CHAP, x The question of Freedom still open. 171 



Necessity the last Avord which has been, or can be, 

 spoken, is, not that Freedom is proved impossible Mill 

 was too cautious a reasoner to commit himself to such 

 an assertion but that no valid reason can be given for 

 thinking Freedom possible, and thereby admitting 

 that there can be any exception or limitation to the 

 absolute uniformity of the order of Nature ; including 

 in this order not only unconscious -Nature, but con- 

 scious Mind. And this appears to be the general 

 belief of that philosophical, or scientific, school, which 

 is dominant among us, and has Herbert Spencer as 

 its chief living exponent. Some, indeed, speak as if 

 they thought this absolute uniformity of the course 

 of things was of the nature of a logical truth, which 

 cannot be denied without affirming a contradiction. 

 But the more general and plausible opinion is that 

 this uniformity follows by mathematical necessity 

 from the laws of physical nature. 



I think, on the contrary, that this question of 

 Freedom and Necessity is not, and probably may 

 never be, a closed question. I think it one of those 

 " great questions on which much remains to be said " ; 

 and I propose to give an account of some views on 

 the subject, which have been published by French 

 writers during the last few years. 



The question in dispute must first be stated ; for 

 I believe there are many who really affirm this 

 doctrine of absolute and unalterable uniformity in 

 the order of things philosophical Necessity, as it was 

 formerly called, or Determinism, as it is called now 



