154 LUCK, OR CUNNING? 



to both. ; but they are two, not one ; if, then, we are 

 to have our monistic conception, it wonld seem as 

 though one of these must yield to the other ; which, 

 therefore, is it to be ? 



This is a very old question. Some, from time 

 immemorial, have tried to get rid of matter by reduc- 

 ing it to a mere concept of the mind, and their 

 followers have arrived at conclusions that may be 

 logically irrefragable, but are as far removed from 

 common sense as they are in accord with logic; at 

 any rate they have failed to satisfy, and matter is 

 no nearer being got rid of now than it was when 

 the discussion first began. Others, again, have tried 

 materialism, have declared the causative action of 

 both thought and feeling to be deceptive, and posit 

 matter obeying fixed laws of which thought and feel- 

 ing must be admitted as concomitants, but with which 

 they have no causal connection. The same thing has 

 happened to these men as to their opponents; they 

 made out an excellent case on paper, but thought and 

 feeling still remain the mainsprings of action that 

 they have been always held to be. We stiQ say, " I 

 gave him £^ because I felt pleased with him, and 

 thought he would like it ; " or, " I knocked him down 

 because I felt angry, and thought I would teach him 

 better manners." Omnipresent life and mind with 

 appearances of brute non-livingness — ^which appear- 

 ances are deceptive; this is one view. Omnipresent 

 non-livingness or mechanism with appearances as 

 though the mechanism were guided and controlled 

 by thought — which appearances are deceptive; this. 



