OUTLINES OF METAPHYSICS

by John S. MacKenzie

Excerpt from Outlines of Metaphysics The publication of so small a book, dealing with so vast a subject, certainly calls for some explanation. It is the outcome of a larger plan - the ridiculus mus, as some may think, that has issued from a too ambitious undertaking. I had promised a good many years ago to write a book for Sonnenschein's Library of Philosophy, giving a comprehensive and connected survey of philosophical first principles, as these appear in the light of the most recent developments of thought. This promise may at some time be fulfilled; but the duties of a teacher of Philosophy in a provincial College are not favourable to large constructive efforts; and several circumstances have made this particular attempt appear less urgent than it once did. The publication of Mr. Bradley's great work on Appearance and Reality might well give pause to any one who had a similar design in view. If his brilliant dialectic and subtle speculative insight had failed to produce a convincing scheme of philosophic truth, the prospect was not very encouraging for the smaller fry. On the other hand, so far as he had succeeded, further attempts in the same direction became unnecessary.

Hardcover

First published March 15, 2007