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unassuming of men , and confess with the philosopher of antiquity , that the end of all their speculation is , that they know nothing . The mystic does this , and findg at last that the whole duty of man is to believe , and Jet ignorant authority usurp the seat of knowledge .
Nature . —The material universe , or the external world . Its reality , which is still disputed by many , is very sensibly established , when our voluntary power is engaged in a conflict with physical force . This appears to be the only case in wnich the argumentum baculinum is able to enlighten the understanding ; and happily , in this particular case of mental aberration , it cannot be applied without producing immediate conviction .
Naturalist , — " The object of his inquiry is Nature , —its substance , and its forms : with the first he becomes acquainted through his senses : he feels it to exist . His conceptions of the latter are the work of the understanding . The substance as such , that is as a mere subsistence , is quite clear : the forms , conditions , and changes , alone are obscure ; yet they are conceivable by us , and therefore an object for our understanding . Nature itself is the substance , changeable indeed in its forms , but constant in its existence , and therefore a real object of inquiry . "
Beauty .- * - " It is properly subjective ; it is thrown upon the object by the soul of man . What is called objective beauty , and regarded as a property of external things , is merely their form . This is not Beauty itself ; it only yields the conditions of the beautiful appearance . The real existence of Beauty is in the spirit of the observer , and it diffuses itself over the object , the forms of which are fitted to receive it . It is a fruitless labour to
decipher the nature of Beauty out of harmony , proportion , or whatever name is given to the relations of the forms of things . What else is all this weighing and measuring than a help to the artist , who would represent the conditions of the object ? They are mere form : the Beauty is the inspiration of the soul . There rests in the bosom of nature a second world , which is not the natural world ; and wonderful as it is , all the objects of nature can be represented in this second world , in which , however , they acquire another
character , and are represented under another and very different law . Let nature be contemplated , not merely as it is seen by the naturalist , but as the man of feeling and imagination sees it ; with regard , not merely to its material constitution and laws , but rather to the impressions which it makes upon our heart ; and it appears cheerful or severe , great , mighty , and sublime , or mild , soft , and beautiful . Imagine one to whom the sense of the beautiful and sublime should be all at once communicated , and a new world rises
before him . The same natural objects are there after their proper forms , order , and laws ; but through the interpretation of this second world they are become very different objects , and put on a very different nature . " — ( Seebold . ) Philosophical Speculation ; that is 9 Natural Philosophy . —To speculate is to theorize , and Philosophical Speculation is theoretical reasoning on the facts of nature . This conducted Newton to the discovery of the law of gravitation . Its object is physical truth . To expect that moral and religious
truth can be found in this way is a mistake which has led to mysticism and scepticism , to pantheism and atheism . It may make a Hutchinson , a Fichte , or a French Encyclopedist . " Natural philosophy knows no other reality han nature itself . If it were to speak of a God , it must be as an object of speculation only , while , pointing to the never-ending chain of causality , it discourses of the hi g hest existence in nature , of the origin , and of the soul , of nature : but of Uod , as he is contemplated in religion , as intelligence and goodness , as the moral ruler of nature , it cannot speak . This is no accusa-
Untitled Article
Letters from Germany . 103
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 103, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/31/
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