Chapter XXIII: Conclusion

The number of world-riddles has been continually diminishing in the course of the nineteenth century through the aforesaid progress of a true knowledge of nature. Only one comprehensive riddle of the universe now remains--the problem of substance. What is the real character of this mighty world-wonder that the realistic scientist calls Nature or the Universe, the idealist philosopher calls Substance or the Cosmos, the pious believer calls Creator or God? Can we affirm to-day that the marvellous progress of modern cosmology has solved this "problem of substance," or at least that it has brought us nearer to the solution?

The answer to this final question naturally varies considerably according to the stand-point of the philosophic inquirer and his empirical acquaintance with the real world. We grant at once that the innermost character of nature is just as little understood by us as it was by Anaximander and Empedocles twenty-four hundred years ago, by Spinoza and Newton two hundred years ago, and by Kant and Goethe one hundred years ago. We must even grant that this essence of substance becomes more mysterious and enigmatic the deeper we penetrate into the knowledge of its attributes, matter and energy, and the more thoroughly we study its countless phenomenal forms and their evolution. We do not know the "thing in itself" that lies behind these knowable phenomena. But why trouble about this enigmatic "thing in itself" when we have no means of investigating it, when we do not even clearly know whether it exists or not? Let us, then, leave the fruitless brooding over this ideal phantom to the "pure metaphysician," and let us instead, as "real physicists," rejoice in the immense progress which has been actually made by our monistic philosophy of nature.

Towering above all the achievements and discoveries of the century we have the great, comprehensive "law of substance," the fundamental law of the constancy of matter and force. The fact that substance is everywhere subject to eternal movement and transformation gives it the character also of the universal law of evolution. As this supreme law has been firmly established, and all others are subordinate to it, we arrive at a conviction of the universal unity of nature and the eternal validity of its laws. From the gloomy _problem_ of substance we have evolved the clear _law_ of substance. The monism of the cosmos which we establish thereon proclaims the absolute dominion of "the great eternal iron laws" throughout the universe. It thus shatters, at the same time, the three central dogmas of the dualistic philosophy--the personality of God, the immortality of the soul, and the freedom of the will.

Many of us certainly view with sharp regret, or even with a profound sorrow, the death of the gods that were so much to our parents and ancestors. We must console ourselves in the words of the poet:

"The times are changed, old systems fall,
And new life o'er their ruins dawns."

The older view of idealistic dualism is breaking up with all its mystic and anthropistic dogmas; but upon the vast field of ruins rises, majestic and brilliant, the new sun of our realistic monism, which reveals to us the wonderful temple of nature in all its beauty. In the sincere cult of "the true, the good, and the beautiful," which is the heart of our new monistic religion, we find ample compensation for the anthropistic ideals of "God, freedom, and immortality" which we have lost.

Throughout this discussion of the riddles of the universe I have clearly defined my consistent monistic position and its opposition to the still prevalent dualistic theory. In this I am supported by the agreement of nearly all modern scientists who have the courage to accept a rounded philosophical system. I must not, however, take leave of my readers without pointing out in a conciliatory way that this strenuous opposition may be toned down to a certain degree on clear and logical reflection--may, indeed, even be converted into a friendly harmony. In a thoroughly logical mind, applying the highest principles with equal force in the entire field of the cosmos--in both organic and inorganic nature--the antithetical positions of theism and pantheism, vitalism and mechanism, approach until they touch each other. Unfortunately, consecutive thought is a rare phenomenon in nature. The great majority of philosophers are content to grasp with the right hand the pure knowledge that is built on experience, but they will not part with the mystic faith based on revelation, to which they cling with the left. The best type of this contradictory dualism is the conflict of pure and practical reason in the critical philosophy of the most famous of modern thinkers, Immanuel Kant.

