HKB
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Often appears with: reason and the intellect · fate, destiny, and necessity · matter, motion, and cause · language, naming, and meaning · doubt, skepticism, and certainty · experiment, observation, and evidence · history and the writing of history · education and the training of the young · the nature and attributes of God · justice as a virtue · perception and the senses · will, choice, and freedom
Usually: argument (985) · skepticism (580) · detachment (569) · curiosity (396) · commentary or gloss (177) · reflection (169) · exhortation (169) · censure (120) · crisis of belief (109) · wonder (73)
“So dangerous is it to introduce this idea of necessity into the present question! and so naturally does it afford an inference directly opposite to the religious hypothesis!” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · observation
“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament…” Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle · precept
“The work of Herodotus might be put into verse, and it would still be a species of history, with metre no less than without it.” Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle · observation
“It will thus resemble a living organism in all its unity, and produce the pleasure proper to it.” Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle · vivid
“If a poet has chosen to imitate something, <but has imitated it incorrectly> through want of capacity, the error is inherent in the poetry.” Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle · observation
“Happily, these circumstances are all to be found in the subject of NATURAL RELIGION.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · observation
“In reading this poem it should never be forgotten that there is a pause in the middle of each line, which practically divides it into two halves.” Gaius Valerius Catullus (translated by Robinson Ellis), The Poems and Fragments of Catullus · precept
“We now proceed to the second argument, to which, moreover, we shall return later. If the principle of relativity (in the restricted sense) does not hold, then the Galileian co-ordinate systems K, K′, K″, etc., which are moving uniformly relative to each other, will not be equivalent for the description of natural phenomena.” Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory · insight
“Events which are simultaneous with reference to the embankment are not simultaneous with respect to the train, and vice versa (relativity of simultaneity). Every reference-body (co-ordinate system) has its own particular time; unless we are told the reference-body to which the statement of time refers, there is no meaning in a statement of the time of an event.” Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory · insight
“We conclude that in the theory of relativity the velocity c plays the part of a limiting velocity, which can neither be reached nor exceeded by any real body.” Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory · observation
“But on the basis of the theory of relativity the method of interpretation is incomparably more satisfactory.” Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory · observation
“Guided by this example, we see that our extension of the principle of relativity implies the necessity of the law of the equality of inertial and gravitational mass.” Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory · precept
Sura 36 (Ya Sin) begins: the wise Qur’an warns heedless people, chains and veils symbolize their refusal to believe, only God-fearing secret followers can be truly warned, and divine record-keeping prepares for resurrection and judgment.
-Verily, it hath been revealed to me only because I am a public preacher- When thy Lord said to the angels, "I am about to make man of clay,21 And when I have formed him and breathed my spirit into him, then worshipping fall down before him." And the angels prostrated themselves, all of them with one accord, Save Eblis. He swelled with pride, and became an unbeliever. "O Eblis," said God, "what hindereth thee fr…
The passage continues Noah’s story, including his refusal to claim unseen treasures or angelic status, his warning to skeptics, and God’s command to build the Ark; it culminates in the flood, the drowned son, and Noah’s corrected plea.
riches: my reward is of God alone: and I will not drive away those who believe that they shall meet their Lord:-but I see that ye are an ignorant people. And, O my people! were I to drive them away, who shall help me against God? Will ye not therefore consider? And I tell you not that with me are the treasures of God: nor do I say, 'I know the things unseen;' nor do I say, 'I am an angel;' nor do I say of those who…
Joseph in prison interprets dreams for two prisoners, explains their outcomes, and later interprets Pharaoh’s dream of seven fat and seven lean cows and years of abundance and famine.
Yet resolved they, even after they had seen the signs of his innocence, to imprison him for a time. And there came into the prison with him two youths. Said one of them, "Methought in my dream that I was pressing grapes." And the other said, "I dreamed that I was carrying bread on my head, of which the birds did eat. Declare to us the interpretation of this, for we see thou art a virtuous person." He said, "There s…
Sura II continues with examples of unbelievers as fire- and storm-blinded, commands worship and producing a comparable sura, promises gardens to righteous believers, and introduces parables like the gnat and the nature of covenant-breakers.
