Literary notes about physical (AI summary)
The term "physical" in literature is remarkably versatile, spanning a range of meanings and applications. In some texts it describes tangible, observable properties—such as the visible form or strength of an object or organism—as seen when Russell [1] discusses systems of appearances and Graves [2] employs the physical conformation of a tiger to imply certain dispositions. In other contexts, "physical" contrasts with the moral or mental, delineating boundaries between empirical reality and abstract qualities (as in Cicero [3] and Kant [4, 5]), while also serving as a metaphor for human conditions of strength, vulnerability, or even existential limits (Dewey [6], Wilde [7], and H. G. Wells [8]). Moreover, scientific and philosophical works use "physical" to refer to causal, measurable phenomena—from the investigation of physical laws [9] to the nuanced interplay between physical and psychological events [10]. This multi-layered usage highlights literature’s engagement with both the concrete and the conceptual aspects of the physical world.
- The illustration that chiefly concerns us is the system of appearances of a physical object.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell - If it possesses the well-known physical conformation of the tiger, we are never deceived or misled when we assign it a predatory disposition.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves - That moral goodness which we look for in a lofty, high-minded spirit is secured, of course, by moral, not by physical, strength.
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero - This physical Teleology could not do; it could only lead to indeterminate concepts thereof, unserviceable alike in theoretical and in practical use.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant - This argument derived from physical Teleology is worthy of respect.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant - Nothing is more striking than the difference between an activity as merely physical and the wealth of meanings which the same activity may assume.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - When after two months in the infirmary I was transferred here, and found myself growing gradually better in physical health, I was filled with rage.
— from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde - His physical excitement seemed to desert him suddenly, and leave him aimless and helpless.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - I have in what just goes before been engaged in physical inquiries a
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke - That is to say, they believe that every psychical event has a psychical cause and a physical concomitant.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell
