Part 7

There are many Other Things Also which _Nature_ seems to teach Me, but _Really_ I am not taught by It, but have gotten them by an _ill use_ of Passing my Judgement _Inconsiderately_, and from hence it is that these things happen often to be _false_; as that all _space_ is _Empty_, in which I find _nothing_ that _works_ upon my _Senses_; That in a _hot Body_ there is something _like_ the _Idea_ of _Heat_ which is in me; That in a _White_ or _Green_ Body there is the same _Whiteness_ or _Greenness_ which I _perceive_; And the same _Taste_ in a _bitter_ or _sweet_ Thing, _&c._ That _Stars_, _Castles_, and Other _Remote_ Bodies are of the same _Bigness_ and _Shape_, as they are _Represented_ to my _senses_: and such like. But that I may not admit of any Thing in this very matter, which I cannot _Distinctly_ perceive, it behoves me here to determine more _Accurately_ What I mean when I say, _That I am taught a Thing by Nature_.

Here I take _Nature_ more _strictly_, then for the _Complication_ of all those Things which are Given me by _God_; For in this _Complication_ there are many things contain’d which relate to the _Mind alone_, as, That I perceive What is _done_ cannot be _not Done_, and all Other things which are known by the _Light_ of _Nature_, but of these I speak not at present. There are also many Other Things which belong _only_ to the _Body_, as, That it _tends Downwards_ and such like, of these also I treat not at Present. But I speak of those Things only which _God_ hath bestowed upon me as I am _Compounded_ of a _Mind_ and _Body together_, and not _differently Consider’d_. ’Tis _Nature_ therefore thus taken that teaches me to _avoid troublesome Objects_, and _seek_ after _pleasing Ones_; but it appears not that this _Nature_ teaches us to conclude any thing of these Perceptions of our _senses_, before that we make by our _Understanding_ a diligent examination of _outward Objects_; for to Enquire into the _Truth_ of Things belongs not to the _Whole Compositum_ of a Man as he Consists of _Mind_ and _Body_, but to the _Mind alone_.

So that tho a _star affect_ my eye no _more_ then a _small spark_ of Fire, yet there is in my Eye no _Real_ or _Positive Inclination_ to _believe_ One no bigger then the Other, but thus I have been used to Judge from my Childhood without any Reason: and tho coming nigh the Fire I feel Heat, and Coming too nigh I feel Pain, yet there is no Reason to perswade me, That in the Fire there is any thing _like_ either that Heat or that Pain, but only that there is something therein, Whatever it be, that excites in us those _sensations_ of Heat or Pain: and so tho in some space there may be nothing that Works on my _senses_, it does not from thence follow, that there is no _Body_ there; for I see that in these and many other things I am used to overturn the Order of Nature, because I use these _perceptions_ of _sense_ (which properly are given me by Nature to make known to the mind what is _advantagious_ or _hurtful_ to the _Compositum_, whereof the _mind_ is part, and _so far_ only they are _Clear_ and _Distinct_ enough) as _certain Rules_ immediately to discover the _Essence_ of _External Bodies_, of Which they make known nothing but very _Obscurely_ and _Confusedly_.

[Sidenote: Medit. 4.]

I have * formerly shewn how my _Judgement_ happens to be false notwithstanding _Gods Goodness_. But now there arises a new _Difficulty_ concerning those very things which _Nature_ tells me I am to _prosecute_ or _avoid_, concerning my _Internal senses_, Wherein I find many _Errors_, as when a Man being deceived by the Pleasant Taste of some sort of Meat, devours therein some hidden Poyson. But in this very Instance it cannot be said, that the Man is impelled by Nature to desire the _Poyson_, for of that he is wholly Ignorant; but he is said to Desire the _Meat_ only as being of a grateful Taste; and from hence nothing can be concluded but, That _Mans-Nature_ is not _All-knowing_; which is no Wonder seeing Man is a _Finite Being_, and therefore nothing but _Finite Perfections_ belong to him.

