The Philosophy of the Conditioned Part 2

Mr. Mill, therefore, supposes that _wholly relative_ must mean _wholly mental_; in other words, that to say that a thing is wholly due to a relation between mind and matter is equivalent to saying that it is wholly due to mind alone. On the contrary, we maintain that Sir W.

Hamilton's language is far more accurate than Mr. Mill's, and that the above theory can with perfect correctness be described as one of _total relativity_; and this from two points of view. First, as opposed to the theory of partial relativity generally held by the pre-Kantian philosophers, according to which our sensitive cognitions are relative, our intellectual ones absolute. Secondly, as a.s.serting that the object of perception, though composed of elements partly material, partly mental, yet exhibits both alike in a form modified by their relation to each other. The composition is not a mere mechanical juxtaposition, in which each part, though acting on the other, retains its own characteristics unchanged. It may be rather likened to a chemical fusion, in which both elements are present, but each of them is affected by the composition.

The material part, therefore, is not "as much absolute as if it were not liable to be mixed up with subjective impressions."

But we must hear the continuation of Mr. Mill's criticism:--

"The admixture of the relative element not only does not take away the absolute character of the remainder, but does not even (if our author is right) prevent us from recognising it. The confusion, according to him, is not inextricable. It is for us to 'a.n.a.lyse and distinguish what elements' in an 'act of knowledge' are contributed by the object, and what by our organs, or by the mind. We may neglect to do this, and as far as the mind's share is concerned, we can only do it by the help of philosophy; but it is a task to which, in his opinion, philosophy is equal. By thus stripping off such of the elements in our apparent cognitions of things as are but cognitions of something in us, and consequently relative, we may succeed in uncovering the pure nucleus, the direct intuitions of things in themselves; as we correct the observed positions of the heavenly bodies by allowing for the error due to the refracting influence of the atmospheric medium, an influence which does not alter the facts, but only our perception of them."

Surely Mr. Mill here demands much more of philosophy than Sir W. Hamilton deems it capable of accomplishing. Why may not Hamilton, like Kant, distinguish between the permanent and necessary, and the variable and contingent--in other words, between the subjective and the objective elements of consciousness, without therefore obtaining a "direct intuition of things in themselves?" Why may he not distinguish between s.p.a.ce and time as the forms of our sensitive cognitions, and the things perceived in s.p.a.ce and time, which const.i.tute the matter of the same cognitions, without thereby having an intuition, on the one hand, of pure s.p.a.ce and time with nothing in them, or on the other, of things in themselves out of s.p.a.ce and time? If certain elements are always present in perception, while certain others change with every act, I may surely infer that the one is due to the permanent subject, the other to the variable object, without thereby knowing what each would be if it could be discerned apart from the other. "A direct intuition of things in themselves," according to Kant and Hamilton, is an intuition of things out of s.p.a.ce and time. Does Mr. Mill suppose that any natural Realist professes to have such an intuition?

The same error of supposing that a doctrine of relativity is necessarily a doctrine of Idealism, that "matter known only in relation to us" can mean nothing more than "matter known only through the mental impressions of which it is the unknown cause,"[AC] runs through the whole of Mr.

Mill's argument against this portion of Sir W. Hamilton's teaching. That argument, though repeated in various forms, may be briefly summed up in one thesis; namely, that the doctrine that our knowledge of matter is wholly relative is incompatible with the distinction, which Hamilton expressly makes, between the primary and secondary qualities of body.

[AC] The a.s.sumption that these two expressions are or ought to be synonymous is tacitly made by Mr. Mill at the opening of this chapter. He opens it with a pa.s.sage from the _Discussions_, in which Hamilton says that the existence of _things in themselves_ is only indirectly revealed to us "through certain qualities _related to our faculties of knowledge_;" and then proceeds to show that the author did not hold the doctrine which these phrases "seem to convey in the only substantial meaning capable of being attached to them;" namely, "that we know nothing of _objects_ except their existence, and the impressions produced by them upon the human mind."

