work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4155,Animal Spirits,"Reading John Yolton's Thinking Matter (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), 168.",2005-05-25 00:00:00 UTC,"Phil.
[...] From this we may further conclude, that as the Soul acts not immediately upon Bone, Flesh, Blood &c. nor they upon that, so there must be some exquisitely small Particles, that are the Internuncii between them, by the help of which they manifest themselves to each other.
Misom.
All these latter Conclusions I grant: The Internuncii you speak of, are the Animal Spirits, and that they are the intermediate Officers between the Soul and the grosser parts of the Body no Man denies; but that the Spirits, which compose the Stomachick Ferment, should be of a finer sort than those by whose Musculary Motions and other actions of force are perform'd, is not only a supposition, but in my Opinion a strangely odd one, that has not a shadow of Reason or probability in it.
Phil.
Do you think it a natural consequence from what we know of all manner of flitring, or straining, that some of the Animal Spirits must infinitely differ from others in fineness and subtilty?
(pp. 125-6)",2012-04-10,10699,•At issue in dialogue is whether spirits think or are employed in thinking.,"""From this we may further conclude, that as the Soul acts not immediately upon Bone, Flesh, Blood &c. nor they upon that, so there must be some exquisitely small Particles, that are the Internuncii between them, by the help of which they manifest themselves to each other.""",Inhabitants,2012-04-10 21:10:58 UTC,""
4155,"","Reading John Yolton's Thinking Matter (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), 169.
",2005-05-25 00:00:00 UTC,"Misom
Then you would have this variously disposing of the Images to be the work of the Spirits, that act under the Soul, as so many Labourers under some great Architect.
Phil.
I would so: And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking, in quest of the Images we want, and when we have forgot a Word or Sentence, which yet we are sure the great Treasury of Images received our Memory has once been charged with, we may almost feel how some of the Spirits flying through all the Mazes and Meanders rommage the whole substance of the Brain; whilst others ferret themselves into the inmost recesses of it with so much eagerness and labour, that the difficulty they meet with some times makes us uneasie, and they often bewilder themselves in their search, till at last they light by chance on the Image that contains what they look'd for, or else dragging it, as it were, by piece-meals from the dark Caverns of oblivion, represent what they can find of it to our Imagination.
(pp. 130-1)",2012-04-10,10700,•At issue in dialogue is whether spirits think or are employed in thinking.,"""Then you would have this variously disposing of the Images to be the work of the Spirits, that act under the Soul, as so many Labourers under some great Architect.""",Inhabitants,2012-04-10 20:56:04 UTC,""
4200,"","",2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"Laws and Government are to the Political Bodies of Civil Societies, what the Vital Spirits and Life it self are to the Natural Bodies of Animated Creatures; and as those that study te Anatomy of Dead Carcases may see, that the chief Organs and nicest Springs more immediately required to continue the Motion of our Machine, are not hard Bones, strong Muscles and Nerves, nor the smooth white Skin that so beautifully covers them, but small trifling Flims and little Pipes that are either overlook'd, or else seem inconsiderable to Vulgar Eyes; so they that examine into the Nature of Man, abstract from Art and Education, may observe, that what renders him a Sociable Animal, consists not in his desire of Company, Good Nature, Pity, Affability, and other Graces fo a fair Outside; but that his vilest and most hateful Qualities are the most necessary Accomplishments to fit him for the largest, and, according to the World, the happiest and most flourishing Societies.
(3-4)",,10884,"","""Laws and Government are to the Political Bodies of Civil Societies, what the Vital Spirits and Life it self are to the Natural Bodies of Animated Creatures""",Court,2012-04-10 21:30:49 UTC,Preface
4200,Ruling Passion,Reading,2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"One of the greatest Reasons why so few People understand themselves, is, that most Writers are always teaching Men what they should be, and hardly evey trouble their Heads with telling them what they really are. As for my Part, without any Compliment to the Courteous Reader, or my self, I believe Man (besides Skin, Flesh, Bones, &c. that are obvious to the Eye) to be a compound of various Passions, that all of then, as they are provoked and come uppermost, govern him by turns, whether he will or no. To shew, that these Qualifications, which we pretend to be asham'd of, are the great support of a flourishing Society, has been the Subject of the foregoing Poem.
