Philosophical Fragments: Written During Intervals of BusinessLongmans & Company, 1878 - 278 pages |
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absolute absolute substance abstract accumulation action activity amongst applied basis beautiful becomes Cartesian common sense conception conclusions connection consciousness conviction culture deductive Descartes direct divine doctrine elements emotions existence experience external world fact faculties Fichte fundamental German habits Hegel Herbart highest human knowledge human mind ideal ideas individual inductive infinite influence instinct intellectual intelligence Kant Kant's language laws lectures Leibnitz Leibnitzian logical Malebranche mathematical matter means mental metaphysics method modern monad monadology moral natural theology nature never object objective idealism ontology pantheism perception perfect phenomena philosophy philosophy of mind physical possess practical pre-established harmony present principle psychology question reality regard residua result Schelling Scholasticism Schopenhauer scientific sensation side soul speculation sphere Spinoza spirit teaching tendency term theory things thought tion truth uncon unconscious universe University of Königsberg volitional whole wholly Wolff Wolfian
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Page 165 - ... of the Abbeville and Amiens gravel-beds. No logical proof can be adduced that the peculiar shapes of these flints were given to them by Human hands; but does any unprejudiced person now doubt it? The evidence of design, to which, after an examination of one or two such specimens, we should only be justified in attaching a probable value, derives an irresistible cogency from accumulation. On the other hand, the improbability that these flints acquired their peculiar shape by accident, becomes...
Page 165 - Sense," disciplined and enlarged by appropriate culture, becomes one of our most valuable instruments of Scientific inquiry; affording in many instances the best, and sometimes the only, basis for a rational conclusion. Let us take as a typical case, in which no special knowledge is required, what we are accustomed to call the "flint implements" of the Abbeville and Amiens gravel-beds. No logical proof can be adduced that the peculiar shapes of these flints were given to them by Human hands; but...
Page 165 - ... such specimens, we should only be justified in attaching a probable value, derives an irresistible cogency from accumulation. On the other hand, the improbability that these flints acquired their' peculiar shape by accident, becomes to our minds greater and greater as more and more such specimens are found ; until at last this hypothesis, although it cannot be directly disproved, is felt to be almost inconceivable, except by minds previously " possessed " by the " dominant idea
Page 166 - Even hi this most exact of Sciences, therefore, we cannot proceed a step, without translating the actual Phenomena of Nature into Intellectual Representations of those phenomena ; and it is because the Newtonian conception is not only the most simple, but is also, up to the extent of our present knowledge, universal in its conformity to the facts of observation, that wo accept it as the only Scheme of the Universe yet promulgated, which satisfies our Intellectual requirements.
Page 159 - ... has advanced. Each new ontological theory, from time to time propounded in lieu of previous ones shown to be untenable, has been followed by a new criticism leading to a new scepticism.
Page 106 - IMMANENCE implies the unity of the intelligent principle in creation, in the creation itself, and of course includes in it every genuine form of pantheism. Transcendence implies the existence of a separate divine intelligence, and of another and spiritual state of being, intended to perfectionate our...
Page 165 - I think it can be shown that the trustworthiness of this commonsense decision arises from its dependence, not on any one set of experiences, but upon our unconscious co-ordination of the whole aggregate of our experiences — not on the conclusiveness of any one train of reasoning, but on the convergence of all our lines of thought toward this one centre. Now this
Page 99 - The fundamental idea is, indeed, precisely the same as that of Schelling, with this difference only — that the idealistic language of the German speculator is here translated into the more ordinary language of physical science. That Comte borrowed his views from Schelling we can by no means affirm ; but that the whole conception of the affiliation of the sciences in the order of their relative simplicity, and the expansion of the same law of development so as to include the exposition of human...
Page 165 - ... scientific interpretations are clearly matters of judgment ; and this is eminently a personal act, the value of its results depending in each case upon the qualifications of the individual for arriving at a correct decision. The surest of such judgments are those dictated by what we term "common-sense...
Page 166 - And thus what was in the first instance a matter of discussion, has now become one of those "self-evident" propositions which claim the unhesitating assent of all whose opinion on the subject is entitled to the least weight. We proceed upwards, however, from such questions as the common sense of mankind generally is competent to decide, to those in which special knowledge is required to give value to the judgment, and thus the interpretation of nature by the use of that faculty comes to be more and...