FINAL CAUSES 143 



gence is the highest and most approximate cause we can 

 conceive of a world of order." ^ 



" The doctrine of final causes, however, cannot escape, 

 as it would seem, a final problem. If each of the things 

 of the universe, taken separately, has been produced for 

 another, for what, and to what end, have they, taken to- 

 gether, been made ? " - To be brief, the sole explanation 

 is in the doctrine of Divine Love. " It is by goodness 

 that Plato, as well as Christianity, explains the produc- 

 tion of things."^ Knowledge is not the absolute end of 

 the universe ; but, as Kant says, the end is found in 

 morality or a Moral Being — i.e., Man. "The end of 

 Nature is, therefore, to realise in itself the absolute as far 

 as possible, or, if you will, it is to render possible the 

 realisation of the absolute in the world. This is brought 

 about by morality. . . . Morality is, therefore, at once 

 the accomplishment and the ultimate proof of the law of 

 finality." ^ Man is the on/y moral being upon earth. All 

 others are non-moral. 



iP. 415- ^P. 443- 'P. 447- *P. 455. 



