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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A30491 Third remarks upon An essay concerning humane understanding in a letter address'd to the author. Burnet, Thomas, 1635?-1715. 1699 (1699) Wing B5955; ESTC R20274 20,916 28

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you seem to have ratified this Pag. 359. §. 17. Argument and apply it to Motion You say in a System of Matter 'T is impossible that any one Particle should either know its own or the Motion of any other Particle or the whole know the Motion of every particular Put Cogitation now in the place of Motion and the same Argumentation holds good As thus 'T is impossible that any one part or particle should know the Cogitations of any other Parts or Particles or the whole know the Cogitations of every particular Therefore there must be some other Common Percipient that is not material both for the Regulation of the Motions of the Body and for the recollecting and judging of the several different Perceptions that come to the Soul I may further add That not only the different Perceptions that come to the Soul from different Parts and Motions of the Body but also the different Operations of the Mind or Understanding Simple Apprehension Judgment Ratiocination must all lie under the Prospect Intuition and Correction of some one Common Principle and that must be a Principle of such a perfect unity and simplicity as the Body any part of the Body or any particle of Matter is not capable of And as Matter is not capable of the Operations of the Understanding so far as we can judge so neither is it capable of the Operations of the Will 'T were an odd thing to fansie that a piece of Matter should have Free Will and an absolute Power like a little Emperor on his Throne to command as his Slaves about him all other Parts of Matter Say to one come and he cometh to another Go and he goeth and to a third Do this and he doeth it Yet such a Liberty of Will and such a Dominion we experience in our Soul namely a Power of commanding or countermanding her own Thoughts and the Motions of the Body Now suppose this Power transferr'd to Matter A Power first to determine its own Motions and then to determine its supposed Cogitations As to the motions of Matter The general Rule is that it moves always in a straight Line till it be determin'd otherwise by some external Agent or impulse But if it have a Power of determining its own Motions it may move in a Curve line or any sort of Curve of its own accord without any external Determination If this be admitted all our rules in Philosophy or Mechanicks are in vain and we must assert things whereof we have no Idea or Conception And what is said of Motion may also be said of Figure or Situation A Globe may change it self into a Cube or a Cube into a Pyramid or any other figure by its own Free Will For we find the Soul hath that Power of changing the Conformation of the Eye for instance or of the Hand or other Parts But if you say That Power indeed is not granted to all Matter but to certain Systems of Matter still seeing those Systems are compos'd of common Matter we must judge their Powers to be the same with those of common Matter till the contrary be made out by Positive Evidence However you must fix this Self-moving Faculty to some one part of that System for every part hath not that Power and Free Will upon any Supposition and when you have assign'd that Divine Self-moving Part or Particle of the Body we shall examine the Powers and Capacities of it Thus much concerning the capacity of Free Will in matter with respect to Motion As to our Cogitations which have been partly spoken of before we find that the Determination of them lies under the command of Free Will in a great measure we turn our Thoughts from one Object to another we recall past Thoughts and retrieve lost or half-lost Notices And we consider and deliberate about our Actions which is best and then make our choice Upon these accounts there must be a common Percipient and a common Volent in Conjunction for these must communicate and be in one and the same Subject What then is said before to prove that no Part of the Body is capable of being the common Percipient is now strengthen'd when we add Volition to all the other Operations it must be conscious of For the more the direct Operations are that must be united in one and the same Subject and the more reflex Operations are superadded upon those direct still under the Cognizance and Dijudication of the same Principle the greater unity and simplicity is requir'd in that Principle or the Grand Cogitant that performs them all and receives them all without confusion And you say Pag. 359. §. 16. your self Unthinking Particles of Matter howsoever put together can have nothing thereby added to them but a new relation of Position which 't is impossible should give Thought and Knowledge to them Upon this it may be said If being put together in a System add nothing new but a new Position then as it does not add Thought and Knowledge so neither does it add a new capacity of Thought or Knowledge But enough hath been said concerning the Incapacities of Matter whether in or out of a System to perform the Functions of a Spirit I will only add this as to Free Will If Matter be capable of it If it can deliberate consult chuse or refuse then Matter is capable of Vertue and Vice Duty and Religion Merit and Demerit and also of Punishments and Rewards Which Hypothesis about the Powers of Matter as to the Will would pervert all our rules in Moral Philosophy as the former about the Understanding all in Natural Neither do I see a Capacity in any Part of the Body for Memory or Remembrance especially as to some Idea's Take what part you please to be Cogitant and Reminiscent I suppose 't will be some part in the Brain all our new acquir'd Idea's must work some change in that Part and leave some Marks there for a foundation of Memory But we have some Idea's that have no Corporeal Marks in the Brain as those of Relations Proportions universal and abstract Notions Yet of these and such like we have both Perception and Memory And as to those Objects which leave some Impressions upon the Brain 't is still unconceivable how those Impressions whatsoever they are should be fixt and continue so long as our Memory does in a piece of fluxile Matter that wasts spends and changes day after day And yet this is not all that is in Memory for there is a Relative Sense besides whereby we perceive that we had formerly perceiv'd the same thing Which reduplication of the Act and relative Perception the Brain bears no part in nor hath it any Mark there but must be the Action of another Substance distinct from it and from all Matter To these Reflections upon the Nature of our Faculties and the Powers of Matter It would not be fair nor satisfactory to give us a short Answer