PHILOSOPHY DEFINED. 135 



the rate of oxygenation of the blood ; and that then, modify- 

 ing the statement to meet other criticisms, we finally assert 

 the relation to be between the amount of heat and the 

 amount of molecular change — supposing we do all this, we 

 state scientific truths that are successively wider and more 

 complete, but truths which, to the last, remain purely scien- 

 tific. Once more if, guided by mercantile ex- 

 periences, we reach the conclusion that prices rise when the 

 demand exceeds the supply; and that commodities flow 

 from places where they are abundant to places where they 

 are scarce ; and that the industries of different localities are 

 determined in their kinds mainly by the facilities which the 

 localities afford for them ; and if, studying these generaliza- 

 tions of political economy, we trace them all to the truth 

 that each man seeks satisfaction for his desires in ways cost- 

 ing the smallest efforts — such social phenomena being re- 

 sultants of individual actions so guided; we are still dealing 

 with the propositions of Science only. 



And now how is Philosophy constituted? It is consti- 

 tuted by carrying a stage further the process indicated. So 

 long as these truths are known only apart and regarded as 

 independent, even the most general of them cannot without 

 laxity of speech be called philosophical. But when, having 

 been severally reduced to a simple mechanical axiom, a 

 principle of molecular physics, and a law of social action, 

 they are contemplated together as corollaries of some ulti- 

 mate truth, then we rise to the kind of knowledge that con- 

 stitutes Philosophy proper. 



The truths of Philosophy thus bear the same relation to 

 the highest scientific truths, that each of these bears to 

 lower scientific truths. As each widest generalization of 

 Science comprehends and consolidates the narrower gener- 

 alizations of its own division; so the generalizations of 

 Philosophy comprehend and consolidate the widest gener- 

 alizations of Science. It is therefore a knowledge the ex- 

 treme opposite in kind to that which experience first accu- 



