Читать книгу Education for Life - George Turnbull - Страница 20
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Academical Theses
Those who insist that the World is not governed by mind are obliged to attribute design and reason to a Nature which neither perceives nor thinks. It is no less absurd to imagine that there are several deities, unless a belief is the more credible, the further it is from simplicity. But nothing is simpler than truth. There is therefore one mind which by its own force and reason moves and governs the whole of Nature. That this mind, to which all things are subject and obedient, is not jealous and malevolent, seems to us to have been proved by the sounder Ancients in the following argument. Where there is no clash of opposed interests, there is no malice. Without an adversary there is no conflict. The first and universal cause is not beholden or subordinate to any nature, and nothing can resist it. It is therefore utterly remote from all malignity of heart.2 And if there is one Father and Governor of all things, it is certain that his own advantage cannot be opposed to the safety and preservation of all things. He cannot intend anything with his mind but the most perfect provision for nature, nor can he go beyond that; and on the other hand there is nothing that can provoke him. An infinite Deity of an intractable and malignant character is in truth nothing but a ridiculous mingling in the same thing of perfect and imperfect, of powers and deficiencies that mutually destroy each other. It is therefore an infinitely good and perfect mind that moves and governs the whole mass of nature, and it manages all things most beautifully. That is powerfully confirmed by this Argument, which is also very easy to understand. On the assumption that there is a God—as assuredly there is—and all things are governed with the most excellent skill and design, it is nevertheless inevitable that many things will appear imperfect to us which are in fact most perfect and possessed of
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no fault.3 For a mind that has no grasp of the whole succession and Relationship of things, where all things are connected and adapted to each other, does not have <4> a full view of anything. But if there is no GOD—which it is wicked even to suppose—there can be no order, no consistency, and in short no good at all. For what can one expect from a blind impulse but randomness and inconstancy; or what from omnipotent evil but perpetual misery and disasters all around?
II
The supreme Craftsman himself alone has power to embrace the whole fabric of the World in his mind and thought. But the more closely we can see into the powers and motions of things, and the more extensive the portion of nature we can grasp with our minds, the more clearly we see that all things are ruled by the same divine reason, and on more careful examination many things which at first glance seem to be far otherwise, are discovered to give evidence of the most provident and cunning art. All things pretty well appear to be one, controlled by a single force and a single harmony of nature. From this it is reasonable to conclude that nothing misses its Mark, and that we should in all modesty acknowledge the feebleness of our minds, if anything seems to us to be inconsistent with this art. Before we can say of anything that it is well or ill designed, we must first of all inquire what is the function of the properties with which it is endowed, and what power they have in themselves; which parts are neatly fitted and combined with each other and which are less consistent with its purpose; or whether indeed it is subject to a nature outside of itself and what the effect of that is. For generally speaking it is most true that no finite thing can be said to be beautiful or perfect absolutely, but only in the relation which is has with another thing. And anything that is moved and governed by rules, and would either completely perish or be forced into a worse condition if the rules were changed, has been rightly and properly fashioned,
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and deserves a place among the varied productions of infinite art. Nor is the Artificer to be charged with error for anything that happens of necessity because of the very nature of the thing, or as a result of the laws by virtue of which all members beautifully conspire together for the security and perfection of the whole. Anyone therefore who wishes to make a fair judgement of the system of the world, must obtain a thorough knowledge of the sizes, positions, and powers of each of the Planets, as well as of the properties of the orbits in which they turn. It is only by collating and comparing them with each other that we can distinguish the order in that structure from the aberrations. It is by the same process that we must judge of the earth, our home, and of all things, animate and inanimate, <5> with which it is filled. So too if the question is raised about man as to what the perfection of human nature consists in and in what ways it fails of perfection. And certainly nothing is so important for us as to make a most careful inquiry into this subject. Since man consists of body and mind and is equipped both with organs of sense and with intellect and will, the question can only be investigated on the basis of the force, the use and the mutual relations of these faculties.
