An Inquiry Into the Theories of History: With Special Reference to the Principles of the Positive PhilosophyW. H. Allen and Company, 1862 - 441 pages |
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according admitted affirms alleged animal anti-theistic argument ascribed assumed belief causes and effects Comte Comte's conceived conception conclusion consistent constitution d'une deny Descartes distinct divine doctrine of chance doctrine of final essentiellement être existence explain expression fact fetichism final causes fixed and invariable fundamental heavenly bodies human mind hypothesis idea inconsistent inference inmost nature intellectual effect intelligence invariable law l'humanité Lucretius matter means ment Mill mode modes of production monotheism moral disorder motion natural laws naturelles nécessairement necessarily necessary law necessity noumenon object operation organization pheno phenomena phénomènes Philosophie Positive Physical cause Physical effect polytheism positive philosophy positive science positive verification positivism primary cause principle produce proof providential quelconque question reason relations resemblance scientific sensations Sir George Lewis social society spontaneous spontaneous order supposed supreme theism theistic theological theory of chance things thought tion true truth universe volitions
Popular passages
Page 312 - NATURE, we learn from the past history of our globe that she has advanced with slow and stately steps, guided by the archetypal light amidst the wreck of worlds, from the first embodiment of the vertebrate idea under its old ichthyic vestment, until it became arrayed in the glorious garb of the human form.
Page 351 - In short, we are unable to construe it in thought that there can be an atom absolutely added to, or absolutely taken away from, existence in general.
Page 351 - It is not a thought of the mere springing of nothing into something. On the contrary, creation is conceived, and is by us conceivable, only as the evolution of existence from possibility into actuality, by the fiat of the Deity. Let us place ourselves in imagination at its very crisis. Now, can we construe it to thought, that the moment after the universe flashed into material reality, into manifested being, there was a larger complement of existence in the universe and its Author together, than,...
Page 198 - For, as our conception of a body is that of an unknown exciting cause of sensations, so our conception of a mind is that of an unknown recipient, or percipient, of them ; and not of them alone, but of all our other feelings.
Page 353 - 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 recognise as true.
Page 350 - It is thus that we are unable to rest satisfied with a * [The phenomenon is this : — When aware of a new appearance, we are unable to conceive that therein has originated any new existence, and are, therefore, constrained to think, that what now appears to us under a new form, had previously an existence under others, — others conceivable by us or not. These others (for they are always plural) are called its cause...
Page 27 - ... may be the political aspect of his own times, will never despair of the fortunes of the human race, but will act upon the conviction that prejudice, slavery, and corruption, must gradually give way to truth, liberty, and virtue ; and that, in the moral world, as well as in the material, the further our observations extend, and the longer they are continued, the more we shall perceive of order and of benevolent design in the universe.
Page 198 - I consider as distinct from these sensations, thoughts, &c.; a something which I conceive to be not the thoughts, but the being that has the thoughts, and which I can conceive as existing for ever in a state of quiescence, without any thoughts at all. But what this being is, though it is myself, I have no knowledge, other than the series of its states of consciousness.
Page 117 - Huic legi, nee obrogari fas est; neque derogari ex hac aliquid licet ; neque tota abrogari potest. Nee, vero, aut per senatum, aut per populum, solvi hac lege possumus.
Page 117 - Neque est quaerendus explanator aut interpres ejus alius: nee erit alia lex Romae, alia Athenis, alia nunc, alia posthac, sed et omnes gentes, et omni tempore una Lex, et sempiterna, et immortalis continebit; unusque erit communis quasi magister, et imperator omnium DEUS.