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which has caused philosophy to advance with rapid strides , and a new light to dawn on the world of science . This principle is so simple that it seems extraordinary that it should not sooner have been adopted ; and yet so vast in its operation , that attempts to estimate its effects are vain . This method is to bring together an accumulation of facts previous to the formation of a theory ; and having carefully observed their bearing upon a particular point
to deduce from them a principle which may be applied to the explanation of new facts . Had Newton lived before Bacon , he might have formed an erroneous theory of optics , and have been confirmed in it by a partial observation of facts ; but he drank deeply of the spirit of the new philosophy , and by it regulated his inquiries . He brought together a vast collection of facts in relation to light and colours , viewed them in all possible situations , tried a great variety of experiments upon them , carefully preserving his mind from
fanciful theories , and at length founded , on actual experience , his system of optics , by which light , one of the most subtile of all things , is reduced to certain laws , as truly as the most gross and solid bodies . In like manner were his other inquiries conducted , and their magnificent results obtained . In like manner must science continue to advance , and the mysteries of nature be unravelled . In like manner must we all , if our object be truth , conduct every inquiry . And if tempted to smile at thus comparing great things with
small , the researches of a Newton with the feeble efforts of intellects puny as ours ; let us remember that if an object be worth pursuing at ail , it is worth pursuing in the best way . We may work away in our closets , and , after all our labour , only discover what thousands have known before us ; but the pleasure of useful exertion , and the privilege of substantial knowledge will be our own , —a power of accurate thought , a capacity of increasing wisdom , which are of high importance to rational and immortal beings . A child intent on the management of his little garden plot , or of his cage of birds—a
young inquirer beginning his study of the human mind—the mother anxious to form plans of education for her child—and the philosopher whose objects of research are removed beyond the reach of the naked eye and the excursions ^ of unassisted imagination , are alike liable to mistake and failure , if they form theories on any other basis than a careful examination of facts . To habituate the mind to follow the inductive method in all researches , is the first general rule which the lovers of truth should ever keep in view .
It is the tendency of our minds to become too firmly attached to a theory deduced by ourselves , especially when well-founded . We should be on our guard , therefore , to apply it to that class of objects alone to which it relates . To stretch one theory to the explanation of every class of facts is as fruitful a source of error as to apply half a dozen theories to the explanation of so many similar appearances . To this error those are most liable whose range of inquiry is contracted , who love truth , but have little leisure or
opportunity for study . These , having once laid hold of a solid truth , are unwilling to part with it ; are liable to overrate its value ; and , when they meet with new difficulties , are tempted to recur to a favourite solution , rather than be at the trouble of finding a new one . But because it sometimes happens that the same key will open more doors than one , it does not follow that it » s
suited to every lock ; and it is wiser to seek patiently for the right instrument , than to end the difficulty by force or straining . How simple are the principles on which the philosophy of nature is founded , and how few the agents by which it is conducted , is a disclosure reserved for a day when science shall have attained a greater maturity ; at present it is clear that we shall fall into error if we devise a separate solution for each particular fact ,
Untitled Article
pO 4 Essays on the Art of Thinking .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1829, page 604, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2576/page/4/
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