Title | Why I left the church |
Series Title | Pamphlets for the million; no. 1 |
Creator (LCNAF) |
|
Contributor (LCNAF) |
|
Publisher | Watts & Company |
Place of Creation (TGN) |
|
Date | 1912 |
Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
|
Subject.Name (LCNAF) |
|
Genre (AAT) |
|
Language | English |
Type (DCMI) |
|
Original Item Extent | 46 pages; 19 cm. |
Original Item Location | BX4668.3.M33A3 1912 |
Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8304505~S11 |
Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
Use and Reproduction | This item is in the public domain and may be used freely. |
File Name | index.cpd |
Title | Image 20 |
Format (IMT) |
|
File Name | uhlib_5792348_019.jpg |
Transcript | 20 WHY I LEFT THE CHURCH \ It will surprise many that such an argument should have been considered the strongest foundation of belief in God; yet it is everywhere the principal support of rational theology. The study of metaphysics does, indeed, develop and strengthen the reasoning faculty, but it has the notorious effect of predisposing to a confusion of the subjective and the objective. The metaphysician has ever been inclined to objectify his mental images and their connections; and if I had not indulged largely in the study of historical and physical science, there is every probability that I should hjjye continued to rest my belief in a real, objective, spiritual world, on the subjective play of thought which is represented in the metaphysical argument. It contains just the same fallacy as the popular way of thinking : "The world must have a cause; there must be an infinite being somewhere." The "must" is a psychological phenomenon, and nothing more— a mental impulse or craving is construed into an objective necessity. So it is in the philosophical elaboration of the same thought: self-existence, or necessary existence, and contingency is an antithesis of thought transferred illegitimately into attributes of things; the principle of sufficient reason is the expression of a law, or, rather a strong tendency of thought, which has been projected into the real world in the day-dream of the metaphysician. Thus did I come to the term of my inquiry, and taste the bitter fruit of the tree of knowledge. Other arguments there are without number; sad monuments of the obstinate adherence of humanity |