COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



mena. And this, as we have seen, is because 

 the order of our conceptions is the expression 

 of our experience of the order of phenomena. 

 I will only add that what we mean by reality is 

 " inexpugnable persistence in consciousness;'* 

 so that when the unknown objective order of 

 things produces in us a subjective order of con- 

 ceptions which persists in spite of every effort 

 to change it, the subjective order is in every re- 

 spect as real to us as the objective order would 

 be if we could know it. And this is all the as- 

 surance we need, as a warrant for science, and 

 as a safeguard against scepticism. In the next 

 chapter I shall endeavour to show that we are 

 no whit the worse off for not being able to tran- 

 scend the conditions within which alone know- 

 ledge is possible. Since " experience " means 

 merely the consciousness of the manner in 

 which the Unknowable affects us, it follows that 

 our very incapability of transcending experience 

 is the surest guaranty we could desire of the 

 validity of the fundamental conceptions by which 

 our daily life is guided, and upon which our 

 philosophy must be built. 



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