We can easily conceive that every fact in the world
might be singular, that is, unlike any other fact and sole of its
kind. In such a world of singulars our logic would be useless, for
logic works by predicating of the single instance what is true of
all its kind. With no two things alike in the world, we should be
unable to reason from our past experiences to our future ones. The
existence of so much generic unity in things is thus perhaps the
most momentous pragmatic specification of what it may mean to say
'the world is One.' ABSOLUTE generic unity would obtain if there
were one summum genus under which all things without exception could
be eventually subsumed. 'Beings,' 'thinkables,' 'experiences,' would
be candidates for this position. Whether the alternatives expressed
by such words have any pragmatic significance or not, is another
question which I prefer to leave unsettled just now.
6. Another specification of what the phrase 'the world is One' may
mean is UNITY OF PURPOSE. An enormous number of things in the world
subserve a common purpose. All the man-made systems, administrative,
industrial, military, or what not, exist each for its controlling
purpose. Every living being pursues its own peculiar purposes.
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