"It is Plain it cannot so much Subsist in the Mind, if the Mind was no more than a Rasa Tabula; Because then there would be Ideas Impressed upon it, of which it would be Passive, without any Power of Reviving them; They would be Imprinted upon it, and there Continue, or else by Degrees Wear off and Die, and so there would be an End of them, and this whole Chimerical Systeme of them."
— Greene, Robert (c. 1678-1730)
Place of Publication
Cambridge
Publisher
Printed at the University-Press, by Cornelius Crownfield, and are to be sold by him, E. Jefferys, and W. Thurlbourne booksellers in Cambridge, and by J. Knapton, R. Knaplock, W. and J. Innys, and B. Motte, London
Date
1727
Metaphor
"It is Plain it cannot so much Subsist in the Mind, if the Mind was no more than a Rasa Tabula; Because then there would be Ideas Impressed upon it, of which it would be Passive, without any Power of Reviving them; They would be Imprinted upon it, and there Continue, or else by Degrees Wear off and Die, and so there would be an End of them, and this whole Chimerical Systeme of them."
Metaphor in Context
THAT, which is to be Considered here is, what this Recollection of Ideas is owing to, and from whence it is Derived; It is Plain it cannot so much Subsist in the Mind, if the Mind was no more than a Rasa Tabula; Because then there would be Ideas Impressed upon it, of which it would be Passive, without any Power of Reviving them; They would be Imprinted upon it, and there Continue, or else by Degrees Wear off and Die, and so there would be an End of them, and this whole Chimerical Systeme of them; Whereas, if we Consider the Mind, as an Active Principle, and which has a Share in Forming and Constituting even those Ideas, which are also in Part owing to an External Agency, it is no Wonder, that it can Recollect, and New Form Ideas from it's self, which it was Capable of doing from Exterior Objects; It will then Act Consistently with it's Nature; And Perception and Recollection will have some Kind of Affinity to each other, and will Appear to be Properties, which must Naturally belong to the same Substance.
(V.v.2, p. 629)
(V.v.2, p. 629)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO
Citation
Greene, Robert. The principles of the philosophy of the expansive and contractive forces. Or an inquiry into the principles of the modern philosophy, that is, into the several chief rational sciences, which are extant. In seven books. By Robert Greene, ... Cambridge, 1727. Based on information from English Short Title Catalogue. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Group. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
10/08/2006
