If we imagine a "machine whose structure makes it think, sense, and have perceptions" enlarged to the size of a mill, upon "inspecting its interior, we will only find parts that push one another, and we will never find anything to explain a perception"
— Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646-1716)
Date
1714
Metaphor
If we imagine a "machine whose structure makes it think, sense, and have perceptions" enlarged to the size of a mill, upon "inspecting its interior, we will only find parts that push one another, and we will never find anything to explain a perception"
Metaphor in Context
Moreover, we must confess that the perception, and what depends on it, is inexplicable in terms of mechanical reasons, that is, through shapes and motions. If we imagine that there is a machine whose structure makes it think, sense, and have perceptions, we could conceive it enlarged, keeping the same proportions, so that we could enter into it, as one enters into a mill. Assuming that, when inspecting its interior, we will only find parts that push one another, and we will never find anything to explain a perception. And so, we should seek perception in the simple substance and not in the composite or in the machine. Furthermore, this is all one can find in the simple substance--that is, perceptions and their changes. It is also in this alone that all the internal actions of simple substances can consist.
(Principle 17, p. 215)
(Principle 17, p. 215)
Categories
Provenance
Background Reading
Citation
Leibniz, G. W. Philosophical Essays. Ed. and Trans. Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Co., 1989.
Date of Entry
10/10/2003
