ch. iv.] PHENOMENON AND NOUMENON. 83 



we also admit, were correctly stated by Berkeley ; but con- 

 cerning the existence of the Unknowable Reality, which we 

 regard as the inevitable implication of the observed facts, he 

 is silent. And his silence, as well as his assertion, is strictly 

 in harmony with the spirit of Positivism. 



The distinction, then, between Idealism and Positivism 

 may be taken to be this. The former asserts that the un- 

 knowable objective reality is a mere figment of the imagina- 

 tion, while the latter refrains from making any assertion with 

 reference to it. The former, therefore, tacitly violates the 

 doctrine of relativity by assuming that the possibilities of our 

 thinking are to be taken as the measure of the possibilities 

 of existence : the latter perceives that such an assumption is 

 illegitimate, but seeks to escape the difficulty by ignoring the 

 question at issue. In other words, while unwilling to contra- 

 vene the doctrine of relativity upon which it professes to 

 found itself, it is yet content to state but half the doctrine. 



Bearing this in mind, we may return to the argument, 

 which will now be understood as directed against the 

 position which Idealism and Positivism hold in common. 

 And we may observe, first, that the very sentence just quoted 

 from Mr. Mill affords a most excellent illustration of the im- 

 possibility of stating either the position of Idealism or that 

 of Positivism without implying the existence of that objec- 

 tive reality which the former would impugn and which the 

 latter would ignore. The sum of the whole matter, according 

 to Mr. Mill, is " the fact that our sensations occur in groups, 

 held together by a permanent law, and which come and go 

 independently of our volitions or mental processes." How 

 comes it that our sensations occur in groups ? Why is it that 

 they are held together by a permanent law ? And, above all, 

 how does it happen that they come and go independently of 

 our volitions or mental processes ? Suppress the notion of a 

 Something outside of consciousness which determines this 

 coming and going of our sensations, and we have no altema- 



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