591 



CHAPTER XL 



OF THE UNITY OF THOUGHT. 



The history of philosophical thought, as I have en- 

 deavoured to trace it in the foregoing chapters, has 

 consisted in an attempt to deal with the whole subject 

 by breaking it up into a series of more or less indepen- 

 dent parts. The great philosophical problem — that con- i. 



Special 



cerning the Order or Connection of Things — has been piniosophi. 



° " cal prob- 



divided into a variety of special problems. The unity of ^""*- 

 the whole, if such has been at all conspicuous, has con- 

 sisted mainly in the relation in which the different 

 problems stand to each other. This mode of treatment, 

 which is not entirely original to this Work but has been 

 adopted by other recent historians, is dictated by various 

 considerations of which the two following are the most 

 important. 



To begin with, some among the problems of which I 2. 



® . Change in 



have treated have become in the course of the century their reia- 



•^ tive im- 



of more general, indeed of popular, interest ; marking po^tance. 

 in some instances burning questions of the present age. 

 Others again have for the time being fallen into the 



