true also that to describe the contents apprehended as though they were so many given facts, upon which the operations of the mind are directed, is to confer upon them a substantive character which they do not possess; they are not entities flitting about in the void, like the ἔιδωλα of Democritus and the Epicureans; it is only in and through acts of apprehension that contents are possible at all. But it is one thing to say that they are possible only in and through acts of apprehension; it is quite another thing to say that they are caused or created by those activities. The specific qualities we discriminate as colours and sounds, as pleasures and pains, and so on, are sui generis; they cannot be deduced as effects from the processes which serve as the medium of their appearance. In the light of these considerations, the question whether what exists is to be conceived as ultimately material or psychical in nature seems of quite subordinate importance. We know as little of the existent structure of what we call matter as we do of the existent structure of what we call mental states. On the one hand, no result of physical science would have violence done to it by the hypothesis that the mechanical processes of nature bear to the complete system of Knowledge or Truth a relation similar to that which the mental states of a finite mind bear to knowledge or truth as apprehended by it. On the other hand, no serious human interest would be really imperilled by the theory which Dr. Adamson was inclined to adopt, that an act of apprehending is a mode or process of change of a certain complex configuration of matter in space.* The resemblance to materialism here is only a superficial resemblance; for the essential point is, as Dr. Adamson himself fully allows, that the mechanical substratum, whatever its nature, forms merely, so to speak, the skeleton of the real, and is misrepresented until due account be taken of the fact that it is subservient to the life of mind. Mind lives only through the apprehension of * Development of Modern Philosophy, vol. i, p. 355. M 178 IDEALISM AND THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXISTENCE. truth, and an investigation of the nature and conditions of knowledge or truth must always remain the chief requisite for any philosophical determination of ultimate reality. I will simply add that the validity of the reasoning by which Kant endeavoured to prove that the possibility of knowledge implies a transcendental ground does not seem to me to be impaired by anything I have been contending in this paper. ABSTRACT OF MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY FOR THE TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION. Meeting, November 7th, 1904, at 8 p.m. Dr. Hastings Rashdall, President, in the Chair. - The President delivered the Inaugural Address on "Moral Objectivity and its Postulates." The President invited discussion, and the following members took part: Mr. Shadworth Hodgson, Dr. Stanton Coit, Mr. Shearman, Mr. Carr, Dr. Goldsbrough, Mr. Boutwood, Mr. Kaibel, and Professor Boyce Gibson. The President replied. Meeting, December 5th, 1904, at 8 p.m. Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, V.P., in the Chair. - Mr. T. Percy Nunn was elected a member. Professor G. Dawes Hicks read a paper on "Idealism and the Problem of Knowledge and Existence." A discussion followed, in which the Chairman, Mr. Carr, Mr. Spiller, and Dr. Goldsbrough took part. Professor Dawes Hicks replied. Meeting, January 2nd, 1905, at 8 p.m. Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, V.P., in the Chair. A paper was read by Mr. H. Sturt on "The Line of Advance in Philosophy." A discussion followed, in which the Chairman, Mr. Benecke, Mr. Spiller, Mr. Nunn, Mr. Finberg, Mr. Shearman, and Professor Lutoslawski took part. Mr. Sturt replied. Meeting, February 6th, 1905, at 8 p.m. The President in the Chair. Mr. F. C. S. Schiller was elected a member. Professor W. R. Boyce Gibson read a paper on "Self-Introspection." A discussion followed, in which the President, Mr. Shadworth Hodgson, Mr. Solomon, Mr. Carr, Dr. Goldsbrough, Mr. Nunn, Mr. Shearman, and Mr. Benecke took part. Professor Boyce Gibson replied. Meeting, March 6th, 1905, at 8 p.m. Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, V.P., in the Chair. - Mr. J. Solomon was elected a member. Dr. J. L. McIntyre read a paper on "Value Feelings and Judgments of Value." A discussion followed, in which the Chairman, Mr. Benecke, Mr. Boutwood, and Mr. Carr took part. Dr. McIntyre replied. Meeting, April 3rd, 1905, at 8 p.m. The President in the Chair.Mr. A. T. Shearman read a paper on "Some Controverted Points in Symbolic Logic." A discussion followed, in which the President, Mr. Bertrand Russell, Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Benecke, Dr. Goldsbrough, Mr. Spiller, Mr. Nunn, and Mr. Carr took. part. Mr. Shearman replied. Meeting, May 1st, 1905, at 8 p.m. Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, V.P., in the Chair. - A paper by Mr. Clement C. J. Webb on "The Personal Element in Philosophy was read. A discussion followed, in which the Chairman, Mr. Benecke, Mr. Carr, and Mr. Boutwood took part. Meeting, June 5th, 1905, at 8 p.m. Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, V.P., in the Chair. - The Report of the Committee for the Twenty-Sixth Session was read. Dr. Hastings Rashdall was elected President for the ensuing Session. Professor G. Dawes Hicks, Mr. G. E. Moore, and Professor Sorley were elected Vice-Presidents. Mr. Boutwood was elected Treasurer and Mr. H. W. Carr, Honorary Secretary. Mr. Kaibel and Dr. Goldsbrough were elected Auditors. A paper was read by Mr. H. W. Carr on "The Metaphysical Criterion and its Implications." A discussion followed, in which the Chairman, Mr. Benecke, Mr. Shearman, Mr. Boutwood, and Dr. Goldsbrough took part. Mr. Carr replied. REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FOR THE TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION. (Read at the Meeting on June 5th, 1905.) THE Session was opened on November 7th, 1904, with the Presidential Address by Dr. Hastings Rashdall on "Moral Objectivity and its Postulates." Papers have been read by Professor G. Dawes Hicks on "Idealism and the Problem of Knowledge and Existence"; Mr. H. Sturt on "The Line of Advance in Philosophy"; Professor W. R. Boyce Gibson on "Self-Introspection"; Dr. J. L. McIntyre on "Value Feelings and Value Judgments"; Mr. A. T. Shearman on "Some Controverted Points in Symbolic Logic"; Mr. Clement C. J. Webb on "The Personal Element in Philosophy"; and Mr. H. W. Carr on "The Metaphysical Criterion and its Implications." These papers have all been printed and form Volume V of the "Proceedings." We deeply regret to record the loss, by death, of two of our members-Mr. C. C. Massey and Mr. G. S. Rhodes. Mr. Massey became a member of the Society in 1883, and though not able to be a regular attendant at our meetings, he took great interest in our work and was himself a devoted student of Philosophy. Three new members have joined during the Session, and we have lost two of our number by resignation. |