FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29  
30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>   >|  
e Postulate of Science: the Uniformity of Nature. Hume's account of it. Kant's account of it. Insufficiency of both accounts. Science traced back to observation of the Human Will. The development of Science from this origin. The increasing generality of the Postulate: which nevertheless can never attain to universality. LECTURE I. THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC BELIEF. 'O Lord, how manifold are Thy works: in wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches.'--_Psalm_ civ. 24. Those who believe that the creation and government of the world are the work of a Being Whom it is their duty to love with all their hearts, Who loves them with a love beyond all other love, to Whom they look for guidance now and unending happiness hereafter, have a double motive for studying the forms and operations of Nature; because over and above whatever they may gain of the purest and highest pleasure in the study, and whatever men may gain of material comfort in a thousand forms from the results of the study, they cannot but have always present to their minds the thought, that all these things are revelations of His character, and to know them is in a very real measure to know Him. The believer in God, if he have the faculty and the opportunity, cannot find a more proper employment of time and labour and thought than the study of the ways in which God works and the things which God has made. Among religious men we ought to expect to find the most patient, the most truth-seeking, the most courageous of men of science. We know that it is not always so; and that on the contrary Science and Religion seem very often to be the most determined foes to each other that can be found. The scientific man often asserts that he cannot find God in Science; and the religious man often asserts that he cannot find Science in God. Each often believes himself to be in possession, if not of the whole truth, at any rate of all the truth that it is most important to possess. Science seems to despise religion; and religion to fear and condemn Science. Religion, which certainly ought to put truth at the highest, is charged with refusing to acknowledge truth that has been proved. And Science, which certainly ought to insist on demonstrating every assertion which it makes, is charged with giving the rein to the imagination and treating the merest speculations as well-established facts. To propose to reconcile these opp
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29  
30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Science

 

thought

 

things

 

highest

 

religious

 
Religion
 

asserts

 

account

 

charged

 

religion


Postulate
 

Nature

 

imagination

 

treating

 

speculations

 

merest

 

expect

 
assertion
 

giving

 

reconcile


faculty

 

opportunity

 

established

 

proper

 

labour

 

propose

 
employment
 
seeking
 

possess

 
despise

determined

 

scientific

 

important

 
possession
 

believes

 

believer

 

condemn

 

insist

 
science
 

courageous


demonstrating

 

proved

 

refusing

 

contrary

 

acknowledge

 

patient

 
purest
 
NATURE
 

SCIENTIFIC

 

BELIEF