51. BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE, from an engraved Portrait
by ROBERT WHITE ....30...194
52. HENRY MORE, from a Portrait by DAVID LOGGAN, engraved ad vivum, 1679
. . . ,, 31, ,, 198
53. RALPH CUDWORTH, from an engraved Portrait by VERTUE, after LOGGAN,
forming the Frontispiece to CUDWORTH's Treatise Concerning Morality
(1731) ,, 32, ,, 3~



BYGONE BELIEFS

I

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDAEVAL THOUGHT

IN the earliest days of his upward evolution man was satisfied with a
very crude explanation of natural phenomena--that to which the name
"animism" has been given. In this stage of mental development all
the various forces of Nature are personified: the rushing torrent, the
devastating fire, the wind rustling the forest leaves--in the mind of
the animistic savage all these are personalities, spirits, like himself,
but animated by motives more or less antagonistic to him.

I suppose that no possible exception could be taken to the statement
that modern science renders animism impossible. But let us inquire in
exactly what sense this is true. It is not true that science robs
natural phenomena of their spiritual significance. The mistake is
often made of supposing that science explains, or endeavours to
explain, phenomena. But that is the business of philosophy. The task