CHAPTER XIII.

GEORGE HENRY LEWES.

Belief in the Unknowable-Its Influence upon the Study of Psychology.

THE philosophic system of George Henry Lewes has the general title of "Problems of Life and Mind." The first two volumes are entitled "Foundations of a Creed"; the third deals with the problem of "Mind as a Function of the Organism"; and the last two are posthumous publications, -one being a comprehensive treatise on the "Physical Basis of Mind," and the other a comparatively short review of the author's favorite subject, "The Study of Psychology." In the preface to the opening volume Lewes says:

"In 1862 I began the investigation of the physiological mechanism of Feeling and Thought, and from that time forward have sought assistance in a wide range of research. Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Insanity, and the Science of Language, have supplied facts and suggestions to enlarge and direct my own meditations, and to confirm and correct the many valuable indications furnished by previous psychological investigators. ✶ ✶ ✶ When I began to organize these materials into a book, I intended it to be only a series of essays treating certain problems of Life and Mind; but out of this arose two results little contemplated. The first result was such a mutual illumination from the various principles arrived at separately, that I began to feel confident of having something like a clear vision of the fundamental inductions necessary to the constitution of Psychology; hence, although I do not propose to write a complete treatise, I hope to establish a firm groundwork for future labors. The second result, which was independent of the first, arose

thus: Finding the exposition obstructed by the existence of unsolved metaphysical problems, and by the too frequent employment of the metaphysical method, and knowing that there was no chance of general recognition of the scientific method and its inductions while the rival method was tolerated, and the conceptions of Force, Cause, Matter, Mind, were vacillating and contradictory, I imagined that it would be practicable in an introductory chapter, not indeed to clear the path of these obstacles, but at least to give such precise indications of the principles adopted throughout the exposition as would enable the reader to follow it untroubled by metaphysical difficulties." Here, then, is the great metaphysical problem confronted at the very outset.

1

In the beginning of the first chapter, we have this significant quotation from Mill: "England's thinkers are again. beginning to see, what they had only temporarily forgotten, that the difficulties of Metaphysics lie at the root of all Science; that those difficulties can be quieted only by being resolved, and that until they are resolved, positively whenever possible, but at any rate negatively, we are never assured that any knowledge, even physical, stands on solid foundations."

By this we are given in advance an idea of the direction of Lewes' thought: he is going to offer a negative, not a positive, solution of the Metaphysical problem; he is going to acknowledge the "existence of an unknowable" (which, be it remembered, is a distinct contradiction in terms; for to acknowledge an existence is to know it in some degree, and to know the unknowable in any degree is an absurdity). Notwithstanding this he is going to extend the known, the scope of definite knowledge, by means of a masterly physiological and psychological analysis, until it embraces the beginnings of organic life and shows a perfect interdependence between what are known as the physical and vital activities. His mind, however, is too sensitive to feel perfectly contented with this achievement; he is still haunted with the

1 "Problems of Life and Mind," vol. I., Preface.

idea that there is something yet to be done to complete an ultimate analysis, to establish the divine unity; and he expresses his unrest in these words:

"Science itself is also in travail. Assuredly some mighty new birth is at hand. Solid as the ground appears, and fixed as are our present landmarks, we cannot but feel the strange tremors of subterranean agitation which must erelong be followed by upheavals disturbing those landmarks. Not only do we see Physics on the eve of a reconstruction through Molecular Dynamics, we also see Metaphysics strangely agitated, and showing symptoms of a reawakened life. After a long period of neglect and contempt, its problems are once more reasserting their claims. And whatever we may think of those claims, we have only to reflect on the important part played by Metaphysics in sustaining and developing religious conceptions, no less than in thwarting and misdirecting scientific conceptions, to feel assured that before Religion and Science can be reconciled by the reduction of their principles to a common method, it will be necessary to transform Metaphysics or to stamp it out of existence. There is but this alternative. At present Metaphysics is an obstacle in our path: it must be crushed into dust and our chariot-wheels must pass over it; or its forces of resistance must be converted into motive powers, and what is an obstacle become an impulse."

