86 



METAPHYSICS. 



Metaphy- author of some celebrity*, has advanced a very extra- 

 .sics. ordinary hypothesis to explain this mysterious subject ; 



s "" "Y"*""' we shall give a part of it in his own words, to caution 

 our readers against the danger of theorizing : " Were I 

 permitted to conjecture in a matter where nothing bet- 

 ter than conjecture can be had, I should suppose spirit 

 naturally penetrable, but capable of rendering itself so- 

 lid upon occasion, with respect to particular bodies, 

 and that hereon our activity depends. I have former- 

 ly given my reasons for imagining, that the force where- 

 ivit.li we move our limbs, is derived from the animal 

 circulation rushing into the muscles through certain 

 nerves, and that the orifices of these nerves are provid- 

 ed with stoppers, which the mind draws up at pleasure 

 to give the animal spirits admittance ; now what should 

 hinder our conceiving these stoppers pushed up by lit- 

 tle hairs, or fibres, whose other ends lie within our 

 spiritual part f, which, by its natural penetrability, ad- 

 mits them into the space where it resides ? But, upon 

 the mind rendering itself solid with respect to any par- 

 ticular fibre, it is driven forward, thereby lifts up the 

 stopper, and opens the passage into the nerves ; until 

 volition, forbearing to act, the penetrability returns 

 the fibre, no longer pressed, falls back to its former sta- 

 tion, the stopper following, closes the passage, and mus- 

 cular motion ceases.' 1 



The author proceeds in the same style ; but we have 

 given enough to exhibit a complete specimen of me- 

 taphysical absurdity, or rather of the danger which 

 must always attend physiologico-metaphysical specu- 

 lations. 



Locke. Locke is by far the most celebrated metaphysician 



in modern times. There is a perspicuity and good 

 sense apparent in his writings, which insures the at- 

 tention and good-will of the reader. He carefully ba- 

 nished the pedantic phraseology of the schools ; and 

 the world was astonished that subjects so profound 

 should be rendered so simple. Even yet he is scarce- 

 ly considered by some as a metaphysician, solely, we 

 believe, because he employed the language of common 

 life and common sense, in illustrating some of the pro- 

 foundest points in ontology and psychology. For- 

 merly none but the initiated dared to approach these 

 subjects. They were discussed in a peculiar language, 

 which was as remote from the common conceptions of 

 mankind, and as unintelligible to common understand- 

 ings, as the signs of free-masonry are to the uninitiat- 

 ed. Socrates was said to have brought philosophy 

 down from heaven : and we may at least say of Locke, 

 that he has brought metaphysics down from the clouds, 

 and planted them in a congenial soil, and reared them 

 with proper culture on the surface of this earth. Per- 

 haps no one ever accomplished so much on such a 

 subject, with fewer errors, and fewer marks of failure. 



In the article logic, we have pointed ont what we con- Metaphy- 



ceive fo be deficiencies or mistakes in his reasoning ; V _^! C8 ' . 



but we shall have conveyed to our readers an impres- 

 sion very different from our real feelings, if they ima- 

 gine that we do not entertain the very highest reve- 

 rence for the genius of Locke, and the highest grati- 

 tude for the important services which he has perform- 

 ed, in rendering easy and attractive the science of me- 

 taphysics and the study of the human mind. 



Descartes had said that the Peripatetic philosophers 

 resembled blind persons, who, in order to equalize the 

 combat with persons who had the use of their eyes, 

 endeavoured to draw them into a dark cavern, where 

 vision could be of no use to them. It is impossible 

 not to admit the justice of the remark, for if ever there 

 were any who darkened counsel by words without 

 knowledge, this charge may be applied to the school- 

 men who adopted the philosophy of Aristotle. No 

 small part of the merit of Locke consisted in sweeping 

 away this useless rubbish, and in teaching mankind to 

 define their ideas and conceptions before they attempt- 

 ed to reason about them. 



We are extremely sorry that an attempt has been Kant, 

 made in modern times to veil philosophy in her an- 

 cient mystery, with a view to exclude her from the 

 profane eyes of the vulgar. This attempt consists not 

 in reviving the phraseology of the Peripatetic school, 

 but in the invention of a set of new terms equally in- 

 comprehensible, and equally susceptible of ambiguity 

 and misconception. The author who has made this 

 attempt is Kant, the founder of the Critical and Tran- 

 scendental Philosophy, as it is called in Germany. We 

 have never been fortunate enough to meet with any 

 who pretended to comprehend his system ; and for 

 ourselves, we have never yet attempted it. We will be 

 excused for this confession of our ignorance, after the 

 following declaration from Mr. Stewart. " As to 

 Kant's own works, I must fairly acknowledge, that 

 although I have frequently attempted to read them in 

 the Latin edition printed at Leipsic, I have always 

 been forced to abandon the undertaking in despair, 

 partly from the scholastic barbarism of the style, and 

 partly from my utter inability to unriddle the author's 

 meaning. Wherever I have happened to obtain a mo- 

 mentary glimpse of light, I have derived it not from 

 Kant himself, but from my previous acquaintance with 

 those opinions of Leibnitz, Berkeley, Hume, Reid, 

 and others, which he has endeavoured to appropriate to 

 himself under the deep disguise of his new phraseolo- 

 gy J." This mode of philosophizing deserves to be re- 

 probated and exploded ; and we sincerely hope that 

 the German adepts will never be able to make a sys- 

 tem of mysticism popular in any country which has 

 been imbued with the philosophy of Locke ||. 



Tucker. 



f There is a curious coincidence between this wild notion and one advanced by M. Formey . to account for the phenomenon of dream- 

 ing. He supposes, like Hartley, that sensation is carried on entirely by means of vibrations, which are communicated through the nerves, 

 from the first point of contact till they reacli the farthest extremities, which are dipped in .1 spiritual fluid. It is worthy of remark, that this 

 Essay of Formey's is published in the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres at Berlin, in the year 1 746, three 

 years before the appearance of Hartley's Observations on Man. This author, then, has anticipated both Hartley and Tucker. The coinci- 

 dence is curious ; and we should be inclined to suspect them of plagiarism, had the thought been worth stealing Forney's words are, " Les 

 emanations de ccs corps, ou leur parties meme heurtants nos nerfs, les ebranlent a la surface de notre corps, et comfne lorsqu'on pince une 

 corde tcndue, dans quelque endroit que ce soit, toute la corde tremoussc; de meme, Ic nerf est ebranle d'un bout a 1'autre, et 1'ebranlement 

 de I'exfremite interieure est fidelement suivi, et i omme accompagne, tant cela fait promtement, de la sensation qui y repond." We can- 

 not help thinking the coincidence between this doctrine and Hartley's too striking to be accidental. Now for Tucker's penetrable spiritual 

 substance : " On con: oil de plus aisement que cette extremite interieure est la plus facile a ebranler, parce que les ramifications dans les- 

 quelles clle Be termine sont d'une extreme tenuite, et qu'elles sont placces a la source meme de ce fluide spiritueux, qui les arrose, les pe- 

 netre, y court, y serpcnte, et doit avoir une toute autre activite, que lorsqu'il a fait le long chemiri qui le conduit a la surface du corps." 



J An attempt is made to explain Kant's system in the second number of the Edinburgh Hr-ir.*: See also Sir W. Drummond's Aca&c- 

 fii\cnl Qitrs/hns, and J)e Cterandu, Hist, de Si/stcincs, torn. ii. p. 208, 209. 



|| Seethe article KANT, where a general view of his philosophy is given by a gentleman who has read, and probably understood 

 his works. ED. 



