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
But that this may be made more _Plain_, I must first examine the
_difference_ between _Imagination_, and _pure Intellection_, or
_Understanding_. So, for example, when I _Imagine_ a Triangle, I do not
only _Understand_ that it is a _figure comprehended_ by _three Lines_,
but I also _behold_ with the _eye_ of my _mind_ those _three lines_ as
it were _before Me_, and this is that which I call _imagination_. But
if I convert my Thoughts to a _Chiliogone_, or _Figure consisting_ of a
_Thousand Angles_, I know as well that this Is a _figure comprehended_ by
a _Thousand sides_, as I know that a _Triangle_ is a _Figure Consisting_
of _three sides_; but I do not in the same Manner _Imagine_, or _behold_
as _present_ those _thousand sides_, as I do the _three sides_ of a
_Triangle_. And tho at the time when I so think of a _Chiliogone_, I may
_confusedly_ represent to my self some _Figure_ (because whenever I Think
of a _Corporeal Object_, I am used to _Imagine_ some _Shape_ or other)
yet ’tis evident that this _Representation_ is not a _Chiliogone_,
because ’tis in nothing _different_ from what I should Represent to my
self if I thought of a _Milion-angled figure_, or any other Figure of
_More sides_; Neither does such a _Confused Representation_ help me in
the least to know those _Properties_, by which a _Chiliogone_ differs
from other _Polygones_ or _Manyangled Figures_. But if a Question be
put concerning a _Pentagone_, I know I may _Understand its Shape_, as
I _Understand_ the _Shape_, of a _Chiliogone_, without the help of
_Imagination_, but I can also _imagine_ it, by applying the _Eye_ of my
_Mind_ to its _Five sides_, and to the _Area_ or _space_ contained by
Them; And herein I manifestly perceive that there is required a _peculiar
sort_ of _Operation_ in the _Mind_ to _imagine_ a Thing, which I require
not to _Understand_ a Thing; which _New Operation_ of the _Mind_ plainly
shews the _difference_ between _imagination_ and _pure Intellection_.
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