Keeping this fact in mind, it appears to be true that every person of

observation, reading, and reflection, is something of a mental
philosopher, though much the larger number have no knowledge of physical
science
Keeping this fact in mind, it appears to be true that every person of
observation, reading, and reflection, is something of a mental
philosopher, though much the larger number have no knowledge of physical
science. And especially must the student of history have a system of
mental philosophy; but often, no doubt, his system is too crude for
general notice. Every historian connects the events of his narrative by
some thread of philosophy or speculation; every reader observes some
connection, though he may never develop it to himself, between the
events and changes of national and ethnological life; and even the
observer whose vision is limited by his own horizon in time and space
marks a dependence, and speaks of cause and effect. All this follows
from the existence and nature of man. Man is not inert, nor even
passive, merely; and his activity will continually organize itself into
facts and forms, ever changing in character, it may be, yet subject to
a law as wise and fixed as that of planetary motion.