Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 9.djvu/541

 SOME PHYSICAL CONCLUSIONS IN RESPECT TO SPACE. .VJ7 Mr. Spencer inquires further : " Is there an absolute Spaco which relative Space in some sort represents ? " (p. 165). The wording here seems somewhat leu careful than usual. Clearness in philosophy is particularly refn^li iii'_; ; and essential, if a general agreement be aimed at. For one cannot ask : " Is there an absolute Space ? " without (by thi- use of the same word " Space ") implying that the absolute exis- tence, whence the perception results, is itself Space : in other words, that the absolute and the relative are identical here or copies. Eeasons for inferring this have been pointed out ; but it is not what Mr. Spencer wishes to convey by his i|in>tti<>ii. For the passage " Is there an absolute Space which relative Space in some sort 1 represents? " implies that the relative and absolute are not copies. It might be suggested that for clearness in wording, the question might preferably have been put somewhat so (query) : " Is there an absolute something (an existence present ab- solutely) which relative Space in some sort represents ? " But in the absence of any transfiguration undergone in con- ciousness; it appears evident that this "existence present absolutely " must coincide with the Space we appreciate. S. TOLVER PRESTON. 1 Observe the implication of the words here italicised.