(Introduction, p. 39 in OLL edition)",,10886,"","""I believe Man (besides Skin, Flesh, Bones, &c. that are obvious to the Eye) to be a compound of various Passions, that all of then, as they are provoked and come uppermost, govern him by turns, whether he will or no.""","",2012-04-10 20:18:01 UTC,Introduction
4200,"",Reading,2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"The Chief Thing, therefore, which Lawgivers and other wise Men, that have laboured for the Establishment of Society, have endeavour'd, has been to make the People they were to govern, believe, that it was more beneficial for every Body to conquer than indulge his Appetites and much better to mind the Publick than what seem'd his private Interest. As this has always been a very difficult Task, so no Wit or Eloquence has been left untried to compass it; and the Moralists and Philosophers of all Ages employed their utmost Skill to prove the Truth of so useful and Assertion.
(Enquiry, p. 42 in OLL edition)",,10887,"","""The Chief Thing, therefore, which Lawgivers and other wise Men, that have laboured for the Establishment of Society, have endeavour'd, has been to make the People they were to govern, believe, that it was more beneficial for every Body to conquer than indulge his Appetites and much better to mind the Publick than what seem'd his private Interest.""",Empire,2012-04-10 20:22:06 UTC,An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue
4200,Psychomachia,"",2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"To introduce, moreover, an Emulation amongst Men, they divided the whole Species into a two Classes, vastly differing from one another: The one consisted of abject, low-minded People, that always hunting after immediate Enjoyment, were wholly incapable of Self-denial, and without regard to the good of others, had no higher Aim than their private Advantage; such as being enslaved by Voluptuousness, yielded without Resistance to every gross desire, and madeb no use of their Rational Faculties but to heighten their Sensual Pleasure.c These vile grov'ling Wretches, they said, were the Dross of their Kind, and having only the Shape of Men, differ'd from Brutes in nothing but their outward Figure. But the other Class was made up of lofty high-spirited Creatures, that free from sordid Selfishness, esteem'd the Improvements of the Mind to be their fairest Possessions; and setting a true value upon themselves, took no Delight but in embellishing that Part in which their Excellency consisted; such as despising whatever they had in common with irrational Creatures, opposed by the Help of Reason their most violent Inclinations; and making a continual War with themselves to promote the Peace of others, aim'd at no less than the Publick Welfare and the Conquest of their own Passion.
Fortior est qui se quàm qui fortissima Vincit
Mœnia -- -- -- -- 1
These they call'd the true Representatives of their sublime Species, exceeding in worth the first Class by more degrees, than that it self was superior to the Beasts of the Field.
(42)",,10888,"•INTEREST. Use in discussion of psychomachia. The balance of inner and outer is here interesting.
•Footnote gives ""Cf. Prov. xvi 32""
","Some may make ""a continual War with themselves to promote the Peace of others"" and aim at ""no less than the Publick Welfare and the Conquest of their own Passion""","",2009-09-14 19:35:22 UTC,An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue
4200,"","",2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"That these two Passions, in which the Seeds of most Virtues are contained, are Realities in our Frame, and not imaginary Qualities, is demonstrable from the plain and different Effects, that in spite of our Reason are produced in us as soon as we are affected with either.
(67)",,10889,"•Two passions are Shame and Pride. INTEREST. Mandeville favors talk of ""seeds"" (of virtue, of politeness, etc.). Is this why his opponents like to talk of planting?
","""That these two Passions, in which the Seeds of most Virtues are contained, are Realities in our Frame, and not imaginary Qualities, is demonstrable from the plain and different Effects, that in spite of our Reason are produced in us as soon as we are affected with either.""","",2012-04-10 19:49:45 UTC,Remark C.
