Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy Based on the Doctrines of Evolution, with Criticisms on the Positive Philosophy, Volume 2

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Houghton, 1891

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Page 216 - saying that the unit of an ancient society was the family, of a modern society the individual." l But originally the family-government excluded not only individual independence, but also state supremacy. The sole government actual or possible was that exercised by the male head of a family-group. By slow stages various family-groups closely akin in
Page 462 - discipline, which is a little cruel, that it may be very kind." That perpetual warfare going on throughout the animal world, whereby those no longer fit to live are spared the miseries of protracted existence, is found to be also the indispensable condition of the origination of higher forms of
Page 215 - was not what it is assumed to be at present, a collection of individuals. In fact, and in the view of the men who composed it, it was an aggregation of families. The contrast may be most forcibly expressed
Page 41 - coat the rocks all over the world in infinite numbers : they are all strictly littoral, with the exception of a single Mediterranean species, which inhabits deep water, and this has been found fossil in Sicily, whereas not one other species has hitherto been found in any tertiary formation : yet it is known that the
Page 288 - Once while I watched a Dammara floundering hopelessly in a calculation on one side of me, I observed Dinah, my spaniel, equally embarrassed on the other. She was overlooking half-a-dozen of her new-born puppies, which had been removed two or three times from her, and her anxiety was excessive, as she tried to find out if they were all present,
Page 407 - ascribing goodness to God I do not mean what I mean by goodness; if I do not mean the goodness of which I have some knowledge, but an incomprehensible attribute of an incomprehensible substance, which for aught I know may be a totally different quality from that which I love and venerate—what do I mean by calling it
Page 470 - can take away. Thus, though we may not by searching find out God, though we may not compass infinitude or attain to absolute knowledge, we may at least know all that it concerns us to know, as intelligent and responsible beings. 1 They who seek to know more than this, to transcend the conditions
Page 288 - that that one was honestly paid for, and finding to his surprise that exactly two sticks remained in hand to settle the account for the other sheep, he would be afflicted with doubts ; the transaction seemed to come out too ' pat
Page 242 - inherited; but their beliefs are chiefly acquired, and depend on surrounding conditions; and the most important surrounding conditions depend on the social state which the prevalent desires have produced. The social state at any time existing is the resultant of all the ambitions, self-interests, fears, reverences, indignations, sympathies, etc., of ancestral citizens and existing citizens. The
Page 347 - Similarly there are produced in him feelings of inclination or repugnance towards other lines of conduct that have become established or interdicted, because they are beneficial or injurious to the tribe; though neither the young nor the adults know why they have become established or interdicted. Instance the

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