34 THE WOKLD-EISTEBGY 



stating, if we carefully put our individual thinking to the 

 crucial test of self-criticism. For self-criticism must ever 

 culminate in the clear recognition of the fundamental law 

 of perfect consistency in consciousness as the absolute, 

 unchanging, and hence objective test of certitude as to the 

 truth in any given case of inquiry. It is only when the 

 thinking of the individual unfolds into this objective 

 character that it becomes genuine, true thinking/' 



So, again, this third idealist will appeal to the idealist 

 of the second type, and say to him: tf Admirable as are 

 your work and the results of your work, there is, never- 

 theless, a phase of your method that remains as yet almost 

 wholly implicit ; and this fact proves at times to be the 

 occasion of serious error. You say rightly that truth is 

 to be attained only through a searching examination of 

 the objective, real world. But you seem to have not suf- 

 ficiently regarded the fact that the only way by which a 

 real knowledge of the ' objective ' or outer world can be 

 attained is through the exertion of your own subjective or 

 inner powers. You are thus led to look upon the object- 

 ive world as something independent of your own mind, or 

 even as independent of mind in any and every sense. So 

 that when you discover necessary laws in ( nature' you 

 not only regard the necessity of those laws as a ' natural ' 

 necessity, but also make the unwarrantable assumption 

 that f natural' is synonymous with ' physical/ And 

 yet, as a matter of fact, you can scarcely fail to admit, 

 upon reflection, that ' natural' means the same as 

 t rational/ if it means anything. For whatever contra- 

 dicts reason, the reason cannot but regard as unnatural; 

 and it is only through reason that we can pronounce upon 

 this, or, indeed, upon any question whatever. 



