Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Between The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
little attended to before , has been found to be productive of very important effects , and has been arranged by this philosopher into a regular system , which he has applied in the explanation of some of the principal phenomena in the intellectual world . But what has contributed , as much as any circumstance whatever , to the promotion of our knowledge in the philosophy of the mind , is the agitation of two equally curious and ancient controversieswhich have called
, forth the powers and exercised the talents of metaphysicians of the present age : the one concerning the necessity of the human will , and the other concerning the doctrine of materialism . Whether the actions of men are the necessary effects of an irrresistible influence , or merely the result of a free and deliberate choice , is a question which has at all times been deemed worthy of
consideration by the speculative and the curious . Those who entertain the former opinion pursue regular gradations of causes and effects . They maintain that actions are the immediate effects of the exertions of the will , which is necessarily influenced by the most powerful motives , and which motives are always the same in the same circumstances . So that supposing two persons to be situated in precisely the same
circumstances , which will of course g ive rise to the operation of similar motives , they must of necessity and unavoidably pursue the same line of conduct . On the other hand , the advocates for the freedom of the will contend , that though the will is generally actuated by the strongest motives , we are not to conclude that this is always the case , or that it happen ? from [ a physical necessity ; but , on the contrary , that it possessesand frequently exertsa power of choosing the
mo-, , tives by which it is influenced . Many theological and moral object tions , likewise , have been adduced by the abettors of free agency against the truth of the doctrine of necessity . These , however , have been ably refuted by Dr . Hartley and Dr . Priestley , the force of whose arguments on this subject cannot be denied even by their most determined opponents .
The same objections have been advanced against materialism , and have met with a similar refutation . That the operation of thinking is the result of a certain organization of matter , is an opinion , it must be confessed , so contradictory to the sentiments of the generality of mankind , that it may , without exciting much surprize , be allowed to startle the minds of persons unaccustomed to abstract reasoning or depth of thought .
The philosophy , however ; of the present age is too enlightened to admit that the novelty , or even the singularity of any particular opinion , are infallible criteria , by which we are to judge either of its truth or its falsity . This doctrine of the materiality of the human soul , however abhorrent it may be to the feelings of many , and however wide its discordancy from established creeds , has yet met with many able and strenuous advocates , who have proved that the phenomena of the mind are at least equally , if not more difficult , to be rationally accounted fur , upon the supposition of a totally distinct and spiritual
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Between The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
little attended to before , has been found to be productive of very important effects , and has been arranged by this philosopher into a regular system , which he has applied in the explanation of some of the principal phenomena in the intellectual world . But what has contributed , as much as any circumstance whatever , to the promotion of our knowledge in the philosophy of the mind , is the agitation of two equally curious and ancient controversieswhich have called
, forth the powers and exercised the talents of metaphysicians of the present age : the one concerning the necessity of the human will , and the other concerning the doctrine of materialism . Whether the actions of men are the necessary effects of an irrresistible influence , or merely the result of a free and deliberate choice , is a question which has at all times been deemed worthy of
consideration by the speculative and the curious . Those who entertain the former opinion pursue regular gradations of causes and effects . They maintain that actions are the immediate effects of the exertions of the will , which is necessarily influenced by the most powerful motives , and which motives are always the same in the same circumstances . So that supposing two persons to be situated in precisely the same
circumstances , which will of course g ive rise to the operation of similar motives , they must of necessity and unavoidably pursue the same line of conduct . On the other hand , the advocates for the freedom of the will contend , that though the will is generally actuated by the strongest motives , we are not to conclude that this is always the case , or that it happen ? from [ a physical necessity ; but , on the contrary , that it possessesand frequently exertsa power of choosing the
mo-, , tives by which it is influenced . Many theological and moral object tions , likewise , have been adduced by the abettors of free agency against the truth of the doctrine of necessity . These , however , have been ably refuted by Dr . Hartley and Dr . Priestley , the force of whose arguments on this subject cannot be denied even by their most determined opponents .
The same objections have been advanced against materialism , and have met with a similar refutation . That the operation of thinking is the result of a certain organization of matter , is an opinion , it must be confessed , so contradictory to the sentiments of the generality of mankind , that it may , without exciting much surprize , be allowed to startle the minds of persons unaccustomed to abstract reasoning or depth of thought .
The philosophy , however ; of the present age is too enlightened to admit that the novelty , or even the singularity of any particular opinion , are infallible criteria , by which we are to judge either of its truth or its falsity . This doctrine of the materiality of the human soul , however abhorrent it may be to the feelings of many , and however wide its discordancy from established creeds , has yet met with many able and strenuous advocates , who have proved that the phenomena of the mind are at least equally , if not more difficult , to be rationally accounted fur , upon the supposition of a totally distinct and spiritual