Three Essays on Religion |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - Devil_llama - LibraryThingA classic work by Mill, in which he discusses Natural Theology. His essay on Nature is right on, pointing out that it isn't enough to point to Nature, and that natural is not necessarily good. His ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - quantum_flapdoodle - LibraryThingA classic work by Mill, in which he discusses Natural Theology. His essay on Nature is right on, pointing out that it isn't enough to point to Nature, and that natural is not necessarily good. His ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
according action admitted amount animal appear argument attributes authority belief Berkeley better called cause character Christianity common complete conclusion connected considerable considered consistent course Creator death Deity desire direct divine doctrine effect equally event evidence evil example existence experience expression fact feelings follow force give given greater ground human idea imagination important indications individual influence instinct justice kind knowledge known least less limited lives maintain mankind material matter means mind miracle mode moral nature necessary never notion objects opinion origin particular perceive perfect person phenomena philosophers physical positive possible present probably produced properties prove question reason regard religion religious remains require respecting rest result rule seems sensations sense sufficient supposed supposition Theism theory things thought tion true truth universe virtue volition whole
Popular passages
Page 28 - In sober truth, nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another are Nature's everyday performances.
Page 281 - The table I write on I say exists, that is I see and feel it, and if I were out of my study I should say it existed, meaning thereby that if I was in my study I might perceive it, or that some other spirit actually does perceive it.
Page 290 - If the term same be taken in the vulgar acceptation, it is certain (and not at all repugnant to the principles I maintain) that different persons may perceive the same thing ; or the same thing or idea exist in different minds.
Page 29 - Nature impales men, breaks them as if on the wheel, casts them to be devoured by wild beasts, burns them to death, crushes them with stones like the first Christian martyr, starves them with hunger, freezes them with cold, poisons them by the quick or slow venom of her exhalations, and has hundreds of other hideous deaths in reserve such as the ingenious cruelty of a Nabis or a Domitian never surpassed.
Page 35 - Nature's general rules and part of her habitual injustice that "to him that hath shall be given, but from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath.
Page 174 - I think it must be allowed that, in the present state of our knowledge, the adaptations in Nature afford a large balance of probability in favour of creation by intelligence.
Page 116 - One only form of belief in the supernatural — one only theory respecting the origin and government of the universe — stands wholly clear both of intellectual contradiction and of moral obliquity. It is that which, resigning irrevocably the idea of an omnipotent creator, regards Nature and Life not as the expression throughout of the moral character and purpose of the Deity, but as the product of a struggle between contriving goodness and an intractable material, as was believed by Plato, or a...
Page 253 - And whatever else may be taken away from us by ' rational criticism, Christ is still left ; a unique figure, not more unlike all His precursors than all His followers, even those who had the direct benefit of His personal teaching.