Page:On an Evolutionist Theory of Axioms.djvu/15

8 such apprehensions in the past by its ancestors and in the future by itself. And just as it has become impossible for the hand to grasp by bending the fingers outwards instead of inwards; so has it become impossible for those nervous actions by which we apprehend primary space-relations to be reversed so as to enable us to think of these relations otherwise than we do.'

This theory it may be remarked does not necessarily imply that the mind is identical with physical organs, but it does imply that the mind not only perceives by them, but can only think and imagine by their means, and is therefore restricted by the functions of which they are capable.

Divested of technicalities unnecessary for our present purpose, it comes to this. In its early experiences the mind was not obliged to think the arc greater than its chord. But every arc presented to the experience of every generation has been greater than its chord: and the constant perception of this relation gradually modified the perceiving and thinking organs, so that it became more and more difficult to think arc and chord in any other relation. The difficulty transmitted by inheritance became stronger by accumulation in successive generations, till it became altogether impossible to think the contradictory of the axiom. This is how the individual's belief in the axiom is formed, and the process secures that the subjective belief shall correspond to an objective fact.

This has an appearance of clearness and simplicity which recommends it to many.

Before asking if it is true, we may ask whether we should like it to be true. Such a question may seem unscientific, but in philosophy at least we should clear our reasonings a good deal if we confessed to ourselves what we wanted to believe and what we hoped was untrue.

Now at first sight the theory may well have attractions. Many will feel that induction does not account for the