eaning when used in this connection. That is
"inside" which belongs to the subjective order, and is contrasted with
the former.

If we deny that there is an objective order, an external world, and say
that everything is "inside," we lose our distinction, and even the word
"inside" becomes meaningless. It indicates no contrast. When men fall
into the error of talking in this way, what they do is to _keep_ the
external world and gain the distinction, and at the same time to _deny_
the existence of the world which has furnished it. In other words,
they put the clerk into a telephone exchange, and then tell us that the
exchange does not really exist. He is inside--of what? He is inside
of nothing. Then, can he really be inside?

We see, thus, that the plain man and the man of science are quite right
in accepting the external world. The objective order is known as
directly as is the subjective order. Both are orders of experiences;
they are open to observation, and we have, in general, little
difficulty in distinguishing between them, as the illustrations given
above amply prove.

18. THE EXISTENCE OF MATERIAL THINGS.--One difficulty seems to remain
and to call for a solution. We all believe that material things exist
when we no longer perceive them. We believe that they existed before
they came within the field of our observation.

In these positions the man of science supports us. The astronomer has
no hesitation in saying that the comet, which has sailed away through
space, exists, and will return. The geologist describes for us the
world as it was in past ages, when no eye was opened upon it.

But has it not been stated above that the material world is an order of
_experiences_? and can there be such a thing as an experience that is
not _experienced_ by somebody? In other words, can the world exist,
except as it is _perceived to exist_?

This seeming difficulty has occasioned much trouble to philosophers in
the past. Bishop Berkeley (1684-1753) said, "To exist is to be
perceived." There are those who agree with him at the present day.

Their difficulty would have disappeared had they examined with
sufficient care the meaning of the word "exist." We have no right to
pass over the actual uses of such words, and to give them a meaning of
our own. If one thing seems as certain as any other, it is that
material things exist when we do not perceive them. On what ground may
the philosopher combat the