1

This promised conversion of Metaphysics, as will afterward appear, is but partially effected; the question is, whether, even as far as it goes, anything is accomplished by it. Lewes adopts the ingenious method of inventing another name for the science to which he attempts to attach all but the vital and reasonable part of Metaphysics, and thus effects for the old word Metaphysics a regeneration by freeing it from the superstitions which have so long been attached to it.' This

"Problems of Life and Mind," vol. I., p. 4.

"By way of preliminary, I will ask permission to coin a term that will clearly designate the aspect of Metaphysics which renders the inquiry objectionable to scientific thinkers, no less than to ordinary minds, because it implies a

new name suggested by Lewes is Metempirics—or beyond experience. That this term means identically the same thing as metaphysics-or beyond the physical-is manifest. For what is the physical world to us but the world of sensible experiences? And what is beyond the world of sensible experiences but the world of logical, mental, ideal, or spiritual experiences? Spiritual or ideal can mean nothing more than logical or mental, and this is precisely the field of metaphysics. The merit of Lewes' philosophy is therefore to be found in his physiological and psychological studies. He does not solve the metaphysical problem, but he furnishes us with many valuable materials to be employed in its solution. He leaves undefined the great ultimate terms which haunt the pages of every philosophy and hover in the background of every religion; but he has performed the great work of eliminating from this group of ultimates one term which all writers up to him, not even excepting Herbert Spencer, have included among them, namely, consciousness. Those who study Lewes' system carefully will have no difficulty in understanding the genesis of mind, and will never have occasion to refer its origin to the unknowable. They will also find abundant reason to drop the term Cause from the list of ultimate realities, as that term is clearly shown to be ⚫ but one face of every fact or phenomenon, the other or opposite face being Effect. By this achievement Lewes bequeaths to us a clearly defined list of ultimate realities, namely, Space, Time, Matter, Force, and Motion. He removes all confusion between these ultimates and such other terms as Consciousness and Cause, which we find indisregard of experience; by isolating this aspect in a technical term we may rescue the other aspect which is acceptable to all. The word Metaphysics is a very old one, and in the course of its history has indicated many very different things. To the vulgar it now stands for whatever is speculative, subtle, abstract, remote from ordinary apprehension; and the pursuit of its inquiries is secretly regarded as an eccentricity, or even a mild form of insanity. To the cultivated it sometimes means Scholastic Ontology, sometimes Psychology, pursued independently of Biology, and sometimes, though more rarely, the highest generalizations of Physics."-" Problems of Life and Mind," vol. I., P. 14.

cluded among the irreducible principles cited by other writers. The terms Consciousness and Cause, therefore, are affiliated with Knowledge, and the five ultimates supposed by Lewes to be irreducible principles, or "manifestations of the unknowable" are boldly and clearly isolated from all other terms. Of Matter and Force, however, we are told over and over again that the one is utterly indistinguishable from Space, and that the other must mean Motion, or, if it mean any thing less, it is Motion considered apart from its material or space aspect; or simply Time.

These assertions are far from being made in distinct terms, but that they are fair inferences from his reasonings upon these subjects the reader will have a full opportunity of judging. An idea of the persistent longing which Lewes evinces all through his work for the repose of a successful ultimate analysis can be gained from these words: "Speculative minds cannot resist the fascination of Metaphysics, even when forced to admit that its inquiries are hopeless. *** No array of argument, no accumulation of contempt, no historical exhibition of the fruitlessness of its effort, has sufficed to extirpate the tendency toward metaphysical speculation. Although its doctrines have become a scoff (except among the valiant few), its method still survives, still prompts to renewed research, and still misleads some men of science. In • vain history points to the unequivocal failure of twenty centuries: the metaphysician admits the fact, but appeals to history in proof of the persistent passion which no failure can dismay; and hence draws confidence in ultimate success. A cause which is vigorous after centuries of defeat is a cause baffled but not hopeless, beaten but not subdued. ✶ ✶ ✶ Few researches can be conducted in any one line of inquiry without sooner or later abutting on some metaphysical problem, were it only that of Force, Matter, or Cause; and since Science will not and Metaphysics can not solve it, the result is a patchwork of demonstration and speculation very pitiable to contemplate. Look where we will, unless we choose to overlook all that we do not understand, we are mostly confronted