24 MODERN DIFFICULTIES 



presence of emotional and volitional factors in the 

 attainment of spiritual knowledge as an argument for 

 agnosticism towards such knowledge, it saws off the 

 branch upon which it sits.^ 



Mr. Huxley's second contention is that no conclu- 

 sions can be certain which are neither demonstrated 

 nor demonstrable. Taking the word '^ demonstrable" 

 to mean justifiable on grounds which can be reasonably 

 regarded as sufficient, this is of course true. But Mr. 

 Huxley did not regard any grounds of certainty as suffi- 

 cient except naturalistic ones. That is, he was agnos- 

 tic with reference to everything which is not subject to 

 physical and mechanical interpretation. 



This agnosticism is embodied in his third contention, 

 that ^'the only negative fixed points will be those nega- 

 tions which flow from the demonstrable limitation of 

 our faculties." Naturalism maintains that our facul- 

 ties are incapable of knowing anything beyond the 

 phenomenal contents of sensible experience — that is, 

 beyond the physical and mechanical. This is what 

 Mr. Huxley meant by ^'the demonstrable limitation of 

 our faculties"; but neither could he, nor any one else, 

 demonstrate what constitutes this limitation. Cer- 

 tainly it is impossible to demonstrate that the super- 

 physical and non-mechanical is unknowable. The 

 most complete and direct knowledge that we have is 

 concerned with our own mental activities. Are these 



1 See the author's Introd. to Dog. Theol., ch. iv. §§ 4, 5; Illingworth, 

 Divine Immanence, pp. 59-73; Romanes, Thoughts on Religion, 

 pp. 140-147. 



