HaeckePs Philosophy 129 



sentience) as an ultimate and irreducible attribute 

 of substance, like matter (or extension) and force 

 (or spirit) " (p. 752). 



I call this unphilosophical because 

 omitting any reference here to the singular 

 parenthetical explanations or paraphrases, 

 for which I suppose Haeckel is not to be 

 held responsible this is simply abandoning 

 all attempt at explanation ; it even closes 

 the door to inquiry, and is equivalent to an 

 attitude proper to any man in the street, for 

 it virtually says : " Here the thing is 

 anyhow, I cannot explain it." However 

 legitimate and necessary such an attitude 

 may be as an expression of our ignorance, 

 we ought not to use the phrase " ultimate 

 and irreducible," as if no one could ever 

 explain it. 



Moreover, if it be true that 



" Haeckel does not teach never did teach 

 that the spiritual universe is an aspect of the 

 material universe, as his critic makes him say, it 

 is his fundamental and most distinctive idea that 

 both are attributes or aspects of a deeper reality" 



(P. 745) 



9 



