of human nature, are to be accounted as not less divine than those contained in the tables given to Moses; and that it could not be the intention of our Maker to supersede, by a law graven upon stone, that which is written with his own finger on the table of the heart." Strongly impressed with these ideas, I published for the use of my students, in November 1793, a small Manual, under the title of Outlines of Moral Philosophy, which I afterwards used as a text book as long as I continued to give lectures in the University. The second part of this Manual contains the same principles, expressed nearly in the same words, with the present publication, in which these principles are much more fully expanded, illustrated, and defended. My attention was thus imperatively called to this part of my course in a greater degree than to any other, by the aspect of the times when I entered upon the duties. of my office as Professor of Moral Philosophy. And it gives me heartfelt satisfaction to believe, that, in consequence of the more general diffusion of knowledge among all ranks of people, such discussions are now become much less necessary than they seemed to me to be at that period. In this belief I am confirmed by the eagerness with which the "Library of Useful Knowledge" has been welcomed by that class of readers for whom it is more peculiarly intended. In the admirable Preliminary Treatise on the Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science, it is said, "The highest of all our gratifications in the contemplation of science remains: We are raised by it to an understanding of the infinite wisdom and goodness which the Creator has displayed in all his works. Not a step can we take in any direction without perceiving the most extraordinary traces of design; and the skill every where conspicuous, is calculated in so vast a proportion of instances to promote the happiness of living creatures, and especially of ourselves, that we can feel no hesitation in concluding, that, if we knew the whole scheme of Providence, every part would be in harmony with a plan of absolute benevolence." * The same tone has been caught wherever the subject admitted of it by the authors of the subsequent numbers. It is not often (if ever) that those who do not enjoy the advantages of a liberal education have been thus addressed; and the promptitude with which the laboring classes have availed themselves of this means of instruction is the best proof how congenial its spirit is to their plain good sense and unperverted feelings; and how well founded is the saying of Cicero, that "the natural food of our minds is the study and contemplation of Nature." t I cannot conclude this Preface without expressing the satisfaction I have felt in observing among the more liberal writers in France a reviving taste for the Philosophy of the Human Mind. To this no one has contributed more than M. Victor Cousin, so well known, and so honorably distinguished, as the object of Jesuitical persecution; a persecution which appears to have followed him beyond the limits of his own country. To him the learned world is indebted not only for his own very valuable writings, but for a French translation, accompanied with notes, of the whole works of Plato; for an edition of the works of Proclus, the Platonic Philosopher, from a Manuscript in the Royal Library of Paris ; † and, last of all, for a complete edition of the works of Descartes, a most important publication in the present *Page 47. "Est animorum ingeniorumque nostrorum naturale quoddam quasi pabulum consideratio contemplatioque naturæ." Acad. Quæst. L. iv. 41. Procli Philosophi Platonici Opera, e codd. MSS. Biblioth. Reg. Parisiensis, tum primum edidit, versione Latinâ et Commentariis illustravit Victor Cousin, Professor Philosophiæ in Acad. Parisiensi. state of science in France. M. Royer Collard, whose great talents have long been zealously devoted to the same pursuits, has, if I am not misinformed, already made considerable progress in a translation of Dr. Reid's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man,—a report to which I give the more credit, from the account of his previous studies given by a most respectable writer, M. Jouffroy, in a work which appeared at Paris in 1826. "Trahie par ses conséquences et par sa propre méthode, la philosophie de Condillac fut mise en question par un certain nombre d'esprits distingués, et enfin soumise à une discussion publique par M. Royer Collard. Dans les trois années de son enseignement, ce savant Professeur, qui n'est plus pour la France qu'un grand Citoyen, démontra, contre la doctrine de Condillac, ce que Reid avoit demontré contre celle de Locke; et en adoptant la méthode expérimentale de l'école de la sensation, prouva que cette école avoit été infidele à cette méthode. M. Cousin acheva ce **** L'enque M. Royer Collard avoit commencé. seignement de ces deux illustres Professeurs devoit porter ses fruits, et il les a portés. Dans l'esprit de ceux qui ont assisté à leurs leçons, il ne reste pas un doute sur la direction que doivent suivre les recherches philosophiques." And here may I be pardoned for gratifying a personal feeling, by mentioning the pleasure which I have lately received from a perusal of the very elegant translation by M. Jouffroy of my Outlines of Moral Philosophy, preceded by a long introduction full of original and important matter. This publication, together with the space occupied in the Fragmens Philosophiques of M. Cousin by large extracts from the same work, comprising nearly the whole of its contents, encourage me in the hope, that the volumes I now publish, which may X be considered as a Comment on the Ethical part of my Outlines, may perhaps find a few who will not only read but study them with attention (for a cursory perusal is altogether useless), in some other countries as well as my own. Kinneil House, April 16, 1828. |