Itpervadesallthecultivatedtheologyofthepresentday。Sothatwhile
otherelementsofreligiouscreedsonebyonedropaway，thisremainsandgrowsevermoremanifest，andthusisshowntobetheessentialelement。Here，then，isatruthinwhichreligionsingeneralagreewithoneanother，
andwithaphilosophyantagonistictotheirspecialdogmas。IfReligionand
Sciencearetobereconciled，thebasisofreconciliationmustbethisdeepest，
widest，andmostcertainofallfacts—thatthePowerwhichtheUniversemanifests
tousisinscrutable。
Chapter3UltimateScientificIdeas§15。WhatareSpaceandTime？Twohypothesesarecurrentrespecting
them:theonethattheyareobjective，theotherthattheyaresubjective。Letusseewhatbecomesofthesehypothesesunderanalysis。TosaythatSpaceandTimeexistobjectively，istosaythattheyare
entities。Theassertionthattheyarenon—entitiesisself—destructive:non—entities
arenon—existences;andtoallegethatnon—existencesexistobjectivelyis
acontradictioninterms。Moreover，todenythatSpaceandTimearethings，
andsobyimplicationtocallthemnothings，involvestheabsurditythat
therearetwokindsofnothing。Neithercantheyberegardedasattributes
ofsomeentity。Notonlyisitimpossibletoconceiveanyentityofwhich
theyareattributes，butwecannotthinkofthemasdisappearing，evenif
everythingelsedisappeared;whereasattributesnecessarilydisappearalong
withtheentitiestheybelongto。ThusasSpaceandTimecanbeneithernon—entities
northeattributesofentities，wearecompelledtoconsiderthemasentities。
Butwhile，onthehypothesisoftheirobjectivity，SpaceandTimemustbe
classedasthings，wefindthattorepresenttheminthoughtasthingsis
impossible。Tobeconceivedatall，athingmustbeconceivedashavingattributes。
Wecandistinguishsomethingfromnothing，onlybythepowerwhichthesomething
hastoactonourconsciousness。Theeffectsitmediatelyorimmediately
producesonourconsciousnessweattributetoit，andcallitsattributes;
andtheabsenceoftheseattributesistheabsenceofthetermsinwhich
thesomethingisconceived，andinvolvestheabsenceofaconception。What，
now，aretheattributesofSpace？Theonlyonewhichitispossibletothink
ofasbelongingtoitisthatofextension，andtocredititwiththisis
toidentifyobjectandattribute。ForextensionandSpaceareconvertible
terms:byextension，asweascribeittosurroundingobjects，wemeanoccupancy
ofSpace;andthustosaythatSpaceisextended，istosaythatSpaceoccupies
Space。HowwearesimilarlyunabletoassignanyattributetoTime，scarcely
needspointingout。NorareTimeandSpaceunthinkableasentitiesonlyfrom
theabsenceofattributes。Thereisanotherpeculiarity，familiartomost
people，whichequallyexcludesthemfromthecategory。Allentitiesactually
knownassuch，arelimited;andevenifwesupposeourselveseithertoknow
ortobeabletoconceivesomeunlimitedentity，wenecessarilyinsoclassing
itseparateitfromtheclassoflimitedentities。ButofSpaceandTime
wecannotasserteitherlimitationortheabsenceoflimitation。Wefind
ourselvesunabletoformanymentalimageofunboundedSpace;andyetare
unabletoimagineboundsbeyondwhichthereisnoSpace。Similarlyatthe
otherextreme:itisimpossibletothinkofalimittothedivisibilityof
Space;yetequallyimpossibletothinkofitsinfinitedivisibility。And，
withoutstatingthem，itwillbeseenthatwelabourunderlikeimpotences
inrespecttoTime。ThuswecannotconceiveSpaceandTimeasentities，and
areequallydisabledfromconceivingthemaseithertheattributesofentities
orasnon—entities。Wearecompelledtothinkofthemasexisting，andyet
cannotbringthemwithinthoseconditionsunderwhichexistencesarerepresentedinthought。ShallwethentakerefugeintheKantiandoctrine？ShallwesaythatSpace
andTimeareformsoftheintellect，——\"apriorilawsorconditions
oftheconsciousmind？\"Todothisistoescapefromgreatdifficulties
byrushingintogreater。ThepropositionwithwhichKant\'sphilosophysets
out，verballyintelligiblethoughitis，cannotbyanyeffortberendered
intothought——cannotbeinterpretedintoanideaproperlysocalled，but
standsmerelyforapseud—idea。Inthefirstplace，toassertthatSpace
andTimearesubjectiveconditionsis，byimplication，toassertthatthey
arenotobjectiverealities:iftheSpaceandTimepresenttoourmindsbelong
