-iv Contents. 



PAGE 



which the entire course of change may be deductively 

 demonstrated Under that principle every known law 

 must be subsumed It must account for all the known 

 phases of all known phenomena Mr. Spencer finds such 

 principle in ' ' the law of the continuous redistribution of 

 matter and motion " This dynamic principle universal 

 The problem in the solution of which alone philosophy 

 comes into existence a problem in dynamics No other 

 principle available on the evolution doctrine Mr. Spencer 

 embraces thought, emotion, and conscience under it He 

 denies that his doctrine is materialistic So far as the 

 universe of material forces reaches, it is admitted that 

 dynamic law is universal But all kinds of knowledge 

 cannot be included under it It does not account for life 

 or sentience or thought But to all these Mr. Spencer 

 applies this law He takes exception to the application of 

 the term " mechanical " to his hypothesis It is dynamical 

 We are carried back to the Greek atomists, . . 65 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PERSISTENCE OF FORCE. 



SECTION I. Is the Persistence of Force a datum of conscious- 

 ness ? Mr. Spencer claims for it the authority of a datum 

 of consciousness The content of consciousness stated 

 If Mr. Spencer's reasoning be sound all existence is eter- 

 nalHe identifies being and persistence The force whose 

 persistence is attested by consciousness is, on Mr. 

 Spencer's theory, the absolute force But the force we 

 know is that with which alone science is concerned 

 What we know does not persist ; what persists we can 

 never know Mr. Spencer falls back on an impotence of 

 thought This will not avail in founding a system of 

 positive philosophy, . . . . .78 



SECTION II. What is included in the term Force? Force 

 used in two senses We know it as an object of sense 

 We use the term metaphorically of mental activities 

 Does the persisting force include Spirit ? Spirit must 

 have existed either as matter, or as a separate mode of 



