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CHAPTER VI. 



OF NATUKE. 

 I. 



OLDER Metaphysics comprised four distinct branches. 

 Of these the first dealt with the problem of Eeality in 

 the abstract, attempting, in the main, to answer such 

 questions as " What is Eeal ? " " What is the truly 

 Eeal ? " The conclusions arrived at were then applied 

 to three separate special questions. First, there pre- 

 sented itself the question as to the reality of the external 

 i. world : this was the problem of Nature ; secondly, there 



Nature : a 



metaphysi- was the question as to the reality of the internal world : 



cal problem. 



this constituted the problem of the Soul ; and lastly, 

 there was the question as to the reality which stood 

 above and beyond the realities of the external and the in- 

 ternal worlds : this referred to the Divine Order of things, 

 we may say that it constituted the problem of the Spirit. 

 Thus Ontology was followed by Cosmology, rational 

 Psychology, and rational Theology. Now, although most 

 of these terms have become obsolete, the problems which 

 they designated still remain. The principal reason why 

 we do not generally adopt the older terminology is because 

 it has been recognised that in all the three regions, in 



