CHAPTER V. 

 THE UNKNOWABLE. 



A PHILOSOPHY undertaking to deal with all 

 possible knowledge must determine the rela- 

 tion of thought to that which lies beyond experience : 

 it must take account of the absolute. Experience 

 has a beginning and bounds : it is conditioned. Is 

 knowledge of that by which it is conditioned pos- 

 sible ? We cannot estimate justly the Evolution 

 Hypothesis, as formulated by Mr. Spencer, without 

 first ascertaining, and carrying with us in our ex- 

 amination, his doctrine on this point. His theory 

 of the Unknowable is a characteristic feature of his 

 philosophy, and affects it in every part. 



Can we have a real knowledge of that which tran- 

 scends experience ? The two great schools of thinkers 

 those who derive all knowledge from sensation, and 

 those who hold the human intelligence to be itself a 

 source of knowledge are fundamentally opposed in 

 their answers. The sensationalist cannot accept as 

 valid any conception not ultimately resolvable into 

 what he holds to be the primal constituent of all 

 thought sensation. The absolute cannot be so 



reached. It is, therefore, rejected as a pseud-idea, 



D 



