ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE 113 



ing quantity or mimher? No. Does it contain any experimental reason- 

 ing concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to 

 the flames; for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion." i 



Permit me to enforce this most wise advice. Why trouble 

 ourselves about matters of which, however important they 

 __may be, we do know nothing, and can know nothing? We 

 live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance, and the 

 plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make the little 

 corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and some- 

 what less ignorant than it was before he entered it. To do 

 this effectually it is necessary to be fully possessed of only 

 •^wo beliefs: the first, that the order of Nature is ascertain 

 able by our faculties to an extent which is practically unlim- 

 ited; the second, that our volition ^ counts for something as 

 a condition of the course of events. 



Each of these beliefs can be verified experirnentally, as 

 often as we like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the 

 strongest foundation upon which any belief can rest, and 

 forms one of our highest truths. If we find that the ascertain- 

 ment of the order of nature is facilitated by using one ter- 

 minology, or one set of symbols, rather than another, it is 

 our clear duty to use the former; and no harm can accrue, so 

 long as we bear in mind, that we are dealing merely with 

 terms and symbols. 



In itself it is of little moment whether we express the 

 phenomena of matter in terms of spirit; or the phenomena 

 of' spirit in terms of matter: matter may be regarded as a 

 form of thought, thought may be regarded as a property of 



1 Hume's Essay "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy," in 

 the Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding. — [Many critics of 

 this passage seem to forget that the subject-matter of Ethics and 

 ^Esthetics consists of matters of fact and existence. — 1892]. 



2 Or, to speak more accurately, the physical state of which volition 

 is the expression. — [1892]. 



