most common
experiences, and, at the same time, instead of being circumscribed
within the limits of experience, transcend and govern it--principles
which are _universal_ in the midst of particular phenomena--_necessary,_
though mingled with things contingent--to our eyes _infinite_ and
_absolute_, even when appearing in us the relative and finite beings
that we are.[507] These first or fundamental principles Plato called
IDEAS (ideai).

[Footnote 507: Cousin's "The True, the Beautiful, and the Good," p. 40.]

In attempting to present to the reader an adequate representation of the
Platonic Ideas, we shall be under the necessity of anticipating some of
the results of his Dialectical method before we have expounded that
method. And, further, in order that it may be properly appreciated by
the modern student, we shall avail ourselves of the lights which modern
psychology, faithful to the method of Plato, has thrown upon the
subject. Whilst, however, we admit that modern psychology has succeeded
in giving more definiteness and precision to the "doctrine of Ideas," we
shall find that all that is fundamentally valuable and true was present
to the mind of Plato. Whatever superiority the "Spiritual" philosophy of
to-day may have over the philosophy of past ages, it has attained that
superiority by its adherence to the principles and method of Plato.

In order to the completeness of our preliminary exposition of the
Platonic doctrine of Ideas, we shall conditionally assume, as a natural
and legitimate hypothesis, the doctrine so earnestly asserted by Plato,
that the visible universe, at least in its present form, is an _effect_
which must have had a _cause_,[508] and that the Order, and Beauty, and
Excellence of the universe are the result of the presence and operation
of a "regulating Intelligence"--a _Supreme Mind_.[509] Now that,
anterior to the creation of the universe, there must have existed in the
Eternal Mind certain fundamental principles of Order, Right, and Good,
will not be denied. Every conceivable _form_, every possible _relation_,
every principle of _right_, must have been eternally present to the
Divine thought. As pure intelligence, the Deity must have always been
self-conscious--must have known himself as substance and cause, as the
Infinite and Perfect. If then the Divine Energy is put forth in creative
acts, that energy must obey those eternal principles of Order, Right,
and Good. If the Deity operate at a