io Life and Matter [chap.i. 



of these compromises seems necessary to con- 

 note the position of Professor Haeckel. 



The truth is that all philosophy aims at 

 being monistic ; it is bound to aim at uni- 

 fication, however difficult of attainment ; 

 and a philosopher who abandoned the quest, 

 and contented himself with a permanent 

 antinomy a universe compounded of two 

 or more irreconcilable and entirely disparate 

 and disconnected agencies would be held 

 to be throwing up his brief as a philosopher 

 and taking refuge in a kind of permanent 

 Manichaeism, which experience has shown 

 to be an untenable and ultimately unthink- 

 able position. 



An attempt at Monism is therefore 

 common to all philosophers, whether pro- 

 fessional or amateur ; and the only question 

 at issue is what sort of Monism are you 

 aiming at, what sort of solution of the 

 universe have you to offer, what can you 

 hold out to us as a simple satisfactory com- 

 prehensive scheme of existence ? 



In order to estimate the value of Pro- 



