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Untitled Article
4 g Moral evidence , " says the author , is that species of proof which is employed on subjects , directly or indirectl y * connected with moral conduct . It is not * , however , confined to such subjects , but is extended to all those facts ahd events , concerning which we do not obtain the evidence of sense , intuition , or demonstration , and to all the general truths which are deduced from observation . In these , it still retains the name of moral evidence—a denomination which it seems
to have derived from its being employed on subjects connected with moral conduct , because they form the most important class of subjects to which it is applicable /* After stating the difference between moral evidence and de- » monstration , in eleven particulars ^ the author observes—V-* From what has been said , it is evident that moral evidence is
vastly inferior to demonstration , - Hence , perhaps , some persons may conclude that the study of it will be of little use : but however inferior it may be ta demonstration , it is not possible to avoid usin ^ It constantly ; for it is the only light afforded us to form our practical opinions and regulate our conduct * Without attending to it , we can neither act , nor cease to act . We cannot even subsist without acting :
upon it ; since it cannot be demonstrated that our food will not poison , instead of nourishing us . Instead , therefore , of contemning it on account of its inferiority , it becomes us to improve to the utmost the light which it affords , by qualifying ourselves to apply it as correctly £ s possible on every occasion * This must be incumbent , not only on the student in science , but also on every man , whatever be his business or employment . ' *
The second chapter is c * On the different kinds of moral evidence ^ with observations on the weight of each . ''' < c The differentlands of moral evidence" are stated to bet observation , or experience ;' testimony ; learning from others those general conclusions which they have deduced by the observation of a variety of fects of the same kind ; general notoriety and report , wtiich are said to be external ; analogy and probable inferences drawn from facts or premises , which arc considered as internal *
The nature of these different kinds of evidence is satisfao torHy stated ^ aad at the conclusion of the chapter the author Tennarks-, * ' that the two principal kinds of moral evidence arc experience and testimony . ; that the rest ( except inferences from premises ) are only combinations or modifications of these ; and that the sphere of experience is greatly enlarged by testimony ; while , on the other band ^ testimony is restricted and
-confirmed by experience . The third chapter contains Ci General directions relating to "moral reasoning / * which are considered under three separate heads : * First , those which may be considered as a sort of previous qualification , fox the examination of questions in
Untitled Article
Gambler' * s Moral Evidence * 599
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1806, page 599, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1730/page/39/
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