Phil 177.21

793 14

22.

1875, March Walker Bequest.

The following Inquiry was originally published in a more condensed form in 1831, as an Appendix to a collection of Ancient Fragments.

Lambeth.

February 5, 1833.

C. WHITTINGHAM, LONDON.

METAPHYSICAL INQUIRY.

THE revival of literature in modern times was slowly followed by the introduction of a better system of philosophy. In some branches of literature we have not surpassed the ancients, and in their philosophy perhaps there are some points, which, even at the present day, may not be altogether unworthy of attention.

To Lord Bacon the philosophic world justly looks up as the father and founder of modern science. Yet we have, in many respects, unconsciously departed from his instructions, and have arrived at conclusions directly the reverse of his. The differences which occur are not such, as, in the infancy of science, might have es

caped his notice; but they arise on points, which had been ably discussed before his time, which he had himself examined and scrutinized with the deepest attention, and which he at length admitted from the philosophy of the ancients as principles satisfactorily established.

In the following Inquiry into the Method, Objects, and Result, of the Ancient and Modern systems of Philosophy, I have no intention, nor would I presume to set them in array against each other: but have endeavoured patiently to examine the foundations upon which they rest, and to draw from the great storehouse of antiquity some speculations, which have been too generally slighted or overlooked by the Metaphysician and Philosopher, but which seem to be of such practical utility, that they may tend to the advancement of science, even amid the brilliant discoveries of modern times.

If we were to ask, what was conceived