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Untitled Article
yteiii that the ground is m some measure shifted from the sMdowy , and abstract , to the t 6 ialv land palpable ; and it will al » b , if Our conclusions are correct , considerably narrow the field of inquiry . Nevertheless this distinction is to
be borne in mind , that although all truth ( to us ) can be but opinion , yet it is not all opinions that can be called true ; and from this the question arises , " which opinion is true ? " As we cannot know
truth , it is needless to add that ive cannot positively say which opinion is true , but the best definition of truth ( for us ) I can offer , is , " That opinion in
which is involved the fewest assumptions , and at the same time is best capable of explaining the order of things . ' If we take the scholastic definition
of philosophy , viz . " A system whose whole aim it is to reduce to scientific rules all attainable knowledge , giving it a logical perfection ; " and if we could follow out this noble
definition , and attain its end , we should then not only attain the logical perfection ( in the order of thought ) of what we knew , Or could know ; but we should at the same time attain the highest truth possible . It
Untitled Article
will follow from the above , that there are truths of periods , which in succeeding periods become no longer such ; Egerton Webbe , with his usual acuteness , has not let this pass unnoticed in his essay , although I suspect he has
attained that conclusion by a different route ; and although he is right in saying that Galileo was right , though one , his enemies in the wrong , though a million , yet they were right ( i . e . they held the
true opinion ) until Galileo appeared , inasmuch as their opinion accorded with the definition before offered ; but after he had appeared , then their opinion ceased to be . true . This consideration of truth
will teach us to treat our predecessors with respect , rather than the contempt we bestow on error ; and it also affords a noble inducement for us to be unwearied in our search , not after truth , but after the "
logical perfection of all we know ; " for I am deeply impressed with the conviction , that if we could once attain the logical perfection of all we know , we should then pass in easy and obvious gradations to all attainable knowledge ;* or arrive at the unknown through
* Hobbes , orte of the acutest and deepest thinkers any age has produced , seems to have had a similar opinion , for he defines truth to be a true proposition ( Unman . / VaftifVchftp : v ) , which is no more than the logical perfection of our thoughts ; and in « hj * j leviathan he says " Usua scopusqup ratiqnip non eat , unius v © l pau , carum Bonfcquontiarum a prim is nominum definitionibus remotarunt inventio : ratio tl primisincinit detinitionibuN , intle ad pluriumdefinitionum aoiisequentiam aliouam
p rocedit ,. et inde ad aliam . Nam conclusionis ultima } certitudo nulla cst sine cerlltudirie' ^ rWatWh ' um 6 t Nega ^ iohuiri a qtiibus cdrtipdbitk et illat a &t , ( chafr . v ) . For the ftttarnrnent of tlm logicnl perfection , unlimited discirtaion l « W ^ dhifely neeeisary , and the inquirer should not leave this point untouched , ' lit > V"lt « Correlative one , viz , Can the promulgation of truth ever be injurious ? My own opinion
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3 J& Hints towards an Essay
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 1, 1837, page 316, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1837/page/20/
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