A Crumb for the " Modern Symposium" 65 



prehended by many, no one has ever refuted it, 

 and it is not likely that any one ever will. Con- 

 cerning the value of Berkeley's idealism, when 

 taken with all its ontological implications, there 

 is plenty of room for disagreement ; but his psy- 

 chological analysis of the relation of consciousness 

 to the external world is of such fundamental im- 

 portance that, until one has mastered it, one has 

 no right to speak on philosophical questions. It 

 is not unfair to say that materialists, as a rule, 

 have not mastered the Berkeleian psychology, or 

 given much attention to it. In general, their at- 

 tention has been too much occupied with fila- 

 ments and ganglia, to the neglect of that close 

 subjective analysis which they unwisely stigmatize 

 as dreamy metaphysic. Hence, on the whole, 

 materialism does not represent anything of pri- 

 mary importance in modern philosophy; it repre- 

 sents rather the crude speculation of that large 

 and increasing number of people who have ac- 

 quired some knowledge of the truths of physical 

 science, without possessing sufficient subtlety to 

 apprehend their metaphysical bearings. Biichner, 

 the favorite spokesman of this class of people, 

 occupies a position precisely similar to that of 

 Lamettrie in the last century, and will, no doubt, 

 in the days of our grandchildren be as thoroughly 



