>>>>>Proof--As soon as we conceive an object which we have
seen in conjunction with others, we at once remember those
others (II. xviii. and note), and thus we pass forthwith from the
contemplation of one object to the contemplation of another
object. And this is the case with the object, which we conceive
to have no property that is not common to many. For we
thereupon assume that we are regarding therein nothing, which
we have not before seen in conjunction with other objects.
But when we suppose that we conceive an object something
special, which we have never seen before, we must needs say
that the mind, while regarding that object, has in itself nothing
which it can fall to regarding instead thereof; therefore it is
determined to the contemplation of that object only. Therefore
an object, &c. Q.E.D.
*****Note--This mental modification, or imagination of a
particular thing, in so far as it is alone in the mind, is called
"Wonder;" but if it be excited by an object of fear, it is called
"Consternation," because wonder at an evil keeps a man so
engrossed in the simple contemplation thereof, that he has no
power to think of anything else whereby he might avoid the
evil. If, however, the object of wonder be a man's prudence,
industry, or anything of that sort, inasmuch as the said man,
is thereby regarded as far surpassing ourselves, wonder is
called "Veneration;" otherwise, if a man's anger, envy, &c.,
be what we wonder at, the emotion is called "Horror." Again,
if it be the prudence, industry, or what not, of a man we love,
that we wonder at, our love will on this account be the greater
(III. xii.), and when joined to wonder or veneration is called
"Devotion." We may in like manner conceive hatred, hope,
confidence, and the other emotions, as associated with wonder;
and we should thus be able to deduce more emotions than
those which have obtained names in ordinary speech. Whence
it is evident, that the names of the emotions have been applied
in accordance rather with their ordinary manifestations than with
an accurate knowledge of their nature.
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