ceeds by the interrogation of nature. The analysis of Plato
proceeds by the interrogation of mind, in order to discover the
fundamental _ideas_ which lie at the basis of all cognition, which
determine all our processes of thought, and which, in their final
analysis, reveal the REAL BEING, which is the ground and explanation of
all existence.

Now the fact that such an inquiry has originated in the human mind, and
that it can not rest satisfied without some solution, is conclusive
evidence that the mind has an instinctive belief, a proleptic
anticipation, that such knowledge can be attained. There must
unquestionably be some mental initiative which is the _motive_ and
_guide_ to all philosophical inquiry. We must have some well-grounded
conviction, some _a priori_ belief, some pre-cognition "ad intentionem
ejus quod quaeritur,"[564] which determines the direction of our
thinking. The mind does not go to work aimlessly; it asks a specific
question; it demands the "_whence_" and the "_why_" of that which is.
Neither does it go to work unfurnished with any guiding principles. That
which impels the mind to a determinate act of thinking is the possession
of a _knowledge_ which is different from, and independent of, the
process of thinking itself. "A rational anticipation is, then, the
ground of the _prudens quaestio_--"the forethought query, which, in
fact, is the prior half of the knowledge sought."[565] If the mind
inquire after "laws," and "causes," and "reasons," and "grounds,"--the
first principles of all knowledge and of all existence,--"it must have
the _a priori_ ideas of "law," and "cause," and "reason," and "being _in
se"_ which, though dimly revealed to the mind previous to the discipline
of reflection, are yet unconsciously governing its spontaneous modes of
thought. The whole process of induction has, then, some rational ground
to proceed upon--some principles deeper than science, and more certain
than demonstration, which reason contains within itself, and which
induction "draws out" into clearer light.

[Footnote 564: Bacon.]

[Footnote 565: Coleridge, vol. ii. p. 413.]

Now this mental initiative of every process of induction is the
intuitive and necessary conviction _that there must be a sufficient
reason why every thing exists, and why it is as it is, and not
otherwise_;[566] or in other words, if any thing begins to be, some
thing else must be supposed[567] as the ground, and reason, and cause,
and law