Outlines of Mormon Philosophy Or the Answers Given by the Gospel, as Revealed Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, to the Questions of Life — Text and Context

A System Built on Universal Questions

The preface declares that every person “gradually builds up, from his observations and reason, a system of philosophy” to explain life’s problems. Wilson’s stated aim is to help readers “start right” so that their ideas “may square with the truth as it is known to the Lord.” This is not a defensive apologia but an assertive claim that Mormonism offers the most coherent framework for understanding existence—a point reinforced by the epigraph from a non-Mormon: “Mormonism, as a theory, offers the most comprehensive and consistent explanation of the great mystery of existence.” The structure of the book, outlined in a diagram, moves from “Introductory Conditions” (Space, Time, Matter, Intelligences) through “The Gospel” (Inception, Purpose, Plan, Covenants, Perpetuity) to “Conditions Subsequent” (Nature, Man) and a Conclusion. This systematic arrangement mirrors a philosophical treatise more than a catechism.

Cosmology and the Earth’s Journey

Wilson devotes considerable space to the earth’s origin and destiny, drawing on Latter-day Saint scripture and prophetic statements. He cites a revelation that the earth was “organized or formed out of other planets, which were broken up and remodeled.” The earth is given the name “Idumea” and is described as abiding “the law of a celestial kingdom,” destined to be “sanctified” and become “a Urim and Thummim” for its inhabitants. Wilson speculates that the earth may have been inhabited before Adam, based on the command to “replenish” it, but he carefully notes that “no account is given us by revelation” on this point. The excerpts show a willingness to extrapolate from limited scriptural data while marking the boundaries of revealed knowledge.

The Role of Revelation and Reason

Wilson repeatedly balances speculative reasoning with deference to revelation. In discussing the earth’s past, he writes that “we may infer” from the command to replenish, but immediately adds “of this no account is given us by revelation.” Similarly, he acknowledges that “we may speculate upon the multitude of the Lord’s creations” but have “no detailed account of any planet but of the earth on which we dwell.” This cautious approach is consistent with his prefatory warning against “the contradictory hypotheses of speculative philosophy.” The work is designed “rather for study than for reading,” and Wilson promises that the studious reader “will find it a voluminous work, profusely illustrated with pictures such as no painter ever transferred to canvas.” The excerpts suggest a text that invites meditation on cosmic themes while grounding its claims in specific Latter-day Saint scriptures.

Readers should approach Outlines of Mormon Philosophy as a work of systematic theology that uses the tools of philosophy to organize revealed truth. Wilson’s method is to pose universal questions and then answer them through Latter-day Saint scripture, particularly the Book of Moses and the Doctrine and Covenants. The excerpts show a text that is both ambitious in scope and careful in its claims, often marking where revelation ends and speculation begins. This is not a casual read but a study manual for those seeking a coherent worldview grounded in Mormon doctrine.

The rain tapped against my window, and I kept returning to Wilson’s quiet insistence that matter and spirit were one substance, unbroken. That idea lingered past the final page, almost leading me by the hand to a worn notebook on Herder, where a different sort of wholeness waited—the people as a living body, not an abstraction. Herder's conception of "das Volk" — Reading Notes felt like an old friend finishing Wilson’s sentence, though they never met.