COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



which we know them. In Mr. Mill's hypo- 

 thetical world where two and two make five, 

 the law of evolution may not hold sway. But 

 within the limits of our experience, the law is a 

 " generalization concerning the concrete uni- 

 verse as a whole ; " and if it be satisfactorily 

 verified, we shall have achieved that organiza- 

 tion of scientific truths into a coherent body of 

 doctrine which has been shown to be the legi- 

 timate aim of Philosophy. 



Here in conclusion we may again call atten- 

 tion to the significance of the phrase by which 

 I have designated the kind of philosophy that 

 is expounded in this work. We may reiterate 

 the statement, which has already been illustrated 

 from various points of view, that our philosophy 

 is peculiarly entitled to the name of Cosmic Phi- 

 losophy. For while it may be urged that earlier 

 philosophies have also been cosmic, in so far as 

 they have sought to offer some explanation of 

 the universe, on the other hand it must be ac- 

 knowledged that never before has the business 

 of philosophy, regarded as a theory of the uni- 

 verse, been undertaken with so clear and dis- 

 tinct a conception of its true scope and limi- 

 tations. Though other thinkers, before Mr. 

 Spencer, may have generalized about the con- 

 crete universe as a whole, it cannot be denied 

 that he has been the first to frame a verifiable 

 hypothesis upon this stupendous scale. The 

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