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Untitled Article
of the facts we obtain should be an important object to us . This classification implies an exercise of the Judgment . The ideas collected by means of Observation are , in every mind , submitted to a process of Comparison and Selection , The infant , after tasting sugar , honey , and comfits , has an idea of sweetness as a quality of all these substances ; and , ere long , he will perceive that the moon , snow , and a sheet
of paper , have one appearance in common , and he will thus obtain the abstract idea of whiteness . These processes of Comparison and Abstraction are carried on to an illimitable extent as the mind advances ; and by watch - ing them we may discern the mode by which all attainable knowledge may be brought within the compass of a single mind ; how the innumerable multitudes of facts which nature and science present may be so arranged and compacted as to lie within the grasp of an individual intellect . Towards this glorious prospect we must not , at present , even glance , but rather proceed to offer some hints respecting the processes of Comparison and Judgment .
In the beginnings of our knowledge , when the simple qualities of objects are subjected to the judgment , there is no possibility of error , provided the senses are perfect . The idiot has as accurate an idea of whiteness and sweetness as the wisest man : but when complex ideas are compared , the conclusions of the judgment will be different in various minds ; and the more
complex the ideas presented , the wider will be the diversity in the . results of comparison * All minds will agree that 6 x 2 zzl 2 ; but society is even yet divided into two parties on the question of the education of the poor ; and respecting various points in theology and science the diversities of opinion are endless . Yet there is , no doubt , as substantial a truth at the bottom of
these subjects as in numbers , and that truth may in time be as evident to every mind as that two and two make four . Such a prospect is , however , immeasurably distant . The number of truths which may be demonstrated is very small ; as we descend the scale of probabilities and possibilities their
-number increases , till at length we find that multitudes afford-subjects for conjecture alone . They are substantial benefactors of the human race who exalt anj ? subject of inquiry in this scale ; and he who removes a single object of doubt one degree nearer to the highest probability or to demonstration , renders an essential service to his kind . There are few who , like
Newton , can raise a mighty subject of speculation from the darkest recess . of conjecture into the light of demonstration ; but all have the power ( and are required to exert it ) of availing themselves of the researches already made , and of advancing their own minds towards the truth , however little power they may be able to exert over others . For this purpose , the processes of comparison and judgment should not only be carried on when the exertion cannot be avoided , hut should be vigorously urged , and watched with incessant care . All the ideas which the
faculty of observation presents should be compared with those which we have already stored up on the same subject ; and thus new H ght may be cast on a familiar object , and new relations perceived between subjects which before appeared wholly unconnected . We are all sensible how , when an engrossing subject is present to our thoughts , every object appears to bear some relation to it . We meet with it in every book ; every conversation has some bearing upon it . If we forget it for a moment , the next sight we see , the next sound we hear , reminds us of it , and we are astonished to perceive how close a connexion subsists among all the objects of our senses and
Untitled Article
7 A 8 v . Essays on the Art of Thinking .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 748, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/4/
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