Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF THE SENSUALISTIC PHILOSOPHY OF THE PREVIOUS CENTURY.--HOBBES, LOCKE, CONDILLAC, HELVETIUS, ST. LAMBERT. I. rpO the curious mind it will, appear remarkable, and to the devout, perhaps, providential, that the first modern expounder of the Sensualistic philosophy should have carried it most fully to its legitimate results. Thomas Hobbes, of Malmesbury (a. D. 1588 to 1679), taught it with a boldness, ability, and unblenching consistency, which make his speculations invaluable to us: he shows us iust what its corollaries are, when carried out with a rigid logic, from those first premises which are common to all the school. We may, then, ascribe to this intellectual giant the "bad eminence" of having anticipated all the fruit, which history has subsequently shown, by the speculations of his followers, and by the calamities these speculations have procured for their people, the system is fitted to bear. He enables us to see the whole development of Sensualism epitomized in one man. Philosophy, according to Hobbes, has for its object all bodies which are formed and possess qualities. Physics', then, constitute the whole of true philosophy. As God is not conceived of as a body, or as having been formed; to philosophy neither His existence nor attributes are cognizable. Complaisance to the Christian prejudices of the day led Hobbes, instead of simply denying His existence, to remit its discussion to the separate sphere of theology: philosophy has no more to do with the idea of a God. So, Christian usages make us talk of our souls as spirits; but it is impossible to have any evidence of an immaterial substance; for the only evidence is that of conception, which, in turn, comes only from sensation. The only definition of...