Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his bodyDescartes, René
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his body
Descartes, René
Descartes, René, 1596-1650; First philosophy; God -- Proof, Ontological; Knowledge, Theory of; Metaphysics; Methodology
And as to the _Ideas_ of _Corporeal_ things, I find nothing in them of
that _perfection_, but it may proceed from my self; for if I look into
them more narrowly, and examine them more particularly, as yesterday
(_in the second Medit._) I did the _Idea_ of Wax, I find there are but
few things which I perceive _clearly_ and _distinctly_ in them, viz.
_Magnitude_ or _extension_ in _Longitude_, _Latitude_, and _Profundity_,
the _Figure_ or _shape_ which arises from the _termination_ of that
_Extension_, the _Position_ or _place_ which divers _Figured Bodies_
have in _respect_ of each other, their _motion_ or _change of place_; to
which may be added, their _substance_, _continuance_, and _number_; as to
the other, such as are, _Light_, _Colours_, _Sounds_, _Smels_, _Tasts_,
_Heat_, and _Cold_, with the other _tactile qualities_, I have but very
_obscure_ and _confused thoughts_ of them, so that I know not, whether
they are _true_ or _false_, that is to say, whether the _Ideas_ I have of
them are the _Ideas_ of _things_ which _really are_, or _are not_. For
altho _falshood formally_ and _properly_ so called, consists only in the
_judgement_ (as before I have observed) yet there is an other sort of
_material falshood_ in _Ideas_, when they represent a _thing_ as _really
existent_, tho it does _not exist_; so, for example, the _Ideas_ I have
of _heat_ and _cold_ are so _obscure_ and _confused_, that I cannot
collect from them, whether _cold_ be a _privation_ of _heat_, or _heat_ a
_privation_ of _cold_, or whether either of them be a _real quality_, or
whether neither of them be _real_. And since every _Idea_ must be _like_
the thing it represents, if it be _true_ that _cold_ is nothing but the
_privation_ of _heat_, that _Idea_ which represents it to me as a thing
_real_ and _positive_ may deservedly be called _false_. The same may be
apply’d to other Ideas.
And now I see no necessity why I should assigne any other _Author_ of
these _Ideas_ but _my self_; for if they are _false_, that is, represent
things that _are not_, I know by the _light_ of _nature_ that they
proceed from _nothing_; that is to say, I harbour them upon no other
account, but because my _nature_ is _deficient_ in something, and
_imperfect_. But if they are _true_, yet seeing I discover so little
_reality_ in them, that that very _reality_ scarce _seems_ to _be realy_,
I see no reason why I my self should not be the _Author_ of them.
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