Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog Project Gutenberg 2025-06-05 Public domain in the USA. 136 Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo 1676 1764 Feijoo, Benito Jeronimo Feijoo, Jerónimo Feijoo, B. J. (Benito Jerónimo) Feijoo y Montenegro, Benito Geronymo Feijóo y Montenegro, Benito Jerónimo Feyjóo y Montenegro, Benito Jerónimo Feijóo de Montenegro, Benito Jerónimo Montenegro, Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Feijóo, Benito Jerónimo Brett, John 1785 Gentleman Essays, or discourses, vol. 4 (of 4) : $b Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the Spanish $aLondon :$bH. Payne, $c1780. Josep Cols Canals and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) "Essays, or discourses, vol. 4 (of 4) : Selected from the works of Feyjoo, and…." by Feyjoo is a collection of philosophical essays written in the late 18th century. The volume gathers short, argumentative pieces on natural philosophy, epistemology, and morals that challenge inherited Aristotelian doctrine and promote cautious, experiment‑based reasoning. Expect lively “paradoxes” that overturn common opinions about fire, air, water, and qualities, alongside reflections on the limits of human knowledge and the pretensions of learned display. It will appeal to readers of Enlightenment thought, history of science, and skeptical philosophy. The opening of the volume presents a table of contents and then launches into “Physical Paradoxes,” where the author argues from experiments that solar heat concentrated by burning‑glasses surpasses elemental fire, that air is naturally cold absent the sun’s influence, and that water tends toward solidity, not fluidity. He contends that so‑called “occult qualities” are no more obscure than familiar ones (magnetism versus heat), that united forces are not always stronger (citing thread and rope tests), and that variations in sunlight and warmth stem partly from sunspots; he explains why a burning‑glass works better in cold and why a flame’s cone is a forced shape due to air pressure. He then claims metals reside in plants (magnetic particles in ashes, “metallic vegetation,” and a bold conjecture linking the earth’s magnetism to ubiquitous iron), before beginning “On Sceptical Philosophy,” distinguishing prudent from extreme doubt, reappraising ancient skeptics, and defending a practical trust in “experimental” evidence against dream and delusion arguments. This opening culminates in the thesis that natural philosophy yields probability rather than demonstration, illustrating the point by showing how uncertain our definitions of species, genera, and even “man as a rational animal” remain, with doubts extending to animals’ sensation and plants’ sensitivity. (This is an automatically generated summary.) https://archive.org/details/essaysordiscours04feij 20140811141816feijo 1780 gb Reading ease score: 34.4 (College-level). Difficult to read. en Spanish essays -- Translations into English PQ Text Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches Category: Science - Physics Category: Philosophy & Ethics 533540 2025-07-30T07:13:53.059496 text/html 508461 2025-06-05T16:06:49 text/html 398915 2025-07-30T07:14:00.454491 application/epub+zip 399104 2025-07-30T07:13:54.617478 application/epub+zip 308576 2025-07-30T07:13:53.766486 application/epub+zip 799548 2025-07-30T07:14:04.716398 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 755118 2025-07-30T07:13:59.545430 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 482539 2025-07-30T07:13:52.305524 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 462485 2025-06-05T16:06:49 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 15473 2025-07-30T07:14:04.866436 application/rdf+xml 16425 2025-07-30T07:13:54.055489 image/jpeg 2748 2025-07-30T07:13:53.915491 image/jpeg 591797 2025-07-30T07:13:53.105507 application/octet-stream application/zip es.wikipedia en.wikipedia en.wikipedia