OF REALITY. 511 



withdrawn, the problem presented itself : what conception 

 have we to form of the Universal World-order so that 

 the moral ends and aims of human life may appear realis- 

 able ? Mill not only, as we saw in the last chapter, led 

 the way to an entirely altered comprehension of the 

 problem of knowledge, but also through this as well as 

 through his moral and economic studies, he was forced 

 to tackle the problem of Eeality. After Bishop Berkeley, 

 he and Herbert Spencer were the first British philo- 

 sophers to take up this problem independently of the 

 solutions contained in the doctrines of the Christian 

 Church on the one side, and in the metaphysics of the 

 Continent on the other. For the whole of the Scottish 

 school of common-sense came under the influence of the 

 first, whilst Hamilton and his followers came in addition 

 also under the influence of the second body of doctrine. 



But the most prominent and dominating contribution si. 



Spencer's 



to a solution if we may call it so of the problem of "Unk 



> able." 



Eeality, which has emanated from British thought, is to 

 be found in Herbert Spencer's doctrine of the " Unknow- 

 able." It was prepared through Mill's and notably 

 through Hamilton's speculations, and has gained much 

 acceptance through the support that was given to it in 

 the lay writings of Huxley. In fact, through the watch- 

 words of the " Unknowable " and " Agnosticism," this view 

 of the problem of Eeality has become fixed and crystallised 

 into a definite popular creed. Herbert Spencer is, more- 

 over, the only English philosopher in modern times who 

 places an answer to the problem of Eeality at the 

 entrance of his philosophical system. He had the ability 

 and the courage to elaborate a definite philosophical 



