Quote: the natural law that everything has a cause and that all events are empirically determined lies at the foundation of a connected system of appearances; i.e., nature

Quotation

The natural law, that everything which happens must have a cause, ... and consequently, that all events are empirically determined in an order of nature -- this law, I say, which lies at the foundation of the possibility of experience, and of a connected system of appearance or nature, is a law of the understanding, from which no departure, and to which no exception, can be admitted. For to except even a single appearance from its operation, is to exclude it from the sphere of possible experience, and thus to admit it to be a mere fiction of thought or phantom of the brain.   Google-1   Google-2

Published before 1923

Related Topics

Topic: metaphysics and epistemology (65 items)
Group: meaning and truth   (18 topics, 627 quotes)