The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 11 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
Philosophy
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 11 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
things, not as emanating from it. Thus, by a general formula, all our
ideas of every kind are represented as communicated to the mind by
something foreign to it, instead of growing out of, and being a part of
its own nature and essence.
Secondly, another objection to this division of our ideas into those of
sensation and reflection is, that it does not differ in any decisive
manner from the more simple statement of Hobbes and others, who derive
all our ideas from sensation. For by sensation these writers do not
understand merely the external image, but the perception or feeling
which accompanies it, and they contend that all our other ideas are
continuations, modifications, or different arrangements of the original
impressions, produced by objects on the senses. Now there is nothing in
the extract above given to disprove this statement: and if so, the
original hypothesis will remain in its full force. Indeed Mr. Locke
himself does not seem to have made up his mind, whether it were so or
not. For though he speaks of the mind as furnishing the understanding
with ideas, and with the materials of reason and knowledge, and
enumerates and explains the several operations of the mind in comparing,
distinguishing, &c. yet he elsewhere speaks of ideas as existing in the
understanding like pictures in a gallery, or as if the whole process of
the intellect were resolvable into the power of receiving, retaining,
carrying, and transposing the gross materials furnished by the senses.
In this case, I think the simplest way at once is to make sensation the
foundation of all our other ideas and faculties. For my own part, the
reason why I cannot assent to this doctrine is, that I believe there is
another act or faculty of the mind implied in all our ideas, for which
neither sensation nor any of its modes can ever account, and which I
shall here proceed to explain.
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