SelectionsScribner, 1927 - 403 pages |
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Page vii
... wishes to see nature as a complete scheme , whose principles are linked together as are the axioms and theorems of a mathe- matical system . " There is no phenomenon in nature , " he declares in his Principles of Philosophy , " which ...
... wishes to see nature as a complete scheme , whose principles are linked together as are the axioms and theorems of a mathe- matical system . " There is no phenomenon in nature , " he declares in his Principles of Philosophy , " which ...
Page 13
... wish to advise anybody to imitate it . Those to whom God has been most beneficent in the bestowal of His grace will perhaps form designs which are more elevated ; but I fear much that this particular one will seem too venturesome for ...
... wish to advise anybody to imitate it . Those to whom God has been most beneficent in the bestowal of His grace will perhaps form designs which are more elevated ; but I fear much that this particular one will seem too venturesome for ...
Page 15
... wish to set about the final rejection of any single opinion which might formerly have crept into my beliefs without having been introduced there by means of Reason , until I had first of all employed sufficient time in planning out the ...
... wish to set about the final rejection of any single opinion which might formerly have crept into my beliefs without having been introduced there by means of Reason , until I had first of all employed sufficient time in planning out the ...
Page 22
... wish , they will at least arrive somewhere at the end , where probably they will be better off than in the middle of a forest . And thus since often enough in the actions of life no delay is permissible , it is very certain that , when ...
... wish , they will at least arrive somewhere at the end , where probably they will be better off than in the middle of a forest . And thus since often enough in the actions of life no delay is permissible , it is very certain that , when ...
Page 33
... imagination in order to understand these ideas , act in the same way as if , to hear sounds or smell odours , they should wish to make use of their eyes : excepting that there is indeed this difference , that the ON METHOD 33.
... imagination in order to understand these ideas , act in the same way as if , to hear sounds or smell odours , they should wish to make use of their eyes : excepting that there is indeed this difference , that the ON METHOD 33.
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Common terms and phrases
A. N. Whitehead analytical geometry animal spirits appear argument Aristotle arteries ARTICLE attributes believe blood body brain Cartesian ceive certainly chiliagon clear and distinct clearly and distinctly colour conceive conclusion consider contrary corporeal corporeal substance deceive deny depend Descartes desire Discourse on Method discover diverse doubt efficient cause error eternal exist existence of God extended fact faculty false figure follow Galileo gland greater heart heat heavens hence human idea images imagine inasmuch infinite judge judgment knowledge Leibniz less light likewise mathematical matter means Meditation merely method mind mode motion move movement nature nerves never nevertheless objects opinions ourselves pain pass passions perceive perfect philosopher possess PRINCIPLE Principles of Philosophy proceed Professor of English reality reason recognise regard reply rule seems sensation senses soul speak spleen substance sufficient suppose tain thinking thing thought tion true truth understand University whole
Popular passages
Page xxvi - I hold, with the Materialist, that the human body, like all living bodies, is a machine, all the operations of which will, sooner or later, be explained on physical principles. I believe that we shall, sooner or later, arrive at a mechanical equivalent of consciousness, just as we have arrived at a mechanical equivalent of heat.
Page 145 - And now that I know Him I have the means of acquiring a perfect knowledge of an infinitude of things, not only of those which relate to God Himself and other intellectual matters, but also of those which pertain to corporeal nature in so far as it is the object of pure mathematics [which have no concern with whether it exists or not].
Page 177 - But nevertheless, on the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am...
Page 219 - MEDITATION I Of the things which may be brought within the sphere of the doubtful. It is now some years since I detected how many were the false beliefs that I had from my earliest youth admitted as true, and how doubtful was everything I had since constructed on this basis; and from that time I was convinced that I must once for all seriously undertake to rid myself of all the opinions...
Page 236 - Of the existence of material things, and of the real distinction between the soul and body of man Nothing further now remains but to inquire whether material things exist.
Page 209 - ... the animal spirits to pass thence into the nerves, in such a manner as is required to produce this motion, in the same way as in a machine, and without the mind being able to hinder it. Now since we observe this in ourselves, why...
Page 36 - And if I write in French, which is the language of my country, in preference to Latin, which is that of my preceptors...
Page 3 - ... been my singular good fortune to have very early in life fallen in with certain tracks which have conducted me to considerations and maxims, of which I have formed a Method that gives me the means, as I think, of gradually augmenting my knowledge, and of raising it by little and little to the highest point which the mediocrity of my talents and the brief duration of my life will permit me to reach. For I have already reaped from it such fruits that, although I have been accustomed to think lowly...
Page 92 - But how do I know that He has not brought it to pass that there is no earth, no heaven, no extended body, no magnitude, no place, and that nevertheless [I possess the perceptions of all these things and that] they seem to me to exist just exactly as I now see them?
Page 134 - I do not escape the blame of misusing my freedom; for the light of nature, teaches us that the knowledge of the understanding should always precede the determination of the will. And it is in the misuse of the free will that the privation which constitutes the characteristic nature of error is met with. Privation, I say, is found in the act, in so far as it proceeds from me, but it is not found in the faculty which I have received from God, nor even in the act in so far as it depends on Him. For...