But We often err even in those things to Which we are _Impelled_ by _Nature_, as when sick men desire that _Meat_ or _Drink_, which will certainly prove Hurtful to them. To this it may perhaps be reply’d, That they _Err_ in this because their _Nature_ is _Corrupt_. But this Answers not the Difficulty, For a sick man is no less _Gods Creature_ then a Man in Health, and therefore ’tis as Absurd to Imagine a _Deceitful Nature_ imposed by _God_ on the One as on the Other; And as a Clock that is made up of Wheels and Weights does no less strictly observe the _Laws_ of its _Nature_, when it is _ill_ contrived, and tells the hours _falsly_, as when it answers the Desire of the Artificer in all performances; so if I consider the body of a Man as a meer _Machine_ or _Movement_, made up and compounded of _Bones_, _Nerves_, _Muscles_, _Veins_, _Blood_, and _Skin_; so that, tho there were no _mind_ in It, yet It would perform all those Motions which now are in it (those only excepted which Proceed from the _Will_, and consequently from the _Mind_) I do easily acknowledge, that it would be as _natural_ for him (if for example sake he were sick of a _Dropsie_) to suffer that _Driness_ of his _Throat_ which uses to bring into his mind the _sense_ of _Thirst_, & that thereby his Nerves and other Parts would be so disposed as to take Drink, by Which his disease would be encreased; As (supposing him to be troubled with no such Distemper) by the like Driness of Throat he would be disposed to Drink, when ’tis Requisite. And tho, if I respect the Intended use of a Clock I may say that it _Errs_ from its _Nature_, when it tells the Hours _wrong_, and so considering the _Movement_ of a _Mans Body_ as contrived for such _Motions_ as are used to be performed thereby, I may think That also to _Err_ from its _Nature_, if its _Throat_ is _Dry_, when it has no want of Drink for its _Preservation_. Yet I Plainly discover, that this last _Acceptation_ of _Nature_ differs much from that whereof we have been speaking all this While, for this is only a _Denomination extrinsick_ to the Things whereof ’tis spoken, and _depending_ on my _Thought_, while it _Compares_ a _sick_ man, and a _disorderly_ Clock with the _Idea_ of an _healthy_ man and a _Rectified_ Clock. But by _Nature_ in its former _Acceptation_ I Understand something that is _Really_ in the _Things_ themselves, which therefore has something of _Truth_ in it.

But tho Respecting only a _Body sick_ of a Dropsie it be an _Extrinsick Denomination_ to say, that its _Nature_ is _Corrupt_, because it has a _Dry Throat_, and stands in _no need_ of Drink; yet respecting the _Whole Compound_ or _Mind joyn’d_ to such a _Body_, ’tis not a _meer Denomination_, but a _real Error_ of _Nature_ for it to _thirst_ when _drink_ is _hurtful_ to it. It remains therefore here to be inquired, how the _Goodness_ of _God_ suffers _Nature so taken_ to be _deceivable_.

First therefore I understand that a _chief difference_ between my _Mind_ and _Body_ consists in this, That my _Body_ is of its _Nature divisible_, but my _Mind indivisible_; for while I consider my _Mind_ or _my self_, as I am only a _thinking Thing_, I can distinguish _no parts_ in Me, but I perceive my self to be but _one entire_ Thing; and tho the _whole Mind_ seems to be _united_ to the _whole Body_, yet a Foot, an Arm, or any other part of the Body being cut off, I do not therefore conceive any _part_ of my _Mind_ taken away; Neither can its _Faculties_ of _desiring_, _perceiving_, _understanding_, &c. be called its _Parts_, for ’tis one and the _same_, _mind_, that _desires_, that _perceives_, that _understands_; Contrarily, I cannot think of any _Corporeal_ or _extended Being_, which I cannot easily _divide_ into _Parts_ by my thought, and by this I understand it to be _divisible_. And this alone (if I had known it from no other Argument) is sufficient to inform me, that my _mind_ is _really distinct_ from my _Body_.

