Anthropomorphism [pp. 120-144]

A NTHROPOMORPHISM.
tensive in its certainty with the highest possibility of human
knowledge. And here the argument from analogy loses its
force. The agnostic may have still other reasons, as he has,
for questioning our claim that this truth is ultimate and not
symbolic. But if we enter this claim, as we do, he is driven to
a very distinct alternative. He must either assert that every
concept of modern science of every kind is symbolic, relative to
the times, transitional, and hence, as compared with the science
of posterity, essentially untrue,-in which case his own fair system of agnostic philosophy must share the common fate of
every human aspiration after certainty of knowledge,-or else
he must relinquish his specious argument from analogy and pass
on to the higher ground of metaphysics, and, with a more manly
logic, discuss with us there the question of fact as to whether
there is an intelligent creator of the universe.
If he chooses the first part of the alternative and suggests
an agnosticism of the second degree, refusing to assert its own
negations, then, of course, the argument comes to a sudden
stop, because of his inability to carry it on. A man must stand
on something if he intends to strike a blow. If the agnostic
chooses the other part of the alternative, the argument from
analogy must be dropped, and the question becomes one of the
interpretation of nature or of the congruity of concepts.
And, in truth, there is much more force in the second part
of the argument against psychomorphism than in this appeal to
analogy. I call it the "physical" argument because there is no
term contradictory of "teleological." The theist employs the
teleological argument as proving the fact of an intelligent First
Cause. The agnostic denies the intelligent First Cause by a similar appeal to fact, and substitutes blind physical law, the manifestation of unknown and unknowable Force, in place of the
planning Mind.
The modern attack of agnosticism upon the time-honored
argument from design is shrewd and skilful. It is scientific in
its methods. It makes an artistic use of exploded mistakes. It
is keen in its thrusts at popular superstition, and quick to detect
the more vulnerable points in established belief. The agnostic is
growing bolder than he was at first, and to-day he takes little
pains to conceal his contempt for the theological delusion. From
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