460 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XXIII 



the claims of dogmatic authority, he had not been 

 compelled to define his philosophical position until 

 he entered the Metaphysical Society. How he came 

 to enrich the English language with the name 

 "Agnostic" is explained in his article "Agnosticism " 

 (Coll. Ess. v. pp. 237-239). 



After describing how it came about that his mind 

 " steadily gravitated towards the conclusions of Hume 

 and Kant," so well stated by the latter as follows : 



The greatest and perhaps the sole use of all philosophy 

 of pure reason is, after all, merely negative, since it serves 

 not as an organon for the enlargement (of knowledge), but 

 as a discipline for its delimitation : and, instead of dis- 

 covering truth, -has only the modest merit of preventing 

 error : 



he proceeds 



When I reached intellectual maturity, and began to 

 ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pan- 

 theist ; a materialist or an idealist ; a Christian or a 

 freethinker ; I found that the more I learned and reflected 

 the less ready was the answer ; until, at last, I came to 

 the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of 

 these denominations, except the last. The one thing in 

 which most of these good people were agreed was the one 

 thing in which I differed from them. They were quite 

 sure they had attained a certain " gnosis " had, more or 

 less successfully, solved the problem of existence ; while 

 I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong con- 

 viction that the problem was insoluble. And, with Hume 

 and Kant on my side, I could not think myself pre- 

 sumptuous in holding fast by that opinion. . . . 



This was my situation when I had the good fortune 

 to find a place among the members of that remarkable 