Nextly I find, that my _mind_ is not _immediately affected_ by all parts of my _body_, but only by the _Brain_, and perhaps only by one small part of it, That, to wit, wherein the _common sense_ is said to reside; Which part, as often as it is disposed in the _same manner_, will represent to the _mind_ the _same thing_, tho at the same time the other parts of the _body_ may be _differently_ order’d. And this is proved by numberless Experiments, which need not here be related.

Moreover I discover that the _nature_ of my _body_ is such, that no part of it can be _moved_ by an other _remote_ part thereof, but it may also be _moved_ in the _same manner_ by some of the _interjacent_ parts, tho the more _remote_ part lay still and acted not; As for example in the Rope,

A⸺B⸺C⸺D

if its end D. were drawn, the end A. would be moved no otherwise, than if one of the intermediate parts B. or C. were drawn, and the end D. rest quiet. So when I feel _pain_ in my _Foot_, the consideration of Physicks instructs me, that this is performed by the help of _Nerves_ dispersed through the Foot, which from thence being _continued_ like Ropes to the very Brain, whilst they are _drawn_ in the Foot, they also _draw_ the inward parts of the Brain to which they reach, and therein excite a certain _motion_, which is ordain’d by _Nature_ to affect the _mind_ with a _sense_ of _Pain_, as being in the _Foot_. But because these Nerves must pass through the _Shin_, the _Thighs_, the _Loins_, the _Back_, the _Neck_, before they can reach the _Brain_ from the _Foot_, it may so happen, that tho _that part_ of them, which is in the Foot were not touch’d, but only some of their _intermediate parts_, yet the same _motion_, would be caused in the _Brain_, as when the _Foot_ it self is _ill affected_, from whence ’twill necessarily follow, that the _mind_ should _perceive_ the same _Pain_. And thus may we think of any other _Sense_.

I understand lastly, that seeing each single motion perform’d in that part of the _Brain_, which _immediately affects_ the _mind_, excites therein only one sort of _sense_, nothing could be contrived more conveniently in this case, than that, of all those _Senses_ which it can cause, it should cause that which _cheifly_, and most _frequently_ conduces to the _conservation_ of an _healthful Man_; And experience witnesses, that to this very _end_ all our _senses_ are given us by _Nature_; and therefore nothing can be found therein, which does not abundantly testifie the _Power_ and _Goodness_ of _God_. Thus for Example, when the Nerves of the Feet are violently and more than ordinarily moved, that motion of them being propagated through the _Medulla Spinalis_ of the Back to the inward parts of the Brain, there it signifies to the mind, that something or other is to be felt, and what is this but Pain, as if it were in the Foot, by which the Mind is excited to use its indeavours for removing the Cause, as being hurtful to the Foot. But the _Nature_ of _Man_ might have been so _order’d_ by _God_, that That same motion in the Brain should represent to the mind any other thing, _viz._ either it self as ’tis in the Brain, or it self as it is in the Foot, or in any of the other forementioned intermediate parts, or lastly any other thing whatsoever; but none of these would have so much conduced to the _Conservation_ of the _Body_. In the like manner when we want drink, from thence arises a certain _dryness_ in the _Throat_, which moves the Nerves thereof, and by their means the inward parts of the Brain, and this motion _affects_ the _mind_ with the _sense_ of _thirst_; because that in this case nothing is more requisite for us to know, then that we _want drink_ for the _Preservation_ of our _Health_. So of the Rest.

