First Principles of a New System of PhilosophyD. Appleton, 1864 - 508 pages |
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Expressions et termes fréquents
absolute abstract action agencies aggregate arise assert atoms become belief body carbonic acid cause centre centre of gravity changes chemical chemical affinity classes complete conceived conception conclusion connexion consciousness constitute continue correlation definite differentiation direction displayed Earth effects equally equilibration established Evolution exhibit existence external fact further gradually gravitation greater groups heat Hence Herbert Spencer heterogeneous homogeneous hypothesis ideas illustrations implies incident force increase indefinite inference infinite infinite divisibility integration John Herschel kind lative least resistance less limit manifest mass matter ment mental modes modifications molecular motion movements multiform muscular nature nebular hypothesis nexion object objective science organic origin persistence of force phenomena planets position present produced progress quantity re-arrangement relations relative Religion religious respect rhythm Science similarly Sir William Hamilton social Solar System space species surface things thought throughout tion transformation truth ultimate uniform units unlike velocity vertebræ
Fréquemment cités
Page 123 - But nature makes that mean : so, over that art Which you say adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scion to the wildest stock, And make conceive a bark of baser kind By bud of nobler race : this is an art Which does mend nature, change it rather, but The art itself is nature.
Page 76 - ... two extremes ; one of which, however, on the ground of their mutual repugnance, it is compelled to recognize as true. We are thus taught the salutary lesson, that the capacity of thought is not to be constituted. into the measure of existence ; and are warned from recognizing the domain of our knowledge as necessarily co-extensive with the horizon of our faith. And by a wonderful revelation, we are thus, in the very consciousness of our inability to conceive aught above the relative and finite,...
Page 482 - Motion as well as matter being fixed in quantity it would seem that the change in the distribution of matter which motion effects coming to a limit in whichever direction it is carried, the indestructible motion thereupon necessitates a reverse distribution. Apparently the universally co-existent forces of attraction and repulsion, which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm in all minor changes throughout the universe, also necessitate rhythm in the totality of its changes, produce now an immeasurable...
Page 123 - Whoever hesitates to utter that which he thinks the highest truth, lest it should be too much in advance of the time, may reassure himself by looking at his acts from an impersonal point of view.
Page 96 - Our consciousness of the unconditioned being literally the unconditioned consciousness, or raw material of thought to which in thinking we give definite forms, it follows that an ever-present sense of real existence is the very basis of our intelligence. As we can in successive mental acts get rid of all particular conditions and replace them by others, but cannot get rid of that undifferentiated substance of consciousness which is conditioned anew in every thought; there ever remains with us a sense...
Page 88 - How then can it be a legitimate conclusion from the argument, that our con-. sciousncss of it is negative ? An argument, the very construction of which assigns to a certain term a certain meaning, but which ends in showing that this term has no such meaning, is simply an elaborate suicide. Clearly, then, the very demonstration that a definite consciousness of the Absolute is impossible to us, unavoidably presupposes an indefinite consciousness of it.
Page 80 - Whence it is manifest that a thing is perfectly known only when it is in all respects like certain things previously observed; that in proportion to the number of respects in which it is unlike them, is the extent to which it is unknown; and that hence when it has absolutely no attribute in common with anything else, it must be absolutely beyond the bounds of knowledge.
Page 113 - By continually seeking to know and being continually thrown back with a deepened conviction of the impossibility of knowing, we may keep alive the consciousness that it is alike our highest wisdom and our highest duty to regard that through which all things exist as The Unknowable.
Page 74 - In our opinion, the mind can conceive, and consequently can know, only the limited, and the conditionally limited. The unconditionally unlimited, or the Infinite, the unconditionally limited, or the Absolute, cannot positively be construed to the mind ; they can be conceived, only by a thinking away from, or abstraction of, those very conditions under which thought itself is realised ; consequently, the noaon of the Unconditioned is only negative,- — negative of the conceivable itself.
Page 502 - We can say no more than before, whether the uniformities are as absolutely necessary, as they have become to our thought relatively necessary. The utmost possibility for us, is an interpretation of the process of things as it presents itself to our limited consciousness ; but how this process is related to the actual process, we are unable to conceive, much less to know.