76 THE RELATIVITY OF ALL KNOWLEDGE. 



us by an analysis of the process of thought, as exhibited sub- 

 jectively in consciousness. The demonstration of the neces- 

 sarily relative character of our knowledge, as deduced from 

 the nature of intelligence, has been brought to its most 

 definite shape by Sir William Hamilton. I cannot here do 

 better than extract from his essay on the " Philosophy of 

 the Unconditioned," the passage containing the substance of 

 his doctrine. 



" The mind can conceive," he argues, " and consequent- 

 ly can know, only the limited, and the conditionally limited. 

 The unconditionally unlimited, or the Infinite, the uncondi- 

 tionally limited, or the Absolute, cannot positively be con- 

 strued to the mind ; they can be conceived, only by a think- 

 ing away from, or abstraction of, those very conditions 

 under which thought itself is realized; consequently, the 

 notion of the Unconditioned is only negative, — negative of 

 the conceivable itself. For example, on the one hand we 

 can positively conceive, neither an absolute whole, that is, a 

 whole so great, that we cannot also conceive it as a relative 

 part of a still greater whole ; nor an absolute part, that is, a 

 part so small, that we cannot also conceive it as a relative 

 whole, divisible into smaller parts. On the other hand, we 

 cannot positively represent, or realize, or construe to the 

 mind (as here understanding and imagination coincide), an 

 infinite whole, for this could only be done by the infinite 

 synthesis in thought of finite wholes, which would itself re- 

 quire an infinite time for its accomplishment; nor, for the 

 same reason, can we follow out in thought an infinite divisi- 

 bility of parts. The result is the same, whether we apply 

 the process to limitation in space, in time, or in degree. 

 The unconditional negation, and the unconditional affirma- 

 tion of limitation; in other words, the infinite and absolute, 

 properly so called, are thus equally inconceivable to us. 



" As the conditionally limited (which we may briefly 

 call the conditioned) is thus the only possible object of 

 knowledge and of positive thought — thought necessarily 



