always without exception in the object if thought; and whatever exists always without exception in the object of thought is necessary in thought. It is not said, that whatever exists always in "things-in-them- selves" is necessary in thought, for of things-in-them- selves we have no experience; but, so far as any thing is an object for us, whatever is universal in the object is necessary in the subject. Necessity is a term which has meaning only in reference to our cognition; it is subjective in its reference; while the term univer- sality is objective, not referring however to existence per se, but to objective existence for us. We shall have to consider in the course of these pages whether any causal relation obtains between these two corre- lates, necessity and universality. For the present it is enough to explain, that no necessity can be ad- mitted to exist in the objective world; that what we call a necessary sequence is necessary solely in refer- ence to our understanding, because we refer the con- sequent to a special antecedent, and bring it thus under some law which we think of as fixed, at least so far as the particular case under consideration is concerned; and that the only thing which corresponds to our notion of necessity in nature is the phenomenon of universality. Universality means, that the thing in question, whatever it is, never is otherwise; neces- sity means, that we cannot conceive it otherwise. In the former case there is no impossibility introduced; in the latter case there is an impossibility, but it is one of thought not of fact, subjective not objective. Like the terms subject and object themselves, the terms necessity and universality are but two as- pects, inseparable from each other, of the same phe- nomenon.
PART I. CH. I. ยง 3. Necessity and Universality.
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Publication Information: Book Title: Time and Space: A Metaphysical Essay. Contributors: Shadworth H. Hodgson - author. Publisher: Longman Green Longman Roberts and Green. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1865. Page Number: 10.
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