"He thinks nothing more absurd than the common notion of Instruction, as if Science were to be poured into the Mind, like water into a cistern, that passively waits to receive all that comes."
— Harris, James (1709-1780)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Nourse and P. Vailon
Date
1771
Metaphor
"He thinks nothing more absurd than the common notion of Instruction, as if Science were to be poured into the Mind, like water into a cistern, that passively waits to receive all that comes."
Metaphor in Context
The chief End, proposed by the Author of this Treatise in making it public, has been to excite his Readers to curiosity and inquiry; not to teach them himself by prolix and formal Lectures, (from the efficacy of which he has little expectation) but to induce them, if possible, to become Teachers to themselves, by an impartial use of their own understandings. He thinks nothing more absurd than the common notion of Instruction, as if Science were to be poured into the Mind, like water into a cistern, that passively waits to receive all that comes. The growth of Knowledge he rather thinks to resemble the growth of Fruit; however external causes may in some degree co-operate, it is the internal vigour, and virtue of the tree that must ripen the juices to their just maturity.
(Preface, p. v-vi)
(Preface, p. v-vi)
Categories
Provenance
Gale's Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).
Citation
6 entries in ESTC (1751, 1765, 1771, 1773, 1786, 1794).
Text from Hermes or a Philosophical Inqviry Concerning Universal Grammar by Iames Harris Esq. The Third Edition Revised and Corrected. (London: Printed for J. Nourse and P. Vailon, 1771). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Hermes or a Philosophical Inqviry Concerning Universal Grammar by Iames Harris Esq. The Third Edition Revised and Corrected. (London: Printed for J. Nourse and P. Vailon, 1771). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
01/26/2004
