Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Elements of Logic, Vol. 1: In Four Books
If all the human sciences, that concerning man is certainly the most worthy of man, and the most necessary part of knowledge. We find ourselves in tlus world surrounded with a variety of objects we have powers and faculties fitted to deal with them, and are happy or miserable in proportion as we know how to frame a right judgment of things, and shape our actions agreeably to the circumstances in which we are placed. NO study, therefore, is more important than that which introduces us to the knowledge of ourselves. Hereby we become acquainted With the extent and capacity of the human mind and learning to distinguish what oh jects it is suited to, and in what manner it must proceed. In order to compass its ends, we arrive by degrees, at thatjustness and truth of understanding, which is the great perfection of a rational being. Sec. Gradattons of Perfection in Things. If we look attentively into things, and survey them in their full extent, we see them rising one above ano ther in various degrees of eminence. Among the ina nimate parts of matter, some exhibit nothing worthy our attention their parts seem as it were jumbled together by mere chance, nor can we discover any beau ty, order, or regularity in their composition. In others, we discern the fines: arrangement, and a certain ele gance of contexture, that makes us affix to them a no tion of worth and excellence. Thus metals, and pre cious stones, are conceived as far surpassing those nu formed masses of earth, that lie every where exposed to view. If we trace nature onward, and pursue her through the vegetable and animal kingdoms, we find her still multiplying her perfections, and rising, by a just gradation, from mere mechanism to perception.
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