Lessons from Nature, as Manifested in Mind and MatterD. Appleton, 1876 - 462 pages |
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Page ix
... known to us with supreme certainty , and this certainty cannot be denied without involving the destruction of all knowledge whatever . " Reasons why the contemplation of nature has become a passion - Specula- tive activity of our age ...
... known to us with supreme certainty , and this certainty cannot be denied without involving the destruction of all knowledge whatever . " Reasons why the contemplation of nature has become a passion - Specula- tive activity of our age ...
Page 1
... known to us with supreme certainty , and this certainty cannot be denied without involving the destruction of all knowledge whatever . " the contem- become a THE philosophic contemplation of nature may be said to be a passion of the age ...
... known to us with supreme certainty , and this certainty cannot be denied without involving the destruction of all knowledge whatever . " the contem- become a THE philosophic contemplation of nature may be said to be a passion of the age ...
Page 6
... known . Yet , very irrationally these know - nothings or Agnostics at the same time very confidently affirm that they , by their ignorance , absolutely and infallibly know that the healthy common sense of mankind has gone all wrong ...
... known . Yet , very irrationally these know - nothings or Agnostics at the same time very confidently affirm that they , by their ignorance , absolutely and infallibly know that the healthy common sense of mankind has gone all wrong ...
Page 7
... known is merely pheno- menal . Its value , then , can be only relative and pheno- menal ; that is , it has no absolute value , does not correspond with objective reality , and is therefore false . But if it is false that our knowledge ...
... known is merely pheno- menal . Its value , then , can be only relative and pheno- menal ; that is , it has no absolute value , does not correspond with objective reality , and is therefore false . But if it is false that our knowledge ...
Page 12
... consciousness which we con- sider to be their effects . " They are " hypothetical assumptions 6 * Lay Sermons , ' Descartes , p . 359 . which cannot be proved or known with the highest degree 12 [ CHAP . I. LESSONS FROM NATURE .
... consciousness which we con- sider to be their effects . " They are " hypothetical assumptions 6 * Lay Sermons , ' Descartes , p . 359 . which cannot be proved or known with the highest degree 12 [ CHAP . I. LESSONS FROM NATURE .
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Common terms and phrases
absolute accept action activity admit affirm Agnostics amongst animals apes assert believe birds brutes Cardinal Noris cause certainty characters Chauncey Wright colour conceive conception condition consciousness considered Darwin declarations deny distinct doctrine doubt evidence evolution existence expression external fact faculties feelings female force Herbert Spencer highest homology homoplasy human hypothesis idea instinct intellectual intelligence John Stuart Mill judgment kind language less Lewes males manifest means mental mind mode moral natural selection necessarily necessary necessary truth objective observes organism origin of species perception phenomena philosophy physical position possess present principle Professor Huxley proposition question races racters rational reason recognised relations religion remarks resemblance result savage says scepticism seems sensations sense sexual selection Sir John Lubbock soul structure Suarez supposed teaching tells Theism theory things thought tion tribes true truth Tylor universe validity words
Popular passages
Page 104 - I will call no being good, who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow-creatures ; and if such a being can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go.
Page 391 - If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask: Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact or existence? No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
Page 284 - IF IT could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.
Page 64 - See then our predicament. We can think of Matter only in terms of Mind. We can think of Mind only in terms of Matter. When we have pushed our explorations of the first to the uttermost limit, we are referred to the second for a final answer ; and when we have got the final answer of the second we are referred back to the first for an interpretation of it.
Page 177 - It is only our natural prejudice, and that arrogance which made our forefathers declare that they were descended from demigods, which leads us to demur to this conclusion.
Page 297 - Dr. Hooker, in his address to the British Association, spoke thus of the author: "Of Mr. Wallace and his many contributions to philosophical biology it is not easy to speak without enthusiasm; for, putting aside their great merits, he, throughout his writings, with a modesty as rare as I believe it to be unconscious, forgets his own unquestioned claim to the honour of having originated independently of Mr. Darwin, the theories which he so ably defends.
Page 104 - ... that there exists a being in whom all the excellences which the highest human mind can conceive, exist in a degree inconceivable to us, I am informed that the world is ruled by a being whose attributes are infinite, but what they are we cannot learn, nor what are the principles of his government, except that the highest human morality which we are capable of conceiving does not sanction them; convince me of it and I will bear my fate as I may.
Page 125 - Psychical changes either conform to law or they do not. If they do not conform to law, this work, in common with all works on the subject, is sheer nonsense : no science of Psychology is possible. If they do conform to law, there cannot be any such thing as free will.
Page 120 - To do this effectually it is necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs : the first that the order of nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent which is practically unlimited ; the second, that our volition counts for something as a condition of the course of events.