truth, no truth, in the strict sense of the word, anywhere in the universe. In these few words are contained the sum and substance of the sophistical philosophy, and the arguments by which Socrates endeavoured to rebut the conclusions of the Sophists proceeded on no other principle than that which I have attempted to place before you; the principle, namely, that there is a common nature, known by the name of reason, in all intelligent beings; and that, in virtue of this common nature, man can rise to some extent to the contemplation of absolute truth, which exists, and can exist, only as the counterpart and object of this common reason, of which man, in his degree, is a partaker.
16. But my object at present is not so much to settle the question in regard to the unity or common nature of intelligences, as to place before you a clear conception and precise definition of philosophy, a conception and definition which may be of service to us when we come to deal with the history of speculative systems. I defined philosophy at the outset as the pursuit of truth. I now define it as the pursuit of absolute truth; and farther, having defined absolute truth to be truth as it exists for all minds, I add that circumstance to the definition, and I affirm that "philosophy is the pursuit of absolute truth, that is, of truth as it exists for all intelligence."
