One may be tempted to enquire whether many of these questions,
especially those connected with the ultimate reality, do not transcend
human faculties altogether, and whether we had not better confine our
enquiries to matters that are not "too high for us." One may question
whether it is possible for finite minds to comprehend the infinite.
Now it is very right that such questions should be asked, and it is
essential that a correct answer should be found. But, for the present,
there is nothing to say about the matter, except that these questions
themselves constitute one of the most important problems of
philosophy, though it is one which, as a matter of fact, has scarcely
been considered in full until modern times. The Greeks did not raise
the question. [Footnote 2] And as this is itself one of the problems
of philosophy, it will be well to start with an open mind. The
question cannot be decided offhand, but must be thoroughly
investigated. That the finite mind of man cannot understand the
infinite is one of those popular dogmatic assertions, which are
bruited about from mouth to mouth, as if they were self-evident, and
so come to tyrannize over men's minds. But for the most part those who
make this statement have never thoroughly sifted the grounds of it,
but simply take it as something universally admitted, and trouble no
further about it. But at the very least we should first know exactly
what {8} we mean by such terms as "mind," "finite," and "infinite."
And we shall not find that our difficulties end even there.

[Footnote 2: The reasoning of the Sceptics and others no doubt
involved this question. But they did not consider it in its peculiar
modern form.]

Philosophy, then, deals with the universe as a whole; and it seeks to
take nothing for granted. A third characteristic may be noted as
especially important, though here no doubt we are trenching upon
matters upon which there is no such universal agreement. Philosophy is
essentially an attempt to rise from sensuous to pure, that is,
non-senuous, thought. This requires some explanation.

We are conscious, so to speak, of two different worlds, the external
physical world and the internal mental world. If we look outwards we
are aware of the former, if we turn our gaze inwards upon our own
minds we become aware of the latter. It may appear incorrect to say
that the external world is purely physical, for it includes other
minds. I am aware of your mind, and