Deaf, dumb, blind: therefore they shall not retrace their steps from error! Or like those who, when there cometh a storm-cloud out of the Heaven, big with darkness thunder and lightning, thrust their fingers into their ears because of the thunder-clap, for fear of death! God is round about the infidels. The lightning almost snatcheth away their eyes! So oft as it gleameth on them they walk on in it, but when darkne…
The editor describes sources for annotation, including Thomas Rugge’s “Diurnall” in the British Museum and J. E. Doyle’s Baronage, notes deciphering Pepys’s shorthand (Shelton), and thanks helpers.
pleased to illustrate his subject by quotations from Pepys, and from these books it has often been possible to find information which helps to explain difficult passages in the Diary. Much illustrative matter of value was obtained by Lord Braybrooke from the "Diurnall" of Thomas Rugge, which is preserved in the British Museum (Add. MSS. 10,116, 10,117). The following is the description of this interesting work as g…
Penelope questions the disguised Ulysses about his identity and parents, and he praises her fame while refusing to give his real lineage and warning against dwelling on grief.
and as soon as Ulysses had sat down Penelope began by saying, “Stranger, I shall first ask you who and whence are you? Tell me of your town and parents.” “Madam,” answered Ulysses, “who on the face of the whole earth can dare to chide with you? Your fame reaches the firmament of heaven itself; you are like some blameless king, who upholds righteousness, as the monarch over a great and valiant nation: the earth yield…
Telemachus privately questions the disguised Athene about the wooers’ violent ruin and his father’s loss, contrasting her household concern with the wooers’ songs and leisure, and explaining that they consume the estate.
and placed by them platters of divers kinds of flesh, and nigh them he set golden bowls, and a henchman walked to and fro pouring out to them the wine. Then in came the lordly wooers; and they sat them down in rows on chairs, and on high seats, and henchmen poured water on their hands, and maidservants piled wheaten bread by them in baskets, and pages crowned the bowls with drink; and they stretched forth their hand…
Darwin recapitulates the challenges and supporting conditions for natural selection, addresses why species were once thought immutable, and closes with remarks on how extending the theory should affect natural history study.
Recapitulation of the difficulties on the theory of Natural Selection. Recapitulation of the general and special circumstances in its favour. Causes of the general belief in the immutability of species. How far the theory of natural selection may be extended. Effects of its adoption on the study of Natural history. Concluding remarks. ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. INTRODUCTION. When on board H.M.S. ‘Beag…
Darwin claims rare sudden “sports” in plants support variability coming from ovules or pollen rather than direct conditions at generation, and he argues reproduction and inheritance outweigh direct effects.
their reproductive system has not been thus affected; so will some animals and plants withstand domestication or cultivation, and vary very slightly—perhaps hardly more than in a state of nature. A long list could easily be given of “sporting plants;” by this term gardeners mean a single bud or offset, which suddenly assumes a new and sometimes very different character from that of the rest of the plant. Such buds c…
Darwin criticizes extreme claims that every true-breeding domestic race must have its own wild prototype, arguing that crossing cannot easily recreate extreme wild forms, citing difficulties in forming stable intermediate breeds.
ducks and rabbits, the breeds of which differ considerably from each other in structure, I do not doubt that they all have descended from the common wild duck and rabbit. The doctrine of the origin of our several domestic races from several aboriginal stocks, has been carried to an absurd extreme by some authors. They believe that every race which breeds true, let the distinctive characters be ever so slight, has ha…
He concludes that multiple considerations—difficulty of multiple domesticated origins, abnormal traits tied to the rock-pigeon, occasional blue markings, and fertile mongrels—support a single origin from Columba livia.
