Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative; Vol. 2 of 3: Library Edition (1891), Containing Seven Essays not before Republished, and Various other Additions.Spencer, Herbert
Philosophy
Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative; Vol. 2 of 3: Library Edition (1891), Containing Seven Essays not before Republished, and Various other Additions.
Spencer, Herbert
Philosophy; Political science; Science
“The cue may be taken from an experience described in Mr. Spencer’s
_Principles of Psychology_ (§ 468, note), where it is shown that
when with one hand we pull the other, we have in the feeling of
tension produced in the limb pulled, a measure of the reaction that
is equivalent to the action of the other limb. Both terms of the
relation of cause and effect are in this case present to consciousness
as muscular tensions, which are our symbols of forces in general.
While no motion is produced they are felt to be equal, so far as the
sensations can serve to measure equality; and when excess of tension is
felt in the one arm, motion is experienced in the other. Here, as in
the examples about to be given, the relation between cause and effect,
though numerically indefinite, is definite in the respect that every
additional increment of cause produces an additional increment of
effect; and it is out of this and similar experiences that the idea of
the relation of proportionality grows and becomes organic.
“A child, when biting his food, discovers that the harder he bites the
deeper is the indentation; in other words, that the more force applied,
the greater the effect. If he tears an object with his teeth, he finds
that the more he pulls the more the thing yields. Let him press against
something soft, as his own person, or his clothes, or a lump of clay,
and he sees that the part or object pressed yields little or much,
according to the amount of the muscular strain. He can bend a stick
the more completely the more force he applies. Any elastic object, as
a piece of india-rubber or a catapult, can be stretched the farther
the harder he pulls. If he tries to push a small body, there is little
resistance and it is easy to move; but he finds that a {303} big body
presents greater resistance and is harder to move. The experience
is precisely similar if he attempts to lift a big body and a little
one; or if he raises a limb, with or without any object attached to
it. He throws a stone: if it is light, little exertion propels it a
considerable distance; if very heavy, great exertion only a short
distance. So, also, if he jumps, a slight effort raises him to a short
height, a greater effort to a greater height. By blowing with his mouth
he sees that he can move small objects, or the surface of his morning’s
milk, gently or violently according as the blast is weak or strong. And
it is the same with sounds: with a slight strain on the vocal organs he
produces a murmur; with great strain he can raise a shout.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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