Prejudices of the Modern Age Concerning the Articles of Faith

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§. I.

That human understanding, even in merely natural matters, is afflicted by countless infirmities Kranckheiten; literally "diseases," used here to describe intellectual flaws or limitations, is such an incontrovertibly manifest truth that even the pagan philosophers original: "heydnischen Weltweisen" themselves never doubted it. And sorrowful experience confirms daily that our knowledge Erkänntniß; the capacity for cognition or awareness is confined within all too narrow bounds—so much so, that we are often most subject to errors when we imagine ourselves to have seen into the truth of matters most precisely. Indeed, we mostly possess only an obscure and indistinct concept of those things which our pride original: "Hochmuth"—referring here to intellectual arrogance or overconfidence in one's own reasoning. would persuade us we understand quite clearly.

In particular, we may rightly count those troublesome prejudices Vorurtheile; preconceived notions that cloud judgment before evidence is weighed among these dangerous infirmities, and justly grant them the primary place. One need only take as an example several philosophers from different sects original: "Secten"—referring to different schools of philosophical thought (e.g., Aristotelians, Cartesians)., and it will be easy to perceive that each one judges the most important matters not so much according to their true nature, but rather according to the preconceived opinions of those se-