It Is A Question Of Fact, Whether

Every Theory In Philosophy, Which Is Built On Pure Conjecture, Is An Elephant; And Every Theory That Is Supported Partly By Fact, And Partly By Conjecture, Is Like Nebuchadnezzar's Image, Whose Feet Were Partly Of Iron, And Partly Of Clay.

[i]f A Man Bred To The Seafaring Life, And Accustomed To Think And Talk Only Of Matters Relating To Navigation, Enters Into Discourse Upon Any Other Subject; It Is Well Known, That The Language And The Notions Proper To His Own Profession Are Infused Into Every Subject, And All Things Are Measured By The Rules Of Navigation: And If He Should Take It Into His Head To Philosophize Concerning The Faculties Of The Mind, It Cannot Be Doubted, But He Would Draw His Notions From The Fabric Of The Ship, And Would Find In The Mind, Sails, Masts, Rudder, And Compass.

In Every Chain Of Reasoning, The Evidence Of The Last Conclusion Can Be No Greater Than That Of The Weakest Link Of The Chain, Whatever May Be The Strength Of The Rest.

It Appears Evident, Therefore, That Those Actions Only Can Truly Be Called Virtuous, And Deserving Of Moral Approbation, Which The Agent Believed To Be Right, And To Which He Was Influenced, More Or Less, By That Belief.

We Find Sects And Parties In Most Branches Of Science; And Disputes Which Are Carried On From Age To Age, Without Being Brought To An Issue. Sophistry Has Been More Effectually Excluded From Mathematics And Natural Philosophy Than From Other Sciences. In Mathematics It Had No Place From The Beginning; Mathematicians Having Had The Wisdom To Define Accurately The Terms They Use, And To Lay Down, As Axioms, The First Principles On Which Their Reasoning Is Grounded. Accordingly, We Find No Parties Among Mathematicians, And Hardly Any Disputes.