And  if  Professor  James  really  intends  to
include  in  his  "  religious  needs  "  sentimental  religion
as  well  as  utilitarian  religion,  yet  in  reality,  prag-
matically, it  is  the  latter  that  is  important  above  all
else. It  is  this  which  is  frankly  aimed  at  in  the
ulterior  developments  of  the  author's  thought  —  al-
though always  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  offend  our
ears  by  a  utilitarianism  too  rude. Professor  James
himself  —  though  perhaps  without  ever  having  come
to  a  formal  understanding  with  himself  on  this  point
—  makes  a  perfect  distinction  between  religion  in
general  and  "  the  religious  needs  "  in  the  sense  of
the  need  of  an  ethical  sanction. It  is  this  latter  con-
ception which  is  alone  on  the  tapis  in  the  important
discussion  of  his  third  lecture. He  is  there  compar-
ing materialism  and  spiritualism :  "  And  first  of  all
I  call  your  attention  to  a  curious  fact. It  makes  not
a  single  jot  of  difference  so  far  as  the  past  of  the


SOCIAL   PHENOMENA  iSS

world  goes,  whether  we  deem  it  to  have  been  the
work  of  matter  or  whether  we  think  a  divine  spirit
was  its  author  "  (p. 96). We  may  suppose  that  the
two  hypotheses,  materiahst  and  spiritualist,  both  one
and  the  other  give  an  equally  satisfactory  account  of
what  is,  and  hence  intellectually,  "  the  two  theories,
in  spite  of  their  different  sounding  names,  mean
exactly  the  same  thing,  and  the  dispute  is  purely
verbal"  (p. 97). Is  it  a  God  or  atoms?  "The
God,  if  there,  has  been  doing  just  what  atoms  could
do. and  earning  such  gratitude  as  is  due  to
atoms  and  no  more"  (p. 99). But  let  us  state  the
pragmatic  question,  "What  difference  would  it  make
now  whether  the  world  be  the  product  of  matter  or
of  spirit?  "  then  "  the  alternative  of  materialism  or
theism  is  intensely  practical"  (p. loi). Here  is
the  whole  thing  in  a  nutshell :  "  Materialism  means
simply  the  denial  that  the  moral  order  is  eternal,
and  the  cutting  off  of  ultimate  hopes;  spiritualism
means  the  affirmation  of  an  eternal  moral  order  and
the  letting  loose  of  hope. Surely  here  is  an  issue
genuine  enough,  for  any  one  who  feels  it;  and,  as
long  as  men  are  men,  it  will  yield  matter  for  a  seri-
ous philosophic  debate"  (p. 107). 