SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE METHODS 



The universe, we learn, has a soul which moves 

 in perpetual circles. Man also has a soul which 

 is but a portion thereof, consequently it also 

 moves in circles. To make the resemblance more 

 complete, man's soul is also enclosed in a spher- 

 ical body, — namely, the head. But the gods 

 foresaw that this head, being spherical, would 

 roll down the hills and could not ascend steep 

 places ; to prevent this, a body with limbs was 

 added, that it might be a locomotive for the 

 head." 2 



It will perhaps be said that such speculations 

 as these could not be found in the writing of 

 any modern philosopher, no matter what his 

 method might be ; yet in view of certain vaga- 

 ries presently to be cited from Hegel and 

 Comte, it will hardly be safe for us to seek re- 

 fuge in any general assertion as to the superior- 

 ity of the moderns over the ancients in sobriety 

 of philosophizing. These speculations of Plato 

 exhibit in strong relief the treacherousness of 

 the subjective method when left to itself and 

 allowed to range at large over the field of phe- 

 nonena. In ancient times there was no organ- 

 ized physical knowledge to stand in the way of 

 such vagaries as those just cited. In modern 

 times there exists an immense body of estab- 



when, like Comte, he had begun to assume a pontifical tone. 

 Of this more anon. 



* Lewes, Aristotle y p. 105. 



151 