as to suppose that species, aboriginally as distinct as carriers, tumblers, pouters, and fantails now are, should yield offspring perfectly fertile, *inter se*, seems to me rash in the extreme. From these several reasons, namely, the improbability of man having formerly got seven or eight supposed species of pigeons to breed freely under domestication; these supposed species being quite unknown in a wild state, and …
Darwin introduces selection as the key mechanism: nature produces variations, while humans accumulate useful ones, likening breeding to a magician’s wand and describing skilled breeders’ methods.
of accumulative selection: nature gives successive variations; man adds them up in certain directions useful to him. In this sense he may be said to make for himself useful breeds. The great power of this principle of selection is not hypothetical. It is certain that several of our eminent breeders have, even within a single lifetime, modified to a large extent some breeds of cattle and sheep. In order fully to real…
He argues that individual differences within the same species supply raw material for natural selection, noting that even important organs can vary, and that polymorphic groups like Rubus and Rosa complicate species boundaries.
from far northwards, would not in some cases be inherited for at least some few generations? and in this case I presume that the form would be called a variety. Again, we have many slight differences which may be called individual differences, such as are known frequently to appear in the offspring from the same parents, or which may be presumed to have thus arisen, from being frequently observed in the individuals …
Darwin says doubtful forms closely allied to others and linked by intermediates often drive the hardest decisions about species versus variety, with classification sometimes relying on analogy and majority expert judgement.
structure which are of no service or disservice to the species, and which consequently have not been seized on and rendered definite by natural selection, as hereafter will be explained. Those forms which possess in some considerable degree the character of species, but which are so closely similar to some other forms, or are so closely linked to them by intermediate gradations, that naturalists do not like to rank …
Darwin argues that agreement on ranking doubtful forms can emerge via close investigation, and he uses cases like Primula veris and elatior (cowslip and primrose) to weigh experimental evidence for common descent.
are hybrids; and there is, as it seems to me, an overwhelming amount of experimental evidence, showing that they descend from common parents, and consequently must be ranked as varieties. Close investigation, in most cases, will bring naturalists to an agreement how to rank doubtful forms. Yet it must be confessed, that it is in the best-known countries that we find the greatest number of forms of doubtful value. I …
He proposes a continuum view where species are arbitrarily named convenience groups and varieties are less distinct steps toward species, potentially accumulating from individual differences via natural selection.
or between lesser varieties and individual differences. These differences blend into each other in an insensible series; and a series impresses the mind with the idea of an actual passage. Hence I look at individual differences, though of small interest to the systematist, as of high importance for us, as being the first step towards such slight varieties as are barely thought worth recording in works on natural his…
He reports that in his tables larger genera show a higher proportion of varieties and incipient species than smaller genera, arguing this supports species as strongly marked varieties continuing to form.
at each species as a special act of creation, there is no apparent reason why more varieties should occur in a group having many species, than in one having few. To test the truth of this anticipation I have arranged the plants of twelve countries, and the coleopterous insects of two districts, into two nearly equal masses, the species of the larger genera on one side, and those of the smaller genera on the other si…
Darwin introduces struggle for existence as the foundation for natural selection, explaining that useful variations are preserved because only a few individuals survive and reproduce amid universal competition.
STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. Bears on natural selection. The term used in a wide sense. Geometrical powers of increase. Rapid increase of naturalised animals and plants. Nature of the checks to increase. Competition universal. Effects of climate. Protection from the number of individuals. Complex relations of all animals and plants throughout nature. Struggle for life most severe between individuals and varieties of the …
Darwin continues that geometrical tendency to increase is universal for plants and animals, but must be checked by destruction, with average population tied more to survival losses than egg counts.
disseminate its seeds rather than those of other plants. In these several senses, which pass into each other, I use for convenience sake the general term of struggle for existence. A struggle for existence inevitably follows from the high rate at which all organic beings tend to increase. Every being, which during its natural lifetime produces several eggs or seeds, must suffer destruction during some period of its …
He explains how selection can act at different life stages because domestication-like stage-specific traits can reappear in offspring, and shows how modifying one part can drive further correlated changes without harming the species.