III
The true Physiology clearly proves that the solar system was constructed in the beginning with the best design and is so governed at all times.4 Gravity, by whose universal force this structure holds together in its proper state and which is the cause of almost everything that happens in it, is not natural and necessary to it.5 If that law were changed, the whole wonderful union of things would come crashing down as well as the cementing force of nature, so to speak, which favours the preservation of the world. All the planets below and above our world, so far as their structure is known to us,
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have been admirably constructed and located for essential purposes. We think too much of ourselves if we imagine that we deserve such great things to be set in motion for us. It looks as if the fabric of the world could have been organized far more economically if it had only been necessary to create things that served human purposes. But although a greater purpose than the preservation of mortal things is intended for the Sun, the Moon and the other heavenly phenomena, and although there is a greater benefit from their activities than this, even so a design for our benefit was also laid down from the beginning of things, and it appears from the order imposed upon the world that concern for us was not the least consideration.6
IV
As for the earth itself, its figure, firstly, seems to have been selected with excellent sense. Situated in the most favourable position in the world, it is seen to be solid and spherical and drawn in upon itself all around by its own inclinations.7 We also see that it is clothed and adorned with an infinite variety of things, for all of which nature has made excellent provision, and at the same time everything is organized for the maximum utility and benefit of the human race. No one who has had even a taste of Physics fails to see that all the arguments drawn from the unequal distribution of heat, eclipses of Moon and Sun, earthquakes and the sterility of waste lands, with which Ancient Atheists laboured to crush the belief about divine providence that is so deeply implanted by nature <6> in human minds, are trifling and ridiculous.8 It is also clear from many considerations that the seas too are essential to the composition of this earth, and that a smaller amount of water would not be adequate for essential purposes. But in truth how great is the beauty of the Sea! How pleasant are her shores and coasts! Nor will anyone still find fault with9 towering mountains and their terrifying
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ruggedness, once he has followed in his rambles, under the guidance of Physics, the cold and ever-flowing springs and the clear waters of the streams, and knows also how to appreciate the hidden veins of gold and silver and the infinite amount of usable rock. Who can enumerate all the useful properties of air? At one time, extended and thinned, it rises; at another time it thickens and gathers into clouds, and collecting moisture it fertilizes the earth with showers; and at another time again it spills out in all directions and gives rise to winds. It is also responsible for the annual alternations of cold and warmth; it sustains the flight of birds; and drawn in as Breath it nourishes and sustains living creatures. It is reasonable to put up with the disadvantages of a thing from which so many advantages come.
V
The lower animals belong to the class of natural things since they lack reason and all of their actions are done by instinct.10
If we look at them more closely (for it would be an endless task to speak of every thing on earth individually) how great is the variety of animals! And what a drive in each of them to persist in its kind; and the incredible multitude of them all is marked by inexhaustible variety. For all of them nature has provided, largely and plentifully, the food that is suitable for each. All those whose pleasure it is to make curious investigations into these things, as well as professional Anatomists, know well what a cunning and subtle division of parts there is in the bodies of each of them for capturing and consuming this food, and how cunning and subtle it is, and how admirable is the structure of their limbs. They are all formed and placed in such a way that none is redundant, none not essential for the maintenance of life. The pains that torment their lives arise either from Elements which it is normal for them to be subject to by nature, or from a natural concatenation of elements, the absence of which would empty the world of a great part of its riches and <7> beauty.
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VI
But no intelligence can devise laws that are to be perpetual and universal and yet do not involve some disadvantages. Therefore if anyone should prefer that nature operate haphazardly and that the world not be governed by a consistent and unchangeable order, let him be aware of what he wishes for. For without the consistency and perpetuity of laws there could assuredly be no charm in nature, no beauty.
What then remains for us but to conclude that the government of the world has nothing in it that can be faulted? For from the natures that were to be created, the best situation that could be brought into being has been brought into being. If anyone thinks otherwise, let him show that it could have been better. But no one ever will. And if anyone tries to amend anything, he will either make it worse or will long vainly for what could not be.11
“You see therefore the material (says Maximus of Tyre)12 with which the Supreme Artificer has to deal. If it receives any improvement, that must be wholly attributed to his art. But if certain things on earth that are not as well ordered as they should be betray anything unworthy of his art, beware of laying the blame on his artistry (for never does the design of an Artificer fail in point of skill any more than the design of a legislator fails in point of Justice), not to mention that the divine mind attains its end much more surely than human art. And in the mechanical arts the art itself produces certain effects directly as it seeks its own end, and certain effects unworthy of the art are unavoidable consequences of the work, and they necessarily arise from the work process but are not produced directly by the Craftsman himself. In the same manner in the case of those earthly ills which we say occur occasionally in human affairs, the art is to be acquitted of all blame, since they are no more than certain unavoidable states that are an integral part of the overall structure of the whole. For what we call evils and corruptions, which we lament, these the Craftsman calls the perfection of the
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whole. For he has regard to the whole, for the sake of which it is sometimes necessary that parts be corrupted.”
