COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



for the same phenomena. The former admitted 

 of proof, and the latter admitted of disproof. 

 But Stahl's hypothesis of a Vital Principle, to 

 account for the phenomena of life, was strictly 

 metaphysical. Whether it is true or not, we 

 can never know. Push our researches as far as 

 we may, we can know life only as the assem- 

 blage of certain phenomena, displaying the ac- 

 tivity of certain forces. Whether in addition to 

 this there is a Vital Principle or not, no amount 

 of research can ever tell us. Science has simply 

 nothing to do with it. 



Thus we see that the fundamental difference 

 between metaphysics and science is the differ- 

 ence between the subjective and the objective 

 methods. That the difference in method is 

 more fundamental than the difference in the 

 character of the objects which are studied, is 

 shown by the fact that " a theory may be trans- 

 ferred from metaphysics to science, or from 

 science to metaphysics, simply by the addition 

 or the withdrawal of its verifiable element." 

 Thus, as Mr. Lewes observes, " the law of uni- 

 versal attraction becomes pure metaphysics if 

 we withdraw from it the verifiable specification 

 of its mode of operation. Withdraw the for- 

 mula, * inversely as the square of the distance 

 and directly as the mass,' and Attraction is left 

 standing — a mei-e ^ occult quality.' Indeed the 

 Cartesians reproached it with being such an oc- 

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