EXPERIENCE AND IDEALISM 199 



in the abstract leaves objective idealism in a posi 

 tion of unstable equilibrium from which it can find 

 release only by euthanasia in a thorough-going 

 empiricism seems evident. Some of the reasons for 

 this belief may be readily approached by a sum 

 mary sketch of three historic episodes in which have 

 emerged important conceptions of experience and 

 its relation to reason. The first takes us to classic 

 Greek thought. Here experience means the preser 

 vation, through memory, of the net result of a mul 

 tiplicity of particular doings and sufferings; a 

 preservation that affords positive skill in main 

 taining further practice, and promise of success in| 

 new emergencies. The craft of the carpenter, the 

 art of the physician are standing examples of its 

 nature. It differs from instinct and blind routine 

 or servile practice because there is some knowledge 

 of materials, methods, and aims, in their adjust- 

 ment to one another. Yet the marks of its passive, 

 habitual origin are indelibly stamped upon it. On 

 the knowledge side it can never aspire beyond opin 

 ion, and if true opinion be achieved, it is only by 

 happy chance. On the active side it is limited to 

 the accomplishment of a special work or a particu 

 lar product, following some unjustified, because 

 assumed, method. Thus it contrasts with the true 

 knowledge of reason, which is direct apprehension, 

 self-revealing and self-validating, of an eternal 

 and harmonious content. The regions in which 



