COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



and two must make four, or that two straight 

 lines cannot enclose a space. We cannot con- 

 ceive that these things should be otherwise, and 

 we must therefore know them, independently 

 of experience, and by the very constitution of 

 our minds. This element of necessity and uni- 

 versality is the element which the mind fur- 

 nishes in the duplex act of cognition. 



This theorem contains two assertions, the 

 one implicit, the other explicit. It asserts im- 

 plicitly that the subjective element in cognition 

 can be isolated from the objective element, at 

 least so far as to be independently defined. It 

 asserts explicitly that absolute uniformity of ex- 

 perience is inadequate to produce in us the be- 

 lief in the necessity of any given relation among 

 phenomena. With reference to the first of these 

 assertions, I shall be content with citing the ex- 

 cellent remarks of Mr. Lewes : — 



" There was an initial misconception in 

 Kant's attempt to isolate the elements of an 

 indissoluble act. It was one thing to assume 

 that there are necessarily two coefficients in the 

 function ; another thing to assume that these 

 could be isolated and studied apart. It was one 

 thing to say, Here is an organism with its in- 

 herited structure, and aptitudes dependent on 

 that structure, which must be considered as ne- 

 cessarily determining the forms in which it will 

 be affected by external agencies, so that all ex- 

 72 



