"I take the Mind or Soul of Man not to be so perfectly indifferent to receive all Impressions, as a Rasa Tabula, or white Paper."
— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Richard Ford and Richard Hett
Date
1733, 1742
Metaphor
"I take the Mind or Soul of Man not to be so perfectly indifferent to receive all Impressions, as a Rasa Tabula, or white Paper."
Metaphor in Context
Therefore I take the Mind or Soul of Man not to be so perfectly indifferent to receive all Impressions, as a Rasa Tabula, or white Paper; and 'tis so framed by its Maker as not to be equally disposed to all sorts of Perceptions, nor to embrace all Propositions, with an Indifferency to judge them true or false; but that antecedently to all the Effects or Custom, Experience, Education, or any other contingent Causes, as the Mind is necessarily ordained and limited by its Creator to have such and such appointed Sensations or Ideas raised in it by certain external Motions of the Matter or Body to which it is united, and that while the Organs are good and sound it cannot have others, so 'tis also inclined and almost determined by such Principles as are wrought into it by the Creator, to believe some Propositions true, others false; and perhaps also some Actions good, others evil.
(pp. 105-6 in 1733 ed.)
(pp. 105-6 in 1733 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Maclean's John Locke and English Literature, (1962), p. 23. Found again searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO; and again.
Citation
7 entries in ESTC (1733, 1734, 1742, 1755, 1763, 1793, 1794).
See Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects, Viz. Space, Substance, Body, Spirit, the Operations of the Soul in Union With the Body, Innate Ideas, Perpetual Consciousness, Place and Motion of Spirits, the Departing Soul, the Resurrection of the Body, the Production and Operations of Plants and Animals; With Some Remarks on Mr. Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding. to Which Is Subjoined a Brief Scheme of Ontology, or the Science of Being in General With Its Affections. By I. W. (London: Printed for Richard Ford at the Angel, and Richard Hett at the Bible and Crown in the Poultry, 1733). <Link to ESTC>
Found in 3rd edition, searching in ECCO: Isaac Watts, Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects, Viz. Space, Substance, Body, Spirit, 3rd edition, corrected (London: Printed for James Brackstone, at the Globe in Cornhill, 1742). <Link to ESTC>
See Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects, Viz. Space, Substance, Body, Spirit, the Operations of the Soul in Union With the Body, Innate Ideas, Perpetual Consciousness, Place and Motion of Spirits, the Departing Soul, the Resurrection of the Body, the Production and Operations of Plants and Animals; With Some Remarks on Mr. Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding. to Which Is Subjoined a Brief Scheme of Ontology, or the Science of Being in General With Its Affections. By I. W. (London: Printed for Richard Ford at the Angel, and Richard Hett at the Bible and Crown in the Poultry, 1733). <Link to ESTC>
Found in 3rd edition, searching in ECCO: Isaac Watts, Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects, Viz. Space, Substance, Body, Spirit, 3rd edition, corrected (London: Printed for James Brackstone, at the Globe in Cornhill, 1742). <Link to ESTC>
Theme
Blank Slate; Negated Metaphor
Date of Entry
03/27/2005
Date of Review
10/10/2006
