If it be asked, What other gauge of probability can
we have in this matter other than such a direct appeal to consciousness? I
answer, that this appeal being here _a priori_ invalid, we are left to fall
back upon the formal probability which is established by an application of
scientific canons to objective phenomena. (See footnote in Sec. 14.) For, be
it carefully observed, Mr. Spencer, and his disciple Mr. Fiske, are not
idealists. Were this the case, of course the test of an immediate appeal to
consciousness would be to them the only test available. But, on the
contrary, as all the world knows, Mr. Spencer asserts the existence of an
unknown Reality, of which all phenomena are the manifestations.
Consequently, what we call Force and Matter are, according to this
doctrine, phenomenal manifestations of this objective Reality. That is to
say, for aught that we can know, Force and Matter may be anything within
the whole range of the possible; and the only limitation that can be
assigned to them is, that they are modes of existence which are independent
of, or objective to, our individual consciousness, but which are uniformly
translated into consciousness as Force and Matter. Now it does not signify
one iota for the purposes of Materialism whether these our symbolical
representations of Force and Matter are accurate or inaccurate
representations of their corresponding realities,--unless, of course, some
_independent_ reason could be shown for supposing that in their reality
they resemble Mind.
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