Book contents
- Frontmatter
- NOTICE
- Contents
- INTRODUCTION
- BOOK I TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS
- BOOK II COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS
- BOOK III RELIGIOUS VIEWS
- CHAP. I The Creator of the Physical World is the Governor of the Moral World
- CHAP. II On the Vastness of the Universe
- CHAP. III On Man's Place in the Universe
- CHAP. IV On the Impression produced by the Contemplation of Laws of Nature; or, on the Conviction that Law implies Mind
- CHAP. V On Inductive Habits; or, on the Impression produced on Men's Minds by discovering Laws of Nature
- CHAP. VI On Deductive Habits; or, on the Impression produced on Men's Minds by tracing the consequences of ascertained Laws
- CHAP. VII On Final Causes
- CHAP. VIII On the Physical Agency of the Deity
CHAP. VII - On Final Causes
from BOOK III - RELIGIOUS VIEWS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
- Frontmatter
- NOTICE
- Contents
- INTRODUCTION
- BOOK I TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS
- BOOK II COSMICAL ARRANGEMENTS
- BOOK III RELIGIOUS VIEWS
- CHAP. I The Creator of the Physical World is the Governor of the Moral World
- CHAP. II On the Vastness of the Universe
- CHAP. III On Man's Place in the Universe
- CHAP. IV On the Impression produced by the Contemplation of Laws of Nature; or, on the Conviction that Law implies Mind
- CHAP. V On Inductive Habits; or, on the Impression produced on Men's Minds by discovering Laws of Nature
- CHAP. VI On Deductive Habits; or, on the Impression produced on Men's Minds by tracing the consequences of ascertained Laws
- CHAP. VII On Final Causes
- CHAP. VIII On the Physical Agency of the Deity
Summary
We have pointed out a great number of instances where the mode in which the arrangements of nature produce their effect, suggests, as we conceive, the belief that this effect is to be considered as the end and purpose of these arrangements. The impression which thus arises, of design and intention exercised in the formation of the world, or of the reality of Final Causes, operates on men's minds so generally, and increases so constantly on every additional examination of the phenomena of the universe, that we cannot but suppose such a belief to have a deep and stable foundation. And we conceive that in several of the comparatively few cases in which such a belief has been rejected, the averseness to it has arisen from the influence of some of the causes mentioned in the last chapter; the exclusive pursuit, namely, of particular trains and modes of reasoning, till the mind becomes less capable of forming the conceptions and making the exertions which are requisite for the apprehension of truths not included among its usual subjects of thought.
1. This seems to be the case with those who maintain that purpose and design cannot be inferred or deduced from the arrangements which we see around us by any process of reasoning. We can reason from effects to causes, say such writers, only in cases where we know something of the nature of the cause.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1833