"Is mind a force? It is held by some that the will acts as the match to gunpowder, by setting loose a store of energy, the matter of the brain being in unstable equilibrium. But you cannot have in nature an absolutely unstable equilibrium [i.e., an equilibrium capable of being upset by an infinitesimal force], because the universe is not at rest [and every motion in the universe produces a finite change, however small, in the resultant force at every point of space]. Therefore if mind is force, operating in the way suggested, it must be able to create a determinate quantity of energy. This is a supposition which, if true, would destroy its own evidence; for it would destroy the uniformity of nature, on which all of inference ultimately rests."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Atheists from EnglandUniversity of Cambridge alumniPhilosophers from EnglandUniversity of Cambridge facultyMathematicians from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Kingdon_Clifford
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
William Kingdon Clifford
William Kingdon Clifford (May 4, 1845 – March 3, 1879) was an English mathematician and philosopher.
52 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by William Kingdon Clifford →
Related Quotes
"' may be roughly described as quantity motion. A body moving at a speed of say twenty an hour, has a certain quantity…"
"It is a very serious thing to consider that not only the earth itself and all that beautiful face of Nature we see, b…"
"If God holds all mankind guilty for the sin of Adam, if he has visited upon the innocent the punishment of the guilty…"
"We ought not to teach to little children, as a known fact, that which is not a known fact."
"There is in the true man of science a desire stronger than the wish to have his beliefs upheld; namely, the desire to…"
"The name philosopher, which meant originally 'lover of wisdom,' has come in some strange way to mean a man who thinks…"
"Riemann has shewn that as there are different kinds of lines and surfaces, so there are different kinds of space of t…"
"I hold in fact (1) That small portions of space are in fact of a nature analogous to little hills on a surface which …"
"I am endeavouring in a general way to explain the laws of double refraction on this hypothesis, but have not yet arri…"
"Causation is defined by some modern philosophers as unconditional uniformity of succession, e.g., existence of fire f…"