work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3797,Writing to the Moment,Past Masters,2003-10-01 00:00:00 UTC,"Secondly, when an external sense organ is stimulated by an object, the figure which it receives is conveyed at one and the same moment to another part of the body known as the 'common' sense, without any entity really passing from the one to the other. In exactly the same way I understand that while I am writing, at the very moment when individual letters are traced on the paper, not only does the point of the pen move, but the slightest motion of this part cannot but be transmitted simultaneously to the whole pen. All these various motions are traced out in the air by the tip of the quill, even though I do not conceive of anything real passing from one end to the other. Who then would think that the connection between the parts of the human body is less close than that between the parts of the pen? What simpler way of portraying the matter can be imagined?
(Rule 12, p. 41)",2003-10-23,9786,"•Not published in Descartes lifetime. First Dutch translation in 1684. First Latin in 1701.
•Writing to the moment. REVISIT. Set alongside examples in Locke and Hume, etc.","""Secondly, when an external sense organ is stimulated by an object, the figure which it receives is conveyed at one and the same moment to another part of the body known as the 'common' sense, without any entity really passing from the one to the other. In exactly the same way I understand that while I am writing, at the very moment when individual letters are traced on the paper, not only does the point of the pen move, but the slightest motion of this part cannot but be transmitted simultaneously to the whole pen. All these various motions are traced out in the air by the tip of the quill, even though I do not conceive of anything real passing from one end to the other.""",Writing,2016-04-28 02:48:50 UTC,Rule Twelve
3797,Writing to the Moment,Past Masters,2003-10-01 00:00:00 UTC,"Fourthly, the motive power (i.e. the nerves themselves) has its origin in the brain, where the corporeal imagination is located; and the latter moves the nerves in different ways, just as the 'common' sense is moved by the external senses or the whole pen is moved by its lower end. This example also shows how the corporeal imagination can be the cause of many different movements in the nerves, even though it does not have images of these movements imprinted on it, but has certain other images which enable these movements to follow on. Again, the pen as a whole does not move in exactly the same way as its lower end; on the contrary, the upper part of the pen seems to have a quite different and opposite movement. This enables us to understand how all the movements of other animals can come about, even though we refuse to allow that they have any awareness of things, but merely grant them a purely corporeal imagination. It also enables us to understand how there occur within us all those operations which we perform without any help from reason.
(Rule 12, p. 41-2)",2012-01-26,9788,•Not published in Descartes lifetime. First Dutch translation in 1684. First Latin in 1701.
•Writing to the Moment.
,"""Again, the pen as a whole does not move in exactly the same way as its lower end; on the contrary, the upper part of the pen seems to have a quite different and opposite movement. This enables us to understand how all the movements of other animals can come about, even though we refuse to allow that they have any awareness of things, but merely grant them a purely corporeal imagination.""",Writing,2012-01-26 14:52:03 UTC,Rule Twelve
3623,"",Reading,2012-01-30 21:18:43 UTC,"To this end, suppose that after the spirits leaving gland H have received the impression of some idea, they pass through tubes 2, 4, 6, and the like, into the pores or gaps lying between the tiny fibres which make up part B of the brain. And suppose that the spirits are strong enough to enlarge these gaps somewhat, and to bend and arrange in various ways any fibres they encounter, according to the various ways in which the spirits are moving and the different openings of the tubes into which they pass. Thus they also trace figures in these gaps, which correspond to those of the objects. At first they do this less easily and perfectly than they do on gland H, but gradually they do it better and better, as their action becomes stronger and lasts longer, or is repeated more often. That is why these figures are no longer so easily erased, and why they are preserved in such a way that the ideas which were previously on the gland can be formed again long afterwards without requiring the presence of the objects to which they correspond. And this is what memory consists in.",,19561,"","""Thus they also trace figures in these gaps, which correspond to those of the objects. At first they do this less easily and perfectly than they do on gland H, but gradually they do it better and better, as their action becomes stronger and lasts longer, or is repeated more often. That is why these figures are no longer so easily erased, and why they are preserved in such a way that the ideas which were previously on the gland can be formed again long afterwards without requiring the presence of the objects to which they correspond. And this is what memory consists in.""",Writing,2012-01-30 21:18:43 UTC,""
7547,"",Reading,2013-07-16 19:24:38 UTC,"As the string of a violin or harpsichord trembles and vibrates, so the fibres or strings of the brain struck by the undulating rays of sound, are excited to return or repeat the words that touched them. But as the structure of this organ is such, that when once the eye formed for vision has received the pictures of objects, the brain cannot help seeing their images and differences: in the same manner when the signs of these differences are marked or ingraved in the brain, the soul must necessarily examine their relations; and examination that would be impossible without the discovery of signs, or invention of languages. At that time when the world was almost mute, the soul was in regard of all objects as a man, who without having any idea of proportion, should look on a picture, or a piece of sculpture: or as a little child (for the soul was then in its infancy) who holding in his hand a parcel of straws or bits of wood, sees them in general in a vague superficial manner, without being able to count or distinguish them. [...]
