EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



really is. The word "materialism " has been so 

 commonly used in a vituperative rather than a 

 descriptive sense, that it has become somewhat 

 damaged for philosophical purposes. When- 

 ever Auguste Comte had to deal with some 

 opinion which he did not like, it made little 

 or no difference what it was about, he used 

 to get rid of it without delay by calling it 

 " metaphysical." And in like manner the word 

 " materialism " has come to be with some or- 

 thodox people a general term of abuse for any- 

 thing which they do not happen to like. I was 

 once called (in print) a materialist, for saying 

 that there are no trustworthy dates in Greek 

 history prior to the first Olympiad ! Some wise- 

 acre whose lectures I have lately seen reported 

 in the newspapers solemnly states that he 

 shall call all persons materialists who do not 

 believe in the freedom of the will ; which, of 

 course, would include Jonathan Edwards. Then, 

 besides this silly use of language, the word has 

 undergone some legitimate historical changes of 

 meaning. The great Dr. Priestley, whose theism 

 was quite unimpeachable, avowed himself a ma- 

 terialist, because he did not regard it as beyond 

 the power of an omnipotent Creator to endow 

 matter with the capacity for feeling and think- 

 ing. It seems to me that this was a mental atti- 

 tude much more devout, if not more philosoph- 

 ical, than that of those modern theologians who 

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