I have endeavoured to
remedy this defect in the language by introducing the qualifying words,
"Absolutely" and "Relatively," which, although not appropriate words, are
the best that I am able to supply. The conceptive faculty of the individual
having been determined by the experience of the race, that which is
inconceivable by the intelligence of the race may be said to be
inconceivable to the intelligence of the individual in an _absolute_ sense;
no effort on his part can enable him to surmount the organically imposed
conditions of his conceptive faculty. But that which is inconceivable
merely to one individual or generation, while it is not inconceivable to
the intelligence of the race, may properly be said to be inconceivable to
the intelligence of that individual or generation only in a _relative_
sense; apart from the special condition to which the individual
intelligence has been subjected, there is nothing in the conditions of
human intelligence as such to prevent the thing from being conceived.
[While this work has been passing through the press, I have found that Mr.
G. H. Lewes has already employed the above terms in precisely the same
sense as that which is above explained.--1878.]
[34] I should here like to have added some considerations on Sir W.
Hamilton's remarks concerning the effect of training upon the mind in this
connection; but, to avoid being tedious, I shall condense what I have to
say into a few sentences.
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