



