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    Scepticism , and Hypothetical Realism . We must pass over Ms excellent criticism of Berkeley , Hume , and Kant , and arrive at the conclusion : — "Do we not thus , then , reach the desired reconciliation between Philosophy and Common Sense ? We have seen , first , that the existence of beliefs is , in so far as our reasoning faculties are concerned , the fundamental fact ; next , that beliefs which invariably exist are those which , both logically and of necessity , we must adopt ; further , that those are invariably existent beliefs , of which we cannot conceive the negations ; and lastlythat whether beliefs having this warrant be

    infal-, lible or not , it must equally happen that the fewer times we assume the validity of such warrant in reaching any conclusion , the more certain must that conclusion be . These positions being granted , it inevitably results , as we have found , that the current belief in objects as external independent entities , has a higher guarantee than any other belief whatever—that our cognition of existence considered as noumenal has a certainty which no cognition of existence , considered as phenomenal , can ever approach ; or , in other words—that , judged logically as well as instinctively , Realism , is the only rational ci-eed ; and that all adverse creeds are self-destructive .

    " From our present point of view , not only does the seeming discordance between the verdicts of abstract and practical reason wholly disappear , but their verdicts explain each other . On the one hand , the extreme vividness and unconquerable strength of our common-sense convictions correspond with the extreme brevity of the process by which each of them is arrived at ; or , in other wordswith the single assumption of the Universal Postulate which each of them involves . On the other hand , the shadowy and unconvincing character of metaphysical inferences corresponds with the extreme complexity of the arguments by which they are drawn ; that is—with the numerous assumptions of the Universal Postulate they severally imply . Thus our involuntary adhesion to the first , and our inability to hold the last , answer to their respective claims as measured by the fundamental test of credibility . The instinct justifies the logic : the logic accounts for the instinct . * * * * * * * £ L ° I I ^* mm ^ h f ¦ I » ^^^^ m . « ^ V W » . » . ¦* - — ¦ ¦ k ^ I » J . 1 ^ m . * -f ^ fe « A ^ Lh I ' _^ L * * ¦ . —— ~ 1 I- * —~ ~ - ^ ^ rt ^» ^^ ^ W « ^ ~ 1 ~> ^^ ^» V ^ L *^ «« 1 ¦ ~ fc ' I I Jf ^ K too remark the identitof the illusion to all meta

    ^ ^^ ^^ * ^ ^ ^ ^^ * ^^ ' Here , , we may y common - physical reasonings ; the illusion , namely , that our cognition of logical necessity has a higher certainty than our cognition of anything else . ! Not recognising the fact , that for the validity of every step in an argument , we have no better guarantee than we have for an intuition of sense , but assuming , on the contrary , that whilst our simple perceptions of external existences are fallible , our complex perceptions of internal co-existences are infallible—assuming this , men have sought to reach by reasoning a knowledge that transcends ordinary knowledge . That it is possible by a chain of syllogisms to gain a conviction more positive than any conviction immediately derived from the senses , is the assumption which every metaphysical argument tacitly makes . The endeavour by one school to establish an Ontology , and the assertion by another , that we cannot prove the existence of noumena , alike take for granted that demonstration has a validity exceeding that of intuition .

    "It remains but to notice Scepticism ' s last refuge ; namely , the position that we can never truly Icnoxv that things are as they seem ; and that whilst it may be impossible for us to think of them as otherwise , yet they may he otherwise . This position we shall find to be as logically inadmissible as it is practically unthinkable . For one of two things must be true of it : it must either admit of no justification by reason , or it must admit of some justification . If it admits of no justification by reason , then it amounts to a tacit negation of all reason . It posits that as possible which by its own admission can be entertained not as a

    conceivable proposition , but only as a verbally intelligible one ; and if it be allowable , without assigning grounds , to do tins in the present case , it is allowable to do it in any case . ; whence it will follow that every conclusion can be met by a counter conclusion which may be posited as possible ; and all conclusions being thus rendered worthless , intelligence is abolished . If , on the other hand , reasons in justification of the position be assigned—if it be alleged that we cannot know that things are as they seem because we cannot transcend consciousness—then there is at once taken for granted the validity of that test whose validity is called in question . The Universal Postulate is assumed and denied in the same breath . "

    It may not perhaps be possible in the space at command to satisfactoril y set forth our differences with the author , issuing from the one small point previously indicated , "but in the way of rough memoranda on this subject take the following : — 1 . Our belief in the existence of an external world is our experience of such aiv existence ; but our experience is relative , not absolute ; it ia limited to the way objects affect us , and does not encroach upon the domain of things per se . 2 . This belief is a decomposable act of thought , quite as much so as the belief in the rising and setting of the sun ; and just as science corrects the positive testimony of the senses with respect to tho sun ' s rotation , so also it corrects the testimony of the senses with respect to things helnwhat scvml know that

    g they Wo the sun does not set , but only seems to do so ; we know that the external world is not the coloured , scented , sounding world it seems to be , and " although it in impossible for us to think of it otherwise , yet it may be ( must bo ) otherwise . " . Limited to tho simple evidence of our senses , we should always have believed the sun to ri . se and set ; limited to the simplo evidonco of our senses wo nhould always have believed tho world to he what it seems . JJoth beliefs would have boon invariable , both true ; but true only in tho way all beliefs arc true , i . e . relatively , i . . m forms of ] nnnan Oxporienee . Enlarge the experience and you alter the belief ; to tho philosopher the Him does not sol ; , the world is not what , it aeomfl ; it is , but it in . something nCcosnarily different par so from the world as perceived through his somes .

