This is a book in philosophy. As a philosophic work should, it at-
tempts to articulate a vision of the whole of things. This means it
must run counter to the temper not only of critics of philosophy,
but of many contemporary philosophers as well. Every one of us,
in these last decades, has often heard the complaint that the world
of knowledge has grown enormously, and that it is now too big
for any one to envisage. Too many of us have too quickly said that
it is futile to hope that the meaning of the whole, or even of man's
place within it, can be grasped by anyone. We must be content,
it has been supposed, to master limited branches of knowledge,
to try to learn exactly what is the case here or there, and should
give up the attempt to say something more. There seemed to be
no real fear that such self-restraint might turn us into partial men.
Encyclopedias and staff conferences, surveys and texts, it was felt,
could bring all together, and in harmony. We were confident that
we needed nothing more than co-operation, interchange and com-
munication to help us produce our well-made parts one with the
other, and interrelate them to give us a clearer, more lasting, a

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