He turns
towards concreteness and adequacy, towards facts, towards action,
and towards power. That means the empiricist temper regnant, and the
rationalist temper sincerely given up. It means the open air and
possibilities of nature, as against dogma, artificiality and the
pretence of finality in truth.
At the same time it does not stand for any special results. It is a
method only. But the general triumph of that method would mean an
enormous change in what I called in my last lecture the
'temperament' of philosophy. Teachers of the ultra-rationalistic
type would be frozen out, much as the courtier type is frozen out in
republics, as the ultramontane type of priest is frozen out in
protestant lands. Science and metaphysics would come much nearer
together, would in fact work absolutely hand in hand.
Metaphysics has usually followed a very primitive kind of quest. You
know how men have always hankered after unlawful magic, and you know
what a great part, in magic, WORDS have always played. If you have
his name, or the formula of incantation that binds him, you can
control the spirit, genie, afrite, or whatever the power may be.
Solomon knew the names of all the spirits, and having their names,
he held them subject to his will.
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