From all which ’tis manifest, that (notwithstanding the _infinite Goodness_ of God) ’tis impossible but the _Nature_ of _Man_ as he consists of a _mind_ and _body_ should be _deceivable_. For if any cause should excite (not in the Foot but) in the Brain it self, or in any other part through which the Nerves are continued from the Foot to the Brain, that _self same_ motion, which uses to arise from the Foot being troubled, the _Pain_ would be felt _as in the Foot_, and the _sense_ would be _naturally_ deceived; for ’tis consonant to Reason (seeing that That same motion of the Brain alwayes represents to the mind that same sense, and it oftner proceeds from a cause _hurtful_ to the _Foot_, than from any other) I say ’tis reasonable, that it should make known to the _mind_ the Pain of the _Foot_, rather than of any other _part_. And so if a _dryness_ of _Throat_ arises (not as ’tis used from the _necessity_ of _drink_ for the _conservation_ of the _Body_, but) from an _unusual Cause_, as it happens in a _Dropsie_, ’tis far better that it should _then deceive us_; then that it should _alwayes deceive_ us when the _Body_ is in _Health_, and so of the Rest.

And this consideration helps me very much, not only to _understand_ the _Errors_ to which my _Nature_ is subject, but also to _correct_ and _avoid_ them. For seeing I know that all my _Senses_ do oftener inform me _falsly_ than _truely_ in those things which conduce to the _Bodies advantage_; and seeing I can use (almost alwayes) more of them than one to _Examine_ the same thing, as also I can use _memory_, which joyns present and past things together, and my _understanding_ also, which hath already discovered to me all the _causes_ of my _Errors_, I ought no longer to fear, that what my _Senses_ daily represent to me should be false. But especially those _extravagant Doubts_ of my First Meditation are to be turn’d off as ridiculous; and perticularly the _chief_ of them, _viz_. That * of not _distinguishing Sleep_ from _Waking_, for now I plainly discover a great _difference_, between them, for my _Dreams_ are never _conjoyned_ by my _memory_ with the other _actions_ of _my life_, as whatever happens to me _awake_ is; and certainly if (while I were awake) any person should suddenly appear to me, and presently disappear (as in _Dreams_) so that I could not tell _from whence_ he came or _where_ he went, I should rather esteem it a _Spectre_ or _Apparition feign’d_ in my Brain, then a _true Man_; but when such things occur, as I distinctly know from _whence_, _where_, and _when_ they come, and I _conjoyn_ the _perception_ of them by my _memory_ with the other _Accidents_ of my _life_, I am _certain_ they are represented to me _waking_ and not _asleep_, neither ought I in the least to doubt of their _Truth_, if after I have called up all my _senses_, _memory_, and _understanding_ to their _Examination_ I find nothing in any of them, that clashes with other truths; For _God_ not being a _Deceiver_, 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.

Those Reasons of Doubt which by this Philosopher are admitted as _true_, were proposed by Me only as _Probable_, and I made use of them not that I may vend them as _new_, but partly that I may prepare the Minds of my Readers for the Consideration of Intellectual Things, wherein they seem’d to me very necessary; And partly that thereby I may shew how firm those Truths are, which hereafter I lay down, seeing they cannot be Weaken’d by these Metaphysical Doubts: So, that I never designed to gain any Honor by repeating them, but I think I could no more omit them, then a Writer in Physick can pass over the Description of a Disease, Whose Cure he intends to Teach.

OBJECT. II.

_Against the Second Meditation: Of the Nature of Mans Mind._

I _am a Thinking Thing_. ’Tis True; for because I _think_ or have a _Phantasme_ (whether I am _awake_ or _asleep_) it follows that _I am Thinking_, for _I Think_ and _I am Thinking_ signifie the same Thing. Because _I Think_, it follows That _I am_, for whatever _Thinks_ cannot be _Nothing_. But when he Adds, _That is_, _a Mind_, _a Soul_, _an Understanding_, _Reason_, I question his Argumentation; for it does not seem a Right Consequence to say, _I am a Thinking Thing_, therefore _I am a Thought_, neither, _I am an Understanding Thing_, therefore _I am the Understanding_. For in the same manner I may Conclude, _I am a Walking Thing_, therefore _I am the Walking it self_.

