"What it thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing-tablet on which as yet nothing actually stands written: this is exactly what happens with mind."
— Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
Author
Work Title
Date
350 B.C.
Metaphor
"What it thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing-tablet on which as yet nothing actually stands written: this is exactly what happens with mind."
Metaphor in Context
Have not we already disposed of the difficulty about interaction involving a common element, when we said that mind is in a sense potentially whatever is thinkable, though actually it is nothing until it has thought? What it thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing-tablet on which as yet nothing actually stands written: this is exactly what happens with mind.
(429b, 30-430a3)
(429b, 30-430a3)
Categories
Provenance
Found again reading Yolton's Locke Dictionary (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993): 288.
Citation
Aristotle. Introduction to Aristotle. Trans. McKeon, R. Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press: 1973.
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
03/21/2005