the organisation is modified through variation, and the modifications are accumulated by natural selection for the good of the being, will cause other modifications, often of the most unexpected nature. As we see that those variations which under domestication appear at any particular period of life, tend to reappear in the offspring at the same period;—for instance, in the seeds of the many varieties of our culinar…
Darwin claims natural selection can only work through the preservation of tiny inherited changes over time, so it should replace ideas of sudden creation or large abrupt changes to organisms.
will natural selection, if it be a true principle, banish the belief of the continued creation of new organic beings, or of any great and sudden modification in their structure. *On the Intercrossing of Individuals*.—I must here introduce a short digression. In the case of animals and plants with separated sexes, it is of course obvious that two individuals must always unite for each birth; but in the case of hermap…
He supports occasional cross-fertilisation by citing flower structures that expose or enclose reproductive organs, bee-driven pollen transfer in pea-like flowers, and cases where close pollen can be prepotent yet foreign pollen is blocked.
from another species, the former will have such a prepotent effect, that it will invariably and completely destroy, as has been shown by Gärtner, any influence from the foreign pollen. When the stamens of a flower suddenly spring towards the pistil, or slowly move one after the other towards it, the contrivance seems adapted solely to ensure self-fertilisation; and no doubt it is useful for this end: but, the agency…
Using a branching diagram, Darwin models how slight, heritable variations are preserved by selection, divergence accumulates over thousands of generations, and recorded varieties/species arise as different branches succeed or die out.
Now let us see how this principle of great benefit being derived from divergence of character, combined with the principles of natural selection and of extinction, will tend to act. The accompanying diagram will aid us in understanding this rather perplexing subject. Let A to L represent the species of a genus large in its own country; these species are supposed to resemble each other in unequal degrees, as is so ge…
Darwin clarifies that evolution need not proceed regularly like the diagram; selection depends on complex ecological relations, while diversified descendants usually seize more places, replace earlier branches, and sometimes remain on a single line.
in number and diverging in character. In the diagram the process is represented up to the ten-thousandth generation, and under a condensed and simplified form up to the fourteen-thousandth generation. But I must here remark that I do not suppose that the process ever goes on so regularly as is represented in the diagram, though in itself made somewhat irregular. I am far from thinking that the most divergent varieti…
He argues that as divergent lineages accumulate, new species can become clearly distinct genera or even families, and he uses the diagram to explain affinities of extinct intermediates and branching origins.
the earlier varieties will have become extinct, having been replaced by eight new species (*a*14 to *m*14); and (I) will have been replaced by six (*n*14 to *z*14) new species. But we may go further than this. The original species of our genus were supposed to resemble each other in unequal degrees, as is so generally the case in nature; species (A) being more nearly related to B, C, and D, than to the other species…
Darwin notes how a species that does little to diverge can still appear circuitously intermediate due to the extinction of connecting ancestors, and he links his model to extinct fossils as less-diverged early branches.
lines, beneath the capital letters, converging in sub-branches downwards towards a single point; this point representing a single species, the supposed single parent of our several new sub-genera and genera. It is worth while to reflect for a moment on the character of the new species F14, which is supposed not to have diverged much in character, but to have retained the form of (F), either unaltered or altered only…
Darwin argues that intermediate forms between species are usually eliminated because larger populations produce more favorable variations, so intermediates are outcompeted and disappear, preventing long-lived chains of links.
understand why intermediate varieties should not endure for very long periods;—why as a general rule they should be exterminated and disappear, sooner than the forms which they originally linked together. For any form existing in lesser numbers would, as already remarked, run a greater chance of being exterminated than one existing in large numbers; and in this particular case the intermediate form would be eminentl…
He emphasizes that despite many mysteries, transitional grades should often be present because selection works only through slight stepwise changes; he invokes “Natura non facit saltum” to explain no leaps.
