text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"I am rather inclined to think that, though the subject is beyond our comprehension at present, man does not consist of two principles, so essentially different from one another as matter and spirit, which are always described as having not one common property, by means of which they can affect or act upon each other; the one occupying space, and the other not only not occupying the least imaginable portion of space, but incapable of bearing relation to it; insomuch that, properly speaking, my mind is no more in my body, than it is in the moon. I rather think that the whole man is of some uniform composition, and that the property of perception, as well as the other powers that are termed mental, is the result (whether necessary, or not) of such an organical structure as that of the brain. Consequently, that the whole man becomes extinct at death, and that we have no hope of surviving the grave but what is derived from the scheme of revelation.
(p. xx)",2011-07-22 15:48:23 UTC,"""I am rather inclined to think that, though the subject is beyond our comprehension at present, that man does not consist of two principles, so essentially different from one another as matter and spirit, which are always described as having not one common property, by means of which they can affect or act upon each other; the one occupying space, and the other not only not occupying the least imaginable portion of space, but incapable of bearing relation to it; insomuch that, properly speaking, my mind is no more in my body, than it is in the moon.""",2005-07-18 00:00:00 UTC,Introductory Essays,"",2007-04-26,"","• INTEREST. Priestley's formula for combating dualism: dualism would make it so...
• Suzanne found quote:--""As yet unlocated quote from Priestley: ""[P]roperly speaking, his mind is no more in his body than it is in the moon."" -- Ed. SDM. found original quote...will require change in metaphor"" ",Reading,8646,3370
"That vibrations corresponding to all the varieties of sensations and ideas that ever take place in any human, mind may take place in the same brain at the same time, can create no difficulty to any person who considers the capacity of the air itself to transmit different vibrations, without limits, at the same instant of time. In a concert, in which ever so many instruments are employed, a person skilled in music, I am told, is able to attend to which of them all he pleases. At the same time ever so many persons may be speaking, and sounds of other kinds may be made, each of which is transmitted without the least interruption from the rest. How infinitely complex must be the vibration of the air a little above the streets of such a city as London; and yet there can be no doubt but that each found has its proper effect, and might be attended to separately, by an ear sufficiently exquisite. That vibrations which are nearly isochronous affect and modify one another, so as to become perfectly so, sufficiently corresponds to the phænomena of ideas, and therefore makes no objection to this doctrine.
(p. xii-xiii)",2011-07-22 15:20:08 UTC,"""That vibrations corresponding to all the varieties of sensations and ideas that ever take place in any human, mind may take place in the same brain at the same time, can create no difficulty to any person who considers the capacity of the air itself to transmit different vibrations, without limits, at the same instant of time.""",2011-07-22 15:20:08 UTC,Introductory Essays,"",,"","",Reading,18963,3370
"That vibrations corresponding to all the varieties of sensations and ideas that ever take place in any human, mind may take place in the same brain at the same time, can create no difficulty to any person who considers the capacity of the air itself to transmit different vibrations, without limits, at the same instant of time. In a concert, in which ever so many instruments are employed, a person skilled in music, I am told, is able to attend to which of them all he pleases. At the same time ever so many persons may be speaking, and sounds of other kinds may be made, each of which is transmitted without the least interruption from the rest. How infinitely complex must be the vibration of the air a little above the streets of such a city as London; and yet there can be no doubt but that each found has its proper effect, and might be attended to separately, by an ear sufficiently exquisite. That vibrations which are nearly isochronous affect and modify one another, so as to become perfectly so, sufficiently corresponds to the phænomena of ideas, and therefore makes no objection to this doctrine.
(p. xii-xiii)",2011-07-22 15:21:47 UTC,"""That vibrations [in the air above London] which are nearly isochronous affect and modify one another, so as to become perfectly so, sufficiently corresponds to the phænomena of ideas, and therefore makes no objection to this doctrine.""",2011-07-22 15:21:47 UTC,Introductory Essays,"",,"","",Reading,18964,3370
"This supposition of the particles of the brain retaining a disposition to vibrate as they have formerly vibrated, will be rendered more probable, from considering that all solid substances seem to retain a disposition to continue in any state before impressed. For this reason a bow of any kind, that has been bent, does not restore itself to the same form that it had before, but leans a little to the other, in consequence of the spheres of attraction and repulsion belonging to the several particles having been altered by the change of their situation. Something similar to this may take place with respect to the brain.
(p. xvi)",2011-07-22 15:30:47 UTC,"""For this reason a bow of any kind, that has been bent, does not restore itself to the same form that it had before, but leans a little to the other, in consequence of the spheres of attraction and repulsion belonging to the several particles having been altered by the change of their situation. Something similar to this may take place with respect to the brain.""",2011-07-22 15:30:47 UTC,Introductory Essays,"",,"","",Reading,18966,3370
"To the mere novice in philosophical investigations, it will appear impossible to reduce all the variety of thinking to so simple and uniform a process; but to the same person it would also appear impossible a priori, that all the varieties of language, as spoken by all the nations in the world, mould be expressed by means of a short alphabet. Also those phenomena in nature which depend upon gravity, electricity, &c. are no less various and complex; and the more we know of nature, the more particular facts, and particular laws, we are able to reduce to simple and general laws: insomuch that now it does not appear impossible, but that, ultimately, one great comprehensive law shall be found to govern both the material and intellectual world.
(pp. xxiv-xxv)",2011-07-22 16:06:08 UTC,"""Also those phenomena in nature which depend upon gravity, electricity, &c. are no less various and complex; and the more we know of nature, the more particular facts, and particular laws, we are able to reduce to simple and general laws: insomuch that now it does not appear impossible, but that, ultimately, one great comprehensive law shall be found to govern both the material and intellectual world.""",2011-07-22 16:06:08 UTC,Introductory Essays,"",,"","",Reading,18968,3370
"To account for the idea of time, it appears to me to be sufficient to attend to a few well known facts, viz. that impressions made by external objects remain a certain space of time in the mind, that this time is different according to the strength, and other circumstances of the impression, and that traces of these impressions, i. e. ideas, may be recalled after the intervention of other trains of ideas, and at very different intervals. If I look upon a house, and then shut my eyes, the impression it has made upon my mind does not immediately vanish; I can contemplate the idea of the house as long as I please; and also, by the help of a variety of associated circumstances, the idea of the house may be recalled several years afterwards.
(p. xxxix)",2011-07-22 16:29:48 UTC,"""To account for the idea of time, it appears to me to be sufficient to attend to a few well known facts, viz. that impressions made by external objects remain a certain space of time in the mind, that this time is different according to the strength, and other circumstances of the impression, and that traces of these impressions, i. e. ideas, may be recalled after the intervention of other trains of ideas, and at very different intervals.""",2011-07-22 16:29:38 UTC,"","",,Impressions,"",Reading,18971,3370