PHILO 
thropology.—Philofophical Syftem of Rights. Rights of 
Nature. Rights of Reafon.— Pure and applied; the lat¬ 
ter comprehend private and public Rights; and thefe con- 
fid of the Rights of the State, the Rights of the People, 
and Cofmopolitical Rights.—Applied practical Difcipline, 
Education, Legiflation, Moral DoClrine of Prudence; Phi¬ 
lofophical Science of Politics.— Critic of Theoretical and 
Practical Reafon, and Critic of Judgment, introductory 
to all philofophical Sciences. 
PART III. Of the Connection of -the Philosophi¬ 
cal Sciences with the other Departments of 
Human Knowledge, and of their powerful Influence 
upon the Improvement and Happinefs of Individuals 
and Nations.—Of the great interest which the 
Human Mind takes in philofophical inveltigation. 
I. Of the Ufe ^'Philosophy to Man as a Knoiving• Being. 
Philofophy developes and exercifes the intellectual powers 
in more ways than any other fcience. It alio teaches us 
the Nature, the End, and the Limits, of our Knowing 
Faculty. 
II. Of the great Ufe of Philosophy to Man, as a Moral 
Being. 
It proves Reafon to be felf-legiflative. — Abfolute worth 
of the rational nature.—Practical wifdom.—Accurate de¬ 
finition of all our duties.—Means for the moral improve¬ 
ment of individuals and focieties. 
III. Of the great Influence of PliiloJ'ophy on Human Hap¬ 
pinefs. 
It produces internal tranquillity of Mind, defines the 
conception of happinefs correCtly, and by this means 
guides the Will. 
IV. Of the important relation of Philofophy to the other 
Sciences; and of the influence of the former on theftudy 
of the latter. 
Its influence upon pofitive Religion, pofitive Rights, 
Legiflation, and Politics ; upon the fcience of Nature and 
that of Medicine ; upon the ltudy of Hifcory, upon the 
Fine Arts; upon the ftudy of Languages, Method, the art 
of inftruCtion, &c. 
V. Of the relation of Philofophy to the Enlightenment of 
Mankind. 
What is meant by Enlightenment 1 Genuine and fpu- 
rious, or true and falfe, partial and complete. The En¬ 
lightenment of Prudence and of Wifdom.—Importance 
of Enlightenment, both logical and practical.—In other 
refpeCts it has no unconditional, but only a conditional va¬ 
lue, in fo far as it is applied not to bad but to good ends. 
—That Enlightenment only which embraces every inte- 
reft of Mankind is not injurious. 
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
The fuperiority of Man over the mere fenfual animal 
firft evinces itfelf in his natural capacity for language, or 
the ufe of words as arbitrary figns of thought. 
Man indeed, like every other creature on earth, is a 
being of a fenfual nature, and has fenfual wants. Urged 
by the inftinCt for the prefervation of life, as well as by 
the defire of pleafure and well-being, he feeks to prolong 
his earthly exiftence, to remove pain and difcomfort, and 
to procure himfelf every enjoyment in his power. But 
he does all this very differently from the animal. The 
latter follows blindly a natural injlinCt, without being 
confcious of an end to be obtained, or of means for that 
end. Nature, which has implanted in man, as well as in 
the mere animal, the primitive inftinCl for life and enjoy¬ 
ment, guides the latter alfo by this fame inftinCl in the 
attainment of the ends of its exiftence, inciting it to ef- 
cape from or to guard againft danger, to avoid pain, and 
to participate in the pleafures of which its nature is fuf- 
VOL. XX. No. 1359. 
SOPHY. 185 
ceptible. Man does not depend upon fuch guides as re¬ 
quire to be followed blindly and thoughtlefsly. He has 
received as a compenfation for the deficiency of his in- 
ftinCts, Understanding and Reason. By thefe he dif- 
covers the connexion of Cause and Effect, conceives 
the end and the means, and judges in what manner he malt 
ufe the latter in order to obtain the former. He ftands, 
however, no more in need of inftruCtion in his firft exer- 
cife of this faculty of thinking, than the animal does in 
following its inftinCts. The nature itfelf, which awakens, 
guides, and as it were compels the animal to follow the 
inftinCts implanted in it, alfo awakens and guides man in 
the ufe of his intellectual powers. He reflects that what¬ 
ever evil has befallen himfelf or others mult have had its 
caufe; that, by the removal of this cauj’e , the evil, as its 
effeft, will be prevented ; that he mull therefore confider 
how he is to protect himfelf againft every difcomfort. 
He is confcious that he mult take the neceflary means to 
obtain the pleafures within his reach. This he conceives 
indiltinCtly indeed, yet clearly enough to regulate his 
conduCt. InftruCted by experience in this exercife of his 
underftanding, the fphere of his knowledge becomes ex¬ 
tended, and his judgment proceeds with greater cer¬ 
tainty. 
This progreflion applies to nations as well as to indivi¬ 
duals. As the individual man improves in knowledge, 
and from year to year becomes more cautious and intelli¬ 
gent fo the knowledge of a whole nation extends itfelf 
from one generation to another. The power of perfeCti- 
bility is the charaCteriftic of man. An animal grown up, 
and in the full ufe of its powers, remains all its life in the 
fame date. It performs what is neceflary for its preferva¬ 
tion in the tenth or twentieth year of its life no better 
than in the firft or fecond; it learns nothing by experi¬ 
ence, exercife, or obfervation, which nature had not 
already taught it without any exertion of its own. 
Where (hall we find a whole clafs of animals which, du¬ 
ring a feries of thoufands of years has rifen to a higher 
degree of perfection than nature had endowed it with 
from the firft ? The older animals cannot aflift the 
younger in the acquirement of greater flcill by the com¬ 
munication of their collected experience. But how much 
does the human race gain in civilization, enlightening, 
and moral improvement, from the propagation of know¬ 
ledge ! 
Yet, with this capacity for endlefs improvement, the 
underftanding of men in the earlieft ages was confined to 
the fenfible objects immediately around them. They had 
at firft enough to do to invent and apply the means requh 
fite for the fatisfaClion of their moll urgent wants, for 
procuring this neceflary food, clothes, and huts for their 
proteftion againft wild beads and rapacious neighbours. 
And if, after procuring what was mod neceflary, they had 
leilure to think of any thing elle, it was only of the more 
ignoble auiulements and enjoyments that fuited the bar¬ 
barous date of their minds, and which they endeavoured 
to procure. This period ol the predominance of the 
fenfes continued with fome nations longer than with 
others, as external and accidental circumftances operated 
either to retard or accelerate their higher cultivation. 
The inclination to locial intercourfe, and the conviction 
that only a number of individuals united for their mu¬ 
tual defence could refill the attacks of external enemies, 
induced men living difperfedly to enter into fociety. By 
this mutual compaCt, their intellectual improvement was 
greatly promoted through reciprocal communication of 
thought, and a variety of mental aCiions and re-adions. 
But man never flops in the courfe of improvement, except 
when reltrained by the overwhelming preflure of adverfe 
circumftances, or by the neceflity of exhaufting his whole 
ftrength to procure the means of his phyfical exiftence. 
Hence the various arts which meliorate his exiftence. 
Superior minds, however, found objeCts more worthy of 
reflection. They endeavoured to difcover the true deftina- 
tion of man, and the means of accomplilhing it. They 
U u afcertained 
