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
As to What Remains, They are either some _Particulars_, as that the
Sun is of such a _Bigness_ or _Shape_, _&c._ or they are Things less
_Clearly_ Understood, as _Light_, _Sound_, _Pain_, &c. And tho these and
such like Things may be very _Doubtful_ and _Uncertain_, yet because
_God_ is not a _Deceiver_, and because that (Therefore) none of my
Opinions can be _false_ unless God has Given me some _Faculty_ or other
to _Correct_ my _Error_, hence ’tis that I am incouraged with the Hopes
of attaining _Truth_ even in these very Things.
And certainly it cannot be doubted but whatever _I_ am taught by _Nature_
has something therein of _Truth_. By _Nature_ in General I understand
either _God_ himself, or the _Coordination_ of Creatures Made by God.
By my _Own Nature_ in _Particular_ I understand the _Complexion_ or
_Association_ of all those things which are given me by God.
Now there is nothing that this _my Nature_ teaches me more _expresly_
then that I have a _Body_, Which is not _Well_ when I _feel Pain_, that
this _Body_ wants _Meat_ or _Drink_ When I am _Hungry_ or _Dry_, _&c._
And therefore I ought not to Doubt but that these things are _True_. And
by this _sense_ of _Pain_, _Hunger_, _Thirst_, &c. My _Nature_ tells me
that _I_ am not in my _Body_, as a _Mariner_ is in his _Ship_, but that I
am most _nighly conjoyn’d_ thereto, and as it were _Blended therewith_;
so that _I_ with _It_ make up _one_ thing; For Otherwise, when the _Body_
were hurt, _I_, who am only a _Thinking Thing_, should not therefore
_feel_ Pain, but should only _perceive_ the Hurt with the _Eye_ of my
_Understanding_ (as a _Mariner perceives_ by his _sight_ whatever is
broken in his Ship) and when the _Body_ wants either Meat or Drink, I
should only _Understand_ this want, but should not have the _Confused
sense_ of _Hunger_ or _Thirst_; I call them _Confused_, for certainly
the _Sense_ of _Thirst_, _Hunger_, _Pain_, &c. are only _Confused Modes_
or _Manners_ of _Thought_ arising from the _Union_ and (as it were)
_mixture_ of the _Mind_ and _Body_.
I am taught also by _Nature_, that there are many other _Bodies Without_
and _About_ my _Body_, some whereof are to be _desired_, others are to
be _Avoided_. And because that I Perceive very Different _Colours_,
_Sounds_, _Smells_, _Tasts_, _Heat_, _Hardness_, and the Like, from
thence I Rightly conclude that there are _Correspondent Differences_ in
_Bodies_, from which these _different perceptions_ of _sense_ proceed,
tho perhaps not _Alike_. And because that some of these _perceptions_
are _Pleasant_, others _Unpleasant_, ’tis evidently _certain_, that my
_Body_, or rather my _Whole self_ (as _I_ am compounded of a _Mind_ and
_Body_) am liable to be _Affected_ by these _Bodies_ which encompass me
about.
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