apparatus, and yet do not, as Matteuchi asserts, discharge any electricity, we must own that we are far too ignorant to argue that no transition of any kind is possible. The electric organs offer another and even more serious difficulty; for they occur in only about a dozen fishes, of which several are widely remote in their affinities. Generally when the same organ appears in several members of the same class, espe…
He argues bees can build proper cell shapes by standing at fixed spacing and excavating evenly, works that depend on rough walls, intermediate planes, and later refinement, while noting differences with Huber’s account.
in the opposed cells and push and bend the ductile and warm wax (which as I have tried is easily done) into its proper intermediate plane, and thus flatten it. From the experiment of the ridge of vermilion wax, we can clearly see that if the bees were to build for themselves a thin wall of wax, they could make their cells of the proper shape, by standing at the proper distance from each other, by excavating at the s…
Darwin asserts that neuter insect castes support natural selection against Lamarckism, since structure and instincts of fertile members change without the sterile members’ habit or volition affecting descendants.
useful to the community, having been produced in greater and greater numbers through the natural selection of the parents which generated them; until none with an intermediate structure were produced. Thus, as I believe, the wonderful fact of two distinctly defined castes of sterile workers existing in the same nest, both widely different from each other and from their parents, has originated. We can see how useful …
He distinguishes sterility when two pure species are first crossed from the sterility of the resulting hybrids, critiques experiments by Kölreuter and Gärtner, and concludes fertility/sterility evidence does not clearly separate species from varieties.
of their mongrel offspring, is, on my theory, of equal importance with the sterility of species; for it seems to make a broad and clear distinction between varieties and species. First, for the sterility of species when crossed and of their hybrid offspring. It is impossible to study the several memoirs and works of those two conscientious and admirable observers, Kölreuter and Gärtner, who almost devoted their live…
Darwin argues that the observed irregular sterility patterns do not support an endowed sterility meant to prevent blending, and instead fit a view where sterility is incidental to hidden reproductive-system differences.
seed from the same capsule have a considerable degree of fertility. These facts show how completely fertility in the hybrid is independent of its external resemblance to either pure parent. Considering the several rules now given, which govern the fertility of first crosses and of hybrids, we see that when forms, which must be considered as good and distinct species, are united, their fertility graduates from zero t…
He continues: intermediate links would not necessarily look directly between two modern species but via unknown ancestors, and he argues that vast time and slow selection are required, citing Lyell to convey immense geological duration.
determined from a mere comparison of their structure with that of the rock-pigeon, whether they had descended from this species or from some other allied species, such as C. oenas. So with natural species, if we look to forms very distinct, for instance to the horse and tapir, we have no reason to suppose that links ever existed directly intermediate between them, but between each and an unknown common parent. The c…
Jesus teaches in parables by the seaside—about the sower, the candle, and the growing seed—then calms a storm, showing his authority over wind and sea.
The .iiij. Chapter. And he began again to teach by the seaside. And there gathered together unto him much people, so greatly that he entered in to a ship, and sat in the sea, and all the people was by the seaside on the shore: And he taught them many things in similitudes, and said unto them in his doctrine. Hearken to. Behold, The sower went out to sow, and it fortuned as he sowed, that some fell by the wayside, an…
Paul’s first letter to Timothy begins with instructions for sound doctrine, warning against myths and endless genealogies, clarifying lawful use of the law, and recounting Paul’s own mercy despite past blasphemy.
tyrant. Nevertheless I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief: but the grace of our lord was more abundant, with faith and love, which is in Christ Iesu. This is a true saying, and by all means worthy to be received, that Christ Iesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief: Notwithstanding unto me was mercy given, that Iesus Christ should first shew on me all long patience, unto the…
2 Peter exhorts believers to grow in faith through virtue, knowledge, and love, claims prophecy comes by the Holy Ghost, and warns that false teachers will introduce destructive sects.
that excellent glory. This is my dear beloved son, in whom I have delight, this voice we heard when it came from heaven, being with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto if ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, ye do well, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. So that ye first know this, that no prophecy in the scripture hath any private…
The passage continues 1 John with victory over the world through faith in Jesus as God’s Son, testimony of water and blood, prayer for sins not unto death, and then begins 2 John with the “elect lady” and teaching about Christ’s flesh.
