38 EMILE BOUTROUX 



of science. In a general way what we call 

 life, soul, spirit, is the conciliation and reunion 

 by a sort of fusion and internal transfiguration 

 of qualities which, in the world of space and 

 matter, are invincibly exterior and impenetra- 

 ble to each other. How can, for example, 

 identity and change get united? An insolu- 

 ble problem in the material or logical world. 

 But life conciliates these two terms. The liv- 

 ing being remains himself, while he is evolving. 

 How, in the world of matter, can anything be 

 at the same time young and old, live in the 

 present, the past and the future, inhabit simul- 

 taneously different regions of space? The 

 mode of existence which we call consciousness 

 solves those paradoxical problems. 



Cannot the spirit of man solve in its own 

 way the problem of general culture? 



When a man practices a science for a long 

 time and intelligently, he acquires not only a 

 certain amount of knowledge but, in addition, 

 a certain intellectual disposition which cannot 

 be expressed in any formula, but which is, 

 none the less, real and usable. Thanks to 

 that intellectual disposition, the man of learn- 



