Volume 2

The economy of the animal kingdom, considered anatomically, physically, and philosophically / by Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated from the Latin by the Rev. Augustus Clissold. [Ed. by J.J.G. Wilkinson].

  • Swedenborg, Emanuel, 1688-1772.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The economy of the animal kingdom, considered anatomically, physically, and philosophically / by Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated from the Latin by the Rev. Augustus Clissold. [Ed. by J.J.G. Wilkinson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    said, may be easily ascertained from the four following con¬ siderations. First, In case the truth spontaneously manifests itself, and as it were establishes a belief in its presence, with¬ out requiring any support from far-fetched arguments; for we often, by a common notion, and, as it were, by a rational in¬ stinct, comprehend a thing to be true, which afterwards, by a multiplicity of reasonings drawn from a confused perception of particulars unarranged and unconnected with others which are more remote from our notice, is brought into obscurity, called in question, and at last denied. Secondly, In case all expe¬ rience, both particular and general, spontaneously favors it. Thirdly, In case the rules and maxims of rational philosophy do the same. Lastly, In case the proposed view makes the dif¬ ferent hypotheses, which have been advanced on the subject, to coincide, supplying us with the proper condition, or common principle, which brings them into order and connection, so that, contemplated in this manner, they are agreeable to the truth. We may remark that a system constructed on the ground of such an agreement, merits the title of Established Harmony. But to proceed to the Doctrine of Series and Degrees. I. 580. By the doctrine of series and degrees we mean that doctrine which teaches the mode observed by nature in the sub¬ ordination and coordination of things, and which in acting she has prescribed for herself. Series are what successively and simultaneously comprise things subordinate and coordinate. But degrees are distinct progressions, such as when we find one thing is subordinated under another, and when one thing is coordinated in juxtaposition with another: in this sense there are degrees of determination and degrees of composition. In the mundane system there are several series, both universal and less universal, each of which contains under it several series proper and essential to itself, while each of these again contains b 2