nd then become related
in another way, and yet in no way themselves are altered; for the
relations, it is said, are but external. But I reply that, if so, I can
not _understand_ the leaving by the terms of one set of relations and
their adoption of another fresh set. The process and its result to the
terms, if they contribute nothing to it [_Surely they contribute to it
all there is 'of' it!_] seem irrational throughout. [_If 'irrational'
here means simply 'non-rational,' or nondeductible from the essence of
either term singly, it is no reproach; if it means 'contradicting' such
essence, Mr. Bradley should show wherein and how._] But, if they
contribute anything, they must surely be affected internally. [_Why so,
if they contribute only their surface? In such relations as 'on' 'a foot
away,' 'between,' 'next,' etc., only surfaces are in question._] ... If
the terms contribute anything whatever, then the terms are affected
[_inwardly altered?_] by the arrangement.... That for working purposes
we treat, and do well to treat, some relations as external merely I do
not deny, and that of course is not the question at issue here. That
question is ... whether in the end and in principle a mere external
relation [_i.e., a relation which can change without forcing its terms
to change their nature simultaneously_] is possible and forced on us by
the facts."[57]

Mr. Bradley next reverts to the antinomies of space, which, according to
him, prove it to be unreal, although it appears as so prolific a medium
of external relations; and he then concludes that "Irrationality and
externality can not be the last truth about things. Somewhere there must
be a reason why this and that appear together. And this reason and
reality must reside in the whole from which terms and relations are
abstractions, a whole in which their internal connection must lie, and
out of which from the background appear those fresh results which never
could have come from the premises." And he adds that "Where the whole is
different, the terms that qualify and contribute to it must so far be
different.... They are altered so far only [_How far? farther than
externally, yet not through and through?_] but still they are
altered.... I must insist that in each case the terms are qualified by
their whole [_Qualified how?--Do their external relations, situations,
dates, etc., changed as these are in the new whole, fail to qualify them
'far' enough?_], and that in the sec