Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays

But the proof of self-evident propositions may seem, to the uninitiated, a somewhat frivolous occupation. To this we might reply that it is often by no means self-evident that o...

(5) "A cause cannot operate except where it is." This maxim is very widespread; it was urged against Newton, and has remained a source of prejudice against "action at a distance...

My meaning in regard to the impermanence of physical entities may perhaps be made clearer by the use of Bergson's favourite illustration of the cinematograph. When I first read...

But if human conceit was staggered for a moment by its kinship with the ape, it soon found a way to reassert itself, and that way is the "philosophy" of evolution. A process whi...

Education, in the sense in which I mean it, may be defined as _the formation, by means of instruction, of certain mental habits and a certain outlook on life and the world_. It...

From the above instances it would appear that abnormal sense-data, of the kind which we regard as deceptive, have intrinsically just the same status as any others, but differ as...

Thus on the subject of infinity it is impossible to avoid conclusions which at first sight appear paradoxical, and this is the reason why so many philosophers have supposed that...

The last of the doctrines of mysticism which we have to consider is its belief that all evil is mere appearance, an illusion produced by the divisions and oppositions of the ana...

When algebra has been learnt, all goes smoothly until we reach those studies in which the notion of infinity is employed--the infinitesimal calculus and the whole of higher math...

The difficulty we have been considering seems to be met partly, if not wholly, by the principle that the _time_ must not enter explicitly into our formulæ. All mechanical laws e...

We are now in a position to understand in outline the reverse journey from matter to sense-data which is performed by physics. The appearance of a thing in a given perspective i...

But if "sensibilia" are to be recognised as the ultimate constituents of the physical world, a long and difficult journey is to be performed before we can arrive either at the "...

When first the opposition of fact and ideal grows fully visible, a spirit of fiery revolt, of fierce hatred of the gods, seems necessary to the assertion of freedom. To defy wit...

It would seem that, when we make a statement about something only known by description, we often _intend_ to make our statement, not in the form involving the description, but a...

(2) The physical problem of space is both more interesting and more difficult than the logical problem. The physical problem may be stated as follows: to find in the physical wo...

"Before taking a first step in the rational interpretation of Evolution, it is needful to recognise, not only the facts that Matter is indestructible and Motion continuous, but...

Produced by Jeannie Howse, Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available b...

Such a principle may be obtained from the consideration of _time_. The one all-embracing time, like the one all-embracing space, is a construction; there is no _direct_ time-rel...

To sum up our whole discussion. We began by distinguishing two sorts of knowledge of objects, namely, knowledge by _acquaintance_ and knowledge by _description_. Of these it is...