On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
interfere with the nature and effects of the infinity of particular cases , that we seek to comprehend in a general proposition , can never be ascertained to a certainty ; and , if overlooked , may completely defeat our expectations by yielding a result very different from what we had expected . Nevertheless , there is no reason .,
why the term Science should be confined to mathematics or physics . Every collection of general propositions , on any subject , comprehending all that is known concerning it , arranged with a view to communicate information in a synthetic Form , and designed not to record impressions or describe appearances , but to state principles and exhibit results , may surely be called a Science . Why , for example , should there not be the Science of
metaphysics , of morals , of jurisprudence , or of political economy , as well as of astronomy , mechanics , and chemistry ; assuming fresh principles , deduced from observation—drawing consequences from those principles—and applying them to the elucidation of particular cases . Of all these inquiries the object alike is general truth ; the difference between them arises solely from the greater or less degree of certainty accompanying the propositions in which their respective conclusions are expressed .
III . Philosophy is a term , expressing a distinct exercise of the human mind from what is implied either in Poetry or Science . It may be defined an inquiry into the reason of things . It is something more than the mere embracing of knowledge , the mere perception of those connexions in the order of events , which can be expressed in general propositions . The conclusions of Philosophy
are , it is true , also stated in propositions ; but they are propositions expressing more than a simple sequence ; they rather refer general facts and extensive classes of phenomena to final tendencies and perceived ends , and thus link them with the universal order and economy of Providence . Were we to say , that Philosophy is the doctrine of final causes , we should lay ourselves open to
misconception , since no doctrine has been more abused , or led to greater presumption and absurdity , than that of final causes ; yet , if we allow our minds to run over the whole range of instances , in which the term Philosophy is applied as distinct from Science , I think we shall find , that there is always an implied reference to purpose and tendency , an inquiry into the why and the wherefore of the phenomenon under consideration .
In the universe , there are certain ultimate facts and marked tendencies , of which we can give no further account than that so the Creator has willed it . Such , for example , is the tendency of all the great movements in nature to the order , harmony and stabilit y of the entire systemand of particular irregularities and
, local disturbances , when they have proceeded to a certain point , to correct themselves , and restore the equilibrium , which they threatened to destroy : amongst organized beings , —the provision every where manifested for the developement and perpetuation of
Untitled Article
Poetry * Science , and Philosophy . 329
Untitled Article
No . 89 . 2 A
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1834, page 329, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2633/page/17/
-