4155,Animal Spirits,"Reading. Encountered again in Jayne Lewis's ""Dialectic of Bewilderment,"" Eighteenth-Century Fiction 31, no. 3 (Spring 2019): 575–595, 575.",2012-04-10 20:59:47 UTC,"Misom
Then you would have this variously disposing of the Images to be the work of the Spirits, that act under the Soul, as so many Labourers under some great Architect.
Phil.
I would so: And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking, in quest of the Images we want, and when we have forgot a Word or Sentence, which yet we are sure the great Treasury of Images received our Memory has once been charged with, we may almost feel how some of the Spirits flying through all the Mazes and Meanders rommage the whole substance of the Brain; whilst others ferret themselves into the inmost recesses of it with so much eagerness and labour, that the difficulty they meet with some times makes us uneasie, and they often bewilder themselves in their search, till at last they light by chance on the Image that contains what they look'd for, or else dragging it, as it were, by piece-meals from the dark Caverns of oblivion, represent what they can find of it to our Imagination.
(pp. 130-1)",,19677,RICH PASSAGE. INTEREST. REVISIT.,"""And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking, in quest of the Images we want, and when we have forgot a Word or Sentence, which yet we are sure the great Treasury of Images received our Memory has once been charged with, we may almost feel how some of the Spirits flying through all the Mazes and Meanders rommage the whole substance of the Brain; whilst others ferret themselves into the inmost recesses of it with so much eagerness and labour, that the difficulty they meet with some times makes us uneasie, and they often bewilder themselves in their search, till at last they light by chance on the Image that contains what they look'd for, or else dragging it, as it were, by piece-meals from the dark Caverns of oblivion, represent what they can find of it to our Imagination.""",Inhabitants,2020-07-14 18:00:25 UTC,""
4155,"",Reading,2012-04-10 21:00:41 UTC,"Phil.
I have asserted already, that the Soul consists in thinking, of which matter is incapable, and do not say the Spirits that think, but the Spirits, that are employ'd in the act of thinking: We must consider the Soul as the Skill of an Artificer, whilst the Organs of the Body are her Tools; for as the Body and its most minute Spirits are wholly insignificant, and cannot perform that Operation which we call thinking without the Soul more than the Tools of an Artificer, can do anything without his Skill, so the Soul cannot exert her self without the assistance of the Organick Body more than Artificers Skill can be put in execution without the Tools.
(pp. 128-9)",,19678,"","""We must consider the Soul as the Skill of an Artificer, whilst the Organs of the Body are her Tools; for as the Body and its most minute Spirits are wholly insignificant, and cannot perform that Operation which we call thinking without the Soul more than the Tools of an Artificer, can do anything without his Skill, so the Soul cannot exert her self without the assistance of the Organick Body more than Artificers Skill can be put in execution without the Tools.""","",2012-04-10 21:00:41 UTC,""
4155,"",Reading,2012-04-10 21:11:49 UTC,"Phil.
[...] From this we may further conclude, that as the Soul acts not immediately upon Bone, Flesh, Blood &c. nor they upon that, so there must be some exquisitely small Particles, that are the Internuncii between them, by the help of which they manifest themselves to each other.
Misom.
All these latter Conclusions I grant: The Internuncii you speak of, are the Animal Spirits, and that they are the intermediate Officers between the Soul and the grosser parts of the Body no Man denies; but that the Spirits, which compose the Stomachick Ferment, should be of a finer sort than those by whose Musculary Motions and other actions of force are perform'd, is not only a supposition, but in my Opinion a strangely odd one, that has not a shadow of Reason or probability in it.
Phil.
Do you think it a natural consequence from what we know of all manner of flitring, or straining, that some of the Animal Spirits must infinitely differ from others in fineness and subtilty?
(pp. 125-6)",,19679,"","""The Internuncii you speak of, are the Animal Spirits, and that they are the intermediate Officers between the Soul and the grosser parts of the Body no Man denies.""",Inhabitants,2012-04-10 21:11:49 UTC,""