Every individual must work out his own
relation to the world on the basis of knowledge as complete as he can make
it, but every individual must accomplish this end for himself. Because no
two men can be exactly alike in temperament, intellect, and social
situation, it is impossible for entire agreement in religious faith to
exist. One's outlook upon the whole universe is and must be an individual
matter; science and evolution are of overwhelming value, not by directing
the mind to adopt this or that attitude toward the unseen, but by
providing the seeker after the truth with definite knowledge about the
things of the world, so that his position may be taken on the sound basis
of reasonable and common-sensible principles.
* * * * *
When we take up science and philosophy, or knowledge as a whole, after
religion, it may seem that we have reversed the proper sequence. There are
many reasons for following this course, inasmuch as "knowledge" is the
all-inclusive category of thought; our world is after all a world of
individual consciousness and ideas. In dealing with religion, ethics,
social organization, and human culture, we have been concerned with the
evolution of so many departments of thought and action; and now we are to
develop a final conception of evolution as a universal process in the
progress of all knowledge.
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