SelectionsScribner, 1927 - 403 pages |
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Page xxvii
... experience of a material substratum in the physical world , but only of qualities -colors , shapes , motions , sounds . And Hume applied the same argument to the mental realm : we have no direct knowledge of the thinking thing , " man's ...
... experience of a material substratum in the physical world , but only of qualities -colors , shapes , motions , sounds . And Hume applied the same argument to the mental realm : we have no direct knowledge of the thinking thing , " man's ...
Page 8
... experiences , in proving myself in the various predicaments in which I was placed by fortune , and under all circumstances bringing my mind to bear on the things which came before it , so that I might derive some profit from my experience ...
... experiences , in proving myself in the various predicaments in which I was placed by fortune , and under all circumstances bringing my mind to bear on the things which came before it , so that I might derive some profit from my experience ...
Page 9
... experience , I one day formed the resolution of also making myself an object of study and of employing all the strength of my mind in choosing the road I should follow . This succeeded much better , it appeared to me , than if I had ...
... experience , I one day formed the resolution of also making myself an object of study and of employing all the strength of my mind in choosing the road I should follow . This succeeded much better , it appeared to me , than if I had ...
Page 20
... experiences fitted later on to afford matter for my reasonings , and by ever exercising myself in the Method which I had prescribed , in order more and more to fortify myself in the power of using it . PART III And finally , as it is ...
... experiences fitted later on to afford matter for my reasonings , and by ever exercising myself in the Method which I had prescribed , in order more and more to fortify myself in the power of using it . PART III And finally , as it is ...
Page 24
... experienced so much satisfaction since beginning to use this method , that I did not believe that any sweeter or more innocent could in this life be found , every day discovering by its means some truths 24 DESCARTES.
... experienced so much satisfaction since beginning to use this method , that I did not believe that any sweeter or more innocent could in this life be found , every day discovering by its means some truths 24 DESCARTES.
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A. N. Whitehead analytical geometry animal spirits appear argument Aristotle arteries ARTICLE attributes believe blood body brain Cartesian ceive certainly chiliagon clear and distinct clearly and distinctly colour conceive conclusion consider contrary corporeal corporeal substance deceive deny depend Descartes desire Discourse on Method discover diverse doubt efficient cause error eternal exist existence of God extended fact faculty false figure follow Galileo gland greater heart heat heavens hence human idea images imagine inasmuch infinite judge judgment knowledge Leibniz less light likewise mathematical matter means Meditation merely method mind mode motion move movement nature nerves never nevertheless objects opinions ourselves pain pass passions perceive perfect philosopher possess PRINCIPLE Principles of Philosophy proceed Professor of English reality reason recognise regard reply rule seems sensation senses soul speak spleen substance sufficient suppose tain thinking thing thought tion true truth understand University whole
Popular passages
Page xxvi - I hold, with the Materialist, that the human body, like all living bodies, is a machine, all the operations of which will, sooner or later, be explained on physical principles. I believe that we shall, sooner or later, arrive at a mechanical equivalent of consciousness, just as we have arrived at a mechanical equivalent of heat.
Page 145 - And now that I know Him I have the means of acquiring a perfect knowledge of an infinitude of things, not only of those which relate to God Himself and other intellectual matters, but also of those which pertain to corporeal nature in so far as it is the object of pure mathematics [which have no concern with whether it exists or not].
Page 177 - But nevertheless, on the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am...
Page 219 - MEDITATION I Of the things which may be brought within the sphere of the doubtful. It is now some years since I detected how many were the false beliefs that I had from my earliest youth admitted as true, and how doubtful was everything I had since constructed on this basis; and from that time I was convinced that I must once for all seriously undertake to rid myself of all the opinions...
Page 236 - Of the existence of material things, and of the real distinction between the soul and body of man Nothing further now remains but to inquire whether material things exist.
Page 209 - ... the animal spirits to pass thence into the nerves, in such a manner as is required to produce this motion, in the same way as in a machine, and without the mind being able to hinder it. Now since we observe this in ourselves, why...
Page 36 - And if I write in French, which is the language of my country, in preference to Latin, which is that of my preceptors...
Page 3 - ... been my singular good fortune to have very early in life fallen in with certain tracks which have conducted me to considerations and maxims, of which I have formed a Method that gives me the means, as I think, of gradually augmenting my knowledge, and of raising it by little and little to the highest point which the mediocrity of my talents and the brief duration of my life will permit me to reach. For I have already reaped from it such fruits that, although I have been accustomed to think lowly...
Page 92 - But how do I know that He has not brought it to pass that there is no earth, no heaven, no extended body, no magnitude, no place, and that nevertheless [I possess the perceptions of all these things and that] they seem to me to exist just exactly as I now see them?
Page 134 - I do not escape the blame of misusing my freedom; for the light of nature, teaches us that the knowledge of the understanding should always precede the determination of the will. And it is in the misuse of the free will that the privation which constitutes the characteristic nature of error is met with. Privation, I say, is found in the act, in so far as it proceeds from me, but it is not found in the faculty which I have received from God, nor even in the act in so far as it depends on Him. For...