II

THE SPECIAL PROBLEMS OF
PHILOSOPHY

CHAPTER VI

METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY

[Sidenote: The Impossibility of an Absolute Division of the Problem of
Philosophy.]

Sect. 55. The stand-point and purpose of the philosopher define his
task, but they do not necessarily prearrange the division of it. That
the task is a complex one, embracing many subordinate problems which
must be treated _seriatim_, is attested both by the breadth of its scope
and the variety of the interests from which it may be approached. But
this complexity is qualified by the peculiar importance which here
attaches to unity. That which lends philosophical quality to any
reflection is a steadfast adherence to the ideals of inclusiveness and
consistency. Hence, though the philosopher must of necessity occupy
himself with subordinate problems, these cannot be completely isolated
from one another, and solved successively. Perspective is his most
indispensable requisite, and he has solved no problem finally until he
has provided for the solution of all. His own peculiar conceptions are
those which _order_ experience, and reconcile such aspects of it as
other interests have distinguished. Hence the compatibility of any idea
with all other ideas is the prime test of its philosophical sufficiency.
On these grounds it may confidently be asserted that the work of
philosophy cannot be assigned by the piece to different specialists, and
then assembled. There are no special philosophical problems which can be
finally solved upon their own merits. Indeed, such problems could never
even be named, for in their discreteness they would cease to be
philosophical.

The case of _metaphysics_ and _epistemology_ affords an excellent
illustration. The former of these is commonly defined as the theory of
reality or of first principles, the latter as the theory of knowledge.
But the most distinctive philosophical movement of the nineteenth
century issues from the idea that knowing and being are
identical.[150:1] The prime reality is defined as a knowing mind, and
the terms of reality are interpreted as terms of a cognitive process.
Ideas and logical principles _constitute_ the world. It is evident that
in this Hegelian philosophy epistemology embraces metaphysics. In
defining the relations of knowledge to its object, one has already
defined one's fundamental philosophical conception, while _logic_, as
the science of the universal necessities of thought, wil