Having thus quietly a.s.sumed that "things in themselves"

are identical with "objects," and "relations" with "impressions on the human mind," Mr. Mill bases his whole criticism on this tacit _pet.i.tio principii_. He is not aware that though Reid sometimes uses the term _relative_ in this inaccurate sense, Hamilton expressly points out the inaccuracy and explains the proper sense.--(See _Reid's Works_, pp. 313, 322.)

The most curious circ.u.mstance about this criticism is, that, if not directly borrowed from, it has at least been carefully antic.i.p.ated by, Hamilton himself. Of the distinction between primary and secondary qualities, as acknowledged by Descartes and Locke, whose theory of external perception is identical with that which Mr. Mill would force on Hamilton himself, Hamilton says: "On the general doctrine, however, of these philosophers, both cla.s.ses of qualities, as known, are confessedly only states of our own minds; and while we have no right from a subjective affection to infer the existence, far less the corresponding character of the existence, of any objective reality, it is evident that their doctrine, if fairly evolved, would result in a dogmatic or in a sceptical negation of the primary no less than of the secondary qualities of body, as more than appearances in and for us."[AD] It is astonishing that Mr. Mill, who pounces eagerly on every imaginable instance of Hamilton's inconsistency, should have neglected to notice this, which, if his criticism be true, is the most glaring inconsistency of all.

[AD] _Reid's Works_, p. 840.

But Hamilton continues: "It is therefore manifest that the fundamental position of a consistent theory of dualistic realism is--that our cognitions of Extension and its modes are not wholly ideal--that although s.p.a.ce be a native, necessary, _a priori_ form of imagination, and so far, therefore, a mere subjective state, that there is, at the same time, competent to us, in an _immediate_ perception of external things, the _consciousness_ of a really existent, of a really objective, _extended_ world." Here we have enunciated in one breath, first the subjectivity of s.p.a.ce, which is the logical basis of the relative theory of perception; and secondly, the objectivity of the extended world, which is the logical basis of the distinction between primary and secondary qualities. It is manifest, therefore, that Hamilton had not, as Mr. Mill supposes, ceased to hold the one theory when he adopted the other.[AE]

[AE] See _Examination_, p. 28.

The key to all this is not difficult to find. It is simply that _objective existence_ does not mean existence _per se_; and that a _phenomenon_ does not mean a mere mode of mind. Objective existence is existence _as an object_, in perception, and therefore in relation; and a phenomenon may be material, as well as mental. The thing _per se_ may be only the unknown cause of what we directly know; but what we directly know is something more than our own sensations. In other words, the phenomenal effect is material as well as the cause, and is, indeed, that from which our primary conceptions of matter are derived. Matter does not cease to be matter when modified by its contact with mind, as iron does not cease to be iron when smelted and forged. A horseshoe is something very different from a piece of iron ore; and a man may be acquainted with the former without ever having seen the latter, or knowing what it is like. But would Mr. Mill therefore say that the horseshoe is merely a subjective affection of the skill of the smith--that it is not iron modified by the workman, but the workman or his art impressed by iron?

If, indeed, Hamilton had said with Locke, that the primary qualities are in the bodies themselves, whether we perceive them or no,[AF] he would have laid himself open to Mr. Mill's criticism. But he expressly rejects this statement, and contrasts it with the more cautions language of Descartes, "ut sunt, vel saltem esse possunt."[AG] The secondary qualities are mere affections of consciousness, which, cannot be conceived as existing except in a conscious subject. The primary qualities are qualities of body, as perceived in relation to the percipient mind, _i.e._, of the phenomenal body perceived as in s.p.a.ce.

How far they exist in the real body out of relation to us, Hamilton does not attempt to decide.[AH] They are inseparable from our conception of body, which, is derived exclusively from the phenomenon; they may or may not be separable from the thing as it is in itself.

[AF] _Essay_, ii 8, -- 23.

[AG] _Reid's Works_, p. 839.

[AH] We have been content to argue this question, as Mr.

Mill himself argues it, on the supposition that Sir W.

