ducts of intelligent causation.
Now this sublimated form of the teleological argument, it will be
remembered, I denoted a metaphysical teleology, in order sharply to
distinguish it from all previous forms of that argument, which, in
contradistinction I denoted scientific teleologies. And the distinction, it
will be remembered, consisted in this--that while all previous forms of
teleology, by resting on a basis which was not beyond the possible reach of
science, laid themselves open to the possibility of scientific refutation,
the metaphysical system of teleology, by resting on a basis which is
clearly beyond the possible reach of science, can never be susceptible of
scientific refutation. And that this metaphysical system of teleology does
rest on such a basis is indisputable; for while it accepts the most
ultimate truths of which science can ever be cognisant--viz., the
persistence of force and the consequently necessary genesis of natural
law,--it nevertheless maintains that the necessity of regarding Mind as the
ultimate cause of things is not on this account removed; and, therefore,
that if science now requires the operation of a Supreme Mind to be posited
in a super-scientific sphere, then in a super-scientific sphere it ought to
be posited. No doubt this hypothesis at first sight seems gratuitous,
seeing that, so far as science can penetrate, there is no need of any such
hypothesis at all--cosmic harmony resulting as a physically necessary
consequence from the combined action of natural laws, which in turn result
as a physically necessary consequence of the persistence of force and the
primary qualities of matter. But although it is thus indisputably true that
metaphysical teleology is wholly gratuitous if considered scientifically,
it may not be true that it is wholly gratuitous if considered
psychologically. In other words, if it is more conceivable that Mind should
be the ultimate cause of cosmic harmony than that the persistence of force
should be so, then it is not irrational to accept the more conceivable
hypothesis in preference to the less conceivable one, provided that the
choice is made with the diffidence which is required by the considerations
adduced in Chapter V.

I conclude, therefore, that the hypothesis of metaphysical teleology,
although in a physical sense gratuitous, may be in a psychological sense
legitimate. But as against the fundamental position on which alone this
argument can rest--viz., t