VII
If anyone says: Concern for those who use reason is the most important evidence for establishing the Providence of the Great and Good GOD,13 and we would therefore be no more justified in inferring from the beauty of material things viewed in itself, that the mind which is responsible for them <8> is of a beneficent character and furnished with all the virtues, than if we should conclude that any particular man is upright and good, and looks after his family properly, from the fact that his house and gardens have been most exquisitely laid out to please. From the choice and elegant composition of any Work of Art we are justified in inferring nothing but skill and practice in that art, and just as a consummate Painter or Architect is not always a good Father to his family, so perhaps he who constructed and equipped the fabric of the world with such wonderful skill and such a sense of order is not good and perfect in every respect. At any rate, it does not seem to follow necessarily from this single factor, or to be completely evident to us, unless care for intelligent beings accords and goes along with it? There are indeed some people who thus boldly spout this kind of nonsense. But we do not have to look far to find a reply to them. For the Wisdom which is in the Author of nature, necessarily implies full and completely perfect virtue. If we ourselves fall away from the true pattern of life and morals, it is a result either of ignorance or a lack of self-control, or because we are led astray by an opposed appearance of advantage or pleasure. No other cause can be suggested which induces anyone partaking of reason to violate and disturb good order. But such things cannot affect that Mind which the very material structure of the world obviously shows to be infinitely Wise and Powerful. He who in the most immeasurable expanse of material things has so disposed and positioned the individual parts that nothing can be conceived either better or more beautiful, is certainly endowed with an infinite understanding; and he cannot fail to
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know what is best in every circumstance. But it is absurd to say that infinite Mind, which never fails to see what perfect reason requires in every circumstance, should have been motivated in the government of the world by so great a desire for order and beauty together with free choice, and yet not always and everywhere have hit upon that which is most excellent; particularly in the governance of rational creatures, since a superior Species of beauty more properly attaches to this class of things.
VIII
But our argument does not stop even here. For we see not only that the whole structure of matter is so laid out that nothing could be more elegant in appearance, but we also find that all things above and below, as far as we can <9> see into them, are designed for essential uses and benefits with the most cunning skill and foresight. Our earth, in comparison with the other Planets which look towards the same centre, is the best made and the best situated, as also are all of them in their relation to it. And the individual parts of the Earth are so very well mutually adjusted to each other, that it is a habitat fit to nourish and sustain an almost innumerable multitude of animals and especially to make the life of men who far excel the rest by nature, sufficiently convenient and prosperous. Nor is it reasonable to hold a different opinion about the other planets if we consider them and undertake reasoning by analogy. And if we examine the powers and faculties of men and the material available to each individual, as well as the laws by which they can and should be directed, we shall quickly recognize that the human race is no less a regular system than the wonderful assemblage of the Planets. Nor are the falsehoods and fictitious hypotheses of philosophers any more required for exhibiting its beautiful regularity than Cycles and Epicycles are needed to explain the pattern of that assemblage.14 In truth all the factors deployed to disprove the divine care for men either have no force or prove that man ought to be nothing other than an accumulation in one of all the gifts and powers of nature; or rather that nothing should
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exist except that one thing which is most perfect among the innumerable kinds of living creatures which divine power is able to create: than which nothing is more absurd.
