Nothing tends so much to remedy this state of things as an examination which brings the discrepancy in question clearly to light; for when this is once done, it is not likely to be repeated in the same manner. Such an examination helps to clear away the obscurity which previously attached to the question, and which rendered possible the vagueness of thought and discrepancy of utterance. It thus conduces to a very salutary result; for a distinct understanding of the meaning of metaphysical questions, and a perception of their bearings, is perhaps more needed in the present state of Metaphysics than any thing else.

UNIVER:

CALIFORNIA

CHAPTER I.

It is sometimes asserted by writers of ability that the study of Metaphysics is profitless; that metaphysical speculation results from the action of the human mind in an imperfect stage of development, and is laid aside when this stage is passed through, and a higher state of culture attained. Nevertheless, we find that works professedly metaphysical continue to be produced by writers of high ability; the recent work of Mr. Mill, carefully discussing a number of metaphysical questions, being a conspicuous example of this.

We are sometimes told that physics are profitable, because they concern themselves with real things; while metaphysics are vain, because they concern themselves merely with abstractions. If this account were correct, it would be matter for wonder that so many minds of high ability should have occupied themselves with metaphysics, and that so much interest should still be taken in them. But if we examine the works of the great metaphysicians, we shall see that their character is not conformable to the above account. We shall see

that the so-called metaphysicians seek to obtain knowledge of that which is invisible, and is not shown to us by experience; but that not the less they seek for a knowledge of that which is actual and real. We shall find them busying themselves very much with two topics-God and the future state. Plato, Des Cartes, Leibnitz, Locke, Kant, all inquire concerning God; and this part of their inquiries is regarded as of main importance. Now God is not a phenomenon: we cannot see him, nor apprehend him by the senses; nor is he ever exhibited to us in physical experience. Nevertheless we must not on that account jump to the conclusion that he is a mere metaphysical abstraction.

Again, many metaphysical writings, such as the Phado of Plato, and the opening of Butler's Analogy, contain reasonings intended to make it appear that man does not perish when he dies; that after his death he enters on a new stage of existence, where his happiness is influenced by his previous conduct on earth. These writings are properly called metaphysical. They deal with matters beyond the range of physics, and arrive at conclusions which it is impossible to verify by experience; yet the knowledge sought for in them is a knowledge of reality, not a knowledge of mere abstractions.

We may see the source of metaphysics when we consider the question put by Epicurus to his tutor: "And Chaos whence?" An inquisitive mind naturally feels a lively desire to know the original

cause of the phenomena which he sees about him; and though the phenomena which excite this inquiry are physical, the inquiry itself is metaphysical.

The different answers obtained by those who have engaged in this inquiry constitute the principal differences between the various metaphysical schools. Some thinkers, considering the order and harmony displayed in the world (called on this account the zoopos), conclude that the universe was produced by the design of an intelligent being -a dnprovgrós. Some thinkers, on the other hand, are unwilling to ascribe design or forethought to the Supreme Being, regarding it as an imperfection; and prefer to suppose that the Divine Intelligence acts spontaneously, in a manner somewhat resembling the unconscious inspiration of artists and poets. The instinct of animals is also thought to bear some analogy to it.

The reasonings which from the appearances of order and adjustment in the universe infer that it was produced by intelligence or by design, are treated of by Kant as the cosmological and teleological arguments; and one of the principal purposes of his great work is to examine the validity of these reasonings.

But because these arguments are spoken of under these scholastic names, we must not suppose that they are the peculiar property of professional metaphysicians. They have passed through the minds of a vast number of persons of very different