124 ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY 



coherence, he thinks, is only possible by the Act- 

 ual's consisting of certain primitive elements, defi- 

 nite in size, figure, and number, subject to definite 

 laws of combination and change of combination. 

 The permanent in the Actual is thus (i) Atoms, 

 (2) Types, or the primitive Kinds of the atoms, the 

 origin of species in Nature, and (3) Laws, deter- 

 mining the possible combinations of the types and 

 the order of succession in these combinations. The 

 variable, on the other hand, is the series of chang- 

 ing combinations as they actually occur ; these 

 amount simply to a change in the form of the 

 Actual, in its parts and in its whole. The evolu- 

 tion of this form moves toward a certain result, 

 which, as necessarily evolved from the primitive 

 conditions and therefore involved in them, may be 

 regarded, though only in the sense of a mechanical 

 destination, as the Final Purpose of the World. 



The Actual, then, taken in its entire career and 

 being, presents the form of a self-completing sys- 

 tem of relations. In other words, there is a Logic 

 of Nature, inherent in the world itself. To repro- 

 duce this logic in the form of our knowledge is the 

 aim and sum of science ; to reproduce it not only 

 so, but also in disposition and life, is the sum of 

 philosophy. Philosophy being thus the aim and 



mcnts " of the absolute Idea. But the relationship really goes back to 

 Greek philosophy, in which Diihriiig seems much at home. 