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    Wo nliould do cur ntmnut to rmonur .-i fln | -, ho ISoruUiful , for tlin TJi ;« ful onoourupon ilHoli ' , — ( loit'fitfl . '

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    f Oint interlocutor , in this case , did not mark the difference between the philosophy and religion of tho . Spiritualists , with suiliciont distinctness . KeligiouBJiona and pootic fooling arc tho earno in all minds ; and if they

    tend to bear weak souls , leaning on philosophies , into fanaticism and absurdity , to the strong they are inexhaustible springs of joy , beauty , good * ness , and truth . The Spiritualists are now attempting to give objectivity to their beliefs . Weak swimmers , having left the terra firmcc of faith to breast the darkly roUing tide of scepticism , cry out for all manner of lifepreservers . The strong strike out and on for the opposite land of Positivism , while the weak , who have ventured too far to return , get on the floating islands of Spiritualism , where they try what can be done , in the way of supernatural pontoons and wind-bags , to keep up the connexion with either shore . ]

    " The nonsense of the Spiritualists is not impious ; it is serious . When new to what you call their jargon , I thought of it as you do . But one unlearns sense in some companies , as he unlearns his native language among foreigners . Before my third visit to their head-quarters—what they call the Camp— -I could speak of living a biography—of being an apprentice to the fact that one circle can be put round another—of becoming God in worshipping him—of getting nearer to Plato than to my ¦ wi fe—of everything as one thing , and of that as incarnated in me , or flowing through me , like pure water through a sewer , flushing my soul ! When one has been long in the dark it becomes light to him ; and then when he comes into the broad day , lo , it is darkness ! I went

    so far into the error of the Spiritualists , I wonder that I came to see it was error . Once I fancied I comprehended their philosophy ! Few of them go so far . Judge how near I was to insanity ! "It is one of their fundamental doctrines that words were given to men for business purposes only ; that as concerns common things they have definite meanings , while m religion and philosophy they are a sort of pointers , to show the direction in which thoughts lie . Accordingly , in the affairs of everyday life they appear to be ordinary men , but become extraoTdinary whenever either of the above-mentioned subj ects is trenched upon . As aU their thoughts on-these lie in the depths of their souls , and as they profess that they have no word-tackle by which to fish them up

    for exhibition , you would expect them to be very silent when they were mentioned . On the contrary , however , there are no men so noisy about both . Some of them , it is true , set a high value on silence , which they say is golden ; but I think they are those to whom , nature gave scanty vocabularies . Mature is always just ; and having given them a great fondness for conversation , she provided them with peculiar sympathies anticipating speech . They often know what you mean before you have spoken ; and can converse with one another for hours on the deepest questions in philosophy merely by looks and gestures . It makes one . solemn to look at their conversations . One is relieved when the golden stillness is broken by such expressions as ' you see ! ' 'I need not explain ! ' ' Do you notice the direction ?' "It is a question how far the great variety of animated beings on our

    globe is due to the force of circumstances . I have no opinion on the subject , but it has struck me how in the case of the Spiritualists nature has provided them with just those qualities necessary to their enjoyment of life ; and how , when a man joins himself to them who is deficient in those qualities , she instantly sets to work to make him comfortable . I will give you a few instances of the differences of nature to which I allude . When a Spiritualist begins a sentence which he is unable to finish ( as is often the case ) he does not look stupid as another would , but on the contrary lie looks the more intelligent the less he has to say . It is another curious fact that a Spiritualist cannot be worsted in an

    argument : that he cannot be convinced of an error however plain it may appear to his friends that he has committed it . I have often reflected how kindly nature has concerned herself about the preservation of some of the most contemptible of beings . You know how she has provided the ink-fish with the means of escape from its enemies , by enabling it to discharge a fluid from its abdomen which forms an atmosphere around it , through which the eye of its pursuer cannot pierce . Where nature is kind I love her ; where she is ingenious I admire her . Her device for preserving the Spiritualist is equally kind and ingenious ; she has made him as free of the universal bouI as an Undine of tho ocean . According ly

    when he has erred he plungos into his spiritual depths dragging his errors with him , and whon ho reappears it is afar off in a haze , coming from tne ' inner chambers . ' Once tho plungo is taken pursuit is impossible . " There lies for me a striking proof of tho existence of design in the universe , in the wonderfid fitness of creeds to those who hold them . At is a great pity that those who have hitherto undertaken to provide us with proofs or design should have confined their researches to tho pUy 81 " cal world . I feel assured that if tho distribution of religions and p hilosohies over tho globe were to bo made tho subject of investigation it would

    p be found that every people , ay , and every person , was in possession ot tho orood best suited to it and him . I derived this assurance from studying Spiritualism in relation to Spiritualists . You are awaro that as yo they have iiot formed themselves into a church . A church is a conspiracy against nature , to arrest her tendoney to fit creods to persons , by determining what each must beliovo under terror of certain fearful penalties . Well , as I said , the Spiritualists have not yet formed thomsolves into a church , and I have observed that , whilo nn undefined feeling or notion unites them , no two airreo . oven in respect to the most important doctn

    trinos . These differences are constitutional . A room full of theni , ^ whole of their congregation may agree in saying , Mr . So and bo expresses what we xncan by the Over-soul ; but " take them man mid nil and you will find their interpretations turn upon their comp lexion . . Such of them as avo languid and sentimental moan nothing at all . Any would herd with lotos-outers were there a party of thorn in the country Windnwh would not bo there wore it not the field par envtwmce wv oratory and imaginative speculation . MiHtymind was captivated i v tho immensity of view which tho religion at every turn ]> roHonted _ n ^ M . Fusoo in n clover , argumentative gentleman , who greatly enjoys company ! . n /> tlv " There nover woa a ehoo made , but thoro was a foot to , lit it ozawy

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    1148 THE LEA D E R . CSATTOi ^ Ay ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 26, 1853, page 1148, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2014/page/20/