ch. in.] THE TEST OF TRUTH. 71 



— When any given order among our conceptions is so 

 coherent that it cannot be sundered except by the temporary 

 annihilation of some one of its terms, there must be a 

 corresponding order among phenomena. 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 conceptions which persists in spite of every effort to 

 change it, the subjective order is in every respect as real to 

 us as the objective order would be if we could know it. And 

 this is all the assurance 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 ofi 

 for not being able to transcend the conditions within which 

 alone knowledge is possible. Since " experience " means 

 merely the consciousness of the manner in which the Un- 

 knowable 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 dailj life is guided, and upon which our philosophy 

 must be built. 