Hamilton held that we are directly percipient of primary qualities in external bodies. Strictly speaking, however, Hamilton held that the primary qualities are immediately perceived only in our organism as extended, and inferred to exist in extra-organic bodies. The external world is immediately apprehended only in its secundo-primary character, as resisting our locomotive energy. But as the organism, in this theory, is a material _non-ego_ equally with the rest of matter, and as to press this distinction would only affect the verbal accuracy, not the substantial justice, of Mr. Mill's criticisms, we have preferred to meet him on the ground he has himself chosen. The same error, of supposing that "presentationism" is identical with "noumenalism," and "phenomenalism" with "representationism," runs through the whole of Mr. Stirling's recent criticism of Hamilton's theory of perception. It is curious, however, that the very pa.s.sage (_Lectures_, i., p. 146) which Mr. Mill cites as proving that Hamilton, in spite of his professed phenomenalism, was an unconscious noumenalist, is employed by Mr. Stirling to prove that, in spite of his professed presentationism, he was an unconscious representationist. The two critics tilt at Hamilton from opposite quarters: he has only to stand aside and let them run against each other.

Under this explanation, it is manifest that the doctrine, that matter as a subject or substratum of attributes is unknown and unknowable, is totally different from that of cosmothetic idealism, with which Mr Mill confounds it;[AI] and that a philosopher may without inconsistency accept the former and reject the latter. The former, while it holds the material substance to be unknown, does not deny that some of the attributes of matter are perceived immediately as material, though, it may be, modified by contact with mind. The latter maintains that the attributes, as well as the substance, are not perceived immediately as material, but mediately through the intervention of immaterial representatives. It is also manifest that, in answer to Mr. Mill's question, which of Hamilton's two "cardinal doctrines," Relativity or Natural Realism, "is to be taken in a non-natural sense,"[AJ] we must say, neither. The two doctrines are quite compatible with each other, and neither requires a non-natural interpretation to reconcile it to its companion.

[AI] _Examination_, p. 23.

[AJ] _Examination_, p. 20.

The doctrine of relativity derives its chief practical value from its connection with the next great doctrine of Hamilton's philosophy, the incognisability of the Absolute and the Infinite. For this doctrine brings Ontology into contact with Theology; and it is only in relation to theology that ontology acquires a practical importance. With respect to the other two "ideas of the pure reason," as Kant calls them, the human soul and the world, the question, whether we know them as realities or as phenomena, may a.s.sist us in dealing with certain metaphysical difficulties, but need not affect our practical conduct. For we have an immediate intuition of the attributes of mind and matter, at least as phenomenal objects, and by these intuitions may be tested the accuracy of the conceptions derived from them, sufficiently for all practical purposes. A man will equally avoid walking over a precipice, and is logically as consistent in avoiding it, whether he regard the precipice as a real thing, or as a mere phenomenon. But in the province of theology this is not the case. We have no immediate intuition of the Divine attributes, even as phenomena; we only infer their existence and nature from certain similar attributes of which we are immediately conscious in ourselves. And hence arises the question, How far does the similarity extend, and to what extent is the accuracy of our conceptions guaranteed by the intuition, not of the object to be conceived, but of something more or less nearly resembling it? But this is not all. Our knowledge of G.o.d, originally derived from personal consciousness, receives accession from two other sources--from the external world, as His work; and from revelation, as His word; and the conclusions derived from each have to be compared together. Should any discrepancy arise between them, are we at once warranted in rejecting one cla.s.s of conclusions in favour of the other two, or two in favour of the third? or are we at liberty to say that our knowledge in respect of all alike is of such an imperfect and indirect character that we are warranted in believing that some reconciliation may exist, though our ignorance prevents us from discovering what it is? Here at least is a practical question of the very highest importance. In the early part of our previous remarks, we have endeavoured to show how this question has been answered by orthodox theologians of various ages, and how Sir W. Hamilton's philosophy supports that answer. We have now to consider Mr Mill's chapter of criticisms.

It is always unfortunate to make a stumble on the threshold; and Mr.

