An Inquiry Into the Human Mind: On the Principles of Common Sense

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Bell & Bradfute, and W. Creech, and for T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies, London, 1801 - 478 pages
 

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Page 420 - Another original principle, implanted in us by the Supreme Being, is a disposition to confide in the veracity of others, and to believe what they tell us.
Page 11 - ... be given but the will of our Maker. This may be truly called an analysis of the human faculties, and till this is performed, it is in vain we expect any just system of the mind, that is, an enumeration of the original powers and laws of our constitution, and an explication from them of the various phenomena of human nature.
Page 41 - When I attend as carefully as I can to what passes in my mind in this case, it appears evident that the very thing I saw yesterday, and the fragrance I smelled, are now the immediate objects of my mind, when I remember it.
Page 10 - Could we obtain a distinct and full history of all that hath passed in the mind of a child, from the beginning of life and sensation, till it grows up to the use of reason ; how its infant faculties began to work, and how they brought forth and ripened all the various notions, opinions, and sentiments, which we find in ourselves when we come to be capable of reflection ; this would be a treasure of natural history, which would probably give more light into the human faculties than all the systems...
Page 6 - ... and methodically, all the operations of the thinking principle within him, which no man was ever able to do, this would be only the anatomy of one particular subject; which would be both deficient and erroneous, if applied to human nature in general.
Page 3 - ... observation and experiment. By our constitution, we have a strong propensity to trace particular facts and observations to general rules, and to apply such general rules to account for other effects, or to direct us in the production of them. This procedure of the understanding is familiar to every human creature in the common affairs of life, and it is the only one by which any real discovery in philosophy can be made.
Page 3 - Conjectures and theories are the creatures of men, and will always be found very unlike the creatures of God. If we would know the works of God, we must consult themselves with attention and humility, without daring to add any thing of ours to what they declare. A just interpretation of nature is the only sound and orthodox philosophy : whatever we add of our own, is apocryphal, and of no authority.
Page 10 - ... which we find in ourselves when we come to be capable of reflection ; this would be a treasure of natural history, which would probably give more light into the human faculties, than all the systems of philosophers about them since the beginning of the world. But it is in vain to wish for what nature has not put within the reach of our power.
Page 3 - His regula philosophandi are maxims of common sense, and are practised every day in common life; and he who philosophizes by other rules, either concerning the material system...
Page 154 - ... which may be made by this little organ in things far beyond the reach of any other sense : That by means of it we can find our way in the pathless ocean ; that we can traverse the globe of the earth, determine its figure and dimensions, and delineate every region of it : yea, that we can measure the planetary orbs, and make discoveries in the sphere of the fixed stars.

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