On the other hand, the number is always small of the thinkers who will boldly reject dualism and embrace pure monism. That is equally true of consistent idealists and theists, and of logical realists and pantheists. However, the reconciliation of these apparent antitheses, and, consequently, the advance towards the solution of the fundamental riddle of the universe, is brought nearer to us every year in the ever-increasing growth of our knowledge of nature. We may, therefore, express a hope that the approaching twentieth century will complete the task of resolving the antitheses, and, by the construction of a system of pure monism, spread far and wide the long-desired unity of world-conception. Germany's greatest thinker and poet, whose one hundred and fiftieth anniversary will soon be upon us--Wolfgang Goethe--gave this "philosophy of unity" a perfect poetic expression, at the very beginning of the century, in his immortal poems, _Faust_, _Prometheus_, and _God and the World_:

"By eternal laws
Of iron ruled,
Must all fulfil
The cycle of
Their destiny."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There are two English translations, _The Evolution of Man_ (1879) and _The Pedigree of Man_ (1880).

[2] The English translation, by Dr. Hans Gadow, bears the title of _The Last Link_.

[3] English translation, by J. Gilchrist, with the title of _Monism_.

[4] E. Haeckel, _Systematische Phylogenie_, 1895, vol. iii., pp. 646-50. (Anthropolatry means "A divine worship of human nature.")

[5] Cf. my Cambridge lecture, _The Last Link_, "Geological Time and Evolution."

[6] As to induction and deduction, _vide_ _The Natural History of Creation_.

[7] Rudolph Virchow, _Die Gründung der Berliner Universität und der Uebergang aus dem Philosophischen in das naturwissenschaftliche Zeitalter_. (Berlin; 1893.)

[8] Cf. chap. iv. of my _General Morphology_, 1866; _Kritik der naturwissenschaftlichen Methoden_.

[9] _Systematische Phylogenie_, 1896, part iii., pp. 490, 494, and 496.

[10] Translated in the International Science Series, 1872.

[11] _Zell-Seelen und Seelen-Zellen._ Ernst Haeckel, _Gesammelte populäre Vorträge. I. Heft._ 1878.

[12] Cf. E. Haeckel, _The Systems of Darwin, Goethe, and Lamarck_. Lecture given at Eisenach in 1882.

[13] _Vide_ the translation of Dr. Hans Gadow: _The Last Link_. (A. & C. Black.)

[14] Cf. Max Verworn, _Psychophysiologische Protisten-Studien_, pp. 135, 140.

[15] E. Haeckel, "General Natural History of the Radiolaria"; 1887.

[16] _Vide Natural History of Creation_, E. Haeckel.

[17] Law of individual variation. _Vide_ _Natural History of Creation_.

[18] Cf. E. Haeckel, _Systematic Phylogeny_, vol. i.

[19] Cf. _Anthropogeny_ and _Natural History of Creation_.

[20] Cf. _Natural History of Creation_.

[21] See chaps. xvi. and xvii. of my _Anthropogeny_.

[22] E. Haeckel, _A Visit to Ceylon_.

[23] Cf. _Monism_, by Ernst Haeckel.

[24] Cf. _Monism_, by Ernst Haeckel.

[25] Cf. _Monism_, by Ernst Haeckel.

[26] Reinke, _Die Welt als That_ (1899).

[27] Cf. _Monism_, by Ernst Haeckel.

[28] _The Last Link_, translated by Dr. Gadow.

[29] _General Morphology_, book 2, chap. v.

[30] Cf. _General Morphology_, vol. ii., and _The Natural History of Creation._

[31] _Vide_ _A Visit to Ceylon_, E. Haeckel, translated by C. Bell.

[32] _Collected Popular Lectures_; Bonn, 1878.

[33] As to the Greek paternity of Christ, _vide_ p. 328.

[34] Cf. _The Natural History of Creation_, chaps. iii., vi., xv., and xvi.

INDEX

Abiogenesis, 257, 369.

Abortive organs, 264.

Accidents, 216.

Acrania, 166.

Action at a distance, 217.

Actualism, 249.

Æsthesis, 225.

Affinity, 224.

Altruism, 350.

Amphibia, 167.

Amphimixis, 141.

Ampitheism, 278.

Ananke, 272.

Anatomy, 22, etc.
comparative, 24.

Anaximander, 289, 379.

Anthropism, 11.

Anthropistic illusion, 14, etc.
world-theory, 13.

Anthropocentric dogma, 11, etc.

Anthropogeny, 83.

Anthropolatric dogma, 12.

Anthropomorpha, 36.