And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcometh the world: but he which believeth that Iesus is the son of God? This Iesus Christ is he that came by water and blood, not by water only: but by water and blood. And it is the spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit is truth. For there are three which bear record in heaven, the father, the word, and the holy ghost. An…
As the consul advances through Phocis and Boeotia, rebellious states submit peacefully, a statue in Coronea sparks brief plunder then is stopped, and Antiochus’s fleet and a Roman interception affect the war’s logistics.
Of the Romans were slain in the action itself a hundred and fifty; and of the party that defended themselves against the assault of the Aetolians, not more than fifty. 20. As the consul was leading his army through Phocis and Boeotia, the revolted states, conscious of their defection, and dreading lest they should be exposed as enemies to the ravages of the soldiers, presented themselves at the gates of their cities…
Hamilton develops the theory that in human government, self-control requires auxiliary precautions: legislative predominance must be offset by dividing the legislature, and executive power must be fortified—especially through qualified means rather than relying on an absolute veto.
It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over …
Hamilton illustrates how states circumvent strict military rules through the Lacedaemonian use of Lysander, warning that ‘parchment’ constraints fail when public necessity demands otherwise.
are likely to be respected, even by its own constituents. And it teaches us, in addition to the rest, how unequal parchment provisions are to a struggle with public necessity. It was a fundamental maxim of the Lacedaemonian commonwealth, that the post of admiral should not be conferred twice on the same person. The Peloponnesian confederates, having suffered a severe defeat at sea from the Athenians, demanded Lysand…
It provides permission for shortened prayers during fear of enemy attack, describes organized prayer with armed parties, instructs disciplined pursuit, and emphasizes judging by divine revelation and forbidding disputes with the deceitful.
and if any one shall quit his home and fly to God and his apostle, and then death overtake him,–his reward from God is sure: for God is Gracious, Merciful! And when ye go forth to war in the land, it shall be no crime in you to cut short your prayers,22 if ye fear lest the infidels come upon you; Verily, the infidels are your undoubted enemies! And when thou, O apostle! shalt be among them, and shalt pray with them…
Washington details his personal system for work, rest, reading, and vacation, including planning each day, expecting emergencies, minimal time off, napping, and liking biography—especially on Abraham Lincoln.
instructors. Aside from these there are innumerable smaller meetings, such as that of the instructors in the Phelps Hall Bible Training School, or of the instructors in the agricultural department. In order that I may keep in constant touch with the life of the institution, I have a system of reports so arranged that a record of the school’s work reaches me every day of the year, no matter in what part of the countr…
This passage gives the translator’s long table-of-contents for Sallust’s two works, then begins Conspiracy of Catiline with a moral argument for seeking glory through intellect rather than bodily appetite.
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. SALLUST'S CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE AND THE JUGURTHINE WAR LITERALLY TRANSLATED WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY THE REV. JOHN SELBY WATSON, M.A. CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. THE ARGUMENT. The Introduction, I.-IV. The character of Catiline, V. Virtues of the ancient Romans, VI.-IX. Degeneracy of their posterity, X.-XIII. Catiline's associates and supporters, and the arts by which …
Du Bois describes democracy’s paradox: it is limited in industrial life where a powerful few secretly set rules, so democracy must replace hidden monarchy in industry while preserving freedom in truth, faith, and beauty.
of activities, the theory of government has been hitherto to lay down only very general rules of conduct, marking the limits of extreme anti-social acts, like fraud, theft, and murder. The theory was that within these bounds was Freedom--the Liberty to think and do and move as one wished. The real realm of freedom was found in experience to be much narrower than this in one direction and much broader in another. In …
Cato debates Stoic doctrine with philosophers at night, hides his apparent intentions, realizes he has been disarmed by servants, rebukes them with sharp moral reasoning, and reclaims his sword.
purpose; he is still resolute and unalterable, and declares he is determined to follow your example." At this, it is said, Cato smiled, and answered, "That will soon be tried." After he had bathed, he went to supper, with a great deal of company; at which he sat up, as he had always used to do ever since the battle of Pharsalia; for since that time he never lay down, but when he went to sleep. There supped with him…
Plutarch introduces a lesson about learning from good and bad examples and announces a shift to Demetrius Poliorcetes and Antony the Triumvir, then begins reflecting on art, senses, and judgment.