Mill's opening paragraph makes two. "The name of G.o.d," he says, "is veiled under two extremely abstract phrases, 'the Infinite and the Absolute.'... But it is one of the most unquestionable of all logical maxims, that the meaning of the abstract must be sought in the concrete, and not conversely."[AK]--Now, in the first place, "the Infinite" and "the Absolute," even in the sense in which they are both predicable of G.o.d, are no more names of G.o.d than "the creature" and "the finite" are names of man. They are the names of certain attributes, which further inquiry may, perhaps, show to belong to G.o.d and to no other being, but which do not in their signification express this, and do not const.i.tute our primary idea of G.o.d, which is that of a Person. Men may believe in an absolute and infinite, without in any proper sense believing in G.o.d; and thousands upon thousands of pious men have prayed to a personal G.o.d, who have never heard of the absolute and the infinite, and who would not understand the expressions if they heard them. But, in the second place, "the absolute" and "the infinite," in Sir W. Hamilton's sense of the terms, cannot both be names of G.o.d, for the simple reason that they are contradictory of each other, and are proposed as alternatives which cannot both be accepted as predicates of the same subject. For Hamilton, whatever Mr. Mill may do, did not fall into the absurdity of maintaining that G.o.d in some of His attributes is absolute without being infinite, and in others is infinite without being absolute.[AL]

[AK] _Examination_, p. 32.

[AL] See _Examination_, p. 35.

But we have not yet done with this single paragraph. After thus making two errors in his exposition of his opponent's doctrine, Mr. Mill immediately proceeds to a third, in his criticism of it. By following his "most unquestionable of all logical maxims," and subst.i.tuting the name of G.o.d in the place of "the Infinite" and "the Absolute," he exactly reverses Sir W. Hamilton's argument, and makes his own attempted refutation of it a glaring _ignoratio elenchi_.

One of the purposes of Hamilton's argument is to show that we have no positive conception of an Infinite Being; that when we attempt to form such a conception, we do but produce a distorted representation of the finite; and hence, that our so-called conception of the infinite is not the true infinite. Hence it is not to be wondered at--nay, it is a natural consequence of this doctrine,--that our positive conception of G.o.d as a Person cannot be included under this pseudo-concept of the Infinite. Whereas Mr. Mill, by laying down the maxim that the meaning of the abstract must be sought in the concrete, quietly a.s.sumes that this pseudo-infinite is a proper predicate of G.o.d, to be tested by its applicability to the subject, and that what Hamilton says of _this_ infinite cannot be true unless it is also true of G.o.d. Of this refutation, Hamilton, were he living, might truly say, as he said of a former criticism on another part of his writings,--"This elaborate parade of argument is literally answered in two words--_Quis dubitavit?_"

But if the subst.i.tution of G.o.d for the Infinite be thus a perversion of Hamilton's argument, what shall we say to a similar subst.i.tution in the case of the Absolute? Hamilton distinctly tells us that there is one sense of the term _absolute_ in which it is contradictory of the infinite, and therefore is not predicable of G.o.d at all. Mr. Mill admits that Hamilton, throughout the greater part of his arguments, employs the term in this sense; and he then actually proceeds to "test" these arguments "by subst.i.tuting the concrete, G.o.d, for the abstract, Absolute;" _i.e._, by subst.i.tuting G.o.d for something which Hamilton defines as contradictory to the nature of G.o.d. Can the force of confusion go further? Is it possible for perverse criticism more utterly, we do not say to misrepresent, but literally to invert an author's meaning?

The source of all these errors, and of a great many more, is simply this.

Mr. Mill is aware, from Hamilton's express a.s.sertion, that the word _absolute_ may be used in two distinct and even contradictory senses; but he is wholly unable to see what those senses are, or when Hamilton is using the term in the one sense, and when in the other. Let us endeavour to clear up some of this confusion.

Hamilton's article on the Philosophy of the Unconditioned is a criticism, partly of Sch.e.l.ling, partly of Cousin; and Sch.e.l.ling and Cousin only attempted in a new form, under the influence of the Kantian philosophy, to solve the problem with which philosophy in all ages has attempted to grapple,--the problem of the Unconditioned.

