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Untitled Article
external nature determinate constitutions , and arranged them so as to act on each other , and to produce happiness or misery to man , according to certain definite principles . He shows
that this action goes on invariably , inflexibly , and irresistibly , whether men attend to it or not ; and thus demonstrates , that the very basis of all useful knowledge must consist in an
acquaintance with these natural arrangements , and that education , as a means of avoiding misery and attaining happiness , is valuable in the exact degree in which it communicates such , information , and trains the faculties to act upon it . Mr . Combe then goes on to prove by powerful appeals to the history of
the past , and the circumstances of the present time , viewed in the light afforded by his able exposition of the laws of nature and their operation , that the education of mankind , rightly understood , has scarcely yet commenced . He argues most justly , that reading , writing , and accounts , which make up the sum of instruction enjoyed by such of the labouring classes as obtain any instruction , are " merely means of acquiring knowledge , but do not constitute it . " That Greek , Latin , and mathematics , which are added in the education ( so called ) of the wealthier classes , are still " only means of
obtaining information . " So that , with the exception of the comparative few who pursue physical science for specific purposes , society may , with truth , be said to devote little or no attention to the study of the natural laws—absolutely none , for the great , ereneral , and moral rmrnose oronosed bv Mr . Combe the greatgeneral , and moral purpose proposed by Mr . Combe
. , . After illustrating-, therefore , his view by many familiar examples of the operation of these laws , and many striking instances , both individual and national , of sufferings consequent upon their non-observance , which , by their observance , he clearly shows might have been avoided , Mr . Combe infers that almost
every ill to which civilized man is still subject is referable to the fact , that , notwithstanding the present advanced state of every other science , no class of society is yet systematically instructed in the constitution of their own minds and bodies ; in the relations of these to external objects ; in the natural supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect ; in the allimportant fact of that supremacy being indispensable to
happiness ; in the principle that activity of the faculties is the great ( Mr . Combe says only ) , source of pleasure ; and that the higher the powers , the more intense the delight . If , then , active , moral , and intellectual faculties are the natural fountains of enjoyment , and the external world is created with reference to this state , it is obvious that misery must result from animal supremacy , and intellectual torpidity . That the intellectual powers of the great mass of mankind
have lain torpid from the creation of the world to the present day , and consequently that much needless misery has been endured , are , unfortunately , facts too obvious to require proof .
Untitled Article
On the Constitution of Man . 155
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1836, page 155, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2655/page/27/
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