Page:The British Controversialist - 1867.djvu/504

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MODERN METAPHYSICIANS
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(12) "The material universe per se, and all its qualities per se, are not only absolutely unknowable, they are also of necessity absolutely unthinkable." (13) "The only independent universe which any mind or ego can think of is the universe in synthesis with some other mind or ego." (14) "There is no mere phenomenal in cognition; in other words, the phenomenal by itself is absolutely unknowable and inconceivable." (15) "Objects, whatever they may be, are the phenomenal in cognition; matter in all its varieties is the phenomenal in cognition; thoughts or mental states whatsoever are the phenomenal in cognition; the universal is the phenomenal in cognition; the particular is the phenomenal in cognition; the ego, or mind, or subject is the phenomenal in cognition." (16) "There is a substantial in cognition; in other words, substance, or the substantial, is knowable, and is known by us." (17) "Object plus subject is the substantial in cognition; matter mecum is the substantial in cognition; thoughts or mental states whatsoever, together with the self or subject are the substantial in cognition; the universal, in union with the particular, is the substantial in cognition; the ego or mind in any determinate condition, or with any thing or thought present to it, is the substantial in cognition. This synthesis, thus variously expressed, is the substantial, and the only substantial, in cognition." (18) "There is no mere relative in cognition; in other words, the relative per se, or by itself is, of necessity, unknowable and unknown." (19) "Objects, whatever they may be, are the relative in cognition; matter, in all its varieties, is the relative in cognition; thoughts or mental states whatsoever are the relative in cognition; the universal is the relative in cognition; the ego, or mind, or subject is the relative in cognition." (20) "There is an absolute in cognition; in other words, something absolute is knowable, and is known by us." (21) "Object plus subject is the Absolute in cognition; matter mecum is the absolute in cognition; thoughts or mental states whatsoever, together with the self or subject, are the absolute in cognition; the universal in union with the particular is the absolute in cognition; the ego or mind in any determinate condition, or with any thought or thing present to it, is the absolute in cognition. This synthesis, thus variously expressed, is the Absolute, and the only Absolute, in cognition. (22) "The senses are the contingent conditions of knowledge; in other words, it is possible that intelligences different from the human (supposing that there are such) should apprehend things under other laws, or in other ways, than those of seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling; or, more shortly, our senses are not laws of cognition, or modes of apprehension, which are binding on intelligence necessarily and universally."

Agnoiology.—1 "Ignorance is an intellectual defect, imperfection, privation, or shortcoming." 2. "All ignorance is possibly remediable." 3. "We can be ignorant only of what can possibly be known; in other words, there can be an ignorance only of that of which there can be a knowledge. 4. "We cannot be ignorant of any kind of objects without a subject: in other words, there can be no ignorance of objects per se, or out of relation to a mind." 5. "We cannot be ignorant of material things out of all relation to a mind, subject, or self: in other words, there can be no ignorance of matter per se. 6. "We cannot be ignorant either of the universal element of cognition per se, or of the particular element of cognition per se." 7. "We cannot be ignorant of the ego per se; in other words, there can be no ignorance of the mind in a state of pure indetermination, or with no thing or thought present to it." 8. "The object of all ignorance, whatever