HKB
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Often appears with: reason and the intellect · the nature and attributes of God · conversion and faith · words become general · value, price, and exchange · theology and reason · the problem of evil and theodicy · spanish west indies silver · scottish writers · scotch metaphysicians · remote action · orthodoxy versus philosophy
Usually: argument (6) · detachment (2) · skepticism (2) · crisis of belief (1) · censure (1) · curiosity (1) · exhortation (1) · indignation (1)
“If £100 are in those countries now of no more value than £50 were then, £10 must now be of no more value than £5 were then.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · vivid
“A celebrated prelate [Monsr. Huet] too, of the Romish communion, a man of the most extensive learning, who wrote a demonstration of Christianity, has also composed a treatise, which contains all the cavils of the boldest and most determined PYRRHONISM.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · observation
Smith criticizes claims that Spanish silver discoveries lowered interest in Europe, offering an arithmetical argument that if silver's value fell, the capital-interest proportion would not change.
to say any thing more about it. The following very short and plain argument, however, may serve to explain more distinctly the fallacy which seems to have misled those gentlemen. Before the discovery of the Spanish West Indies, ten per cent. seems to have been the common rate of interest through the greater part of Europe. It has since that time, in different countries, sunk to six, five, four, and…
He examines Locke’s defense of abstraction as the distinguishing faculty of humans over brutes, but argues that Locke’s reasoning wrongly assumes that use of language requires abstract general ideas.
said they are difficult and not to be attained without pains and study; we may therefore reasonably conclude that, if such there be, they are confined only to the learned. 11. I proceed to examine what can be alleged in DEFENCE OF THE DOCTRINE OF ABSTRACTION, and try if I can discover what it is that inclines the men of speculation to embrace an opinion so remote from common sense as that seems to be. There has been…
Leibniz connects Eucharistic participation to omnipotence and immediate operation, discusses English revival of remote action via Newton, and says theologians claim God can dispense with spatial laws.
book entitled explicitly *Labyrinthus de Compositione Continui*, experienced in full measure the difficulties inherent in both doctrines; and the renowned Ochino admirably presented what he calls 'the labyrinths of predestination'. 25. But these writers have not denied the possibility of finding thread in the labyrinth; they have recognized the difficulty, but they have surely not turned difficulty into sheer imposs…
He defines the “prevailing system of metaphysics” as associated with Locke and argues its doctrines are tied to orthodox religious teaching, making them hard to question and obstructing clear spiritual distinctions.
unfolded in the Work. But this also is an evil which I saw no means of avoiding without incurring a greater, and writing a book instead of a brief essay. Let it be understood, then, without further preface, that by the prevailing system of metaphysics, I mean the system, of which in modern times Locke is the reputed author, and the leading principles of which, with various modifications, more or less important, but …
He claims it is England/its intellectual culture’s misfortune to combine Locke and Scottish philosophy with religious commitment, creating irreconcilable tensions where the same philosophical principles are seen as threatening orthodoxy.
essentially spiritual, and a system of philosophy which excludes the very idea of all spiritual power and agency, in their only distinctive and proper character, cannot be consistently associated together. It is our peculiar misfortune in this country that, while the philosophy of Locke and the Scottish writers has been received in full faith, as the only rational system, and its leading principles especially passed…
Cleanthe argues there is no real divide between science and common life: if astronomy and mechanics are accepted despite surprising appearances, theology should be too; he also traces Christian attitudes toward reason through fathers, Reformers, Locke, and later scepticism.
choose my entertainment of a less perplexing and abstruse nature. A comedy, a novel, or at most a history, seems a more natural recreation than such metaphysical subtleties and abstractions. In vain would the sceptic make a distinction between science and common life, or between one science and another. The arguments employed in all, if just, are of a similar nature, and contain the same force and evidence. Or if th…