"We rather take Notice of this here; Because this Philosophy had made the Mind a Rasa Tabula, or a Blank Paper, or an Empty and Void Room without any Furniture, which therefore it was to Supply; And this is done by Storing it with it's Simple Ideas from Sensation and Reflection, and from thence Deriving it's Complex Ones; On the Contrary we say, that what this Philosophy Terms Simple Ideas, are Abstracted ones, as Colour, Sound, Extension, &c. and therefore are not First in the Mind, but are Made by it; And on the other Hand, what it Names Complex Ideas, are Received Whole, and Compounded into the Mind, and are afterwards Separated into the Simple Ideas, or the Particulars, of which they Consist."
— 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
"We rather take Notice of this here; Because this Philosophy had made the Mind a Rasa Tabula, or a Blank Paper, or an Empty and Void Room without any Furniture, which therefore it was to Supply; And this is done by Storing it with it's Simple Ideas from Sensation and Reflection, and from thence Deriving it's Complex Ones; On the Contrary we say, that what this Philosophy Terms Simple Ideas, are Abstracted ones, as Colour, Sound, Extension, &c. and therefore are not First in the Mind, but are Made by it; And on the other Hand, what it Names Complex Ideas, are Received Whole, and Compounded into the Mind, and are afterwards Separated into the Simple Ideas, or the Particulars, of which they Consist."
Metaphor in Context
THESE being Little more than Definitions of Terms, there is Little more to be said Concerning them, Excepting, That the Mind does not Form these Complex Ideas from it's Comparing of Simple Ideas, but Receives them Complex from Experience and Observation, and then by Reflection and Reason Distinguishes them into the several Parts, of which they are Composed. We rather take Notice of this here; Because this Philosophy had made the Mind a Rasa Tabula, or a Blank Paper, or an Empty and Void Room without any Furniture, which therefore it was to Supply; And this is done by Storing it with it's Simple Ideas from Sensation and Reflection, and from thence Deriving it's Complex Ones; On the Contrary we say, that what this Philosophy Terms Simple Ideas, are Abstracted ones, as Colour, Sound, Extension, &c. and therefore are not First in the Mind, but are Made by it; And on the other Hand, what it Names Complex Ideas, are Received Whole, and Compounded into the Mind, and are afterwards Separated into the Simple Ideas, or the Particulars, of which they Consist.
(V.v.35, p. 677)
(V.v.35, p. 677)
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
