Page:Philosophical Review Volume 14.djvu/404

388 science, and may such sciences coexist with physical sciences without limiting them? It seems possible that sciences may be constructed whose objects have no common physical basis, and which would therefore formulate their laws in non-physical terms. Yet each of these objects might be composed of matter and therefore be completely subject to physical laws. So long as the mechanistic hypothesis is unproved, biology must be such a science. The same object may be capable of description in the terms of several sciences.

The article gives a brief discussion of the grounds for belief in the doctrine of pre-existence, and a consideration of such immortality as it can offer. The theological proof for immortality is shown to be untenable. On the basis of the metaphysical proof, which tries to show that man, by virtue of his nature, is necessary to the universe, a necessary relation is established between the doctrines of immortality and pre-existence in the following way. As yet, no distinction has been made between the past and the future with respect to their significance in the time order. Hence man must have been as necessary to the universe in the past as he will be in the future. The most important consideration which bears directly upon pre-existence is the fact that many start in life equipped with natures which we know in other cases to be the result of a life-time's experience. It seems reasonable to regard innate characteristics as the result of a pre-existent life of the individual. The most serious objection to such immortality is with regard to memory. The author points out, however, that immortality without memory would have some meaning, in that the experience of one life-time would influence the character with which we began the next, and further, that successive lives would be united by final causality. Such immortality, moreover, would not be valueless. Memory is valuable because it enables the past to serve the wisdom, the virtue, and the love of the present. In the cases of wisdom and virtue, memory may perish and the present still be served by the past through the strengthening of mind and character. In regard to love, if we examine closely, we shall find that what is uniquely valuable is the relation to each particular person, and not the particular acts and feelings which express this relation. Love between two people is an expression of their close connection in the world plan. Hence they are likely to be brought together in some of their future lives, and the value of love in one life, though memory of it perish, will consist in the fact that it makes relations stronger and better at the next meeting.

In general, we may say that Greek thought, strongly influenced by Parmenides, is dominated by the conception of form giving determinateness