OF NATURE. 617 



which, the world of values, or the Ideals, are, or have to 

 be, realised. 



This view of Lotze, which has been strengthened and 

 made more definite by subsequent analyses of the 

 scientific and exact methods employed in the physical 

 and natural sciences — among which those of Prof. 

 Mach have been by far the most thorough and ex- 

 haustive — involves two special problems for a philosophy so. 



^ ^ r r J Newprob- 



of nature. The first of these problems was also clearly '«™s. 

 defined about the same time in the writings of British 

 psychologists. The most definite expression was given 

 to it by Dr Chalmers when he said that, in addition to 

 the rigid laws and forms or the mechanism of nature, we 

 must assume a definite " collocation " of the material, 

 the specific disposition of which at any moment con- 

 stitutes the world picture or the empirical aspect of the 

 universe. This collocation might be considered by some 

 as a mere fortuitous concourse of elements, by others as 

 the work of design. 



The attempt to get over the difficulty by moving 

 the initial collocation of . things backward into a 

 shadowy past, and, in addition, by substituting a 

 simpler state of things than we now witness, does not 

 solve the problem, although much labour and ingenuity 

 have been spent over it. Also the assistance which was 

 derived from the mechanical theories of development or 

 evolution, firmly established through observation by 

 Darwin and philosophically elaborated by Herbert 

 Spencer in England and later on by Haeckel in 

 Germany, though enthusiastically accepted in some 

 quarters, has nevertheless proved illusory. It has been 