(p. 26)",,21814,"","""But as the structure of this organ is such, that when once the eye formed for vision has received the pictures of objects, the brain cannot help seeing their images and differences: in the same manner when the signs of these differences are marked or ingraved in the brain, the soul must necessarily examine their relations; and examination that would be impossible without the discovery of signs, or invention of languages.""",Writing,2013-07-16 19:24:38 UTC,""
6808,"",Searching at OLL,2013-08-09 16:08:27 UTC,"It is not, Roxana, that I suspect they carry their incroachments upon virtue to such a length as their conduct might lead one to believe; or that they carry their defection to such a horrid excess, that makes one tremble, as really to violate the conjugal vow. There are few women abandoned enough to go this length; they all bear in their hearts a certain impression of virtue, naturally engraved on them, which though their education may weaken, it cannot destroy. Though they may decline the external duties which modesty exacts; yet when about to take the last step, nature returns to their help. Thus when we shut you up closely, when we make you be guarded by so many slaves, when we so strongly restrain your desires when they would range too far; it is not that we fear the least infidelity; but because we know that purity cannot be too great, and that by the least stain it may be polluted.
[Ce n'est pas, Roxane, que je pense qu'elles poussent l'attentat aussi loin qu'une pareille conduite devroit le faire croire, et qu'elles portent la débauche à cet excès horrible, qui fait frémir, de violer absolument la foi conjugale. Il y a bien peu de femmes assez abandonnées pour porter le crime si loin: elles portent toutes dans leur cœur un certain caractère de vertu qui y est gravé, que la naissance donne et que l'éducation affoiblit, mais ne détruit pas. Elles peuvent bien se relâcher des devoirs extérieurs que la pudeur exige; mais, quand il s'agit de faire les derniers pas, la nature se révolte. Aussi, quand nous vous enfermons si étroitement, que nous vous faisons garder par tant d'esclaves, que nous gênons si fort vos désirs lorsqu'ils volent trop loin, ce n'est pas que nous craignions la dernière infidélité, mais c'est que nous savons que la pureté ne sauroit être trop grande, et que la moindre tache peut la corrompre.]
(Letter XXVI, Usbek to Roxana, At the Seraglio At Ispahan.)",,22118,"","""There are few women abandoned enough to go this length; they all bear in their hearts a certain impression of virtue, naturally engraved on them, which though their education may weaken, it cannot destroy.""",Impressions and Writing,2013-08-09 16:08:27 UTC,"Letter XXVI, Usbek to Roxana, At the Seraglio At Ispahan."
6808,"",Searching at OLL,2013-08-09 16:17:09 UTC,"A Thirst after glory is not different from instinct, which every creature hath for its own preservation. We seem to extend our existence, when we can make it to be remembered by others; this is a new life which we acquire, and which becomes as precious to us as that which we received from heaven.
