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• - « p ^ r-ce * j * ed . v cannot be termed sztfl evident , af £ Oir 4 i ng ; to the weaning which is eagerly annexed to the term ; that there must h ^ ve Seen an intellectual process , however rapid j that if an axiom be clear to the math earn tici&n or metaphysician , it is no £ to ail uncultivated mind . When
philosophers commence their abstruse researches , it is always at a mature age . They enter their studies with the immense advantage of a previous education . They have imperceptibly been gathering up principles in their infancy , childhood , and youth * by which alone they become qualified to philosophize , and to which
they have been so long ^ habituated , that , as it plainly appears , they have totally forgotten the origin of their philosophical knowledge . If this be the case , and I defy the disciples of our theorist to disprove it , the terra intuitive is intrusive and absurd . He takes for granted what he is bound to prove , that intuitive
principles exist , and then to point out what they ate . Will he send us away with the assertion , that I know by intuition the existence of intuitive princijiles ? Is positiveness an attribute of intuition ? Can he expect to satisfy usy
though he may "himself , with the -syllogism , whenever I am positive a thing exists , or a principle is true , it is by intuition 5 and therefore every time I am positive , 1 have an intuitive knowledge independent of all proof ? ' * — Pp . 216 ,
217 . , The sixth Speculation is an attack topon Mr . Hume ' s Sceptical Questions , ftncj it will bc \ as it ought to be , examined ' the . more rigorously , because the attack upon Mr . Hume ' s opinions is coupled with a censure of the man , in which the admirers of that very acute metaphysician will not readily
acquiesce . * ' Perhaps ( says our author ) there never was a writer , whose principles are more unsatisfactory , bat whom it is more difficult to oppose with succes s , than this philosopher . I Us erudition and unaffected eloquence demand our admiration ; and the embarrassments lie has thrown
in the way of the most revered opinions , are supported with so much ingenuity , subtilty , -and address , that those who are dhS $ atisSed with his sentiments are compelled to respect his talents . Whoever attends ! closely to his mode of writing ,
will , however , perceive that be Imh th « fc &ft of combining the greatest contrarieties ; tV one assemblage . He is sometime * fn * oftfiHf& , Sometim e * superficial , sometime * exfW * n » Hy sc ^ tfpaly sbmcrimes extrerttely positive . He . obviously ! . delights tp e *< frt ttlt 4 Ue power * of hi « intellects ^
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in order to discover the weakness of th < e ^ intellectual faculties ; and . he conducts us through various propositions , which h * professes to consider as truths , in order gradually and imperceptibly to undermine them . He takes the liberty of uniting two opposite systems in his current language , — -that which he attempts to sub *
vert , and the one he wishes to establish ; he talks of « x , tue 9 men , the experience of mankind ) as if he were assured that other beings exist as well as himself ; yet his grand attempt is to -weaken all the arguments which support this belief . He seems to acknowledge the doctrine of
cause and effect , at the moment he combats every principle most intimately connected with it . ife frequently retires behind ambiguous phraseology , luid undefined expressions ; and not unfrequently claims a right to fix ideas to words , totally different from the general acceptation . Hence it is as difficult to contend
with such an adversary , as it is for regular troops to contend with the busk-fighters of America , who are at one moment in one position , and the next in another ; 'whose professed discipline consists in con- * cealing themselves behind brambles and thorns and other interposing bodies , that they may take aim in greater security , at forces which disdain , to shelter themselves ,
and yet find it difficult to return the salute , in consequence of the obscure situation of the foe . To follow this philosopher through all the turns and windings , is' impracticable . It will suffice , if we shew that his leading principles areerroneous , mid that the most specious arguments adduced for their support , are destitute of soliditv . "—Pp .
245—247-Again : " Had he ( Mr . Hume ) made a proper use of his distinguished talents , he might have shone like a superior luminary , and have thrown masses of light upon the greatest obscurities in science ; but he has preferred rendering his mental powers subservient to the office of a midnight
taper , just glimmering to shew mankind the surrounding darkness . It he only proposition which his most attentive dis * ciples can discover is , that the whole human > race is deplorably and invincibly ignorant . He labours assiduously t prove by abstruse reasoning , that the
human mind is not in the least adapted to abstruse subjects ; a solecism which can only-he rivalled hy that of his antagonist , who attempts to prove by reasoning th $ t reason is not tv be trusted , "—Pj > . 151 , 252 . .
It is well known that , Mr . £ Ium $ divide all tbe . perjcejnions of tfye huoi ^ n ruind iuto twaclaft ^ , or suecjes r > vj * ic l&
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ftSCte Review . — Cogaris Ethical Questions .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1817, page 230, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2463/page/38/
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