"The unconditioned" is a term which, while retaining the same general meaning, admits of various applications, particular or universal. It may be the unconditioned as regards some special relation, or the unconditioned as regards all relations whatever. Thus there may be the unconditioned in Psychology--the human soul considered as a substance; the unconditioned in Cosmology--the world considered as a single whole; the unconditioned in Theology--G.o.d in His own nature, as distinguished from His manifestations to us; or, finally, the unconditioned _par excellence_--the unconditioned in Ontology--the being on which all other being depends. It is of course possible to identify any one of the three first with the last. It is possible to adopt a system of Egoism, and to maintain that all phenomena are modes of my mind, and that the substance of my mind is the only real existence. It is possible to adopt a system of Materialism, and to maintain that all phenomena are modes of matter, and that the material substance of the world is the only real existence.

Or it is possible to adopt a system of Pantheism, and to maintain that all phenomena are modes of the Divine existence, and that G.o.d is the only reality. But the several notions are in themselves distinct, though one may ultimately be predicated of another.

The general notion of the Unconditioned is the same in all these cases, and all must finally culminate in the last, the Unconditioned _par excellence_. The general notion is that of the One as distinguished from the Many, the substance from its accidents, the permanent reality from its variable modifications. Thought, will, sensation, are modes of my existence. What is the _I_ that is one and the same in all? Extension, figure, resistance, are attributes of matter. What is the one substance to which these attributes belong? But the generalisation cannot stop here. If matter differs from mind, the _non-ego_ from the _ego_, as one thing from another, there must be some special point of difference, which, is the condition of the existence of each in this or that particular manner. Unconditioned existence, therefore, in the highest sense of the term, cannot be the existence of _this_ as distinguished from _that_; it must be existence _per se_, the ground and principle of all conditioned or special existence. This is the Unconditioned, properly so called: the unconditioned in Sch.e.l.ling's sense, as the indifference of subject and object: and it is against this that Hamilton's arguments are directed.

The question is this. Is this Unconditioned a mere abstraction, the product of our own minds; or can it be conceived as having a real existence _per se_, and, as such, can it be identified with G.o.d as the source of all existence? Hamilton maintains that it is a mere abstraction, and cannot be so identified; that, far from being "a name of G.o.d," it is a name of nothing at all. "By abstraction," he says, "we annihilate the object, and by abstraction we annihilate the subject of consciousness. But what remains? _Nothing._" When we attempt to conceive it as a reality, we "hypostatise the zero."[AM]

[AM] _Discussions_, p. 21.

In order to conceive the Unconditioned existing as a thing, we must conceive it as existing out of relation to everything else. For if nothing beyond itself is necessary as a condition of its existence, it can exist separate from everything else; and its pure existence as the unconditioned is so separate. It must therefore be conceivable as the sole existence, having no plurality beyond itself; and as simple, having no plurality within itself. For if we cannot conceive it as existing apart from other things, we cannot conceive it as independent of them; and if we conceive it as a compound of parts, we have further to ask as before, what is the principle of unity which binds these parts into one whole? If there is such a principle, this is the true unconditioned; if there is no such principle, there is no unconditioned; for that which cannot exist except as a compound is dependent for its existence on that of its several const.i.tuents. The unconditioned must therefore be conceived as one, as simple, and as universal.

Is such a conception possible, whether in ordinary consciousness, as Cousin says, or in an extraordinary intuition, as Sch.e.l.ling says? Let us try the former. Consciousness is subject to the law of Time. A phenomenon is presented to us in time, as dependent on some previous phenomenon or thing. I wish to pursue the chain in thought till I arrive at something independent. If I could reach in thought a beginning of time, and discover some first fact with nothing preceding it, I should conceive time as absolute--as completed,--and the unconditioned as the first thing in time, and therefore as completed also, for it may be considered by itself, apart from what depends upon it. Or if time be considered as having no beginning, thought would still be able to represent to itself that infinity, could it follow out the series of antecedents for ever.

But is either of these alternatives possible to thought? If not, we must confess that the unconditioned is inconceivable by ordinary consciousness; and we must found philosophy, with Sch.e.l.ling, on the annihilation of consciousness.

