Anti-theistic Theories: Being the Baird Lecture for 1877 |
From inside the book
Page 84
... assertions might very well be false , they certainly could not both be true . The reason which he gave for the opinion that the world could not be happy until atheism was uni- versal was , that only then would religious wars and strifes ...
... assertions might very well be false , they certainly could not both be true . The reason which he gave for the opinion that the world could not be happy until atheism was uni- versal was , that only then would religious wars and strifes ...
Page 90
... asserting that it can never be known whence motion comes . The contention of the theist is , that it may be perfectly well known that both matter and motion come from a Supreme and Intelligent Will . Further , to affirm that matter ...
... asserting that it can never be known whence motion comes . The contention of the theist is , that it may be perfectly well known that both matter and motion come from a Supreme and Intelligent Will . Further , to affirm that matter ...
Page 94
... assertions , but he does not prove them ; and , indeed , they are ob- viously not only erroneous but nonsensical . The brain is a thing which can be examined by sight and other senses ; its minutest changes might be traced by an eye of ...
... assertions , but he does not prove them ; and , indeed , they are ob- viously not only erroneous but nonsensical . The brain is a thing which can be examined by sight and other senses ; its minutest changes might be traced by an eye of ...
Page 150
... . Materialism , I remark next , affirms that matter is eternal without justifying the assertion . Mate- rialism is manifestly bound to prove the eternity of matter , since all that is distinctive of the 150 Anti - Theistic Theories .
... . Materialism , I remark next , affirms that matter is eternal without justifying the assertion . Mate- rialism is manifestly bound to prove the eternity of matter , since all that is distinctive of the 150 Anti - Theistic Theories .
Page 154
... assertion that " matter cannot be destroyed " needs proof , yet receives none . There is no warrant for saying more than that matter cannot be destroyed by natural powers and processes . There can be no warrant , there- fore , for ...
... assertion that " matter cannot be destroyed " needs proof , yet receives none . There is no warrant for saying more than that matter cannot be destroyed by natural powers and processes . There can be no warrant , there- fore , for ...
Common terms and phrases
absolute unity absolutely infinite admit affirms animal answer Appendix argument assertion atheism atoms attributes believe body Bradlaugh Brahma Buddha Buddhism called cause Christianity Comte conceived consciousness creation definite deism Deity Democritus deny distinct Divine doctrine duty Epicureans Epicurus essentially eternal evil existence explain fact feel finite force Hegel Holyoake human mind idea ignorance implies infinite intellect intelligence J. S. Mill kind knowledge Lepchas living logically Lucretius maintained materialism materialistic matter mental merely monism moral nature necessarily never Nirvana notion object origin pantheism person pessimism phenomena philosophy physical science polytheism positivism positivist present principles proved reason regard religion religious represented scepticism Schopenhauer scientific secularism secularist self-existent sensation sense Sir John Lubbock soul Spinoza spirit substance supposed supreme theistic theology theory things thought tion tribes true truth uncon universe Vedanta whole words worship
Popular passages
Page 160 - That gravity should be innate, inherent, and essential to matter, so that one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one to. another, is to me so great an absurdity that I believe no man, who has iu philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking, can ever fall into it.
Page 384 - Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him ? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth ? saith the Lord.
Page 172 - ... the passage from the current to the needle, if not demonstrable, is thinkable, and that we entertain no doubt as to the final mechanical solution of the problem. But the passage from the physics of the brain to the corresponding facts of consciousness is unthinkable. Granted that a definite thought, and a definite molecular action in the brain occur simultaneously ; we do not possess the intellectual organ, nor apparently any rudiment of the organ, which would enable us to pass, by a process...
Page 172 - ... following all their motions, all their groupings, all their electric discharges, if such there be ; and were we intimately acquainted with the corresponding states of thought and feeling, we should be as far as ever from the solution of the problem, " How are these physical processes connected with the facts of consciousness ? " The chasm between the two classes of phenomena would still remain intellectually impassable.
Page 76 - It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism ; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion : for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further ; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.
Page 48 - While life remains, let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee, even though he runs in debt, When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return again...
Page 172 - Were our minds and senses so expanded, strengthened, and illuminated as to enable us to see and feel the very molecules of the brain ; were we capable of following all their motions, all their groupings...
Page 495 - I feel bound to make before you is that I prolong the vision backward across the boundary of the experimental evidence, and discern in that matter, which we in our ignorance, and notwithstanding our professed reverence for its Creator, have hitherto covered with opprobrium, the promise and potency of every form and quality of life.
Page 76 - I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.
Page 301 - God, created he him, male and female, that they should have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and the beast of the field, &c.