ABSTRACT
Originality in philosophy consists in the emphasis of aspects previously neglected rather than in the production of something entirely new. In this sense Cook Wilson’s method was decidedly original. According to Cook Wilson, metaphysics must abide absolutely by the findings of logic about knowledge. Cook Wilson’s attitude to language is very striking, and well repays consideration. Many philosophical errors arise, according to Cook Wilson, from a neglect of grammar as grammar and from a confusion of questions of grammar with questions of philosophy. Cook Wilson criticizes obscurity, vagueness, and confusion, of language; and demands the greatest clarity and precision (though he himself frequently offends in this matter). The aspect of Cook Wilson’s method that this chapter proposes to examine is what may be called the dogmatic element in it. Cook Wilson holds that all thinking is or involves the apprehension of reality, since all thinking is knowledge or opinion or wonder, and the two latter involve the first.
