Memoranda for Materialists 67 



"That which I do very strongly object to is the 

 habit, which a great many non-philosophical 

 materialists unfortunately fall into, of forgetting 

 all these very obvious considerations. They talk 

 as if the proof that the c substance of matter ' was 

 the ' substance ' of all things cleared up all the 

 mysteries of existence. In point of fact, it leaves 

 them exactly where they were. . . . Your 

 religious and ethical difficulties are just as great 

 as mine. The speculative game is drawn let us 

 get to practical work" (p. 286). 



And again on pp. 251 and 279 : 



" It is worth any amount of trouble to ... . 

 know by one's own knowledge the great truth 

 .... that the honest and rigorous following up 

 of the argument which leads us to c materialism ' 

 inevitably carries us beyond it" (p. 251). 



"To sum up. If the materialist affirms that 

 the universe and all its phenomena are resolvable 

 into matter and motion, Berkeley replies, True ; 

 but what you call matter and motion are known 

 to us only as forms of consciousness ; their being 

 is to be conceived or known ; and the existence 

 of a state of consciousness, apart from a thinking 

 mind, is a contradiction in terms. 



" I conceive that this reasoning is irrefragable. 

 And, therefore, if I were obliged to choose between 

 absolute materialism and absolute idealism, I 

 should feel compelled to accept the latter alterna- 

 tive" (p. 279). 



