18 REV. A. R. WHATELY^ D.D.^ ON IMMORTALITY. 



then we can never cease to be. I have ah'eady tried to 

 vindicate this idea against a narrow psychologism ; now, on the 

 other hand, let us see whether it does not equally vindicate 

 itself against abstract logic. 



Now since writers like Dr. Bosanqiiet see the necessity of 

 explaining the individual so as to do justice to his ultimate 

 significance, all we really need to show is that he has failed. 

 Then the true individual emerges outside his system unscathed. 



A few words, out of much that might be said. Dr. Bosanquet 

 explains the individual in terms of System,* the co-operation of 

 parts through which the whole finds expression. We individuals 

 are all systems, or worlds, and systems contain smaller systems 

 and are included in larger. The Absolute is the total System, 

 therefore the perfect Individual. So, in reply to those who 

 object to being pooled in the Absolute, and proclaim the 

 fundamental individuality of the Ego, which must always 

 remain undigested by the most assimilative cosmos, the 

 absolutist is now in the position to reply : " Yes, but what if 

 that very selfhood, that very individuality, which you assert, is 

 the principle that identifies it with the Whole ? Every system 

 is individual, and we know that systems can contain systems, as 

 the bodily organism contains the digestive, respiratory, and 

 other sub-systems. So you, not in spite of being an individual, 

 but because you are one, are contained in the absolute 

 Individual : and the more you intensify your individuality, the 

 more completely are you one with the larger wholes to which 

 you belong, and ultimately with the absolute Whole." We need 

 not pause to dwell upon the essential truth which this rejoinder 

 contains. AVe are now concerned with the essential truth 

 which it omits. All systems are individual : all individuals 

 may be systems : true, but it does not follow from this that 

 individuality is system. 



Dr. Bosanquet's idea of a system is that of wdiich the parts 

 express the whole ; and therefore, in the case of the Absolute, 

 the parts, according to their degrees of reality, together express 

 it perfectly, and there is nothing in them that is outside it. 

 And that is perfect individuality. We have thus two ideas, 

 both admittedly ultimate : that of System and that of 

 Individuality. We are told that the latter means the former. 

 The fact remains, however, that the two ideas are, in them- 

 selves, different. Define them as we may, we cannot get 



* See especially Lect. ii. 



