PHILOSOPHY. 
179 
made to the principles of philofophic grammar, is an exer- 
cife of the underftanding, which accuftoms it to an accu¬ 
rate and precife mode of thinking, and leads the mind 
to inveftigate according to the principles and rules ; that 
is, to philofophize. Nature has itfelf eftablilhed an inti¬ 
mate and manifold connexion between the faculty of 
thinking and that of communicating our thoughts by 
fpeech to others; between the fuperior readinefs in the 
ufe of the underftanding, or Philofophy, and a critical 
found ftudy of languages. 
It is evident from thefe remarks, that a found know¬ 
ledge of the philofophic fciences can by no means be 
difpenfed with in a rational education. We mult know 
the nature of the human mind, and be well verfed in the 
peculiar adlion of its different faculties, in order to difco- 
ver the beft means of awakening and rightly clearing up 
conceptions in the minds of others, of putting their powers 
into adtion, and cultivating them. No one can inftrucl 
others well, who has not, by a diligent ftudy of logic, ac¬ 
quired the requifite fkill in the application of its pradtical 
rules, together with a happy facility' in the formation, eluci¬ 
dation, order,and connexion,ofconceptions. He who has 
not himfelf learned to think foundly and corredtly cannot 
teach others to do fo. He who does not know the fources 
of the innumerable prejudices of the many partially or 
wholly falfe reprefentations to which man is expofed in 
every age, and particularly in youth, is unable to ftop 
them. He who does not know the weak fides of the 
mind, the various internal and external inducements by 
which youth is fo often milled, can never fuccefsfully 
warn them againft thofe pradlical errors, thofe falfe 
maxims, which hurl fo many to deftrudtion. Education 
can only approach by the means of philofophy to its great 
aim. For what is education, but the harmonious culti¬ 
vation of all the fenfible, intelledf ual, and moral, powers 
of man; the development and the railing each of thefe, 
fo that, by their concurrent adfion, all the ends of our na¬ 
ture may be more and more perfedlly attained and pro¬ 
perly fubordinated under the higheft and laft end ? 
Whence is the teacher to deduce the various ends of hu* 
man nature, their due order and rank, particularly the 
higheft and laft end of humanity to which every tiling elfe 
mult be fubordinate, together with the principles and 
rules for this fubordination ? Not furely from experience, 
not from any empirical fcience; but from that fcience 
alone which inveftigates the grounds of the poftibility and 
the reality of all experience, and which furnilhes the 
principles of all thinking, willing, and adling, in the field 
of experience; that is, from Philosophy. A inerely- 
empirical education, not grounded on Philofophy, is one 
of the molt unfuccefsful attempts of the human mind; it 
is a non-entity, without truth, liability, or ufe. Such an 
education will no more endow the mind and heart with 
the health requifite for an energetic and effectual activity, 
than a medicinal empiricifm, which difpenfes with all ana¬ 
tomical and phyfiological knowledge, will contribute to 
the prefervation, ftrengthening, or reftoration, of bodily 
health. 
Nothing would be more eafy than to Ihow the import¬ 
ant influence of philofophy on moll of the other branches 
of human learning and fcience; nothing more eafy than 
to prove that even every pradlical department, every art, 
has been moll fuccefsfully cultivated by men who were 
trained by philofophy. But thefe few hints may fuffice. 
Whoever reflects upon them may eafily convince himfelf 
that the only path to folid knowledge leads through the 
territory of philofophy, and that thofe are as ignorant of 
the nattire of fcientific knowledge as they are deficient of 
all true mental improvement, who fancy that philofophy 
confifts merely of empty fpeculations, which may fafely 
be difpenfed with by all who with to become pradlically 
ufeful. Were philofophy defigned for the fchools merely, 
and not for adlive life, it would ill deferve the noble name 
it bears, as the higheft effort of the mind. 
Sedl. V. Of the Relation of Philofophy to the Enlighten¬ 
ment of Mankind. 