But as all men are not equally fond of life, neither are they equally sensible to glory. This noble passion is indeed always engraved upon their hearts; but imagination and education mould it a thousand ways.
This difference, which is founded between man and man, is more perceivable between nation and nation.
[Le désir de la gloire n'est point différent de cet instinct que toutes les créatures ont pour leur conservation. Il semble que nous augmentons notre être, lorsque nous pouvons le porter dans la mémoire des autres: c'est une nouvelle vie que nous acquérons, et qui nous devient aussi précieuse que celle que nous avons reçue du ciel.
Mais comme tous les hommes ne sont pas également attachés à la vie, ils ne sont pas aussi également sensibles à la gloire. Cette noble passion est bien toujours gravée dans leur cœur; mais l'imagination et l'éducation la modifient de mille manières.
Cette différence, qui se trouve d'homme à homme, se fait encore plus sentir de peuple à peuple.]
(Letter LXXXIX, Usbek to Ibben, at Smyrna.)",,22125,"","""This noble passion is indeed always engraved upon their hearts; but imagination and education mould it a thousand ways.""",Impressions and Writing,2013-08-09 16:17:09 UTC,"Letter LXXXIX, Usbek to Ibben, at Smyrna."
7579,"","Reading Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997), 17.",2013-08-13 23:56:31 UTC,"Nous sommes d’accord sur tant de choses, que ce n’est pas la peine de nous disputer sur le reste. Je vous l’ai dit bien des fois; nul homme au monde ne respecte plus que moi l’Evangile, c’est, à mon gré, le plus sublime de tous les livres; quand tous les autres m’ennuient, je reprends toujours celui-là avec un nouveau plaisir, & quand toutes les consolations humaines m’ont manqué, jamais je n’ai recouru vainement aux siennes. Mais enfin c’est un livre, un livre ignoré des trois quarts du monde, croirai-je qu’un Scythe ou un Africain, soient moins chers au Pere commun que vous & moi, & pourquoi croirai-je qu’il leur ait ôté plutôt qu’à nous, les ressources pour le connoître? Non, mon digne ami; ce n’est point sur quelques feuilles éparses qu’il faut aller chercher la loi de Dieu, mais dans le coeur de l’homme, où sa main daigna l’écrire. O homme, qui que tu sois, rentre en toi-même, apprends à consulter ta conscience & tes facultés naturelles; tu seras juste, bon vertueux, tu t’inclineras devant ton maître, & tu participeras dans son ciel à un bonheur éternel Je ne me fie là-dessus ni à ma raison ni à celle d’autrui, mais je sens à la paix de mon ame, & au plaisir que je sens à vivre, & penser sous les yeux du grand Etre, que je ne m’abuse point dans les jugemens que je fais de lui, [218] ni dans l’espoir que je fonde sur sa justice. Au reste, mon cher Concitoyen, j’ai voulu verser mon coeur dans votre sein, & non pas entrer en lice avec vous; ainsi, restons-en là, s’il vous plaît; d’autant plus que ces sujets ne se peuvent traiter guerres commodément par lettres.
(vol. 12)",,22136,"","""Non, mon digne ami; ce n’est point sur quelques feuilles éparses qu’il faut aller chercher la loi de Dieu, mais dans le coeur de l’homme, où sa main daigna l’écrire. [It is not at all in a few sparse pages that we must seek for God's law, but in the human heart, where His hand deigned to write.""",Writing,2013-08-13 23:56:31 UTC,""
7580,"","Reading Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997), 17.",2013-08-14 00:26:05 UTC,"Si la loi naturelle n'était écrite que dans la raison humaine, elle serait peu capable de diriger la plupart de nos actions. Mais elles est encore gravée dans le coeur de l'homme en caractères ineffaçables; et c'est là qu'elle lui parle plus fortement que tous les préceptes des philosophes; c'est là qu'elle lui crie qu'il ne lui est permis de sacrfier la vie de son semblable qu'à la conservation de la sienne, et qu'elle lui fait horreur de verser le sang humain sans colère, même quand il s'y vot obligé.