Anthropomorphic dogma, 12.

Apes, 36, 37, 167.
anthropoid, 37.

Archæus, 43.

Archigony, 257.

Aristotle, 23, 268.

Association, centres of, 183.
of ideas, 121.
of presentations, 121, 122.

Astronomy, progress of, 366.

Astro-physics, 368.

Atavism, 142.

Athanatism, 189.

Athanatistic illusions, 205.

Atheism, 290.

Atheistic science, 260.

Atom, the, 222.

Atomism, 223.

Atomistic consciousness, 187.

Attributes of ether, 227.
of substance, 216.

Augustine of Hippo, 130.

Auricular confession, 319, 359.

Autogony, 257.

Baer (Carl Ernst), 57.

Bastian (Adolf), 103.

Beginning of the world, 240, 247.

Bible, the, 282, 362.

Biogenesis, 257.

Biogenetic law, 81, 143.

Bismarck, 334.

Blastoderm, 150, 155.

Blastosphere, 153.

Blastula, 153.

Bruno (Giordano), 290, 317.

Büchner (Ludwig), 93.

Buddhism, 326, 355.

Calvin, 130.

Canonical gospels, 312.

Carbon as creator, 256.
theory, 257.

Catarrhinæ, 35.

Catastrophic theory, 74.

Categorical imperative, 350.

Causes, efficient, 258.
final, 258.

Celibacy, 358.

Cell-love, 137.
community, soul of the, 155.
soul, 151.
state, 157.

Cellular pathology, 50.
physiology, 48.
psychology, 153, 177.
theory, 26.

Cenobitic soul, 155.

Cenogenesis, 82.
of the psyche, 144.

Chance, 274.

Chemicotropism, 64, 136.

Chordula, 64.

Chorion, 68.

Christ, father of, 327.

Christian art, 339.
civilization, 356.
contempt of the body, 354.
animals, 355.
nature, 355.
self, 353.
the family, 357.
woman, 358.
ethics, 352.

Christianity, 347.

Church and school, 362.
state, 361.

Cnidaria, 161.

Conception, 64.

Concubinage of the clergy, 358.

Confession of faith, 302.

Consciousness, 170.
animal, 176.
atomistic, 178.
biological, 176.
cellular, 177.
development of, 185.
dualistic, 182.
human, 173.
monistic, 182.
neurological, 174.
ontogeny of, 186.
pathology of, 182.
physiological, 180.
transcendental, 180.

Constancy of energy, 212, 231.
matter, 212.

Constantine the Great, 316.

Constellations of substance, 218.

Conventional lies, 323.

Copernicus, 24, 320, 367.

Cosmic immortality, 191.

Cosmogonies, 234.

Cosmological dualism, 257.
creationism, 235.
law, 211.
perspective, 14.

Cosmos, the, 229.

Creation, 73, 79, 234.
cosmological, 235.
dualistic, 236.
heptameral, 237.
individual, 237.
myths of, 236.
periodic, 237.
trialistic, 237.

Cultur-kampf, 334.

Cuvier, 74.

Cyclostomata, 167.

Cynopitheci, 46.

Cytology, 26, etc.

Cytopsyche, 151.

Cytula, 64.

Darwin (Charles), 78, etc.

Decidua, 69.

Deduction, 16.

Demonism, 276.

Descartes, 99, 355.

Descent of the ape, 85, etc.
of man, 87.
theory of, 77.

Design, 264, 266.
in nature, 260.
in organisms, 266.
in selection, 261.

Destruction of heavenly bodies, 243.

Determinists, 130.

Diaphragm, 31.

Division of labor in matter, 229.

Draper, 309, 333.

Dualism, 20, etc.

Du Bois-Reymond, 15 180, 235.

Du Prel (Carl), 305.

Duty, feeling of, 350.

Dynamodes, 216.

Dysteleology, 260.

Echinodermata, 62.

Ectoderm, 160.
sense-cells in the, 293.

Egoism, 350.

Elements, chemical, 222.
system of the, 222.

Embryo, human, 64.

Embryology, 54.

Embryonic psychogeny, 144.
sleep, 146.

Empedocles, 23, 224.

Encyclica (of Pius IX.), 323.

