Page:The Religious Aspect of Philosophy (1885).djvu/132




 * Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law. —.

turn skeptic himself, we said, seemed the only way open before our idealist. If only he had placed his standard a little lower! If only he had not insisted on getting his ideal by ideal methods! Then he might have remained safe in some one of the positions that he temporarily assumed. But always he drove himself out of them. Some stupendous external reality, some beautiful mental state, would suggest itself to him, and he would say: “Lo, here is the ideal that I seek.” But forthwith his own doubt would arise, accusing him of faithlessness. “What hast thou found save that this or that happens to exist?” the doubt would say, and our idealist would be constrained to answer, “Not because it exists, but because I have freely chosen it for my guide, is it the Ideal.” And then would come the repeated accusation that caprice is the sole ground for the choice of this ideal. Skepticism, then, total skepticism as to the foundation of ethics, seems to be the result that threatens us. We must face this skepticism and consider its outcome.