Psychological Dtialism 133 



upper parallel line and which are not capable of state- 

 ment in mechanical terms. But to extend the upper 

 line alone beyond the upright would be to claim that 

 mechanical principles break down in their own sphere. 



As to the interpretation of the single line to the 

 right, it may always remain the problem that it now is. 

 The best we can do is to get points of view regard- 

 ing it ; and the main progress of philosophy seems to 

 me to be in getting an adequate sense of the conditions 

 of the problem itself. From the more humble side of 

 psychology, I think the growth of consciousness itself 

 may teach us how the problem comes to be set in the 

 form of seemingly irreconcilable antinomies. The person 

 grows both in body and in mind, and this growth always 

 has two sides, — the side facing toward the direction 

 from which, the ' retrospective reference,' and the side 

 facing the direction toward which, the ' prospective refer- 

 ence ' of growth and the consciousness of growth. The 

 positive sciences have by their very nature to face back- 

 wards, to look retrospectively, to be ' descriptive,' as the 

 term is used by Professor Royce— these give the lower 

 of our parallel lines. The moral sciences, so called, on 

 the other hand, deal with judgments, appreciations, 

 organizations, expectations, and so represent the other, 

 the 'prospective' mental attitude and its corresponding 

 aspects of reality. This gives character largely to the 

 upper one of our parallel lines. But to get a construc- 

 tion of the further line, the one to the right, is to hold 

 together both these points of view — to stand at both 

 ends of the Une — at a point where description takes the 

 place of prophecy and where reality has nothing further 

 to add to thought. I believe for myself that the best 



