Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his body
Descartes · en
it follows, that In such things I am not _deceived_. But because the
_urgency_ of _Action_ in the common _occurrences_ of _Affairs_ will not
alwayes allow time for such an _accurate examination_, I must confess
that _Mans life_ is _subject_ to many _Errors_ about _perticulars_, so
that the _infirmity_ of our _Nature_ must be _acknowledged_ by Us.
_FINIS._
ADVERTISEMENT CONCERNING THE OBJECTIONS.
Among seven Parcels of Objections made by Divers Learned Persons against
these Meditations, I have made choise of the Third in the Latine Copy,
as being Penn’d by _Thomas Hobbs_ of _Malmesbury_, a Man famously known
to the World abroad, but especially to his own the English Nation; and
therefore ’tis likely that what comes from Him may be more acceptable to
his Countrymen, then what proceeds from a Stranger; and as the strength
of a Fortification is never better known then by a Forcible Resistance,
so fares it with these _Meditations_ which stand unshaken by the
Violent Opposition of so Potent an Enemy. And yet it must be Confess’d
that the Force of these Objections and Cogency of the Arguments cannot
be well apprehended by those who are not versed in other Pieces of Mr.
_Hobbs_’s Philosophy, especially His Book _De Corpore_ and _De Homine_,
The former whereof I am sure is Translated into English, and therefore
not Impertinently refer’d to Here in a Discourse to English Readers. And
this is the Reason that makes the Great _Des-Cartes_ pass over many of
these Objections so slightly, Who certainly would have Undermined the
whole Fabrick of the _Hobbian Philosophy_ had he but known upon What
Foundations it was Built.
OBJECTIONS
Made against the Foregoing
MEDITATIONS,
BY THE FAMOUS
_THOMAS HOBBS_
Of MALMESBURY,
WITH
_DES-CARTES’S_
ANSWERS.
OBJECT. I.
_Against the First Meditation: Of things Doubtful._
’Tis evident enough from What has been said in this Meditation, that
there is no _sign_ by Which we may Distinguish our _Dreams_ from _True
Sense_ and _Waking_, and therefore that those _Phantasmes_ which we
have waking and from our Senses are not accidents inhering in Outward
Objects, neither do they Prove that such outward Objects do Exist; and
therefore if we trust our Senses without any other Ground, we may well
doubt whether any Thing _Be_ or _Not_. We therefore acknowledge the Truth
of this Meditation. But Because _Plato_ and other Antient Philosophers
argued for the same _incertainty_ in sensible Things, and because ’tis
commonly Observed by the Vulgar that ’tis hard to Distinguish Sleep from
Waking, I would not have the most excellent Author of such new Thoughts
put forth so antique Notions.
ANSWER.