totheego，thenofnecessitytheydonotbelongtothenon—ego。Nowitis
impossibletothinkthis。TheveryfactonwhichKantbaseshishypothesis
——namelythatourconsciousnessofSpaceandTimecannotbesuppressed——
testifiesasmuch;forthatconsciousnessofSpaceandTimewhichwecannot
ridourselvesof，istheconsciousnessofthemasexistingobjectively。It
isuselesstoreplythatsuchaninabilitymustinevitablyresultifthey
aresubjectiveforms。Thequestionhereis——Whatdoesconsciousnessdirectly
testify？Andthedirecttestimonyofconsciousnessis，thatTimeandSpace
arenotwithinthemindbutwithoutthemind;andsoabsolutelyindependent
thatwecannotconceivethemtobecomenon—existentevensupposingthemind
tobecomenon—existent。Besidesbeingpositivelyunthinkableinwhatittacitly
denies，thetheoryofKantisequallyunthinkableinwhatitopenlyaffirms。
ItisnotsimplythatwecannotcombinethethoughtofSpacewiththethought
ofourownpersonality，andcontemplatetheoneasapropertyoftheother
——thoughourinabilitytodothiswouldprovetheinconceivablenessofthe
hypothesis——butitisthatthehypothesiscarriesinitselftheproofof
itsowninconceivableness。ForifSpaceandTimeareformsofintuition，
theycanneverbeintuited;sinceitisimpossibleforanythingtobeat
oncetheformofintuitionandthematterofintuition。ThatSpaceandTime
areobjectsofconsciousness，Kantemphaticallyassertsbysayingthatit
isimpossibletosuppresstheconsciousnessofthem。Howthen，iftheyare
objectsofconsciousness，cantheyatthesametimebeconditionsofconsciousness？
IfSpaceandTimearetheconditionsunderwhichwethink，thenwhenwethink
ofSpaceandTimethemselves，ourthoughtsmustbeunconditioned;andiftherecanthusbeunconditionedthoughts，whatbecomesofthetheory？Itresults，therefore，thatSpaceandTimearewhollyincomprehensible。
Theimmediateknowledgewhichweseemtohaveofthemproves，whenexamined，
tobetotalignorance。Whileourbeliefintheirobjectiverealityisinsurmountable，
weareunabletogiveanyrationalaccountofit。Andtopositthealternative
belief（possibletostatebutimpossibletorealize）ismerelytomultiplyirrationalities。§16。Wereitnotforthenecessitiesoftheargument，itwouldbe
inexcusabletooccupythereader\'sattentionwiththethreadbare，andyet
unended，controversyrespectingthedivisibilityofmatter。Matteriseither
infinitelydivisibleoritisnot:nothirdpossibilitycanbenamed。Which
ofthealternativesshallweaccept？IfwesaythatMatterisinfinitely
divisible，wecommitourselvestoasuppositionnotrealizableinthought。
Wecanbisectandre—bisectabody，andcontinuallyrepeatingtheactuntil
wereduceitspartstoasizenolongerphysicallydivisible，maythenmentally
continuetheprocess。Todothis，however，isnotreallytoconceivethe
infinitedivisibilityofmatter，buttoformasymbolicconceptionnotadmitting
ofexpansionintoarealone，andnotadmittingofotherverification。Really
toconceivetheinfinitedivisibilityofmatter，ismentallytofollowout
thedivisionstoinfinity。andtodothiswouldrequireinfinitetime。On
theotherhand，toassertthatmatterisnotinfinitelydivisible，isto
assertthatitisreducibletopartswhichnopowercandivide;andthis
verbalsuppositioncannomoreberepresentedinthoughtthantheother。
Foreachofsuchultimateparts，didtheyexist，musthaveanunderandan
uppersurface，arightandaleftside，likeanylargerfragment。Nowit
isimpossibletoimagineitssidessonearthatnoplaneofsectioncanbe
conceivedbetweenthem;andhowevergreatbetheassumedforceofcohesion，
itisimpossibletoshutouttheideaofagreaterforcecapableofovercoming
it。Sothattohumanintelligencetheonehypothesisisnomoreacceptable
thantheother;andyettheconclusionthatoneorothermustagreewiththefact，seemstohumanintelligenceunavoidable。Again，letusaskwhethersubstancehasanythinglikethatextendedsolidity
whichitpresentstoourconsciousness。Theportionofspaceoccupiedby
apieceofmetal，seemstoeyesandfingersperfectlyfilled:weperceive
ahomogeneous，resistingmass，withoutanybreachofcontinuity。Shallwe
thensaythatMatterisactuallyassolidasitappears？Shallwesaythat
whetheritconsistsofaninfinitelydivisibleelementorofunitswhich
cannotbefurtherdivided，itspartsareeverywhereinactualcontact？To
