ABSTRACT
Metaphysics, according to F. H. Bradley, ‘is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct’. It is curious to find this pungent dictum at the beginning of a long book of earnest and even unctuous metaphysics, which, through much arduous argumentation, leads up to the final conclusion: ‘Outside of spirit there is not, and there cannot be, any reality, and, the more that anything is spiritual, so much the more is it veritably real.’ A rare moment of self-knowledge must have inspired the initial aphorism, which was made bearable to its author by its semi-humorous form; but throughout the rest of his labours he allowed himself to be claimed by ‘the instinct to find bad reasons’. When he was serious he was sophistical, and a typical philosopher; when he jested, he had insight and uttered unphilosophical truth.
