The Philosophy of Necessity: Or Law in Mind as in Matter

Excerpt from The Philosophy of Necessity: Or Law in Mind as in Matter

This work was first published in 1841, in two octavo volumes, and comprised, First, an Exposition of the doctrine of the Philosophy of Necessity, or the Law of Consequences, in its relation to Mental Science; Secondly, in its relation to Ethics; and Thirdly, an application of its principles to the social questions of the day. In the present abridged form this third part has been omitted as being mostly out of date, and only so much of its statistics and observations have been given in an appendix as may be of interest in their bearing upon the present condition of Society, and upon questions for its amelioration which are still in agitation. With regard to those questions concerning the laws of our being which are never out of date, it has been thought well to preserve, in an accessible form, the conclusions arrived at by a fearless thinker, who worked out for himself a theory as to the purpose of existence that satisfied his own mind, and became to him a cheerful philosophy which intensified his enjoyment of all things good and pleasant, helped him to bear the troubles of life, and to meet the end in a spirit as bright as it was resigned.

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