assertasmuchentanglesusininsuperabledifficulties。WereMatterthus
absolutelysoliditwouldbe——whatitisnot——absolutelyincompressible;
sincecompressibility，implyingthenearerapproachofconstituentparts，isnotthinkableunlessthereisunoccupiedspaceamongtheparts。ThesuppositionthatMatterisabsolutelysolidbeinguntenable，there
presentsitselftheNewtoniansupposition，thatitconsistsofsolidatoms
notincontactbutactingononeanotherbyattractiveandrepulsiveforces，
varyingwiththedistances。Toassumethis，however，merelyshiftsthedifficulty。
ForgrantingthatMatterasweperceiveit，ismadeupofdenseextended
unitsattractingandrepelling，thequestionstillarises——Whatisthe
constitutionoftheseunits？Wemustregardeachofthemasasmallpiece
ofmatter。Lookedatthroughamentalmicroscope，eachbecomesamasssuch
aswehavejustbeencontemplating。Justthesameinquiriesmaybemaderespecting
thepartsofwhicheachatomconsists;whilejustthesamedifficultiesstand
inthewayofeveryanswer。Evenwerethehypotheticalatomassumedtoconsist
ofstillminuterones，thedifficultywouldreappearatthenextstep;andsoonperpetually。Boscovich\'sconceptionyetremainstous。SeeingthatMattercouldnot，
asLeibnitzsuggested，becomposedofunextendedmonads（sincethejuxtaposition
ofaninfinityofpointshavingnoextensioncouldnotproducethatextension
whichmatterpossesses），andperceivingobjectionstotheviewentertained
byNewton，Boscovichproposedanintermediatetheory。Thistheoryisthat
theconstituentsofMatterarecentresofforce——pointswithoutdimensions
——whichattractandrepeloneanotherinsuchwiseastobekeptatspecific
distancesapart。Andheargues，mathematically，thattheforcespossessed
bysuchcentresmightsovarywiththedistancesthat，undergivenconditions，
thecentreswouldremaininstableequilibriumwithdefiniteinterspaces;
andyet，underotherconditions，wouldmaintainlargerorsmallerinterspaces。
Thisspeculation，however，escapesalltheinconceivabilitiesaboveindicated
bymergingthemintheoneinconceivabilitywithwhichitsetscut。Acentre
offorceabsolutelywithoutextensionisunthinkable。Theideaofresistance
cannotbeseparatedinthoughtfromtheideaofsomethingwhichoffersresistance，
andthissomethingmustbethoughtofasoccuppyingspace。Tosupposethat
centralforcescanresideinpointshavingpositionsonly，withnothingto
marktheirpositions——pointsinnorespectdistinguishablefromsurroundingpointswhicharenotcentresofforce——isbeyondhumanpower。ButthoughtheconceptionofMatterasconsistingofdenseindivisible
unitsissymbolic，andcannotbyanyeffortbethoughtout，itmayyetbe
supposedtofindindirectverificationinthetruthsofchemistry。These，
itisargued，necessitatethebeliefthatMatterconsistsofparticlesof
specificweights，andthereforeofspecificsizes。Thelawofdefiniteproportions
seemsimpossibleonanyotherconditionthantheexistenceofultimateatoms;
andthoughthecombiningweightsoftherespectiveelementsaretermedby
chemiststheir\"equivalents，\"forthepurposeofavoidingaquestionable
assumption，weareunabletothinkofthecombinationofsuchdefiniteweights，
withoutsupposingittotakeplacebetweendefinitemolecules。Thusitwould
appearthattheNewtonianviewisatanyratepreferabletothatofBoscovich。
AdiscipleofBoscovich，however，mayreplythathismaster\'stheoryisinvolved
inthatofNewton，andcannotindeedbeescaped。\"Whatholdstogether
thepartsoftheseultimateatoms？\"hemayask。\"Acohesiveforce，\"
hisopponentmustanswer。\"Andwhat，\"hemaycontinue，\"holds
togetherthepartsofanyfragmentsintowhich，bysufficientforce，anultimate
atommightbebroken？\"Againtheanswermustbe——acohesiveforce。
\"Andwhat，\"hemaystillask，\"iftheultimateatomwerereduced
topartsassmallinproportiontoit，asitisinproportiontoatangible
massofmatter——whatmustgiveeachparttheabilitytosustainitself？\"
Stillthereisnoanswerbut——acohesiveforce。Carryonthementalprocess
andwecanfindnolimituntilwearriveatthesymbolicconceptionofcentresofforcewithoutanyextension。Matterthen，initsultimatenature，isasabsolutelyincomprehensible
asSpaceandTime。Whateversuppositionweframeleavesusnothingbutachoicebetweenoppositeabsurdities。*