The Philosophy of Natural Theology: An Essay in confutation of the scepticism of the present dayJackson, William
Religion
The Philosophy of Natural Theology: An Essay in confutation of the scepticism of the present day
Jackson, William
Natural theology; Religion -- Philosophy; Religion and science
[q] The general reader may reasonably feel a difficulty in assigning
their proper meaning to terms used in senses so technical. He may
possibly be assisted by looking over the field of view thus:--A Force
is visible to us as a movement in Nature;--when we try to formulate it
intelligently to ourselves, its mental equivalent is Law. If, then,
we wish to describe an intelligent præ-conception of Law (such as
distinctly involves the Foresight of its operation) we call the Law
a Creative Idea, or (less definitely) a Design. Tracing the chain of
causation in the reverse or downward direction, the Idea when put in
movement appears to our mind's eye as Law; and when we wish to include
its actual working upon the realm of Nature we term it a Force.
Both James Mill and his son (a truly affectionate annotator), are
careful to point out that the essence of moral causation involves
Intention--that is (as Mr. Mill explains), Foresight, or expectation of
consequences.--"Analysis of the Human Mind," II., 400, 401.
It should be observed that in many branches of Natural Science the
word Law is so employed as to include the conception of Force. Law
is in this usage not merely a logical formula expressive of realized
facts, but it involves the idea of the coercion or impellent motion
which brought those facts into being. "Thus, then," says Dr. Carpenter,
"whilst no Law, which is simply _a generalisation of phenomena_, can be
considered as having any _coercive_ action, we may assign that value
to Laws which express _the universal conditions of the action of a
Force_, the existence of which we learn from the testimony of our own
consciousness." He had before remarked that "it is the substitution of
the Dynamical for the mere Phenomenal idea, which gives their highest
value to our conceptions of the Order of Nature."--_Address to British
Association at Brighton, August, 1872._ This _Order_ of Nature, as the
learned President says in conclusion, is no "sufficient account of its
_Cause_."
[30] See how the matter appears to a Satirist:--"By the great variety
of theories here alluded to, every one of which, if thoroughly
examined, will be found surprisingly consistent in all its parts; my
unlearned readers will perhaps be led to conclude that the creation
of a world is not so difficult a task as they at first imagined. I
have shown at least a score of ingenious methods in which a world
could be constructed; and I have no doubt that had any of the
philosophers above quoted the use of a good manageable comet, and the
philosophical warehouse, _chaos_, at his command, he would engage
to manufacture a planet as good, or, if you will take his word for
it, better than this we inhabit." Such is the dictum of the profound
Knickerbocker,--"History of New York," 8vo, p. 16. His variety
of theories concludes with that of "the renowned Dr. Darwin," of
Lichfield. If the history were brought down to our day, additional
variety might be given to this part of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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