DEMETRIUS Ingenious men have long observed a resemblance between the arts and the bodily senses. And they were first led to do so, I think, by noticing the way in which, both in the arts and with our senses, we examine opposites. Judgment once obtained, the use to which we put it differs in the two cases. Our senses are not meant to pick out black rather than white, to prefer sweet to bitter, or soft and yielding…
Cassius’s eventual disaster is triggered by mistaken identity—Titinius’s arrival is misread, leading Cassius to suicide after ordering his freedman Pindarus to kill him; Titinius later learns the truth and also kills himself.
the enemy's camp, he called back those that were in the pursuit, and rallied them together to lead them to the relief of Cassius, whose fortune had been as follows. First, he had been angry at the onset that Brutus's soldiers made, without the word of battle or command to charge. Then, after they had overcome, he was as much displeased to see them rush on to the plunder and spoil, and neglect to surround and encomp…
Kant argues that human reason inevitably generates metaphysical disputes and contradictions when it seeks principles beyond experience, tracing metaphysics’ rise and decline from dogmatism and skepticism to modern indifference, and urging a critical tribunal.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 1781 Human reason, in one sphere of its cognition, is called upon to consider questions, which it cannot decline, as they are presented by its own nature, but which it cannot answer, as they transcend every faculty of the mind. It falls into this difficulty without any fault of its own. It begins with principles, which cannot be dispensed with in the field of experience, and the truth a…
Responding to claims of intellectual indifference, Kant says this is not mere levity but mature judgement that calls for a Critical Investigation of Pure Reason to examine reason’s claims without experience.
time the source of, or at least the prelude to, the re-creation and reinstallation of a science, when it has fallen into confusion, obscurity, and disuse from ill directed effort. For it is in reality vain to profess *indifference* in regard to such inquiries, the object of which cannot be indifferent to humanity. Besides, these pretended *indifferentists*, however much they may try to disguise themselves by the ass…
Kant claims to have found the source of errors in non-empirical thought by fully examining reason in terms of principles rather than evasive limits, aiming at thorough solutions and rejecting dogmatism’s overreach beyond experience.
impossibility of metaphysics, and the determination of the origin, as well as of the extent and limits of this science. All this must be done on the basis of principles. This path—the only one now remaining—has been entered upon by me; and I flatter myself that I have, in this way, discovered the cause of—and consequently the mode of removing—all the errors which have hitherto set reason at variance with itself, in …
Kant explains the formal conditions for the critique—certainty and clearness—arguing that opinion and hypotheses are inadmissible for a priori cognition, and that he addresses both objective and subjective deduction of the pure understanding.
two indispensable conditions, which any one who undertakes so difficult a task as that of a critique of pure reason, is bound to fulfil. These conditions are *certitude* and *clearness*. As regards *certitude*, I have fully convinced myself that, in this sphere of thought, *opinion* is perfectly inadmissible, and that everything which bears the least semblance of an hypothesis must be excluded, as of no value in suc…
Kant explains that his book aims for discursive logical clarity, but lacked full intuitive clarity because adding many examples would distract from grasping the overall system and unity.
produce in his mind the conviction of its certitude at which I aimed, the objective deduction, with which alone the present work is properly concerned, is in every respect satisfactory. As regards *clearness*, the reader has a right to demand, in the first place, *discursive* or logical clearness, that is, on the basis of conceptions, and, secondly, *intuitive* or æsthetic clearness, by means of intuitions, that is,…
In the second-edition preface (1787), Kant argues that metaphysics lacks scientific certainty because metaphysicians fail to agree on method and repeatedly retrace their steps, unlike logic which has completed its course since Aristotle.
