Absolute unity brooks no degrees--as well
might you claim absolute purity for a glass of water because it
contains but a single little cholera-germ. The independence, however
infinitesimal, of a part, however small, would be to the Absolute as
fatal as a cholera-germ.
Pluralism on the other hand has no need of this dogmatic rigoristic
temper. Provided you grant SOME separation among things, some tremor
of independence, some free play of parts on one another, some real
novelty or chance, however minute, she is amply satisfied, and will
allow you any amount, however great, of real union. How much of
union there may be is a question that she thinks can only be decided
empirically. The amount may be enormous, colossal; but absolute
monism is shattered if, along with all the union, there has to be
granted the slightest modicum, the most incipient nascency, or the
most residual trace, of a separation that is not 'overcome.'
Pragmatism, pending the final empirical ascertainment of just what
the balance of union and disunion among things may be, must
obviously range herself upon the pluralistic side. Some day, she
admits, even total union, with one knower, one origin, and a
universe consolidated in every conceivable way, may turn out to be
the most acceptable of all hypotheses.
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