"It is only on the discovery of extraordinary phaenomena, such as earthquakes, pestilence, and prodigies of any kind, that they find themselves at a loss to assign a proper cause, and to explain the manner in which the effect is produce by it. It is usual for men, in such difficulties, to have recourse to some invisible intelligent principle as the immediate cause of that event which surprises them, and which, they think, cannot be accounted for from the common powers of nature. But philosophers, who carry their scrutiny a little farther, immediately perceive that, even in the most familiar events, the energy of the cause is as unintelligible as the most unusual, and that we only learn by experience the frequent Conjunction of objects, without being ever able to comprehend anything like Connexion between them."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
309 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding →
Related Quotes
"The mutual dependence of men is so great in all societies that scarce any human action is entirely complete in itself…"
"Experimental inference and reasoning concerning the actions of others enters so much into human life that no man, whi…"
"From the observation of several parallel instances, philosophers form a maxim that the connexion between all causes a…"
"In general, the characters of men are, to a certain degree, inconstant and irregular. ... The internal principles and…"
"The doctrines, both of necessity and of liberty, as above explained, are not only consistent with morality, but are a…"
"In proportion as men extend their dealings, and render their intercourse with others more complicated, they always co…"
"There is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blamable, than, in philosophical disputes, to endeavor…"
"Philosophers, observing that, almost in every part of nature, there is contained a vast variety of springs and princi…"
"Irregular events... can be no proof that the laws of nature are not observed with the greatest regularity in its inte…"
"It seems almost impossible... to engage either in science or action of any kind without acknowledging the doctrine of…"