ch. xi.] TEE QUESTION STATED. 276 



very possible that there may he worlds in which there is 

 neither matter nor gravity. But any such possible worlds, 

 standing entirely out of relation to our experience, are 

 practically non-existent for a philosophy which is based on 

 the organization of experience. 



Now, though the law of evolution is not, like the law of 

 gravitation, the generalization of a property of matter, it is 

 still the generalization of certain concrete results of known 

 properties of matter. And the universality which in the 

 following chapters will be claimed for this generalization, is 

 precisely like the universality claimed for the law of gravi- 

 tation. The law of evolution professes to formulate the 

 essential characteristics of a ceaseless redistribution of 

 matter and motion that must go on wherever matter and 

 motion possess the attributes by which we know them. In 

 Mr. Mill's hypothetical 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 universe as a whole ; " and if 

 it be satisfactorily verified, we shall have achieved that 

 organization of scientific truths into a coherent body of 

 doctrine, which has been shown to be the legitimate aim of 

 Philosophy. 



Here in conclusion we may again call attention 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 Philosophy. 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 acknowledged that 

 never before has the business of philosophy, regarded as a 

 theory of the universe, been undertaken with so clear and 

 distinct a conception of its true scope and limitations. 



T 2 



