demand an explanation; and secondly, that there exists in fact no such
intermediation by logical notions, such as those of cause and effect. It
is the object itself, not the product of a syllogism, which is present
to our consciousness. Or would we explain this supervention of the
object to the sensation, by a productive faculty set in motion by
an impulse; still the transition, into the percipient, of the object
itself, from which the impulse proceeded, assumes a power that can
permeate and wholly possess the soul,
And like a God by spiritual art,
Be all in all, and all in every part.
And how came the percipient here? And what is become of the
wonder-promising Matter, that was to perform all these marvels by force
of mere figure, weight and motion? The most consistent proceeding of
the dogmatic materialist is to fall back into the common rank of
soul-and-bodyists; to affect the mysterious, and declare the whole
process a revelation given, and not to be understood, which it would be
profane to examine too closely. Datur non intelligitur. But a
revelation unconfirmed by miracles, and a faith not commanded by the
conscience, a philosopher may venture to pass by, without suspecting
himself of any irreligious tendency.
Thus, as materialism has been generally taught, it is utterly
unintelligible, and owes all its proselytes to the propensity so common
among men, to mistake distinct images for clear conceptions; and vice
versa, to reject as inconceivable whatever from its own nature is
unimaginable. But as soon as it becomes intelligible, it ceases to be
materialism. In order to explain thinking, as a material phaenomenon, it
is necessary to refine matter into a mere modification of intelligence,
with the two-fold function of appearing and perceiving. Even so did
Priestley in his controversy with Price. He stripped matter of all its
material properties; substituted spiritual powers; and when we expected
to find a body, behold! we had nothing but its ghost--the apparition of
a defunct substance!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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