The Contingency of the Laws of Nature, Vol. 5 (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

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Excerpt from The Contingency of the Laws of Nature, Vol. 5

For a certain period of time, man is content with this conception. And, indeed, is it not even at so early a stage a very fertile one? All the same, whilst observing facts, the mind notes that there is a con stant relation between them. It sees that nature consists not of isolated objects but rather of inter related phenomena. It notes that the contiguity of the phenomena, from the point of view of the senses, is no certain indication of their actual correlation. It would like to set out phenomena, not in the order in which they appear to it, but in that in which they really depend on one another. Henceforth, it regards purely descriptive science as inadequate, and even inexact, in that it perverts the relations of things. The mind would add explanatory knowledge thereto, but this the senses are unable to procure; for, to effect this, observed relations must be noted and compared together, so as to distinguish between those that are constant and those that are general.

Then, once these limits or schemes have been made, the particular relations we purpose to explain must be fitted into them. Now, the senses only arrive at those relations that are immediately given by things themselves. The understanding, however, intervenes and shows the mind a higher point Of view, from which things are really perceived in their general aspect. The mind, then, sets the under standing to interpret, Classify, and explain the data of the senses.

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