Excerpt from The Optimism of Butler's AnalogyThat challenge has been made, as yet, in vain. It has roused no concern, it has evoked no new examina tion of Butler's claims to philosophical importance. His work remains still outside the current of living speculation.Is it worth while, then, to go back on an issue that has been decided The case has been made with incomparable force, under unique conditions of power and pathos and the verdict has been adverse. Who can be presumptuous enough to repeat an experiment which has received already such an august and final dismissal?No one, indeed, would dare it, if it was a matter which depended on personal qualifications. But that is, merci fully, not the case. The conditions which determine the doctrine and the concentration of the intellectual interests of an Age lie far beyond the range of personal in¿uence. They lie back in the secret motions Of organic growth in the subtle processes of mental transformation in the massed and manifold experiences which go to the creation of a social speculative temperament. There is a structure of living thought for ever in making, through infinite reaction on its environment, and in touch with a special atmosphere. To it, individuals are but accidental. It holds in itself its own principle of advance, and grows by the law of its own growth. Our highest function is to co-operate with its movement to do our minute contri butory work within its encompassing in¿uence. We cannot force it. We know but dimly the Springs on which it draws the hidden source from which it derives its momentum. We can but lend ourselves to become the instruments through which it achieves its own peculiar process of intellectual assimilation.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.