The Insuppressible Book: A Controversy Between Herbert Spencer and Frederic Harrison; From the Nineteenth Century and Pall Mall Gazette (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Insuppressible Book: A Controversy Between Herbert Spencer and Frederic Harrison; From the "Nineteenth Century" And "Pall Mall Gazette"

Unlike the ordinary consciousness, the religious consciousness is concerned with that which lies be yond the sphere of sense. A brute thinks only of things which can be touched, seen, heard, tasted, etc. And the like is true of the untaught child, the deaf mute, and the lowest savage. But the developing man has thoughts about existences which he regards as usually intangible, inaudible, invisible; and yet which he regards as operative upon him. What sug gests this notion of agencies transcending percep tion? How do these ideas concerning the supernat ural evolve out of ideas concerning the natural? The transition cannot be sudden; and an account of the genesis of religion must begin by describing the steps through which the transition takes place.

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