Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

The Improvement of Human Reason Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan

London

Printed and Sold by Edm. Powell and J. Morphew

1708

"From whence he concluded, that the Spirit which actuated any Species was one and the same; only distributed among so many Hearts, as there were Individuals in that Species, so that if it were possible for all that Spirit, which is so divided among so many Hearts, to be Collected into one Receptacle, it would be all the same thing, just as if any one Liquor should be pour'd out into several Dishes and afterwards put all together again in one Vessel; this Liquor would still be the same, as well when it was divided, as when it was altogether, only in respect of that division it may be said in some sort to be Multiplied."

§. 34. He proceeded from hence to the consideration of all the Species of Animals and found that every Individual of them was One. Next he consider'd them with regard to their different Species, viz. as Roes, Horses, Asses and all sorts of Birds according to their kinds, and he perceiv'd that all the Individuals of every Species were exactly like one another, in the shape of their Parts, both within and without, that their Apprehensions, Motions, and Inclinations were alike, and that those little differences which where visible amongst them, were inconsiderable in respect of those many things in which they agreed. From whence he concluded, that the Spirit which actuated any Species was one and the same; only distributed among so many Hearts, as there were Individuals in that Species, so that if it were possible for all that Spirit, which is so divided among so many Hearts, to be Collected into one Receptacle, it would be all the same thing, just as if any one Liquor should be pour'd out into several Dishes and afterwards put all together again in one Vessel; this Liquor would still be the same, as well when it was divided, as when it was altogether, only in respect of that division it may be said in some sort to be Multiplied. By this way of Contemplation he perceiv'd that a whole Species was One and the same thing, and that the Multiplicity of Individuals in the same Species is like the Multiplicity of Parts in the same Person, which indeed are not many [i.e. are only One.]

Liquid::Liquor Container::Receptacle Container::Dish Container::Vessel

Searching in Project Gutenberg

At least 3 entries in ESTC (1708, 1711).

Ibn Tufail (Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Tufail al-Qasi), trans. Simon Ockley, The Improvement of Human Reason Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan: Written in Arabick above 500 Years ago, by Abu Jaafr Ebn Tophail. In which is demonstrated, By what Methods one may, by meer Light of Nature, attain the Knowledg of things Natural and Supernatural; more particularly the Knowledge of God and the Affairs of another Life. Illustrated with proper Figures. Newly Translated from the Original Arabick, A.M. Vicar of Swavesey in Cambridgeshire. With an Appendix, In which the Possibility of Man's attaining the True Knowledg of God, and Things necessary to Salvation, without Instruction, is briefly consider'd. (London: Printed and Sold by Edm. Powell and J. Morphew, 1708). <Link to Google Books><Link to ECCO>

Text from Project Gutenberg edition: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16831/16831-h/20018-h.htm.

06/17/2013