End of the world, 247.

Energy, kinetic, 231.
potential, 231.
principle of, 230.
specific, 294.

Entelecheia, 268.

Entoderm, 160.

Entropy of the universe, 247.

Epigenesis, 56, 133.

Ergonomy of matter, 229.

Eternity of the world, 242.

Ether, 225.

Etheric souls, 199.

Ethics, fundamental law of, 350.

Evolution, theory of, 54, 239, 243.
chief element in, 267.

Experience, 16.

Extra-mundane God, 288.

Faith, confession of, 303.
of our fathers, 304.

Family, the, and Christianity, 357.

Fate, 272.

Fechner, 97, etc.

Fecundation, 63.

Fetishism, 276.

Feuerbach (Ludwig), 295.

Flechsig, 183.

Foetal membranes, 66.

Folk-psychology, 103.

Forces, conversion of, 231.

Frederick the Great, 194, 315.

Galen, 23, 40.

Gaseous souls, 199.
vertebrates, 288.

Gastræa, 160.
theory of the, 60.

Gastræads, 159.

Gastrula, 61.

Gegenbaur, 25, 30.

Generation, theory of, 55.

Genus, 73.

Geology, periods of, 270.
progress of, 373.

Germinal disk, 57.

Gills, 65.

God, 275.
the father, 277.
the son, 277, 328.

Goethe, 20, etc.

Goethe's monism, 331.

Golden Rule, the, 351.

Gospels, 312.

Gravitation, theory of, 217.

Gut-layer, 159.

Haller, 42.

Harvey, 42.

Helmholtz (Hermann), 213, 230.

Heredity, psychic, 138.

Hertz (Heinrich), 225.

Hippocrates, 23.

Histology, 26.

Histopsyche, 156.

Hoff (Carl), 250.

Holbach (Paul), 193.

Holy Ghost, 277, 326.

Humboldt (Alexander), 343.

Hydra, 161.

Hylozoism, 289.

Hypothesis, 299.

Iatrochemicists, 45.

Iatromechanicists, 45.

Ideal of beauty, 338.
of truth, 337.
of virtue, 339.

Ignorabimus, 180.

Immaculate conception, 326.

Immaterial substance, 221.

Immortality of animals, 201.
of the human soul, 188.
of unicellular organisms, 190.
personal, 192.

Imperfection of nature, 264.

Imponderable matter, 225.

Impregnation, 64.

Indeterminists, 130.

Induction, 16.

Indulgences, 359.

Infallibility of the pope, 324.

Instinct, 105, 123.

Intellect, 125, etc.

Intramundane God, 288.

Introspective psychology, 95.

Islam, 284.

Janssen (Johannes), 316.

Jehovah, 283.

Journeys on foot, 364.

Kant, 258, etc.

Kant's metamorphosis, 92, etc.

Kinetic energy, 231.
theory of substance, 216.

Kölliker, 26, 48.

Lamarck, 76, etc.

Lamettrie, 194.

Landscape-painting, 343.

Language, 126.
study of, 363.

Last judgment, 209.

Lavoisier, 212.

Leap of the gospels, miraculous, 312.

Leydig, 27.

Life, definition of, 39.

Limits of our knowledge, 182.

Love, 357.
of animals, 355.
of neighbor, 350.
of self, 350.

Lucretius Carus, 290.

Lunarism, 281.

Luther, 320.

Lyell, 77, 250.

Madonna, cult of the, 284, 327.

Malphigi, 54.

Mammals, 30, etc.

Mammary glands, 31.

Man, ancestors of, 82.

Marsupials, 32, 86.

Mass, 222.

Materialism, 20.

Mayer (Robert), 213, 377.

Mechanical causality, 366.
explanation, 259.
theory of heat, 247.

Mechanicism, 259.

Mediterranean religions, the, 282.

Memory, cellular, 12O.
conscious, 121.
histionic, 121.
unconscious, 121.

Mephistopheles, 279.

Metabolism, 232.

Metamorphoses of the cosmos, 372.
of philosophers, 92.

Metaphyta, 156.

Metasitism, 153.

Metazoa, 60, 157.

Middle Ages, 315, 358.

Mixotheism, 286.

