Page:Philosophical Review Volume 2.djvu/123

No. 1.] is itself, but that all A's in so far as they are A's are the same. Same- ness is the capability of one thing's being substituted for another. It depends upon a special purpose. Sameness is an idea and, like every idea, stands for something real. Mind is possible only be- cause sameness is real. All things are in some respects the same. Without samenesses the feelings of the world-stuff would be in a chaos, and mind would never be evolved. All future progress in science as well as in civilization depends upon the reality and persistency of samenesses in the objective world. Science systematizes and presents in compact form the samenesses of experience. The law of the con- servation of energy and matter is the most comprehensive formulation of the sameness of the universe as a whole. A world of sameness is a world in which necessity rules, and necessity means inevitableness. The world in which we live is a cosmos. Everything in it is necessarily ordered. II. The Scope of Necessity. Determinism is the negation of absolute chance, not of chance in the sense of an unexpected event. Determinism asserts the universal validity of the law of cause and effect. Chance is any event not specially intended, either not calculated or, in the present state of our knowledge, not calculable. Absolute chance involves the idea of a creation out of nothing and so contradicts the law of the preservation of matter and energy. Absolute chance is therefore unacceptable to the mind and in this sense inconceivable. Chances similar to the throws of a die have had a great influence upon the formation of worlds and upon human destiny. For example, the fate of a man depends mainly upon his own character, but also partly on circumstances which he cannot control. Necessity does not exclude free-will. A being is free, if it acts according to its own nature. There are no purely mechanical phenomena. The world has motions, but it does not consist solely of motions. Feeling cannot be explained by motion. Mentality is a new factor in the sphere of being. The action of mind depends upon a meaning which has nothing to do with mechanics. Everything that acts has spontaneity. That action is spon- taneous which springs from the nature of the thing in action. The brain- atoms are possessed of the same spontaneity as the atoms of a gravitat- ing stone. Brain-atoms have the additional attribute of awareness. The action of mind is determined by psychical and mental laws. In conclusion : Natural laws do not suppress the spontaneity of nature ; they simply describe how things do act. The essence of nature is not materiality, but spirituality. The spiritual is the permanent source and condition of mind, which is transient. All nature is spontaneous, free. A higher freedom arises with the recognition of natural laws as the eternal aspects of natural phenomena. "The truth shall make you free."

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