But though Hamilton himself distinguishes between the _unconditioned_ and the _absolute_, using the former term generally, for that which is out of all relation, and the latter specially, for that which is out of all relation as complete and finished, his opponent Cousin uses the latter term in a wider sense, as synonymous with the former, and the _infinite_ as coextensive with both. This, however, does not affect the validity of Hamilton's argument. For if it can be shown that the absolute and the infinite (in Hamilton's sense) are both inconceivable, the unconditioned (or absolute in Cousin's sense), which must be conceived as one or the other, is inconceivable also. Or, conversely, if it can be shown that the unconditioned, the unrelated in general, is inconceivable, it follows that the absolute and the infinite, as both involving the unrelated, are inconceivable also.

We may now proceed with Mr. Mill's criticism. He says:--

"Absolute, in the sense in which, it stands related to Infinite, means (conformably to its etymology) that which is finished or completed. There are some things of which the utmost ideal amount is a limited quant.i.ty, though a quant.i.ty never actually reached....

We may speak of absolutely, but not of infinitely, pure water. The purity of water is not a fact of which, whatever degree we suppose attained, there remains a greater beyond. It has an absolute limit: it is capable of being finished or complete, in thought, if not in reality."--(P. 34.)

This criticism is either incorrect or _nihil ad rem_. If meant as a statement of Hamilton's use of the term, it is incorrect: _absolute_, in Hamilton's philosophy, does not mean simply "completed," but "out of relation as completed;" _i.e._, self-existent in its completeness, and not implying the existence of anything else. If meant in any other sense than Hamilton's, it is irrelevant. Can Mr. Mill really have believed that Sch.e.l.ling thought it necessary to invent an intellectual intuition out of time and out of consciousness, in order to contemplate "an ideal limited quant.i.ty," such as the complete purity of water?

Mr. Mill continues:--

"Though the idea of Absolute is thus contrasted with that of Infinite, the one is equally fitted with the other to be predicated of G.o.d; but not in respect of the same attributes. There is no incorrectness of speech in the phrase Infinite Power: because the notion it expresses is that of a Being who has the power of doing all things which we know or can conceive, and more. But in speaking of knowledge, Absolute is the proper word, and not Infinite. The highest degree of knowledge that can be spoken of with a meaning, only amounts to knowing all that there is to be known: when that point is reached, knowledge has attained its utmost limit. So of goodness or justice: they cannot be more than perfect. There are not infinite degrees of right. The will is either entirely right, or wrong in different degrees."--(P. 35.)

Surely, whatever Divine power can do, Divine knowledge can know as possible to be done. The one, therefore, must be as infinite as the other. And what of Divine goodness? An angel or a glorified saint is absolutely good in Mr. Mill's sense of the term. His "will is entirely right." Does Mr. Mill mean to say that there is no difference, even in degree, between the goodness of G.o.d and that of one of His creatures?

But, even supposing his statement to be true, how is it relevant to the matter under discussion? Can Mr. Mill possibly be ignorant that all these attributes are relations; that the Absolute in Hamilton's sense, "the unconditionally limited," is not predicable of G.o.d at all; and that when divines and philosophers speak of the absolute nature of G.o.d, they mean a nature in which there is no distinction of attributes at all?

Mr. Mill then proceeds to give a summary of Hamilton's arguments against Cousin, preparatory to refuting them. In the course of this summary he says:--

"Let me ask, _en pa.s.sant_, where is the necessity for supposing that, if the Absolute, or, to speak plainly, if G.o.d, is only known to us in the character of a cause, he must therefore 'exist merely as a cause,' and be merely 'a mean towards an end?' It is surely possible to maintain that the Deity is known to us only as he who feeds the ravens, without supposing that the Divine Intelligence exists solely in order that the ravens may be fed."[AN]--(P.

42.)

[AN] In a note to this pa.s.sage, Mr. Mill makes some sarcastic comments on an argument of Hamilton's against Cousin's theory that G.o.d is necessarily determined to create. "On this hypothesis," says Hamilton, "G.o.d, as necessarily determined to pa.s.s from absolute essence to relative manifestation, is determined to pa.s.s either from the better to the worse, or from the worse to the better."