Chauncey Wright Quotes

• What a fearful object a long-neglected duty gets to be

  Chauncey Wright

  Long, Duty, Neglected

  Chauncey Wright (2000). “The Evolutionary Philosophy of Chauncey Wright”, p.32, A&C Black

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• A fact is a proposition of which the verification by an appeal to the primary sources of our knowledge or to experience is directand simple. A theory, on the other hand, if true, has all the characteristics of a fact except that its verification is possible only by indirect, remote, and difficult means.

  Chauncey Wright

  Mean, Simple, Hands

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.44, A&C Black

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• We receive the truths of science by compulsion. Nothing but ignorance is able to resist them.

  Chauncey Wright

  Ignorance, Science, Able

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.76, A&C Black

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• The very hope of experimental philosophy, its expectation of constructing the sciences into a true philosophy of nature, is basedon induction, or, if you please, the a priori presumption, that physical causation is universal; that the constitution of nature is written in its actual manifestations, and needs only to be deciphered by experimental and inductive research; that it is not a latent invisible writing, to be brought out by the magic of mental anticipation or metaphysical mediation.

  Chauncey Wright

  Philosophy, Writing, Science

  Chauncey Wright (1871). “Darwinism: Being an Examination of Mr. St. George Mivart's 'Genesis of Species'”, p.8

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• Such evidence is not the only kind which produces belief; though positivism maintains that it is the only kind which ought to produce so high a degree of confidence as all minds have or can be made to have through their agreements.

  Chauncey Wright

  Confidence, Agreement, Mind

  Chauncey Wright (2000). “The Evolutionary Philosophy of Chauncey Wright”, p.96, A&C Black

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• The questions of philosophy proper are human desires and fears and aspirations - human emotions - taking an intellectual form.

  Chauncey Wright

  Philosophy, Intellectual, Desire

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.50, A&C Black

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• In the scale of life there is a gradual decline in physical variability, as the organism has gathered into itself resources for meeting the exigencies of changing external conditions; and that while in the mindless and motionless plant these resources are at a minimum, their maximum is reached in the mind of man, which, at length, rises to a level with the total order and powers of nature, and in its scientific comprehension of nature is a summary, an epitome of the world.

  Chauncey Wright

  Men, Order, Intelligence

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• The accidental causes of science are only accidents relatively to the intelligence of a man.

  Chauncey Wright

  Science, Men, Causes

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.141, A&C Black

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• Natural Selection never made it come to pass, as a habit of nature, that an unsupported stone should move downwards rather than upwards. It applies to no part of inorganic nature, and is very limited even in the phenomena of organic life.

  Chauncey Wright

  Life, Moving, Stones

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.108, A&C Black

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• Let one persuade many, and he becomes confirmed and convinced, and cares for no better evidence.

  Chauncey Wright

  Care, Evidence, Convinced

  Chauncey Wright (2000). “The Evolutionary Philosophy of Chauncey Wright”, p.141, A&C Black

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• And we owe science to the combined energies of individual men of genius, rather than to any tendency to progress inherent in civilization.

  Chauncey Wright

  Men, Civilization, Progress

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.51, A&C Black

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• All observers not laboring under hallucinations of the senses are agreed, or can be made to agree, about facts of sensible experience, through evidence toward which the intellect is merely passive, and over which the individual will and character have no control.

  Chauncey Wright

  Character, Hallucinations, Facts

  Chauncey Wright (2000). “The Evolutionary Philosophy of Chauncey Wright”, p.96, A&C Black

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• Science asks no questions about the ontological pedigree or a priori character of a theory, but is content to judge it by its performance; and it is thus that a knowledge of nature, having all the certainty which the senses are competent to inspire, has been attained--a knowledge which maintains a strict neutrality toward all philosophical systems and concerns itself not with the genesis or a priori grounds of ideas.

  Chauncey Wright

  Philosophical, Character, Ideas

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.47, A&C Black

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• If they are, then the only ultimate truths are the particulars of concrete experience, and no postulate or general assumption is inherent in science until its proceedings become systematic, or the truths already reached give direction to further research.

  Chauncey Wright

  Giving, Experience, Research

  Chauncey Wright (2000). “The Evolutionary Philosophy of Chauncey Wright”, p.109, A&C Black

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• The pains of disconcerted or frustrated habits, and the inherent pleasure there is in following them, are motives which nature has put into our wills without generally caring to inform us why; and she sometimes decrees, indeed, that her reasons shall not be ours.

  Chauncey Wright

  Nature, Pain, Caring

  Chauncey Wright (2000). “The Evolutionary Philosophy of Chauncey Wright”, p.282, A&C Black

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• By what criterion... can we distinguish among the numberless effects, that are also causes, and among the causes that may, for aught we can know, be also effects, - how can we distinguish which are the means and which are the ends?

  Chauncey Wright

  Mean, Causes, May

  Chauncey Wright (2003). “Philosphical Discussions”, p.36, A&C Black

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