Mohammedanism, 284.

Mohr (Friedrich), 213.

Monera, 257, 369.

Monism, 20, and _passim_.
of energy, 254.
of Spinoza, 331.
of the cosmos, 255.

Monistic anthropogeny, 252.
art, 341.
biogeny, 251.
churches, 345.
cosmology, 368.
ethics, 347.
geogeny, 248.

Monotheism, 279.

Monotrema, 32.

Moon-worship, 281.

Moral order of the universe, 269.

Morula, 155.

Mosaism, 283.

Müller (Johannes), 25, 45, 262.

Mythology of the soul, 135.

Natural religion, 344.

Navel-cord, 69.

Neokantians, 349.

Neovitalism, 264.

Neptunian geology, 375.

Neuro-muscular cells, 114.

Neuroplasm, 91, 109.

Neuropsyche, 162.

Nomocracy, 9.

Ontogenetic psychology, 103.

Ontological creationism, 235.
methods, 249.

Orbits of the heavenly bodies, 241.

Origin of movement, 15, 241.
of feeling, 15, 241.

Ovary, 63.

Palingenesis, 82.
of the psyche, 143.

Pandera (the father of Christ), 328.

Pantheism, 288.

Papacy, 314.

Papal ethics, 359.

Papiomorpha, 37.

Paul, 313, 357.
epistles of, 312.

Paulinism, 313.

Pedicle of the allantois, 69.

Perpetual motion, 245.

Persistence of force, 212, 231.
of matter, 212.

Phroneta, 293.

Phylogeny, 71, 81.
of the apes, 51.
systematic, 81.

Physiology, 39.

Phytopsyche, 157.

Pithecanthropus, 87.

Pithecoid theory, 82, etc.

Pithecometra-thesis, 69, 85.

Placenta, 32, 68.

Placentals, 32, 86.

Plasmodoma, 153.

Plasmogony, 257.

Plasmophaga, 154.

Plato, 99, 197.

Plato's theory of ideas, 269.

Platodaria, 160.

Platodes, 160.

Platyrrhinæ, 35.

Pneuma zoticon, 40.

Polytheism, 276.

Ponderable matter, 222.

Preformation theory, 54.

Primaria, 33.

Primates, 33, 86.

Primitive Christianity, 311.
gut, 61, 161.

Prodynamis, 216.

Progaster, 161.

Proplacentals, 85.

Prosimiæ, 34.

Prostoma, 161.

Prothyl, 223.

Protoplasm, 90.

Protozoa, 60.

Provertebræ, 166.

Pseudo-Christianity, 321.

Psychade theory, 178.

Psyche, 88.

Psychogeny, 135.
phyletic, 149.
post-embryonic, 146.

Psychology, 88 et seqq.
ontogenetic, 104.
phylogenetic, 104.

Psychomonism, 226.

Psychophysics, 97.

Psychoplasm, 91, 110.

Pupa, sleep of the, 146.

Pyknosis, 218.

Pyknotic theory of substance, 218.

Reason, 17, 125.

Reflex action, 112.
arches, 114.

Reformation, the, 319.

Religion a private concern, 361.

Remak, 58.

Revelation, 306.

Reversion, 142.

Romance of the Virgin Mary, 327.

Romanes, 106.

Rudimentary organs, 264.

Saints, 284.

Scale of emotion, 127.
of memory, 120.
of movement, 111.
of presentation, 118.
of reason, 122.
of reflex action, 113.
of will, 127.

Scatulation theory, 55.

Schleiden, 26, 47.

School, and Church, 361.
and State, 362.
reform of the, 363.

Schwann, 26, 47.

Selachii, 166.

Selection, theory of, 79.

Self-consciousness, 171.

Sense-knowledge, 297.
organs, 293.

Senses, philosophy of the, 295.

Sentiment, 17, etc., 331.

Siebold, 27.

Simiæ, 34.

Social duties, 351.
instincts, 350.

Solar systems, 241, 369.

Solarism, 280.

