There Is No Greater Impediment

There Is No Greater Impediment To The Advancement Of Knowledge Than The Ambiguity Of Words.

Every Man Feels That Perception Gives Him An Invincible Belief Of The Existence Of That Which He Perceives; And That This Belief Is Not The Effect Of Reasoning, But The Immediate Consequence Of Perception. When Philosophers Have Wearied Themselves And Their Readers With Their Speculations Upon This Subject, They Can Neither Strengthen This Belief, Nor Weaken It; Nor Can They Shew How It Is Produced. It Puts The Philosopher And The Peasant Upon A Level; And Neither Of Them Can Give Any Other Reason For Believing His Senses, Than That He Finds It Impossible For Him To Do Otherwise.

Every Theory In Philosophy, Which Is Built On Pure Conjecture, Is An Elephant; And Every Theory That Is Supported Partly By Fact, And Partly By Conjecture, Is Like Nebuchadnezzar's Image, Whose Feet Were Partly Of Iron, And Partly Of Clay.

When We Contemplate The World Of Epicurus, And Conceive The Universe To Be A Fortuitous Jumble Of Atoms, There Is Nothing Grand In This Idea. The Clashing Of Atoms By Blind Chance Has Nothing In It Fit To Raise Our Conceptions, Or To Elevate The Mind. But The Regular Structure Of A Vast System Of Beings, Produced By Creating Power, And Governed By The Best Laws Which Perfect Wisdom And Goodness Could Contrive, Is A Spectacle Which Elevates The Understanding, And Fills The Soul With Devout Admiration.

It Appears Evident, Therefore, That Those Actions Only Can Truly Be Called Virtuous, And Deserving Of Moral Approbation, Which The Agent Believed To Be Right, And To Which He Was Influenced, More Or Less, By That Belief.