(pp. 4-5)
",,22137,"","""Si la loi naturelle n'était écrite que dans la raison humaine, elle serait peu capable de diriger la plupart de nos actions. Mais elles est encore gravée dans le coeur de l'homme en caractères ineffaçables; et c'est là qu'elle lui parle plus fortement que tous les préceptes des philosophes; c'est là qu'elle lui crie qu'il ne lui est permis de sacrfier la vie de son semblable qu'à la conservation de la sienne, et qu'elle lui fait horreur de verser le sang humain sans colère, même quand il s'y vot obligé.""",Writing,2013-08-14 00:26:05 UTC,""
6428,"","Reading Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997), 17. Found again, reading Emile.",2013-08-14 00:35:26 UTC,"Dieu, dit-on, ne doit rien à ses créatures. je crois qu’il leur doit tout ce qu’il leur promit en leur donnant l’être. or c’est leur promettre un bien que de leur en donner l’idée & de leur en faire sentir le besoin. Plus je rentre en moi, plus je me consulte, & plus je lis ces mots écrits dans mon âme: Sois juste, & tu seras heureux. Il n’en est rien pourtant, à considérer l’état présent des choses; le méchant prospère, & le juste reste opprimé. Voyez aussi quelle indignation s’allume en nous quand cette attente est frustrée! La conscience s’élève et murmure contre son auteur; elle lui crie en gémissant: Tu m’as trompé!
(Book IV; p. 293 in Everyman edition)",,22138,"","""Plus je rentre en moi, plus je me consulte, & plus je lis ces mots écrits dans mon âme: Sois juste, & tu seras heureux. [The more I return within myself, the more I consult myself, the more plainly do I read these words written in my soul: Be just and you will be happy.]""",Writing,2014-01-10 20:41:32 UTC,"Vol. II, Book IV. The Creed of a Savoyard Curate."
6658,"","Reading Terry Eagleton, The Ideology of the Aesthetic (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), p. 20",2014-02-04 03:11:50 UTC,"Along with these three kinds of law goes a fourth, most important of all, which is not graven on tablets of marble or brass, but on the hearts of the citizens. This forms the real constitution of the State, takes on every day new powers, when other laws decay or die out, restores them or takes their place, keeps a people in the ways in which it was meant to go, and insensibly replaces authority by the force of habit. I am speaking of morality, of custom, above all of public opinion; a power unknown to political thinkers, on which none the less success in everything else depends. With this the great legislator concerns himself in secret, though he seems to confine himself to particular regulations; for these are only the arc of the arch, while manners and morals, slower to arise, form in the end its immovable keystone.
(II.xii)
A ces trois sortes de loix, il s'en joint une quatrieme, la plus importante de toutes, qui ne se grave ni sur le marbre, ni sur l'airain, mais dans les coeurs des citoyens; qui fait la véritable constitution de l'Etat; qui prend tous les jours de nouvelles forces; qui, lorsque les autres loix vieillissent ou s'éteignent, les ranime ou les supplée, conserve un peuple dans l'esprit de son institution, & substitue insensiblement la force de l'habitude à celle de l'autorité. Je parle des moeurs, des coutumes, & sur-tout de l'opinion; partie inconnue à nos politiques, mais de laquelle dépend le succès de toutes les autres; partie dont le grand législateur s'occupe en secret, tandis qu'il paroît se borner à des règlemens particuliers qui ne sont que le cintre de la voûte, dont les moeurs plus lentes à naître, forment enfin l'inébranlable clef.",,23354,"","""Along with these three kinds of law goes a fourth, most important of all, which is not graven on tablets of marble or brass, but on the hearts of the citizens.""","",2014-02-04 03:13:36 UTC,"Book II, chapter 12"