The philosophy of necessity
The Philosophy of Necessity is the "reason why" of Necessity. Necessity implies Law or a constant and invariable order of events in the physical and also in the moral world. The reason is exercised in the knowledge and calculation of this fixed order, and if in any department of Nature, this order did not reign, in that department there could be no exercise of reason. This is the " reason why" of " Necessity." "Man, the servant and interpreter of Nature, can only understand and act in proportion as he observes or contemplates the order of Nature; more he can neither know nor do." It is now generally admitted that Lord Bacon as defined in the above fundamental principle of the inductive Philosophy, the extent of the knowledge of which man is capable; what Nature has already enabled him and what she has forbidden. him to do.
For want of a clear perception of the boundaries of his mind, which Nature herself has fixed, man has in all ages dogmatized upon end- fewer subjects, which from the very constitution of his being, are beyond his reach; and has formed, and is continually forming, theories upon points which lie beyond the range of his powers. Much speculation would be saved, and much pernicious error would be prevented, if we would always keep in view that it is the order of Nature alone, whether as relating to the matter or to mind, that we are capable of -observing and understanding; that we ca,n know neither the beginning nor the end of things, but can only observe what is.
We can know in itself, neither the real nature of matter nor of mind, but only the order in which one event follows another, or in which one sensation follows another. " To aspire to the knowledge of more than phenomena, — ^their resemblances, co-existences, and successions, — "is to aspire to transcend the inexorable limits of human faculties. To know more, we must be more."
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