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and from whence it comes; it cannot come from the Heart,
the Blood, the brain or Atoms. whether it is from the
breath or the fire, I know not: nor am I ashamed, as
they are, to own I do not understand it, when really I
do not, if I could affirm this of any other difficult thing.
I could swear that whether it is the breath or fire, it is —
divine, what? do you think so great a power as there is
in Memory can arise or be by any means formed from
the Earth or this dark and cloudy heaven? if you do not
see what this is, yet you see of what Sort it is; and if not
that neither, yet without doubt you must see how great
it is; what then should we think there is a Capacity
and space in the Soul, into which as it were a kind
of vessel, those things which we remember are poured?
that indeed would be absurd; for what kind of a —
bottom, or figure. can the Soul be supposed to have?
or in short what Capacity at all? is it to be supposed
that it receives impressions like wax, and that the —
memory is nothing but the traces of the things impressed?
what can those traces of Words and even of things be?
what, moreover, can that immense Space be, which
receives so many impressions? and in short what
is that power, which investigates hidden things,
which is called invention or excogitation? do you
think that man was of the same weak and brittle
Composition with the rest of mankind, who first of
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Identifier: | JB/537/102/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 537.
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1761-01-27 |
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537 |
Tusculan Questions |
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102 |
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002 |
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Copy/fair sheet |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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