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canoes we should , in vai » attempt their discovery ,, noratiall we ever be able to sa&My ourselves , by any particular explteauaft © I' them * Tnese ultimate sjjrvsi ^ s and principles are totally shot mrt frwta htuiiai * curtoMly and ei > t } Qiry /' Hctice he mamiaiiis . " that in Our
concitrtMta iron * past to £ uuj re experience , there is a certain step taken , a process of thought , and an inference which wants to be explained ; there is required a medium which may enable us to draw such an inference , if indeed it be drawn by reasoning and argument . What that medium is I must confess
passes my comprehension , and it is incumbent on those to produce it who assert that it really exists , and is the origin of all orfr conclusion concerning matters of fact . " Here it should be remarked that Mr . Hume no where insimtates that the inference is false :
on the contrary he admits that it U verified in fact : he only demands the process , or medium of deduction , the middle term , by which it is drawn . To this challenge our author replies : ** I therefore maintain , in opposition
to the bold assertion of our philosopher , that the discovery of powers and properties , inherent in different substances , and invariably connected with different circmustances , is the discovery of a medium , which renders the experience of the past
of the utmost Importance to the future ; a medium * which is infallible , whenever Qur knowledge is sufficiently extensive and accurate . If one substance possess exactly the same properties as another ,
and if it be placed in , a situation in all respects similar , a similar effect must be produced . If one mode of acting be productive of a particular event , and this mode be imitated subsequently , every circumstance connected with it being
exactly the same , ~ in its nature and strength of operation , the result must hare a perfect correspondence , To sap * pose ^ he contrary , is to suppose that these pntpertie * * r « endpwed with a principle « f caprice , merely to tease aod disappoint
us >; or that this same bodies and the same circajai £ t 2 H * cea combat against themselves ! UU to suppose , that they are precisely the same , aod yet that they act in a manner which demonstrates that they are 7 ri # the same . When the result is
dif-^ Srent £ ran > what we fcad « tpectedt it d&es itat » fmke the kamafabte laws o ^ ll&ftffe > it mtiAplf mdicat ^ r ova- vgnomnc * } it « && 3 u *> us ta iwquiiA sunse wauutftly fo £ & the fftator of ttUog ** ** ii *» W * if *» fMMBiptnttu * -todttMr ^ UM *"—Vj ^ JfePti *' fito *^* •• . v- - . --., - - « . ' ¦ . '• ¦
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la a waiter of less acumea than Dr . C . we should suspect that this answer was built upon a mbtake o £ Mr . Hume ' s meaning . He also admits the facts . He no where denies that the effects are uniformly conjoined
with the eause , or that there exist causes in nature which are discoverable in their effects . All that he maintains is , " that we never can by our utmost scrutiny discover any . thing but one event following another without being able to comprehend any force or power by which the * cause operates , or any connection between it and its supposed
effect : " and consequently " that there is not in any single particular instance of cause and effect , any thing which can suggest the . idea ofpower , or necessary connexion . " To this Dr . C , does however well reply in his remark * on the Section , On tne Idea of Necessary Connexion :
• ' Mr . H . maintains , with infinitely more boldness than facts will admit , that there is not , in any particular instance of cause and effect , any thing which cad suggest the idea of power or necessity . Whence conies it , then , that the idea is actually suggested to every thinking mind in the universe , excepting his own ?
If be means ought not to suggest these ideas , formidable should be % he proof * that cause and effect are incessantly acting in opposition to their own natures ; for they are doing it perpetually . Our philosopher absurdly expects , that powers ' , and influence , and connexion ^ should assume some corporeal form . Their essence must be seen , smelt , tasted , of
heard , in order to produce the indubitably impression . But this is not their province , it does not belong to their nature . Their office consists in producing effects , and these effects are to make impressions , tbese are to be . perceived by the mind , according to their specific characters
/'—Pp . ^ 10 , 311 . Mr . Hume has said , " that it is allowed , on all hands , that there is no known conaex . 1011 between the sensible qualities of bread , and the secret powers nutrition ; and consequently , the mind is not led to form a conclusion .
concerning the constant and regular cp ^ ijancuoa between eati ng bread , and tftpagg nourished by it , by any U ? ing yyj ^ UiUis known of their nature . ' * A-QA o $ * t author replies , that " it is not » U roftfttrtL , ga all hands , that there is n ? ^ 5 ^^ c ^ nj () exiori between the seiifcfl $ fc £ 4 j 0 $ ftcLc * o £ brca ^ l and iu nuttijiflMA *
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tt&new . —Uegm * nun&al % ju * sti * tts . * 35
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? € ri . xix- JUrist
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1817, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2463/page/41/
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