Grounds of Natural Philosophy: Divided into Thirteen Parts: The Second Edition, much altered from the First, which went under the Name of Philosophical and Physical OpinionsNewcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Philosophy
Grounds of Natural Philosophy: Divided into Thirteen Parts: The Second Edition, much altered from the First, which went under the Name of Philosophical and Physical Opinions
Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Physics -- Early works to 1800
If there be not Infinite Kinds, yet, it is probable, there are Infinite
several Sorts; at least, Infinite particular Creatures, in every
particular Kind and Sort; and the Corporeal Motions moving after a
different manner, is the cause there are different Knowledges, in
different Creatures; yet, none can be said to be _least knowing_, or
_most knowing_: for, there is (in my opinion) no such thing as _least_
and _most_, in Nature: for, several kinds and sorts of Knowledges,
make not Knowledg to be more, or less; but only, they are different
Knowledges proper to their kind, (as, Animal-kind, Vegetable-kind,
Mineral-kind,
Elemental-kind) and are also different Knowledges in several sorts:
As for example, Man may have a different Knowledg from Beasts, Birds,
Fish, Flies, Worms, or the like; and yet be no wiser than those sorts
of Animal-kinds. The same happens between the several Knowledges of
Vegetables, Minerals, and Elements: but, because one Creature doth
not know what another Creature knows, thence arises the Opinion of
_Insensibility_, and _Irrationability_, that some Creatures have of
others. But there is to be noted, That Nature is so Regular, or wise,
in her Actions, that the _Species_ and Knowledg of every particular
Kind, is kept in an Even, or Equal Balance: For example, The Death or
Birth of Animals, doth neither add or diminish from, or to the Knowledg
of the Kind, or rather the Sort. Also, an Animal can have no Knowledg,
but such as is proper to the _species_ of his Figure: but, if there
be a Creature of a mixt _Species_, or Figure, then their Knowledg is
according to their mixt Form: for, the Corporeal Motions of every
Creature, move according to the Form, Frame, or _Species_ of their
Society: but, there is not only different Knowledges, in different
Kinds and Sorts of Creatures; but, there are different Knowledges in
the different Parts of one and the same; as, the different Senses
of Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, and Touching, have not only
different Knowledges in different Sensitive Organs, but
in one Sense, they have several Perceptive Knowledges: and though the
different Sensitive Organs of a Human Creature, are ignorant of each
other; yet, each Sense is as knowing as another. The same (no question)
is amongst all the Creatures in Nature.
CHAP. II. Of the Variety of Self-actions in particular Creatures.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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