laws of all thought, whether it be *à priori* or empirical, whatever be its origin or its object, and whatever the difficulties—natural or accidental—which it encounters in the human mind. The early success of logic must be attributed exclusively to the narrowness of its field, in which abstraction may, or rather must, be made of all the objects of cognition with their characteristic distinctions, and in which the u…
Kant defends logic’s advance as due to its narrow, abstract field, while arguing that rational sciences must distinguish their a priori elements and that mathematics and physics determine objects partly or wholly a priori.
he must not attribute to the object any other properties than those which necessarily followed from that which he had himself, in accordance with his conception, placed in the object. A much longer period elapsed before *Physics* entered on the highway of science. For it is only about a century and a half since the wise BACON gave a new direction to physical studies, or rather—as others were already on the right tra…
Kant claims that mathematics reached secure science among the Greeks through a revolutionary geometrical method attributed to a discoverer like Thales, using a priori construction rather than mere contemplation of figures.
strength in mock-contests—a field in which no combatant ever yet succeeded in gaining an inch of ground, in which, at least, no victory was ever yet crowned with permanent possession. This leads us to inquire why it is that, in metaphysics, the sure path of science has not hitherto been found. Shall we suppose that it is impossible to discover it? Why then should nature have visited our reason with restless aspirati…
Kant argues that physics reached scientific progress only after Bacon redirected it, and that experiment must be guided by rational principles that pose questions to nature rather than follow nature blindly.
what indications do we possess to guide us in a renewed investigation, and to enable us to hope for greater success than has fallen to the lot of our predecessors? It appears to me that the examples of mathematics and natural philosophy, which, as we have seen, were brought into their present condition by a sudden revolution, are sufficiently remarkable to fix our attention on the essential circumstances of the chan…
Kant contrasts metaphysics as an isolated, purely speculative science independent of experience with the lack of a sure method, since reason repeatedly stalls, contradicts itself, and metaphysicians never permanently win ground.
new method of thought which we have adopted, and which is based on the principle that we only cognize in things _à priori_ that which we ourselves place in them.[4] [4] This method, accordingly, which we have borrowed from the natural philosopher, consists in seeking for the elements of pure reason in that *which admits of confirmation or refutation by experiment*. Now the propositions of pure reason, especially …
Kant proposes a new “Copernican” method for metaphysics: instead of assuming cognition conforms to objects, assume objects conform to our cognition, enabling a priori knowledge of experience and clarifying the limits of reason.
does not lie in things as we know them, or as they are given to us, but in things as they are in themselves, beyond the range of our cognition.[5] [5] This experiment of pure reason has a great similarity to that of the *Chemists*, which they term the experiment of *reduction*, or, more usually, the *synthetic* process. The *analysis* of the metaphysician separates pure cognition *à priori* into two heterogeneou…
Kant explains that this method treats pure-reason propositions like reducible experiments by viewing concepts both in relation to possible experience and in isolation as thought, testing harmony versus contradiction.
in the Critique itself it will be demonstrated, not hypothetically, but apodeictically, from the nature of our representations of space and time, and from the elementary conceptions of the understanding. This attempt to introduce a complete revolution in the procedure of metaphysics, after the *example* of the geometricians and natural philosophers, constitutes the aim of the Critique of Pure Speculative Reason. It …
Kant distinguishes dogmatic reason’s strict demonstrative method from dogmatism, meaning progress without prior criticism, and he rejects both popularity and skepticism while calling for a scholastic, Wolf-like, but Critique-prepared system of metaphysics.
cry of danger to the public over the destruction of cobwebs, of which the public has never taken any notice, and the loss of which, therefore, it can never feel. This critical science is not opposed to the *dogmatic procedure* of reason in pure cognition; for pure cognition must always be dogmatic, that is, must rest on strict demonstration from sure principles _à priori*—but to *dogmatism_, that is, to the presumpt…