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Remarks
wherein he found rare but unappreciated gems , long since contributed from various sources , chiefly , however , by AKISTOTLK . Of these he discovered the value , reset them , added some of his own , which are beyond price , and arranged them in that lucid order which gives them tenfold value , and is ultimatel y destined to render them the idols of the earth .
in the operations of hearing and seeing . Our bodies transmit such impressions by a route almost completely known by the physiologist ( but which it does not belong to our subject to trace ) , to the mind . When the mind becomes conscious of this impression having been transmitted , it has , in the language of Kant , an intuition . * The mental power which acknowledges the impression is denominated sense . It is defined as a passive faculty , as a mere receiver , a receptivity ; but even a receiver , ,
must have a law of reception ; a law of reception is a quality ; it is a quality , not of the thing received but of the reci pient . Hence the law of sense must be referred , not to the external agent which causes the impression , but to the mind , which acknowledges the impression , and thereby constitutes the intuition . Now , however various intuitions may be , they all must have this law ; they must exist in time , and by far the greater part of them must conform to a second law , they must exist in Intuitions
space . may vary in a thousand other particulars . Matter may present itself to us in gaseous , fluid , or solid forms , coloured or uncoloured , heavy or imponderable ; but it must always occupy space and endure for some time . Sounds may be loud or low , melodious or harsh , smells and savours delicious or disgusting , mild or intense , but they must all possess a certain duration . Now , on reflecting on these two conditions of our sentient faculty , we observe our notion of space means an unlimited extension , and that
KANT neither adopted Hume ' s hypothesis , nor upbraided him for its tendency . It was clear enough for him that it was a true observation , that the inseparable connexion between cause and effect was a notion universally prevalent amongst mankind ; and it was equally evident that such a notion could never have been derived from the senses . But instead of referring to the imagination as its source , he concluded the notion itself to be a law of the mind , a thought destined by the
Creator to spring up in every man ' s intellect . He then inquired , are there any other notions not derived from the senses , but which are universal to man ? He commenced by observing all that existed in his mind which he could not deduce from the senses ; he separated the two classes , reduced each to the simplest laws , and gave them appropriate appellations ; he found the elements of all the knowledge which has been , or can be , acquired by man during his terrestrial existence . This
analysis of all that is known was of course an analysis of the power of knowing ; consequentl y he discovered the elements of the human mind . The following sketch of his views may serve to give the reader an idea of their beauty and simplicity ; our limits do not permit us to exhibit their profundity , nor to follow out their proof with the patience and severity which he imposed upon himself : — The various objects which surround us impress our bodies either immediately , as in the instances of touching and tastingor mediatelyas
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Remarks
wherein he found rare but unappreciated gems , long since contributed from various sources , chiefly , however , by AKISTOTLK . Of these he discovered the value , reset them , added some of his own , which are beyond price , and arranged them in that lucid order which gives them tenfold value , and is ultimatel y destined to render them the idols of the earth .
in the operations of hearing and seeing . Our bodies transmit such impressions by a route almost completely known by the physiologist ( but which it does not belong to our subject to trace ) , to the mind . When the mind becomes conscious of this impression having been transmitted , it has , in the language of Kant , an intuition . * The mental power which acknowledges the impression is denominated sense . It is defined as a passive faculty , as a mere receiver , a receptivity ; but even a receiver , ,
must have a law of reception ; a law of reception is a quality ; it is a quality , not of the thing received but of the reci pient . Hence the law of sense must be referred , not to the external agent which causes the impression , but to the mind , which acknowledges the impression , and thereby constitutes the intuition . Now , however various intuitions may be , they all must have this law ; they must exist in time , and by far the greater part of them must conform to a second law , they must exist in Intuitions
space . may vary in a thousand other particulars . Matter may present itself to us in gaseous , fluid , or solid forms , coloured or uncoloured , heavy or imponderable ; but it must always occupy space and endure for some time . Sounds may be loud or low , melodious or harsh , smells and savours delicious or disgusting , mild or intense , but they must all possess a certain duration . Now , on reflecting on these two conditions of our sentient faculty , we observe our notion of space means an unlimited extension , and that
KANT neither adopted Hume ' s hypothesis , nor upbraided him for its tendency . It was clear enough for him that it was a true observation , that the inseparable connexion between cause and effect was a notion universally prevalent amongst mankind ; and it was equally evident that such a notion could never have been derived from the senses . But instead of referring to the imagination as its source , he concluded the notion itself to be a law of the mind , a thought destined by the
Creator to spring up in every man ' s intellect . He then inquired , are there any other notions not derived from the senses , but which are universal to man ? He commenced by observing all that existed in his mind which he could not deduce from the senses ; he separated the two classes , reduced each to the simplest laws , and gave them appropriate appellations ; he found the elements of all the knowledge which has been , or can be , acquired by man during his terrestrial existence . This
analysis of all that is known was of course an analysis of the power of knowing ; consequentl y he discovered the elements of the human mind . The following sketch of his views may serve to give the reader an idea of their beauty and simplicity ; our limits do not permit us to exhibit their profundity , nor to follow out their proof with the patience and severity which he imposed upon himself : — The various objects which surround us impress our bodies either immediately , as in the instances of touching and tastingor mediatelyas