IX
Many things can be cited from which it is possible to see how many things GOD has given to men and how extraordinary they are. For men are of the earth not as inhabitants and dwellers, but as spectators of superior and heavenly things, the viewing of which is available to no other species of living creature.15 With the intelligence with which man is endowed, he not only develops many skills, some of which are needed for the purposes of life and some for pleasure, but his special quality is the ability to learn the natures and causes of things. From these he receives his knowledge of GOD, and this is the origin of Piety; united with Piety is justice and the other moral virtues; and these are the source of a happy life for a living being capable of reason. Also man has complete dominion over the good things of the earth. And nature <10> supplies material to the senses with unstinting hand. And nothing could have been made which was more subtle or more adaptable to a great variety of purposes than the whole structure of the senses; with this caveat however that we always get the greatest pleasure from them when reason commands them and allots their tasks so to speak. This in itself proves with sufficient clarity that the divine mind oversees human things with particular care. And although man is mortal, that which the vulgar call death is nothing but the beginning of immortality and the birth day of the life to come. As for the distresses with which human life is beset, they proceed either from its conjunction in our present state with the corporeal world and by the bond by which the mind is united with the body, or from licentiousness of heart and a wicked abuse of the gifts of nature. But these things cannot be blamed unless we want to alter the whole structure of the corporeal world. For these reasons it is fair to blame only ourselves. For the divine care for the human race is only to be judged
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by the purpose and powers of the faculties which nature has kindly bestowed upon us; and by the laws which Reason as the interpreter of the Divine Mind lays upon us, which all conduce by their own force and nature to preserve the most beautiful order among men. The things that wickedness of heart like a mother conceives and brings to fruition are to be retorted squarely upon ourselves. We alone are at fault; and the Great and Good GOD could not have given us a more excellent or noble gift than that liberty which alone renders us capable of law and right. Man is born and as it were charged with the preservation of society; and for this reason it was fitting that men should be vested with diverse powers and natures and established in very different conditions and roles in human life. So too man has been so designed by nature that he does not achieve wisdom without hard work and education. Nor does the innate freedom of our will permit us in the conduct of human affairs to be directed by impetuous instincts beyond the normal order of nature. But nature has intended that our mind should be always its own guide; it moves itself by its own force in accordance with the judgments which it can form for itself by the association and comprehension of events with their consequences. Moreover the needs of human life absolutely require that men should excel in swiftness of memory and acquire for themselves by study and habit a ready ability to perform any tasks whatsoever; and therefore it is essential that repeated associations of thought and inbred moral habits <11> should have great force and be difficult to break. And from these powers and laws of our nature reason may be rendered sufficiently well-adjusted, as it seems to us, to the whole condition of mortal men and to almost all the ills and troubles by which men’s lives are most vexed, particularly if we also add that the Sanctions which fortify the laws to which GOD has willed that men should adapt their conduct, have a special relation to the future life. This is fully proved by many arguments, but it is also quite clear from this, that it exhibits to us a concept of a moral World which is consonant with nature in the most complete way and is consistent with itself in every way. And when the true doctrine of revelation about the origin of men and the future state are brought to its assistance, the whole thing becomes far clearer and richer. This is a great argument for the authority which it claims for itself, and an argument more convincing than any other to persuade a true Philosopher to embrace it.
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Corollary
From what has been said it is quite clear, as it seems to us, that the Physiology which lays out the true order and constitution of the Natural world must underpin moral Philosophy. For such a Physics is nothing other than acquaintance with the mind which most perfectly rules all things; and anything certain found in natural Theology that is not known to us from Physical Principles can be quickly completed. Socrates is said to have been the first to bring Philosophy down from the stars to the earth and the life of men.16 But nothing certainly could have been more acceptable to him than a Physiology which does not simply explicate the Mechanism of the world, but above and beyond that, makes a particular point of showing how it is that nature does nothing in vain and whence the splendour and beauty of the whole world has arisen. He himself shows us in Plato’s Phaedo why he disdained the Physics that flourished in his time. This true Philosopher desiderated a Physics that should point out the causes of things, that should first say whether the earth is flat <12> or round, and when it had pronounced on this, should add the reason and the necessity, and should deal with other natural things in exactly the same way, affirming that which is better and that it is better that it should be so.17 This is the genuine Physiology which we owe above all to the quite wonderful penetration of the Great NEWTON.
ANNEXES
1. The will of the great and good GOD about what is to be done and what not to be done, is known to us by nature uniquely from the fact that certain things are wicked and disgraceful by nature, others beautiful and good; and therefore we infer the divine moral will from the natural turpitude or goodness of actions, and we do not, as some prefer to think, deduce the natural turpitude or goodness of actions from the divine will.
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2. If there is any certain mark by which the true may be discriminated from the false, by the same mark the right is discriminated from the wrong.
3. What nature itself teaches us is bad or good, right or wrong, receive their obligatory force, properly so called, from the divine will.
4. Unless man was obligated to discern the moral laws, he could not have been obligated to follow them.
5. Neither Understanding nor will can be compelled.
6. That alone which harms the state is liable to a civil penalty.
7. The right to do or not to do at our discretion is to be regarded as derived from GOD no less than the obligation to do or not to do; there are therefore laws which are purely permissive.
8. All dominion over things and persons derives from GOD.
9. All rights belonging to men by nature are inalienable by contract.
10. One who is in severe need has a right to other people’s property, exactly as if it had not been occupied by another.
11. Without divine inspiration no man becomes truly good, pious or brave.
