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Untitled Article
existence , according to the laws assigned to each tribe of beings : and in man , —that love of action , that craving after excitement , that endeavour after something higher and better than he has yet attained , which adheres to him under the most varied
circumstances , and , by furnishing continual stimulus to his faculties , promotes the accomplishment of nature's great end , the growth of intellect , and the consequent increase of the general amount of happiness . Now , I apprehend , it is the proper function of Science , in all its departments—by examining facts , comparing and classifying them , and by developing one principle out of another—to
connect , by an unbroken chain of generalization , the individual phenomena of the universe , with the general plan and tendency , which pervades it . When it has done this ; when it has shown , that a certain order is established in the sequence of events , that a certain phenomenon takes place in a particular manner , or that a certain structure is given to a particular tribe of organized beings ,
because otherwise the harmony of nature would have been deranged , life have been impossible , or general misery have ensued ; it has furnished the reason of every one of these appointments , and exhibited the philosophy of that particular inquiry . So long as our ideas are limited to one particular collection of general
propositions , arranged among themselves , and stating the connexions and dependencies among events of a certain class , without looking beyond the limits of that particular class—the object , which occupies us , is simply science ; but when we proceed further to compare that class of ideas with other classes , to trace their
mutual influence and sympathy as parts of a common plan , and to point out their connexion with the great general aim and tendency of creation , we then superadd Philosophy to Science . For example , when astronomy exhibits to us such general facts , as the diminution of the force of attraction in the inverse ratio to the
square of the distance from the centre of attraction , or that a radius drawn from the sun to a planet describes equal areas in equal times—this is Science ; but when the sum total of these and similar facts is considered , and we perceive their combined conduciveness to the order and stability of the entire system—we recognise a final Cause , and are let into the philosophy of Astronomy . And so on moral subjects . When political economy demonstrates , from a copious induction of facts , the tendency of population to
exceed the means of comfortable subsistence ; when it ascertains the circumstances , that determine the proportion which rent must bear to the whole amount of the gross produce of the soil ; or proves that the rate of wages must depend on the proportion of l
capital to labour , and of both to the field for profitable empoyment ; it has made a valuable contribution to Soience : but when a writer investigates the relations of this Science with the hig her questions of ethics and theology , and shows how these facts harmonize with the general purpose of creation , for the developemen
Untitled Article
330 On the Application of the Ternis
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1834, page 330, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2633/page/18/
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