Page:Headlong Hall - Peacock (1816).djvu/116

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108
HEADLONG HALL.

Mr. Foster.

I am aware of the etymology; but I contend that there is an universal and immutable truth, deducible from the nature of things.

Mr. Jenkison.

By whom deducible? Philosophers have investigated the nature of things for centuries, yet no two of them will agree in ‘‘trowing’‘ the same conclusion.

Mr. Foster.

The progress of philosophical investigation, and the rapidly increasing accuracy of human knowledge, approximate by degrees the diversities of opinion; so that, in process of time, moral science will be susceptible of mathematical demonstration; and, clear and indisputable principles being universally recognised, the coincidence of deduction will necessarily follow.