"The Mind, or Understanding, is consider'd as a Principle of Light or Discerning; as the Senses and Affections are supposed to be blind."
— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Osborn and T. Longman
Date
1734
Metaphor
"The Mind, or Understanding, is consider'd as a Principle of Light or Discerning; as the Senses and Affections are supposed to be blind."
Metaphor in Context
Mean-time the Body, which we study to soak in Pleasure like a Sponge, is of it self but a mere dead Husk, and drops off at last: and a Man reckons upon it no farther, than as a Machine for bringing him Pleasure, and would sometimes be content to change it for another Body, if he could, and does often wear it out before its natural period.
But to come to the highest Region in Man. The Mind, or Understanding, is consider'd as a Principle of Light or Discerning; as the Senses and Affections are supposed to be blind. The Mind sees the Order and Value of Things, their Relations, and Properties; and this either by immediate Intuition, like the bodily Eye, or by a sort of Process, which considers one thing after another; and so is called both Reasoning and Reason.
(pp. 70-71)
But to come to the highest Region in Man. The Mind, or Understanding, is consider'd as a Principle of Light or Discerning; as the Senses and Affections are supposed to be blind. The Mind sees the Order and Value of Things, their Relations, and Properties; and this either by immediate Intuition, like the bodily Eye, or by a sort of Process, which considers one thing after another; and so is called both Reasoning and Reason.
(pp. 70-71)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
Three entries in ESTC (1734, 1762, 1763).
See Essays Moral and Philosophical, on Several Subjects: Viz. A View of the Human Faculties. (London: Printed for J. Osborn and T. Longman, 1734). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See Essays Moral and Philosophical, on Several Subjects: Viz. A View of the Human Faculties. (London: Printed for J. Osborn and T. Longman, 1734). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/18/2013