Spencer. His statement
of it now occurs in the short chapter of _First Principles_ entitled
"Relations between Forces." So far as I an able to ascertain, no one has
hitherto considered this important doctrine in its immediate relation to
the question of Theism.
In using the term "persistence of force," I am aware that I am using a term
which is not unopen to criticism. But as Mr. Spencer's writings have
brought this term into such general use among speculative thinkers, it
seemed to me undesirable to modify it. Questions of mere terminology are
without any importance in a discussion of this kind, provided that the
terms are universally understood to mean what they are intended to mean;
and I think that the signification which Mr. Spencer attaches to his term,
"persistence of force," is sufficiently precise. Therefore, adopting his
usage, whenever throughout the following pages I speak of force as
persisting, what I intend to be understood is, that there is a
something--call it force, or energy, or _x_--which, so far as experience or
imagination can extend, is, in its relation to us, ubiquitous and
illimitable; or, in other words, that it universally presents the property
of permanence. (See, for a more detailed explanation, supplementary essay,
"On the Final Mystery of Things.")
[21] Hamilton may here be especially noticed, because he went so far as to
maintain that the phenomena of the external world, taken by themselves,
would ground a valid argument to the negation of God.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267