CHArTEK V» 



THE SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE METHODS. 



Toward the close of the preceding chapter I enumerated 

 some of the principal characteristics which distinguish our 

 Cosmic Philosophy, regarded as a synthesis of scientific 

 truths, from the various metaphysical systems which, by 

 overtly or implicitly contravening the doctrine of relativity, 

 have sought to arrive at some higher or remoter kind of 

 truth than that which the scientific coordination of expe- 

 riences can furnish. So far as the psychology of the question 

 is concerned, the doctrine of relativity, with its various im- 

 plications, has been expounded as fully as is needful for our 

 purposes. But this fundamental doctrine has also an all- 

 important logical aspect, which we shall do well to consider 

 in the present chapter. Having marked out the field to 

 which our inquiries ruu^t be confined, the next thing in 

 order is to indicate the Method upon which our inquiries 

 must be conducted. The possession of a legitimate method 

 of research is even more important than the possession of 

 sound doctrine, since it is only through the former that 

 the latter can be attained. Clearly we shall never reach 

 Truth if we begin by mistaking our guide-post, and start 

 on the road that leads to error. A false method leads to 

 false doctrine which, reacting on the mind, confirms it in 

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