Theory of Thought and KnowledgeHarper & brothers, 1897 - 389 من الصفحات "Philosophy aims at a rational comprehension of reality. But the instrument of philosophy is thought itself. All systems of whatever kind, even systems of doubt and denial, must recognize the existence of laws of thought whereby the normal processes and results of thinking are distinguished from the abnormal. Without such recognition there is no distinction between rational and irrational, and naught remains but caprice, obstinacy, and infatuation. Hence the logical order of philosophical study is logic, epistemology, and metaphysics. The first treats of the laws of normal thinking, or the science of thought. The second applies these laws to the problem of knowledge, and, by analyzing the idea of knowledge, aims to discover its general conditions and implications. These two are only different aspects of the one question. The third asks after the final conceptions reached by thought concerning real existence, or, more specifically, concerning man, nature, and the fundamental reality. We have, then, as the most significant divisions of philosophic study the following: 1. Logic, or the Theory of Thought; 2. Epistemology, or the Theory of Knowledge; 3. Metaphysics, or the Theory of Being. The first two divisions will be discussed in the present volume. The third will be postponed to a second volume. A detailed and exhaustive discussion is not aimed at in the present work. The plan is rather to select such fundamental points for discussion as shall give the reader some idea of the essential nature of thought, and of the essential factors of the thought process. An insight into principles often dispenses with the discussion of details; and the study of details without a knowledge of principles can come to no conclusion beyond barren reflections and desultory observations"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved). |
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عبارات ومصطلحات مألوفة
abiding abstract activity admit affirm antecedent appears applied assume assumption atheism become belief CALIFORNIA LIBRARY causality cause claim complex conceived conception conclusion concrete connection consciousness contents cosmic deduce distinction doctrine doubt dualism elements empiricism empiricists ence epistemology existence experience explanation expression fact fallacy formal grasp ground Hence human ideal ideas identity implies impressions individual inductive inference infinite regress insight intelligence judgment knowledge language law of identity laws of thought living mind logical manifest matter meaning ment mental event metaphysical mind monism nature necessity never notion noumena noumenon objects ontological particular passive perception phenomena PHILOSOPHIC SCEPTICISM physical possible practical predicate principles problem produced psychological purely question rational realism reality reason relations result scepticism sensations sense simple solipsism space spatial speculative spontaneous thought syllogism theory thinking tion true truth unity UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA valid vanishes verbal
مقاطع مشهورة
الصفحة 28 - For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the —'perception.
الصفحة 29 - If any one, upon serious and unprejudiced reflection, thinks he has a different notion of himself, I must confess I can reason no longer with him. All I can allow him is that he may be in the right as well as I, and that we are essentially different in this particular. He may, perhaps, perceive something simple and continued which he calls himself, though I am certain there is no such principle in me.
الصفحة 240 - He must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future; and that his thoughts are as children born to him, which he may not carelessly let die.
الصفحة 240 - He, like every other man, may properly consider himself as one of the myriad agencies through whom works the Unknown Cause ; and when the Unknown Cause produces in him a certain belief, he is thereby authorized to profess and act out that belief.
الصفحة 269 - ... they obtain this advantage, that as in such discourses they seldom are in the right, so they are as seldom to be convinced that they are in the wrong ; it being all one to go about to draw those men out of their mistakes who have no settled notions, as to dispossess a vagrant of his habitation, who has no settled abode.
الصفحة 229 - One word characterises the most strenuous of the efforts for the advancement of science that I have made perseveringly during fifty-five years ; that word is failure. I know no more of electric and magnetic force or of the relation between ether, electricity, and ponderable matter, or of chemical affinity, than I knew and tried to teach to my students of natural philosophy fifty years ago in my first session as Professor.
الصفحة 342 - It is this fact which constitutes its real existence in distinction from a purely conceptional one. In traditional thought this reality is secured by the world's being outside of God, external to God, etc. ; but these phrases lose all intelligible meaning when space itself is seen to be only the form of the world. And even if space were real they could not be taken in earnest without making God a being with space limits. Let us say, then, that the world is essentially a going forth of divine causality...
الصفحة 376 - ... and with the physical order. This practical life has been the great source of human belief and the constant test of its practical validity ; that is, of its truth. The beliefs of a community — scientific, moral, and religious alike — have a very complex psychological and historical origin and a sort of organic growth. While reason may be implicit in them, the reflective, analytic, and self-conscious reason commonly has little to do with their production. A good description of their origin...
الصفحة 342 - We may say, then, that the world is not merely an idea ; it is also an act. It exists not only as a conception in the divine understanding, but also as a form of activity in the divine will.
