Mechanism in Thought and Morals: An Address Delivered Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, June 20, 1870 |
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animals answer astronomi audi awake believe blood brain breath Brit burning changes character colors condition consciousness convolutions cubic inches disease distinct divine doctrine doctrine of necessity ellipse ence experience eyes fact familiar Fizeau flow of thought force Hartley head heart heaven human hundred ideas illustrated instance intellectual intelligence internal LAYCOCK Leibnitz Letter listen living logical machinery material record matter mechanical relations memory ment mental labor mental processes mind molecular moral universe mouth movement musical nature nerves nervous centre obscure once original automatic oxygen Pensées perceptions persons PHI BETA KAPPA philosophy pictured thought poet protoplasm question recognize reflex action remember retina says seat seems self-determination sense of effort Somnambulism speak sphere spiritualist square inch story tell thing thinking organ Thomas Shepard THOUGHT AND MORALS tion told true viscera vision volition waste Wigan worded thought
Popular passages
Page 53 - Titanic forces taking birth In divers seasons, divers climes; For we are Ancients of the earth, And in the morning of the times.
Page 54 - And what if all of animated nature Be but organic harps diversely framed, That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze, At once the Soul of each, and God of all?
Page 15 - The very spirits of a man prey upon the daily portion of bread and flesh, and every meal is a rescue from one death, and lays up for another ; and while we think a thought, we die; and the clock strikes and reckons on our portion of eternity; we form our words with the breath of our nostrils, we have the less to live upon for every word we speak.
Page 45 - This dish of meat is too good for any but Anglers, or very honest men ; and I trust, you will prove both, and therefore I have trusted you with this secret.
Page 52 - ... business, I walk out, sit down now and then, look out for objects in nature around me, that are in unison or harmony with the cogitations of my fancy, and workings of my bosom; humming every now and then the air, with the verses I have framed. When I feel my muse beginning to jade, I retire to the solitary fireside of my study, and there commit my effusions to paper; swinging at intervals on the hind legs of my elbowchair, by way of calling forth my own critical strictures, as my pen goes on....
Page 98 - ... man by reasoning could find out God. It would be improper here to enter upon this subject further than to claim an absolute distinction between religious and ordinary belief. I shall be reproached with the weakness of refusing to apply those mental operations which I think good in respect of high things to the very highest. I am content to bear the reproach.
Page 10 - ... must be as thoroughly understood as the musical box or clock which goes of itself by a spring or weight. A slight congestion or softening of the brain shows the least materialistic of philosophers that he must recognize the strict dependence of mind upon its organ in the only condition of life with which we are experimentally acquainted. And what all...
Page 85 - if it was not you, it was your father, and that is all one ; " and finishes with the usual practical application. If a created being has no rights which his Creator is bound to respect, there is an end to all moral relations between them. Good Father Abraham thought he had, and did not hesitate to give his opinion. "Far be it from Thee,
Page 52 - I consider the poetic sentiment correspondent to my idea of the musical expression ; then chuse my theme ; begin one stanza : when that is composed, which is generally the most difficult part of the business, I walk out, sit down now...
Page 41 - ... unconscious sleep. Two of our most distinguished professors in this institution have had such an experience, as they tell me ; and one of them has often assured me that he never dreams. Somnambulism and double-consciousness offer another series of illustrations. Many of my audience remember a...