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218 THE WILL IN NATURE.
that the will is not conditioned by knowledge, as lias
hitherto been universally assumed, although know
ledge is conditioned by the will.
Now this fundamental truth, which even to-day sounds
so like a paradox, is the part of my doctrine to which, in
all its chief points, the empirical sciences themselves ever
eager to steer clear of all Metaphysic have contributed
just as many confirmations forcibly elicited by the irresis
tible cogency of truth, but which are most surprising on
account of the quarter whence they proceed ; and although
they have certainly come to light since the publication of
my chief work, it has been quite independently of it and as
the years went on. Now, that it should be precisely this
fundamental doctrine of mine which has thus met with
confirmation, is advantageous in two respects. First,
because it is the main thought upon which my system is
founded ; secondly, because it is the only part of my phi
losophy that admits of confirmation through sciences which
are alien to, and independent of, it. For although the last
seventeen years, during which I have been constantly
occupied with this subject, have, it is true, brought me
many corroborations as to other parts, such as Ethics,
^Esthetics, Dianoiology ; still these, by their very nature,
pass at once from the sphere of actuality, whence they
arise, to that of philosophy itself : so they cannot claim
to be extraneous evidence, nor can they, as collected by
me, have the same irrefragable, unequivocal cogency as
those concerning Metaphysics proper which are given
by its correlate Physics (in the wide sense of the word
which the Ancients gave it). For, in pursuing its own
road, Physics, i.e., Natural Science as a whole, must in
all its branches finally come to a point where physical ex
planation ceases. Now this is precisely the Metaphysical,
which Natural Science only apprehends as the impassable
barrier at which it stops short and henceforth abandons its