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Author Mudie, Robert, 1777-1842.

Title Man, in his intellectual faculties and adaptations / by Robert Mudie
Published London : W.S. Orr & Co., 1839

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 282 pages) : illustrations
Summary "In works which treat, or profess to treat, of the Mind, or intellectual part of Man, the subject is taken up in very nearly the same way as the subjects of physical science--of that material creation, the existence of which is palpable to the senses, and the fact of the existence of which is thus established by direct observation, and cannot be made more plain and palpable by any process of reasoning. For this reason, even the best and most rational systems of Mental Philosophy--those with the details of which there is the least reason to find fault--are absolutely foundationless; so that a man may have the most perfect knowledge of them in all their details, and yet be a positive sceptic on the grand question of mind and its immortality. They may be read with pleasure, just as we read with pleasure the developments of imaginary character in a romance, though we know that not one word of the romance is true, or give ourselves no trouble about its truth or its falsehood; and, when the philosophy of mind is treated in this manner, it follows, as a matter of course, that religion and morality (which have their only sure foundations in the belief, the certain conviction, of the existence and immortality of mind) are regarded in the same imaginary manner, looked upon as mere matters of fancy, which are pleasant withal in the details, but into the truth and reality of which it is not necessary, and not very safe, to look. The object of this volume is, in some sort, to supply the desideratum--to call the attention of the reader to the ground upon which, and upon which alone, the immortal hopes of mankind can be founded. I have attempted to do this by means of statements and illustrations which are familiar to all who think, and to express them in the most simple and familiar language, so that the work may be equally intelligible to the unlearned and the learned. I have begun by stating the question of immortality, which is the foundation of the whole matter, inasmuch as a mind which perished with the body would be, in truth, no mind at all, and could not, in principle or in kind, whatever it might do in degree or in modification, differ from the life in the mindless animals. I have endeavoured to point out some of the causes and the dangers of a merely nominal assent--a verbal "faith," upon this most vital of all questions. Next, I have endeavoured to point out some of the grounds of ignorance and doubt upon this question; and among the observations which are offered on this part of the subject, there are some which are, so far as I know, new, and not unworthy of attention. After this, I have endeavoured to trace some of the branches of the natural or philosophical argument for the existence and immortality of mind, as a separate and distinct creation in the case of every individual of the species, and not a matter which is continued by generation as the body is. This form of the argument is not often brought forward, and yet it is the essential one, without which all the others are inadequate to the making out of a demonstrated case, and thus render the whole doctrine nothing better than mere credulity--with only faith, and hope founded on that faith, for which the holder can give no reason, and which leave him without any alternative to becoming an infidel, whenever the arguments of the sceptic are brought to bear upon him. Some remarks on the intellectual states and the training of the mind, especially in that early period of life during which the foundation of the character is laid, follow these; and with them the volume concludes"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)
Notes Title vignette (colored)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
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In PsycBOOKS (EBSCO) EBSCO
Subject Mind and body.
Psychophysiology.
Psychophysiology
Psychophysiology
Mind and body
Genre/Form Baxter Prints
Wood engravings
Gold blocked bindings
Form Electronic book
LC no. 10012895