Wherefore _D.Cartes_ Concludes that an _Understanding Thing_ and _Intellection_ (which is the _Act_ of an Understanding Thing) are the same; or at least that an _Understanding Thing_ and the _Intellect_ (which is the _Power_ of an Understanding Thing) are the same; And yet all Philosophers distinguish the _subject_ from its _Faculties_ and _Acts_, that is, from its _Properties_ and _Essence_, for the _Thing it self_ is one thing, and its _Essence_ is an other. It may be therefore that a _Thinking Thing_ is the _Subject_ of a _Mind_, _Reason_, or _Understanding_, and therefor it may be a _Corporeal Thing_, the Contrary Whereof is here _Assumed_ and not _Proved_; and yet this _Inference_ is the _Foundation_ of that Conclusion which _D.Cartes_ would Establish.

[Sidenote: * _Places noted with this Asterick are the Passages of the foregoing Meditations here Objected against._]

In the same Meditation, on, * _I know that I am, I ask, What I am Whom I Thus Know, Certainly the Knowledge of Me precisely so taken depends not on those Things of whose Existence I am yet Ignorant_.

’Tis Certain the Knowledge of this Proposition _I am_, depends on this, _I think_ as he hath rightly inform’d us; but from whence have we the knowledge of this Proposition, _I think_? certainly from hence only, that we cannot conceive any _Act_ without its _subject_, as _dancing_ without a _Dancer_, _knowledge_, without a _Knower_, _thought_ without a _thinker_.

And from hence it seems to follow, that a _thinking Thing_ is a _Corporeal Thing_; for the _Subjects_ of all _Acts_ are understood only in a _Corporeal way_, or after the manner of _matter_, as he himself shews hereafter by the example of a piece of Wax, which changing its _colour_, _consistence_, _shape_, and other _Acts_ is yet known to continue the _same thing_, that is, the _same matter subject_ to so many _changes_. But I cannot conclude from another _thought_ that _I now think_; for tho a Man may _think_ that he _hath thought_ (which consists only in _memory_) yet ’tis altogether impossible for him to _think_ that he _now thinks_, or to _know_, that _he knows_, for the question may be put _infinitely_, how do you _know_ that you _know_, that you _know_, that you _know_? &c.

Wherefore seeing the Knowledge of this Proposition _I am_, depends on the knowledge of this _I think_, and the knowledge of this is from hence only, that we cannot separate _thought_ from _thinking matter_, it seems rather to follow, that a _thinking thing_ is _material_, than that ’tis _immaterial_.

ANSWER.

When I said, _That is a Mind_, _a Soul_, _an Understanding_, _Reason_, &c. I did not mean by these _names_ the _Faculties_ only, but the _things_ indow’d with those _Faculties_; and so ’tis alwayes understood by the two first names (_mind_ and _soul_) and very often so understood by the two last Names (_understanding_ and _Reason_) and this I have explain’d so often, and in so many places of these Meditations, that there is not the least occasion of questioning my meaning.

Neither is there any parity between _Walking_ and _Thought_, for _walking_ is used only for the _Act_ it self, but _thought_ is sometimes used for the _Act_, sometimes for the _Faculty_, and sometimes for the _thing_ it self, wherein the _Faculty_ resides.

Neither do I say, that the _understanding thing_ and _intellection_ are the same, or that the _understanding thing_ and the _intellect_ are the same, if the _intellect_ be taken for the _Faculty_, but only when ’tis taken for the _thing it self that understands_. Yet I willingly confess, that I have (as much as in me lay) made use of _abstracted words_ to signifie that _thing_ or _substance_, which I would have devested of all those things that belong not to it. Whereas contrarily this Philosopher uses the most _concrete Words_ to signifie this _thinking thing_, such as _subject_, _matter_, _Body_, &c. that he may not suffer it to be separated from _Body_.