Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind: 1st-2d series1855 |
Common terms and phrases
abstract ideas abstract terms act of perception amongst appear applied assertion believe Berkeley called cause ceived ception cerning character cognition colour common name conceive conception conclusion consciousness consequently contingent reasoning denote described discern distinct distinguish doctrine Dugald Stewart effect employed entities Essay evidence existence expressions external objects facts faculty feeling figurative language Genus Hume imaginary imagination inferences inquiry instance intellectual operations Kant knowledge language Letter matter meaning mental phenomena mental philosophy metaphorical metaphysical metaphysician mode motion nature nominalist objects perceived observed organs of sense particular passage percipient phenomenon philosophers philosophy of mind phrase phraseology precise present proper names Pure Reason qualities Queen Victoria question recollection regard remark representations representative resemblance result sciousness sensible separate similar simple simple wish soul speak species speculations Stewart term idea ternal theory thought tion truth understanding Universal Grammar word writer
Popular passages
Page 125 - IT is evident to any one who takes a survey of the objects of human knowledge, that they are either ideas actually imprinted on the senses; or else such as are perceived by attending to the passions and operations of the mind; or lastly, ideas formed by help of memory and imagination— either compounding, dividing, or barely representing those originally perceived in the aforesaid ways.
Page 133 - ... all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world, have not any subsistence without a mind; that their being is to be perceived or known; that consequently so long as they are not actually perceived by me, or do not exist in my mind or that of any other created spirit, they must either have no existence at all, or else subsist in the mind of some Eternal Spirit...
Page 35 - The memory of some men, it is true, is very tenacious, even to a miracle ; but yet there seems to be a constant decay of all our ideas, even of those which are struck deepest, and in minds the most retentive ; so that if they be not sometimes renewed by repeated exercise of the senses, or reflection on those kind of objects which, at first, occasioned them, the print wears out, and, at last, there remains nothing to be seen.
Page 203 - Whether others have this wonderful faculty of abstracting their ideas, they best can tell : for myself I find indeed I have a faculty of imagining, or representing to myself the ideas of those particular things I have perceived, and of variously compounding and dividing them.
Page 209 - WHITENESS, it by that sound signifies the same quality wheresoever to be imagined or met with; and thus universals, whether ideas or terms, are made.
Page 35 - Thus the ideas, as well as children of our youth, often die before us, and our minds represent to us those tombs to which we are approaching ; where, though the brass and the marble remain, yet the inscriptions are effaced by time, and the imagery moulders away. The pictures drawn in our minds are laid in fading colours, and if not sometimes refreshed, vanish and disappear.
Page 199 - LET observation, with extensive view, Survey mankind, from China to Peru ; Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife, And watch the busy scenes of crowded life...
Page 204 - I own myself able to abstract in one sense, as when I consider some particular parts or qualities separated from others, with which, though they are united in some object, yet it is possible they may really exist without them. But I deny that I can abstract from one another, or conceive separately, those qualities which it is impossible should exist so separated...
Page 129 - The ideas imprinted on the Senses by the Author of nature are called real things: and those excited in the imagination, being less regular, vivid, and constant, are more properly termed ideas or images of things, which they copy and represent.
Page 244 - The soul consists of many faculties, as the understanding, and the will, with all the senses both outward and inward ; or, to speak more philosophically, the soul can exert herself in many different ways of action. She can understand, will, imagine, see, and hear, love, and discourse, and apply herself to many other the like exercises of different kinds and natures...