"Now if the human understanding be, essentially and originally, a tabula rasa, susceptible of impression from the occurrence of every casual object, then the ideas it receives thereby will be the fountain, and, as it were, the materials of all its future proficiencies; and the number and excellence of these will constantly keep pace with the number and order, perspicuity and facility of those."
— Sharp, William, Vicar of Long Burton
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for C. Bathurst
Date
1755
Metaphor
"Now if the human understanding be, essentially and originally, a tabula rasa, susceptible of impression from the occurrence of every casual object, then the ideas it receives thereby will be the fountain, and, as it were, the materials of all its future proficiencies; and the number and excellence of these will constantly keep pace with the number and order, perspicuity and facility of those."
Metaphor in Context
It will readily be granted, that the powers of sensation and reflexion are two [end page 7] passages of admission to our ideas, and it has been indisputably proved, that they are the only ones. Now if the human understanding be, essentially and originally, a tabula rasa, susceptible of impression from the occurrence of every casual object, then the ideas it receives thereby will be the fountain, and, as it were, the materials of all its future proficiencies; and the number and excellence of these will constantly keep pace with the number and order, perspicuity and facility of those. By consequence, the several stages of its future perfection and advancement will fundamentally arise from the treasury it retains of all its primitive ideas. But the powers of sensation and reflexion are not only coeval with, but constituent parts of nature herself, of soul and body, inasmuch as sensitive and rational [GREEK CHARACTERS] are the specifical characters of the composition; and since the Genius's of mankind do essentially consist in some affection or property of the understanding (whether in an easy and ready discovery of the agreement or disagreement of [end page 8] ideas already obtained, or in a quick apprehension of those ideas themselves, or possibly in a lively perception of both) it is evident, that Genius can neither act, nor exhibit itself, till these powers have been at work, and give it opportunities. [...]
Categories
Provenance
Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1755).
See A Dissertation Upon Genius: or, an Attempt to Shew, That the Several Instances of Distinction, and Degrees of Superiority in the Human Genius Are Not, Fundamentally, the Result of Nature, but the Effect of Acquisition. By William Sharpe. (London: Printed for C. Bathurst, 1755). <Link to ESTC>
See A Dissertation Upon Genius: or, an Attempt to Shew, That the Several Instances of Distinction, and Degrees of Superiority in the Human Genius Are Not, Fundamentally, the Result of Nature, but the Effect of Acquisition. By William Sharpe. (London: Printed for C. Bathurst, 1755). <Link to ESTC>
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
10/11/2006
