Nor will the devotion to truth for its own sake, which is the last refuge of the positivists when in despair 149

For this last has no meaning whatever, except as a form of concrete theism 152

The reverence for Nature is but another form of the devotion to truth, and its only possible meaning is equally theistic 157

Thus all the higher resources of positivism fail together 161

And the highest positive value of life would be something less than its present value 161

CHAPTER VII.

THE SUPERSTITION OF POSITIVISM.

From what we have just seen, the visionary character of the positivist conception of progress becomes evident 163

Its object is far more plainly an illusion than the Christian heaven 164

All the objections urged against the latter apply with far more force to the former 165

As a matter of fact, there is no possible object sufficient to start the enthusiasm required by the positivists 167

To make the required enthusiasm possible human nature would have to be completely changed 168

Two existing qualities, for instance, would have to be magnified to an impossible extent—­imagination 169

And unselfishness 170

If we state the positive system in terms of common life, its visionary character becomes evident 172

The examples which have suggested its possibility are quite misleading 173

The positive system is really far more based on superstition than any religion 175

Its appearance can only be accounted for by the characters and circumstances of its originators 175

And a consideration of these will help us more than anything to estimate it rightly 178

And will let us see that its only practical tendency is to deaden all our present interests, not to create any new ones 179

CHAPTER VIII.

THE PRACTICAL PROSPECT.

It is not contended that the prospect just described will, as a fact, ever be realised 183