Such were the terrible premonitions which foretold the
French Revolution, and such are the signs showing over and over again
the existence of a mechanical tendency in our own social state. Very
seldom, almost never, do we have mathematical certainty as the ground of
our action, but the greater part of our lives is directed by moral or
probable evidence; and though most of our reasoning on this subject must
be derived from history or social science, we deem it worthy of the same
treatment that is given, to other questions. If the probabilities be not
as great, let it pass with other schemes and theories, but if those
probabilities be great enough to make it of practical and vital
importance, then let it become an element in every man's consideration.
There is a great deal of possible confusion in this word _mechanical_.
To most readers it would bring the idea of invention, the increasing
number of cotton mills and iron founderies, of steamships and power
presses, and such progress would be considered in the highest degree
praiseworthy; but the sense in which we use the word is somewhat more
general. A machine differs from a man in this respect: the former acts
without intelligence and without volition, in accordance with certain
laws impressed upon it from without; while a man chooses his own end by
his own volition, in the light of his own intelligence, and in the same
manner decides upon the means for obtaining that end.
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