"Mankind would be in a perpetual reverie; ideas would be constantly floating in the mind; and no man be able to connect his ideas with himself."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)


Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by R. Fleming
Date
1751
Metaphor
"Mankind would be in a perpetual reverie; ideas would be constantly floating in the mind; and no man be able to connect his ideas with himself."
Metaphor in Context
HAD we no original impressions but those of the external senses, according to the author of the treatise of human nature, we never could have any consciousness of self; because such consciousness cannot arise from any external sense. Mankind would be in a perpetual reverie; ideas would be constantly floating in the mind; and no man be able to connect his ideas with himself. Neither could there be any idea of personal identity. For a man, cannot consider himself to be the same person, in different circumstances, when he has no idea or consciousness of himself at all.
(p. 231)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
At least 3 entries in ESTC (1751, 1758, 1779).

Lord Kames, Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion: in Two Parts. (Edinburgh: Printed by R. Fleming, for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1751). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Theme
Reverie
Date of Entry
09/16/2013

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