PHENOMENON AND NOUMENON 



existence, and the argument becomes nonsense. 

 The Sceptic, like the Idealist, cannot stir a step 

 without admitting that real existence which he 

 is striving to deny. Abolish object and sub- 

 ject, and the states of consciousness vanish also. 

 Abolish the noumenon, and the phenomenon 

 is by the same act annihilated. 



Thus our ineradicable belief in the absolute 

 existence of Something which underlies and de- 

 termines the series of changes which constitutes 

 our consciousness rests upon the strongest of 

 foundations, — upon the unthinkableness of its 

 negation. Thus it becomes apparent that -the 

 arguments of the Idealists and the Sceptics 

 "consist of a series of dependent propositions, 

 no one of which possesses greater certainty than 

 the single proposition to be disproved." With- 

 out postulating Absolute Being — existence in- 

 dependent of the conditions of the process of 

 knowing — we can frame no theory whatever, 

 either of internal or of external phenomena. 

 And since, as I have already observed, what we 

 mean by reality is " inexpugnable persistence 

 in consciousness," it follows that Absolute Be- 

 ing is the Reality of Realities, and that we are 

 justified in ever tacitly regarding it as such. 



But now, what do we mean by this affirma- 

 tion of absolute reality independent of the con- 

 ditions of the process of knowing ? Do we 

 mean to recur to the style of thinking in vogue 

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