"So that Knowledge is not a Passion from any thing without the Mind, but an Active Exertion of the Inward Strength, Vigour and Power of the Mind, displaying it self from within; and the Intelligible Forms by which Things are Understood or Known, are not Stamps or Impressions passively printed upon the Soul from without, but Ideas vitally protended or actively exerted from within it self."

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for James and John Knapton
Date
1731
Metaphor
"So that Knowledge is not a Passion from any thing without the Mind, but an Active Exertion of the Inward Strength, Vigour and Power of the Mind, displaying it self from within; and the Intelligible Forms by which Things are Understood or Known, are not Stamps or Impressions passively printed upon the Soul from without, but Ideas vitally protended or actively exerted from within it self."
Metaphor in Context
Wherefore though it be vulgarly conceived that Knowledge arises from the Force of the Thing Known, acting upon that which knows from without; yet contrarywise it is most certain, to use Boetius's Expression, That Intellection and Knowledge do not arise from the Force and Activity of the Thing Known from Without, upon that which Knows, but from the Inward Power, Vigour and Activity of the Mind that Knows actively, Comprehending the Object within it self and Subduing and Prevailing over it. So that Knowledge is not a Passion from any thing without the Mind, but an Active Exertion of the Inward Strength, Vigour and Power of the Mind, displaying it self from within; and the Intelligible Forms by which Things are Understood or Known, are not Stamps or Impressions passively printed upon the Soul from without, but Ideas vitally protended or actively exerted from within it self.
(IV.i.1, p. 127)
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
Only 1 entry in ECCO and ESTC (1731).

See Ralph Cudworth, A Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality (London: James and John Knapton, 1731). <Link to ECCO><Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
01/22/2012

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.