XXVlll PREFACE 



and emphasis as they go on towards the end of 

 the volume. 



The several papers have been very variously occa- 

 sioned, and have been written at varying dates, cov- 

 ering a period of something like twenty years. The 

 reader who cares to do so can follow up their chro- 

 nology in the appended foot-notes. In the earlier 

 papers considerable changes have here and there 

 been made from the form in which they were origi- 

 nally printed, in order to bring all their statements 

 into harmony with the governing view. In their 

 original form, monism of an Hegelian type played 

 no small part, side by side with the strongest affirma- 

 tions of personal reality and individual freedom, — 

 a collocation, it would seem, rather characteristic of 

 Hegelianism than not. At the date of their first 

 production I had not become aware of the hopeless 

 contradiction between the two views. Those who 

 feel the curiosity, can dig the originals out of their 

 hiding-places in the journals, and see them with all 

 their sins of inconsistency upon their heads. But I 

 trust these earlier attempts may be left to a natural 

 oblivion. It is only to the form given them in this 

 volume, that I should wish readers to refer for the 

 expression of my mature opinions. 



I have to thank the editors of the Nezv World, the 

 Jou7'-nal of Speculative Philosophy, and the Overlattd 

 Monthly for their kindness in permitting me to use 



