Metaphysical inquiry into the method, objects and result of ancient and modern philosophy / By Isaac Preston Cory.
- Isaac Preston Cory
- Date:
- 1833
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Metaphysical inquiry into the method, objects and result of ancient and modern philosophy / By Isaac Preston Cory. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![DEMONSTRATION.—MATHEMATICS. 2] ing chain, for instance, among’ the pro- positions of moral and metaphysical phe- nomena, is a different species of this same logic ; but, number, quantity, and measure, having little to do with those sciences, mathematics must, from their very nature, be almost wholly inappli- cable. An undue regard to mathematics has often been productive of very serious inconvenience, and of grievous mischief, when brought to bear upon those sci- ences: and, sometimes, even in physical pursuits much misconception has resulted. A mathematician can rise no higher than his data; and, eminently useful as his science is, not only in the descending scale, but in the examination of hypothe- ses, it is not within its compass to prove any simple physical proposition or first principle. All the mathematical proofs of the parallelogram of forces, for in- stance, are vicious, and merely argu- ments in a circle. Like all other sci- ences, Mathematic must depend upon](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33285469_0029.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
