Illustrations of Universal Progress: A Series of DiscussionsSpencer, Herbert
Philosophy
Illustrations of Universal Progress: A Series of Discussions
Spencer, Herbert
Philosophy; Political science; Science
Once more we may contemplate this dominant idea of likeness as exhibited in
art. All art, civilized as well as savage, consists almost wholly in the
making of objects _like_ other objects; either as found in Nature, or as
produced by previous art. If we trace back the varied art-products now
existing, we find that at each stage the divergence from previous patterns
is but small when compared with the agreement; and in the earliest art the
persistency of imitation is yet more conspicuous. The old forms and
ornaments and symbols were held sacred, and perpetually copied. Indeed, the
strong imitative tendency notoriously displayed by the lowest human races,
ensures among them a constant reproducing of likenesses of things, forms,
signs, sounds, actions, and whatever else is imitable; and we may even
suspect that this aboriginal peculiarity is in some way connected with the
culture and development of this general conception, which we have found so
deep and widespread in its applications.
And now let us go on to consider how, by a further unfolding of this same
fundamental notion, there is a gradual formation of the first germs of
science. This idea of likeness which underlies classification,
nomenclature, language spoken and written, reasoning, and art; and which
plays so important a part because all acts of intelligence are made
possible only by distinguishing among surrounding things, or grouping them
into like and unlike;--this idea we shall find to be the one of which
science is the especial product. Already during the stage we have been
describing, there has existed _qualitative_ prevision in respect to the
commoner phenomena with which savage life is familiar; and we have now to
inquire how the elements of _quantitative_ prevision are evolved. We shall
find that they originate by the perfecting of this same idea of likeness;
that they have their rise in that conception of _complete likeness_ which,
as we have seen, necessarily results from the continued process of
classification.
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