"They indeed, who hold the soul of man to be only a thin vital flame, or system of animal spirits, make it perishing and corruptible as the body, since there is nothing more easily dissipated than such a being, which it is naturally impossible should survive the ruin of the tabernacle, wherein it is enclosed."
— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)
Author
Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed by Aaron Rhames, for Jeremy Pepyat
Date
1710, 1734
Metaphor
"They indeed, who hold the soul of man to be only a thin vital flame, or system of animal spirits, make it perishing and corruptible as the body, since there is nothing more easily dissipated than such a being, which it is naturally impossible should survive the ruin of the tabernacle, wherein it is enclosed."
Metaphor in Context
It must not be supposed, that they who assert the natural immortality of the soul are of opinion, that it is absolutely incapable of annihilation even by the infinite power of the CREATOR who first gave it being: but only that it is not liable to be broken or dissolved by the ordinary Laws of Nature or motion. They indeed, who hold the soul of man to be only a thin vital flame, or system of animal spirits, make it perishing and corruptible as the body, since there is nothing more easily dissipated than such a being, which it is naturally impossible should survive the ruin of the tabernacle, wherein it is enclosed. And this notion hath been greedily embraced and cherished by the worst part of mankind, as the most effectual antidote against all impressions of virtue and religion. But it hath been made evident, that bodies of what frame or texture soever, are barely passive ideas in the mind, which is more distant and heterogeneous from them, than light is from darkness. We have shewn that the soul is indivisible, incorporeal, unextended, and it is consequently incorruptible. Nothing can be plainer, than that the motions, changes, decays, and dissolutions which we hourly see befall natural bodies (and which is what we mean by the course of Nature) cannot possibly affect an active, simple, uncompounded substance: such a being therefore is indissoluble by the force of Nature, that is to say, the soul of man is naturally immortal.
(Part I, §124, p. 98)
(Part I, §124, p. 98)
Categories
Provenance
Past Masters
Citation
George Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge: Wherein the chief cause of error and difficulty in the Sciences, with the grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion are inquired Into (Dublin: printed by Aaron Rhames, for Jeremey Pepyet, 1710). <Link to ECCO>
See also Tonson's London edition: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Wherein the Chief Causes of Error and Difficulty in the Sciences, with the Grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion, are Inquired Into. First Printed in the Year 1710. To Which are Added Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in Opposition to Scepticks and Atheists. First Printed in the Year 1713. Both Written by George Berkeley, M. A. Fellow of Trinity-College, Dublin (London: Jacob Tonson, 1734). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Past Masters digitized version, based on second edition of 1734. From The Works of George Berkeley, ed. T. E. Jessop and A. A. Luce, vol. ii (Desirée Park: Thomas Nelson, 1979).
See also Tonson's London edition: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Wherein the Chief Causes of Error and Difficulty in the Sciences, with the Grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion, are Inquired Into. First Printed in the Year 1710. To Which are Added Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in Opposition to Scepticks and Atheists. First Printed in the Year 1713. Both Written by George Berkeley, M. A. Fellow of Trinity-College, Dublin (London: Jacob Tonson, 1734). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Past Masters digitized version, based on second edition of 1734. From The Works of George Berkeley, ed. T. E. Jessop and A. A. Luce, vol. ii (Desirée Park: Thomas Nelson, 1979).
Date of Entry
02/18/2004
