First PrinciplesWilliams and Norgate, 1867 - 559 pages |
Common terms and phrases
absolute abstract action aggregate amount animals arise assert become belief body carbonic acid cause centre centre of gravity changes chemical common complete compound conceive conception conclusion consciousness constitute continue correlation definite differentiation diffused direction Earth effects elements equally equilibration equilibrium Evolution exhibited existence external fact faint manifestations functions further gravity groups heat heaval Hence heterogeneous homogeneous hypothesis ideas illustrations implies incident forces increase indefinite inference infinite infinite divisibility integration John Herschel kind lative less limit mass matter ment mental modes modified molecular motion movements moving multiform muscular nebular hypothesis object objective science organic original ovum persistence of force phenomena Philosophy plants position present produced progress quantity relations relative Religion rhythm Science secondary re-distributions separate similarly Sir William Hamilton social Solar System space species surface things thought tion transformation truth ultimate undergo uniform units unlike vivid manifestations whole
Popular passages
Page 117 - 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 70 - The mind is not represented as conceiving two propositions subversive of each other, as equally possible ; but only, as unable to understand as possible, either of 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...
Page 117 - 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 128 - Science comprehends and consolidates the narrower generalizations of its own division; so the generalizations of Philosophy comprehend and consolidate the widest generalizations of Science. It is therefore a knowledge the extreme opposite in kind to that which experience first accumulates. It is the final product of that process which begins with a mere colligation of crude observations, goes on establishing propositions that are broader and more separated from particular cases, and ends in universal...
Page 476 - The sun's rays are the ultimate source of almost every motion which takes place on the surface of the earth. By its heat are produced all winds, and those disturbances in the electric equilibrium of the atmosphere which give rise to the phenomena of lightning, and probably also to those of terrestrial magnetism and the aurora.
Page 107 - 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 517 - Apparently, the universally coexistent 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 period during which the attractive forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an immeasurable period during which the repulsive forces predominating, •cause universal diffusion — alternate eras of Evolution and Dissolution.
Page 392 - In other words, the phenomena of Evolution have to be deduced from the Persistence of Force. As before said, ' to this an ultimate analysis brings us down, and on this a rational synthesis must build up.
Page 40 - If Religion and Science are to be reconciled, the basis of reconciliation must be this deepest, widest, and most certain of all facts — that the Power which the Universe manifests to us is utterly inscrutable.
Page 60 - ... impossible to conceive how this came to be so ; and equally, if he speculates on the future, he can assign no limit to the grand succession of phenomena ever unfolding themselves before him.