The System of Nature, Or, Laws of the Moral and Physical World, Volumes 1-2 |
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Page iii
... advantages of neatness of typography and cheapness of price , the works of those celebrated authors whose writings , owing to religious intolerance , have been kept in obscurity . We have commenced the library with a translation of ...
... advantages of neatness of typography and cheapness of price , the works of those celebrated authors whose writings , owing to religious intolerance , have been kept in obscurity . We have commenced the library with a translation of ...
Page x
... advantage of society - that he may dare to love himself that he may learn to pursue his true happiness by promoting that of others - in short , that he may no longer occupy himself with reveries either use- less or dangerous - that he ...
... advantage of society - that he may dare to love himself that he may learn to pursue his true happiness by promoting that of others - in short , that he may no longer occupy himself with reveries either use- less or dangerous - that he ...
Page 14
... advantage of the governours . tion . From hence may be traced the He gave himself up without reserve to aversion man betrays for every thing men like himself , whom his prejudices that swerves from those rules to which induced him to ...
... advantage of the governours . tion . From hence may be traced the He gave himself up without reserve to aversion man betrays for every thing men like himself , whom his prejudices that swerves from those rules to which induced him to ...
Page 60
... advantages , pleasures , or agreeable sen- sations of any sort : it is by this means that genius gains an ascendency over the mind of man , and obliges a whole people to acknowledge its power . Thus , the diversity , the inequality of ...
... advantages , pleasures , or agreeable sen- sations of any sort : it is by this means that genius gains an ascendency over the mind of man , and obliges a whole people to acknowledge its power . Thus , the diversity , the inequality of ...
Page 62
... advantages which the dogma of spirituality can never supply , of which it even precludes the idea . Man will ever remain a mystery to those who shall obstinately persist in viewing him with eyes prepossessed by theology , or to those ...
... advantages which the dogma of spirituality can never supply , of which it even precludes the idea . Man will ever remain a mystery to those who shall obstinately persist in viewing him with eyes prepossessed by theology , or to those ...
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Common terms and phrases
according atheist attributed Baron d'Holbach become believe body brain capacitated causes celestial monarch chimeras combinations conduct consequence crime deists Descartes desire Divinity earth effects ence energy errour essence eternal evil experience faculty fear feel felicity free agent frequently give habit happiness human species ideas igneous ignorance imagination impulse innate ideas intelligence interest labour laws ligion Malebranche manner matter ment mind miserable mode of existence modes of action modified moral motion motives moved natural philosophers nature neces necessarily necessary necessity never objects obliged opinions organs passions peculiar perceive Plato pleasure prejudices present pretended priests principles procure produce properties punish PYTHAGORAS qualities reason received religion render rience sary senses sensible short sion society soul spirit substance superstition supposed tain temperament Tertullian theologians theology thing thou tion true truth ture virtue whence whilst whole wicked
Popular passages
Page 128 - For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Page 128 - Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
Page vii - Exegi monumentum aere perennius Regalique situ pyramidum altius, Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens Possit diruere aut innumerabilis Annorum series et fuga temporum.
Page 218 - There is not so contemptible a plant or animal that does not confound the most enlarged understanding.
Page 214 - ... wiser; which would again involve a contradiction. The theologians fearing, without doubt, to restrain the liberty of the Divinity, have supposed it was necessary that he should not be bound by his own laws, in which they have shewn somewhat more ignorance of their subject than they imagined. 10th, "The self-existent Being, the supreme Cause of all things, must of necessity have infinite power.
Page 94 - It is said: that in consequence of an idea to which the mind gives birth, man acts freely if he encounters no obstacle. But the question is, what gives birth to this idea in his brain? was he the master either to prevent it from presenting itself, or from renewing itself in his brain? Does not this idea depend either upon objects that strike him exteriorly and in despite of himself, or upon causes, that without his knowledge, act within himself and modify his brain? Can he prevent his eyes, cast...
Page 88 - The motives that determine the voluptuary and the debauchee to risk their health, are as powerful, and their actions are as necessary, as those which decide the wise man to manage his. But, it will be insisted, the debauchee may be prevailed on to change his conduct: this does not imply that he is a free agent; but that motives may be found sufficiently powerful to annihilate the effect of those that previously acted upon him; then these new motives determine his will to the new mode of conduct he...
Page 215 - must of necessity be a being of infinite goodness, justice, and truth, and all other moral perfections, such as become the supreme governor and judge of the •world.
Page 95 - ... to act freely. When it is said, that man is not a free agent, it is not pretended to compare him to a body moved by a simple impulsive cause: he contains within himself causes inherent to his existence; he is moved by an interior organ, which has its own peculiar laws, and is itself necessarily determined in consequence of ideas formed from perceptions resulting from sensations which it receives from exterior objects.
Page viii - ... notwithstanding the reiterated checks his ambitious folly experiences, he still attempts the impossible, strives to carry his researches beyond the visible world, and hunts out misery in imaginary regions. He would be a metaphysician before he has become a practical philosopher. He quits the contemplation of realities to meditate on chimeras. He neglects experience, to feed on conjecture, to indulge in hypothesis. He dares not cultivate his reason, because from his earliest days he has been taught...