We have feen that Philofophy not only makes man ac¬ 
quainted with himfelf, as a fenfitive, intelligent, and mo¬ 
ral, being, fubjedl to wants, but alfo gives him the moll 
exadt precepts for attaining the various ends of his nature, 
and fulfilling his dellination. We have feen alfo that it 
has a moll decided influence on the cultivation of all 
fciences and arts by which the mind is formed, the heart 
ennobled, and life fweetened and refined. Ifweunder- 
ftand by Enlightenment, found inftrudlion in all that is 
important to man, the communication of clear concep¬ 
tions, and the removal of all erroneous and confufed no¬ 
tions, enabling him corredtly to comprehend the end of 
his exiftence, that he may always keep it in view, that he 
may refer all external things and their poflible ufe, toge¬ 
ther with his powers and abilities, to that ultimate end ; 
in Ihort, that he may view in its true light, and juftly efti- 
mate, every objedt that lies within his fphere; if we un- 
derftand this by Enlightenment, there is no doubt that 
Philofophy mull be confidered as the fourcc of true enlight¬ 
enment, fo long as it remains faithful to the eternal and 
unchangeable laws of all truth which lie in human na¬ 
ture. But does philofophy promote fuch an Enlighten¬ 
ment as this ? We often meet with a very prejudicial en¬ 
lightenment produced by philofophy, which has brought 
much phyfical, moral, and political, evil upon the human 
race. Irreligion, unbridled immorality, contempt of the 
laws and their adminiftration, levity, luxury, and prodi¬ 
gality, with their confequent indigence and bafenefs, ex- 
ceflive egotifm, opinionatednefs, the want of all patriotic 
and civil virtues, intolerable haughtinefs in profperity and 
ignominious pufillanimity in misfortune; thefe are the 
faults that difgrace our age, and on account of which 
Enlightenment and Philofophy are fo frequently accufed. 
For the honour of Philofophy, therefore, it feems necef- 
fary to determine the true nature and effence of Enlighten¬ 
ment, its relation to philofophy, and its influence on the 
phyfical and moral welfare of mankind. 
When by inltru&ion we convert the obfcure concep¬ 
tions of others into clear and diftinft ones, we fay that 
we clear up thefe obfcure conceptions, and enlighten thofe 
who entertained them. A man may be enlightened in 
one refpeft, but unenlightened in'others ; but, when we 
call a perfon enlightened, we mean to fay that he has freed 
himfelf with refpeft to the greater number and more im¬ 
portant objefls of his thoughts from the influence of pre¬ 
judice, of inherited untried opinions and habits, and of 
obfcure feelings; and that he makes it his maxim to re¬ 
duce every thing to clear and diftir .61 conceptions, and to 
determine himfelf folely by thefe in his judgments and 
aflions. 
Enlightenment may be faid to be genuine whenever 
clearer and morediftinft reprefentations have fupplanted 
obfcure ones; but frequently that of which we boaft as a 
great improvement is nothing elfe but a change of one 
fet of obfcure reprefentations for another. Thus a man 
may renounce the obfcure religious dodtrines which he 
imbibed in his youth, and adopt inllead of them, from 
blind confidence in fome theological leaders or from the 
maniac of falhion, opinions equally unintelligible, and 
for which he has no better reafons to adduce. Enlighten¬ 
ment is true, when the conceptions which have taken the 
place of the obfcure reprefentations and feelings are not 
only clearandevident, but at the fame time correct. If a 
man renounces his religious prejudices, but at the fame time 
fuppofes that religion is in fa 61 nothing at all, that it has 
been invented by cunning men, and believed by the fimple, 
he has a clear conception of the fuperftitious part of religion; 
he is therefore more enlightened than before. But does 
he think truly ? Certainly not; his enlightenment, then, 
fo far as it extends, may indeed be called genuine; but it is 
falfe, it has no firm and tenable ground. He, on the 
other 
