existence constantly new. The series of element-combinations is not recurrent, and the world-whole moves, not in a circuit, but in a continual advance. This movement is carried forward by the Logic of Nature, that is, by the combined action of causation, space, and time, which are its only ultimate principles. Hence real causation is the transfer of motion by the impact of extended parts, and the evolution of the world proceeds by the single principle of mechanism. Strictly, then, universal logic is simply a Mechanics of Nature.[1] This cosmic principle unfolds itself, primarily, in two auxiliary ones, — the Law of Difference and the Law of Definite Number. The logic of the universe, bearing onward in obedience to these, must move, however, to a definite result, the above-named Final Purpose of the World: this real logic must play the form inherent in it out to completion. Thus the universe moves to a self-predestined close, and is therefore under a third and final law, — the Law of the Whole.
These three laws, now, are the Open Sesame to all philosophy, theoretical or practical. They are, for instance, the secret of that Natural Dialectic
- ↑ Dühring’s earliest book of mark was his Critical History of the General Principles of Mechanics, a work crowned by the University of Göttingen, and held, generally, in the highest esteem. It passed to its second edition in 1877. A third edition has recently appeared.
