When, therefore, we have gained the idea that the Creator is an intelligent mind, we necessarily believe that his mind is such as we have ever known in past experience, that is, a mind like our own, endowed with reason, intellect, susceptibilities and will. We can not conceive of any other kind of mind, because we [pg 050] have never had any experience or knowledge of any other kind.
The only respect in which we can conceive of the Creator as differing from our own minds is in the extent of those natural faculties which are exhibited in his works.
Thus by the use of the principles of common sense we have gained the positions that there is a Being who is the Author of all finite existences, whose mind is like our own in natural faculties, while in the extent of these faculties, as exhibited in his works, he is far beyond our conceptions.
Chapter XI. The People's Mental Philosophy.
In the preceding chapter we have applied the principles of common sense to gain evidence of the existence of a Creator, or Great First Cause, whose natural attributes we can discover only by the nature of our own minds.
This being so, our next step in seeking after God is to examine the construction or nature of our own minds.
The only way to discover the nature of a thing is to examine what are its qualities, how it acts, and how it is acted upon. This also is the same as studying the philosophy of things. For when learned men set forth any branch of philosophy, they only teach the qualities of certain things, how they act, and how they are acted upon.
Whoever, therefore, gives attention to the nature of mind so as to discover its qualities, how it acts, and how it is acted upon, is studying the philosophy of mind, or mental philosophy.
The nature of mind, the philosophy of mind, and mental philosophy are terms all expressing the same thing.