Soul, 88 _et seqq._
apparatus of the, 162.
blending of the, 141.
creation of the, 135.
division of the, 135.
etheric, 199.
gaseous, 199.
histionic, 157.
history of the, 167.
hydra, 161.
life of the, 90.
liquid, 200.
mammal, 167.
nerve, 162.
origin of the, 135.
of the plant, 157.
personal, 162.
solid, 201.
substance of the, 198.
transmigration of the, 135.

Sources of knowledge, 293.

Space and time, 244.
infinity of, 242.
reality of, 244.

Species, 73.

Spectral analysis, 241.

Spermarium, 63.

Spermatozoa, 58.

Spinal cord, 165.

Spinoza, 21, 215, 290.

Spirit world, 221.

Spirit-rapping, 305.

Spiritism, 304.

Spiritualism, 20.

Sponge, soul of the, 161.

Stem-cell, 63, 138, 151.

Stimulated movement, 113, 116.

Stimuli, conduction of, 158.

Strauss (David), 309, 313.

Struggle for life, 270.

Substance, 215.
law of, 211, etc.
structure of, 229.

Superstition, 301.

Süss (Edward), 250.

Syllabus, 323.

Synodikon (of Pappus), 312.

Table-turning, 305.

Teleological explanation, 259.

Teleology, 258.

Tetrapoda, 29.

Thanatism, 189.
primary, 192.
secondary, 192.

Theism, 276.

Theocracy, 9.

Theory, 299.

Thought, organs of, 126, 183, 293.

Time and space, 244.
reality of, 246.

Tissue, theory of, 26.

Tissue-forming animals, 157.
plants, 156.

Transformism, 76.

Trimurti, 278.

Trinity, dogma of the, 277.
monistic, 336.

Triplotheism, 277.

Tropesis, 225.

Tropismata, 128.

Tunicata, 165.

Turbellaria, 161.

Ultramontanism, 310.

Understanding, 125.

Unity of natural forces, 231.
of substance, 214.

Universum perpetuum mobile, 245.

Uterus, 34.

Vaticanism, 314.

Vertebrates, 27, _passim_.

Verworn (Max), 48, 116.

Vesalius, 24.

Vibration, theory of, 216.

Virchow, 26, 50.

Virchow's metamorphosis, 93.

Vital force, 42, 262.

Vitalism, 43, 262.

Vivisection, 41.

Vogt (Carl), 93.

Vogt (J.E.), 218.

Water-color drawing, 364.

Weismann, 190.

Will, liberty of the, 129.
scale of the, 128.

Wolff (C.F.), 56.

Woman and Christianity, 358.

World-consciousness, 171.

World-riddles, number of, 15.

Wundt (Wilhelm), 100, 171.

THE END

Transcriber's notes:

The following is a list of changes made to the original.
The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.

(12) Consequently, the so-called history of the world"
(12) Consequently, the so-called "history of the world"

structure of the primates forces us to distingiush two
structure of the primates forces us to distinguish two

of the geneaology of our race; for man bears all the
of the genealogy of our race; for man bears all the

world of which we have direct and certain cognizanze
world of which we have direct and certain cognizance

the law of substance by Robert Mayer and Helmholz
the law of substance by Robert Mayer and Helmholtz

The more impotant of these works we owe to Romanes
The more important of these works we owe to Romanes

Formerly assistant and pupil of Helmholz, Wundt had early
Formerly assistant and pupil of Helmholtz, Wundt had early

all other viviporous animals, precisely because the complete
all other viviparous animals, precisely because the complete

recent students of the protists, afford conlcusive evidence
recent students of the protists, afford conclusive evidence

a thinker is very striking; in explaning it, it is not
a thinker is very striking; in explaining it, it is not

"have no individuals and no generations in the matazoic sense."
"have no individuals and no generations in the metazoic sense."

in his _Species and Studies_ in his eighty-fouth year
in his _Species and Studies_ in his eighty-fourth year

Chief Forms of Theism--Polytheism--Tritheism--Ampitheism
Chief Forms of Theism--Polytheism--Triplotheism--Amphitheism

faith, and that all these insiduous institutions are
faith, and that all these insidious institutions are

nor in the narnow prisons of our jail-like schools,
nor in the narrow prisons of our jail-like schools,

And it was done in many, and sometimes very romatic, ways.
And it was done in many, and sometimes very romantic, ways.